Shihan Tim Thompson

Shihan Tim Thompson is a Renshi 6th degree Black Belt Master Instructor in the Kyoshi Yamashita International Okinawan / Japanese Shorinryu Karate-Do System. He has been in the Martial Arts for thirty years and was promoted to his present rank of RokuDan (6th Dan) on 24 February 1996 by Karate Master & Legend Tadashi Yamashita. He has also studied under Soke Kuniba and Shihan Herndon. He has trained & performed in numerous countries including Japan, England, Scotland, Okinawa, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Norway, Germany, Egypt, Bahrain, Africa, Bahamas, Cuba, Caribbean Islands and through out the United States of America

He is the Founder and Director of the Ryoshin-Kan Karate School & the Dragon Force Demo Team located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, both of which he established in 1980. Shihan Thompson has taught / shown thousands of Adults and Children in Shorinryu Karate-Do, Kobudo (Weapons) and Goshinjitsu (Advance Self-Defense). His School has produced numerous National and World champions. His demo team won 1996, 1999 and 2001 World Karate Demo Team Championships. He has performed in over 1000 Karate Demos and in 1995 He directed & starred in the movie "The Adventures of Dragon Force." His Dragon Force Drum Corps, Color Guard, Ryoshin-Kan Float and Student Body won First Place out of 100 units in the 1998 and 2000 Virginia Strawberry Festival Parade. He is a National & World Champion in Karate, Kobudo and Goshinjitsu. He was a member of the Legendary USA Karate Team that finished second in the world out of fifty countries in 1991 at Kyoto, Japan. He has won First Place in Black Belt Self-Defense at Martial Arts Championships in 1982, 1985 to 93, 1997- 2001 and on January 5, 2001 he won the Title & First Place in the Adult Black Belt Self-Defense Division at the “WORLD CUP” Martial Arts Championships conducted in Washington, D.C.

Shihan Tim Thompson was born in 1954 in Warrenton, Virginia and he graduated from Fauquier high School in 1973. He attended college at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and graduated from this famous institution in 1977 with a BA in History. He is a Decorated Navy Commander and has served in the U.S. Navy for 25 Years. He was inducted into the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 1992 as “Instructor of the Year” and in 2000 as “Head Founder of the Dragon Force Karate Demo Team.” He was inducted into the 2000 World Karate Union Hall of Fame as “Master Instructor of the Year & Black Belt National Team of the Year.”

He is Featured in the January 2001 Action Martial Arts magazine as well as on their Millennium Collector Card. Shihan Thompson was further honored by being inducted into the WKU Hall of Fame, along with his student, Michael Lombardo Jr. as the 2001 “Black Belt Goshinjitsu National Team of the Year.”