Brendan D.

Youth Self-defense classes (Boys and Girls club, Holyoke, MA)
NoGi Jiu-Jitsu Coach/Women's Kickboxing and Self-Defense Instructor (B.E. Fit Personal Training Center, Agawam, MA)
Head MMA Instructor (Level Martinez MMA Academy, Miami, FL)
Head MMA Instructor (Gemini MMA, Holyoke, MA)
Trained professional and amateur MMA fighters in various martial arts disciplines. Although striking/standing martial arts are my specialty, I'm also a Renzo Gracie trained Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor. Also trained under prestigious masters such as Kru Phil Nurse (Muay Thai NYC), and Henri Hooft (Head striking Coach Blackzillians MMA, Miami, FL).
I have been certified as a personal trainer in the past and will gladly get a higher level certification if necessary.
Worked with everyone from world champions (Chris Weidman, Georges St. Pierre, Tyrone Spong), to middle aged women, and youth groups. I was a store manager for a major east coast retailer for 16 years, so my people skills are not an issue.

Various Tournament medals in my youth, point-fighting (Karate)
All state in soccer and track and field, high school
2-0 in Muay Thai fights
4-0 Amateur MMA, offered professional contract, failed physical due to eyesight and heart issues. Nothing that would ever come up in regular life, but I won't clear a commision.

I prefer to train people in a place where they are comfortable, and presumably that's a gym if they are training grappling or Muay Thai, but many of my boxing and kickboxing students I trained in various locations, especially outdoors when the weather permits. I usually run private sessions and classes about an hour each, and am pretty versatile in my approach. I like to take the time to make my athletes feel and know they are individuals, and creative minds. I don't believe combat sports and martial arts are quite like any other sport so coaching and instruction are vastly different. The key is finding the balance between athletic progression, technique, conditioning (especially if student is a competitor), and the students desired learning. I am a very detail oriented person with an encyclopedic martial arts memory. I am not a cardio-kickboxing coach, and I won't make anyone run hills, you can hire anyone with a megaphone to bark orders at you, and you can do your running on your own time. I will teach my students how to become better martial artists in the way I see fit after evaluation. My teaching is more about knowledge, technique, and muscle memory, than it is about cardio. There really isn't much about martial arts I am not either an expert in or at the very least aware of. I am pretty well known and respected in the Northeast part of the United States for my coaching abilities.