Lineage: Helio Gracie>Relson Gracie>Phil Migilarese>Scott Shultz/Ken Kronenberg>Len Sonia>Michael Karam

My journey into martial arts started at a very young age, being influenced by actors/movies (i.e. Bruce Lee, JKVD and Chuck Norris). My uncle was a TKD master, so naturally this is where my first experience started. Right away my instructors saw talent in me and with learning strong work ethic from my parents, it made my progress even quicker. Sticking with TKD from the ages 6-12, this is where my journey would shift. Once jr. high school started, martial arts were looked at as a kid's activity and with being easily influenced by my peers, I left the art and continued with my scholastic sports that I also did as a child. It wasn't until winter of my 7th grade year that I tried out for the basketball team. Not surprisingly honestly, I did not make the team. In search of something to keep my busy in the winter, I learned that my mother's cousin was my schools first state champion wrestler back in the 70's. Since there weren't any tryouts for that sport I thought, why not. In my first year I went 50/50 which wasn't too shabby for being as green as I was. Continuing to practice over the summer my 8th grade year I went undefeated and won the end of the year tournament. Throughout my varsity career I put together a good enough resumé to be looked at by some D3 schools. Unfortunately, my academics were not good enough to bridge the gap and I didn't get accepted into the college I had hoped to wrestle for. I took at 2 semesters at a local community college in hopes to transfer, but working at my family restaurant gave me more pleasure than school so I dropped out. I wouldn't find Bjj until 5 years later when some old HS wrestling teammates told me about this martial art they have been training. Fall of 2010 I took my first class; 10 years later I earned my blackbelt and in Summer of 2021 I opened up my own academy.