Starkville Martial Arts Academy

The Starkville Martial Arts Academy also has several other Black Belt instructors and assistant instructors backed by a very active Instructor training program at both the local and the national level. All instructors hold nationally certified ranks in the arts that they teach.

Class Instructors

	Janet is a research scientist in the College of Forestry at Mississippi State University. She holds a fourth degree black belt in Judo & Akayama-Ryu Jujitsu, and has been an instructor since 1994. She teaches adult and junior Judo classes as well as the women's Judo class. She is a USJA certified instructor.
Janet Dewey
	Eric is the Dean of Engineering at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee. He and Dr. Dewey have trained together regularly for over twenty years. He holds a fourth degree black belt in Akayama-Ryu Jujitsu, a third degree black belt in Judo and second degree black belts in Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido. He serves as a visiting instructor and as a member of the SMAA advisory board.
Eric Welch
	Doug is manager of the Hollywood Premier Cinemas in Starkville. He holds a fourth degree black belt in Taekwondo, Shodan (1st Degree Black) in Judo and a 3rd degree black belt in Akayama-Ryu Jujitsu. He has been with the academy since 1998. He is a USJA certified instructor. Doug instructs both the junior and adult Taekwondo classes.
Doug Bedsaul
Instructors
	John teaches History at East Mississippi community College. He is a first degree black belt in Judo and a 2nd degree in Akayama-Ryu Jujitsu. He has been with us since 1999 and now assists with the Jujitsu class.
John Cotton
	Chris works as a Draftsman with the Babcock & Wilcox Company. He is a first degree black belt in Judo, second degree black belt Akayama-Ryu Jujitsu and Taekwondo. He has been with us since 2001 and now assists with the Beginner Judo and Jujitsu classes.
Chris Stevens
	Elaine is a professor of music at Mississippi State University. She holds the rank of Nikyu (second brown) in Judo, Purple in Taekwondo and Green in Jujitsu. She has been with us since 2004. She is an accredited teacher of T’ai Chi Chih, which she teaches at the academy.She is a USJA certified instructor.
Elaine Peterson
	Kara is a Librarian with Starkville Public Libraries. She is a second degree black belt in Taekwondo and a brown belt in Jujitsu. Kara has been with us since 1997 and assists with the Taekwondo classes.
Kara Roberts
	David is a graduate student at Mississippi State University in Computer Engineering. David is a Shodan (1st Degree Black Belt) in Judo. He also holds Black Belt rank in Han Mu Do and is a Blue Belt in Brazilian JuJitsu.
David Close
Trainee Instructors
	Monica is a Shodan (1st degree Black) in Judo and in Taekwondo. She is a USJA certified instructor. She has been with the academy since 1999 and now assists with the junior classes.
Monica Koehn