San Diego Business Journal

SPECIAL SECTION: Celebrating Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Martial Arts Academy Helps Students with Coordination, Focus and Self-Esteem

■ By KAREN PEARLMAN

Driving along Miramar Road after he was laid off from his job of nearly three years at Qualcomm a little more than 25 years ago, Tom Thai wasn't sure what the future would hold. But as he headed home from Sorrento Valley on that day in March 1996, Thai had to pass the martial arts studio where he had been volunteering and teaching classes for several years. It was then that he realized that a career change could soon be on the horizon.

Thai, now 52, said, “I knew that the studio wasn't doing well,” and that its founder Lloyd Francis had been concerned about having to close the doors. Within days, Thai approached Francis -- the man who first taught him martial arts starting in 1989 when he was a student studying Biology at San Diego State – and asked about possibly running the business.

“I went to Master Lloyd and I said, ‘Do you think I'm too young? Do you think I could take over?'” Thai said. “He said, ‘Let's take a shot at it.' It took me a few months to learn but by August, I signed a lease for the next five years. So getting laid off was really the best thing that ever happened to me.

Established by Thai in 1996, the Miramar Martial Arts Academy is now in its 26th year of business and is thriving in its fifth location, in a 1,000-square-foot studio in a strip mall in Mira Mesa. Thai teaches the classical Korean Martial Art of Tang Soo Do and also offers Fitness Kickboxing.

Reinforcing Courage, Humility, Inner Peace

The benefits for those taking martial arts, Thai said, include increased self-esteem and self-confidence; improved self-discipline and focus; development of endurance, coordination and balance; the reinforcement of “positive qualities like courage, humility and inner peacefulness;” getting and staying in top physical shape; learning to defend yourself; and training in uniting the body and mind.

Thai has graduated more than 130 students to black belts, with about a dozen that have proceeded to master's level.

“Things were difficult at first,” he said. “The location was not very visible, I didn't have any knowledge of business and we weren't getting many students. But a couple of my friends told me about fitness kickboxing and Billy Blanks who was big with his Tae Bo at the time.”

Thai attended Blanks' seminars, became certified in fitness kickboxing, started teaching some classes and suddenly the business starting booming. Now more than two decades later, some of his first kickboxing students still take classes at the Miramar Martial Arts Academy.

Thai said the only major downtime for him since the rocky beginning was during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mandated to shut his doors, Thai was able to move his classes online, but virtual martial arts is not an ideal teaching situation.

He said he was able to keep some students through the health emergency closures, but that some were lost in the transition. Now that he has reopened in full, his business, with its motto of “Strive for Personal Excellence,” is once again flourishing.

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2022-05-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://sdbusinessjournal.pressreader.com/article/281814287475555

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