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--
 Mr. Woodall began training at a very
early age. Mr. Woodall's father learned to box at the local YMCA in Louisiana
where he grew up. He taught both of his sons how to box at a very early age. Mr.
Woodall's father had a saying "son if you think your going to have fight a
guy don't wait, hit him as hard as you can, and if he doesn't fall, run like
hell." Now that I look back on it, that was pretty good advise.- Mr. Woodall began formal martial arts training on May 15th, 1990 in
SYSTEM 5 American Combat Karate.
- In May, 1990 Mr. Woodall competed in his first point sparring tournament
where he won first place and took home the grand point trophy (highest average
points per match).
- In August of 1990 Mr. Woodall competed in his first, and only, full contact
kickboxing match in Santa Rosa, CA. With only three months of formal training,
Mr. Woodall won by knocking his opponent out in the first round.
- In October of 1990 Mr. Woodall competed in his 2nd point fight tournament.
He was a yellow belt and was placed in an upper belt division where he won 2nd
place.
- In November on 1990, at the rank of Orange Belt, Mr. Woodall began
teaching other students as an assistant instructor.
- Mr. Woodall only competed in two other point fighting tournaments over the
next 6 years. He took a third and four place in those tournaments.
- In early 1991 Mr. Woodall was promoted to the rank of full instructor. He
was assigned classes and given the responsibility of training students and
preparing them for their next rank.
- From 1990 to 1997, Mr. Woodall was part of a demonstration team that went
around to local schools and put on a show for children. Afterwards, the team
took time to talk to the kids about issues such as: peer pressure, alcohol and
drug use, self esteem, and avoiding conflicts.
- On February 13,th 1995, Mr. Woodall was promoted to the rank of 1st degree
Black Belt in System 5 Combat Karate. He went through a forty hour test that
started on Friday night and ended at noon Sunday.
- After achieving his Black Belt Mr. Woodall was given the title of "Sensei"
in System 5 Karate. He was in charge of teaching the majority of the classes at
the school and making recommendations to the head instructor for promotions.
- On September 20th 1995, Mr. Woodall was promoted to the rank of 2nd degree
Black Belt in System 5 American Combat Karate.
- On August 10th 1996, Mr. Woodall was promoted to the rank of 3rd degree
Black Belt in System 5 American Combat Karate.
- Mr. Woodall took part in full contact sparring (kickboxing)
training continuously throughout the seven years he trained in System 5 American
Combat Karate. Although he did not continue to compete personally, he had the
opportunity to train and spar with numerous amateur champions.
- In January of 1997 Mr. Woodall stepped down as chief instructor of the
school and took a sabbatical from martial arts training so he could finish his
last semester in college.
- In May of 1997 Mr. Woodall graduated from California State University,
Sacramento, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy. Mr. Woodall chose
Philosophy as his major because of its direct correlation with the martial arts.
While in college, Mr. Woodall took numerous courses in martial arts (Okinawan
Karate & Tae kwon do) and Psychology. When he graduated, Mr. Woodall was
only one course short of a Psychology minor.
- In June of 1997 Mr. Woodall moved to the bay area to expand his training.
Mr. Woodall spent the next one and half years training in three different arts:
Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (under Ralph Gracie), Arnis, and Shaolin Kempo. Mr.
Woodall had focused most of his training on Shaolin Kempo. In December of 1999
Mr. Woodall was promoted to Brown Belt in Shaolin Kempo.
- On February 15th, 1999 Mr. Woodall was hired by the Sacramento Police
Department and paid to go through their six month intensive training academy.
Due to the extreme demands of academy training Mr. Woodall took another
sabbatical from formal martial arts training. Although, he did receive training
in defensive tactics and self defense (Koga Aikido, grappling, & impact
weapon use) for law enforcement officers throughout the academy.
- Mr. Woodall graduated from the police academy at the end of July, 1999. He
has been out on patrol ever since. Once Mr. Woodall finished his academy
training he began commuting to the bay area to further his training in Shaolin
Kempo.
- During the course of his regular patrol duties Mr. Woodall has had to deal
with everything from child assault & neglect calls, to shootings &
stabbing calls, to apprehending violent and combative criminals. Mr. Woodall has
had the opportunity to work directly with rape victims and interrogate/arrest
rape suspects. Along with all police officers working the streets, Mr. Woodall
has to handle confrontation, both physical and verbal, on a daily basis.
- Mr. Woodall realized that a lot of what he had learned in martial arts
training was not properly preparing people to face the reality of a street
confrontation. Consequently, In January of 2000 Mr. Woodall began the labor
intensive job of creating and organizing a system of self defense that could
help people prepare themselves for a real life street encounter. This required
Mr. Woodall to actually develop three separate programs. One that focused on
issues related to children, one that related to teen and adult men, and one that
related to teen and adult women.
- In May of 2001 Mr. Woodall began training in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu again at
the Rickson Gracie affiliate school in Carmichael, CA. Mr. Woodall continues to
train in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and strongly feels that it is the best grappling
art available.
- On June 9th, 2001 Mr. Woodall was promoted to the rank of 1st degree Black
Belt (Shodan) in Shaolin Kempo. The testing process took eight hours.
- From September of 2001 through October 2001, Mr. Woodall was trained and
certified as an instructor in the following Law Enforcement Impact Weapons:
Midrange Baton, Long range Baton, Expandable Baton, Side Handled Baton (Tonfa),Yawara
Stick (or Kubaton), OPN (police Nunchaka), and the Short Billy
Club. The system from which the training was derived from is called
Aiki-Jujitsu. This system is a mixture of the arts of Aikido and traditional
Jujitsu. These traditional arts have been modified to be adaptable for the
situations that police officers encounter on the street.
- On December 31,st 2001 Mr. Woodall was promoted to 4th degree Black Belt in
System 5 Combat Karate.
- In January of 2002, Mr. Woodall finished developing the majority of the
system and opened the doors to the Foothill School of Self Defense. While the
system is in effect complete, there will always be small additions and
subtractions to the system. No system is perfect, and as the nature of crime and
attacks change, so must the methods of teaching and training to deal with those
attacks.
- Mr. Woodall continues to personally cross train in other martial arts. He
firmly believes that there is something to learn from every art and everyone
should cross train to gain exposure to different methodologies. No matter who
you are, or what you know, life continues to reveal that there is always more to
learn
- If you have any further questions or would like to sign up for the free
introductory class please contact the school by any of the following means:
© Copyright Woodall's Self Defense &
Fitness Center - 2003
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