From the publisher — two free books by Stephen Oliver
Extraordinary TeachingExtraordinary TeachingTurn your school into a leadership academy — and stop watching students walk out the back door.Get the free book →Six Simple Steps to Add 100 StudentsSix Simple Steps to Add 100 StudentsThe marketing that actually fills a school, with the processes and the proof.Get the free book →

Columnists

Martial Arts Professional has never been written by staff. It is written by people who have already done the thing they are describing — school owners with mats to fill and payroll to meet — and by a handful of outside authorities brought in when the subject reaches past the dojo.

Three of them write here on a continuing basis. Below them is the full masthead.

The Columnists

Grand Master Stephen Oliver, MBA

Publisher; Founder & CEO, Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery

Grand Master Stephen Oliver is a 10th Degree Black Belt and the Founder and CEO of Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, one of the industry’s leading coaching and consulting organizations for professional martial arts school owners, BJJ academies and MMA gyms. A school owner since 1975 and a business coach since 1985, he has spent more than five decades building, operating and advising martial arts schools. He also serves as CEO and Chairman of NAPMA and Publisher of Martial Arts Professional. A Georgetown University cum laude graduate, he earned his Executive MBA through the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. He was promoted to 10th Degree Black Belt in April 2026 and inducted into the Tae Kwon Do Hall of Fame in August 2026.

Writes on: pricing and profit, marketing systems, staff and leadership, the economics of a million-dollar school.

Read the Stephen Oliver archive — 28 articles · Full biography

Grandmaster Jeff Smith

First PKA World Light-Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion; Director of Instruction, Mile High Karate

Grandmaster Jeff Smith earned his black belt under Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee in 1969 and served as Senior Vice President of the Jhoon Rhee Institute from 1970 to 1985, training and managing instructors across its Washington, D.C.-area locations. In September 1974, in the inaugural event of the new sport, he won the first Professional Karate Association World Light-Heavyweight kickboxing title — later broadcast on ABC’s Wide World of Entertainment — and went on to become a seven-time world champion. From 1981 to 1991 he coached the WAKO World Champion United States team to ten consecutive world titles. He is Director of Instruction for Mile High Karate and a coach with Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, where he leads the weekly school-owner call this column is drawn from.

Writes on: tuition and pricing nerve, the lead-to-enrollment funnel, grassroots marketing, intro and enrollment procedure, teaching a class that keeps people.

All Jeff Smith articles · MasterJeffSmith.com

Chief Master Greg Moody, Ph.D.

Founder, KarateBuilt Martial Arts; 8th Degree Black Belt

Chief Master Greg Moody is an 8th Degree Black Belt and the founder of KarateBuilt Martial Arts, which he started in 1995 and grew to eight schools serving more than 17,000 students. He holds a Ph.D. in Special Education from Arizona State University alongside a master’s in counseling and a bachelor’s in engineering — an unusual combination that shows up in how he writes about curriculum design, child development and instructor training. He was named Instructor of the Year by the American Taekwondo Association, has authored more than sixteen books, hosts the KarateBuilt Martial Arts Podcast, and consults with Martial Arts Wealth Mastery.

Writes on: curriculum and program design, instructor development, bullying prevention, the psychology of student and parent behavior, multi-location systems.

Column launching — first articles forthcoming. MasterMoody.com

The Full Masthead

Twenty-two contributors and 185 bylined articles make up the archive. Full biographies for each are on The Contributors.

From the Floor

Instructors and operators writing about their own schools. Almost every practical column on this site came from someone who was teaching class the same week they filed it.

  • Stephen Oliver — Publisher; Founder & CEO, Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery. 28 articles
  • Jim Graden — Martial arts fitness pioneer; creator of Cardio Karate and the NAPMA Fitness Kickboxing Certification. 22 articles
  • Douglas Adamson — Shorei Kai, Yamani Ryu and Pikiti Tirsha instructor. 16 articles
  • Peyton Quinn — Chief instructor, RMCAT; author of Real Fighting and Freedom From Fear. 13 articles
  • Chris Dewey — University professor and owner, Starkville Martial Arts Academy. 12 articles
  • Fariborz Azhakh — Owner and head instructor, Team Karate Centers, Woodland Hills. 11 articles
  • Keith Yates — First black belt 1968; former SMU physical education faculty. 10 articles
  • Elsa Cordero — Jhoon Rhee Institute and Jeff Smith Karate; seven-time national and international forms champion. 8 articles
  • Terry Bryan — Founder, American Black Belt Academy; two-time world champion. 8 articles
  • Sang Koo Kang — TNT Martial Arts Centers, Miami Beach. 4 articles
  • Eric Sbarge — The Peaceful Dragon Cultural Center, Charlotte. 2 articles
  • Joe Corley — 9th Degree Black Belt; Battles of Atlanta and PKA television. 2 articles
  • Rick Bell — Enrollment specialist and veteran school owner. 2 articles
  • Rob Colasanti — Former president of NAPMA; author, How to Build the Martial Arts School of Your Dreams. 2 articles
  • Bob Sillick — Trade journalist; The Four Keys to Your Future. 1 article

Invited from Outside the Dojo

When the subject is selling, money, or the owner’s own head, the magazine goes outside the industry — and, more than once, has found that the expert already held a black belt.

  • Brian Tracy — Human development and motivation; martial artist since 1964. 18 articles
  • Lee Milteer — Success coach to NAPMA’s Inner Circle and Peak Performers. 10 articles
  • Jim Rohn — America’s foremost business philosopher. 8 articles
  • Tony Robbins — Peak performance strategist; Jhoon Rhee black belt. 3 articles
  • Denis Waitley — Author, The Psychology of Winning. 2 articles
  • Jim Edwards — Tax practitioner since 1974; small-business specialist. 2 articles
  • Harvey Mackay — Speaker and sales author. 1 article

Where these writers sit in the record. The association’s own history is collected in Industry History, the video sessions these writers taught are in the Video Library, and the years this archive covers are set out in Thirty Years of NAPMA.

Back to top button