Dion Dangzalan (“Mr. D”) – Kid’s Striking Class instructor – has been studying karate since the age of 6, under the tutelage of Sensei Terry Dunphy and his brother, Todd Dunphy. He attained his black belt at the age of 14 in the Zen Bei Butoku Kai International Organization, which follows the Shorinji Ryu style of traditional karate. He has studied Shotokan karate under his father, Simon, and trained with the members of the original Santa Cruz Karate Club, as well as various other martial arts gyms throughout his life.
Mr. D competed in both kata (traditional forms) and kumite (full contact and point fighting) in his younger years, but now has a passion for “applicable” or “practical” karate, which is applying kata movements to real life self defense scenarios. He is skilled in a variety of karate weapons, such as bo, jo, nunchaku, tonfa and sai.
He is a karate instructor and student at Sanford’s Martial Arts under Hanshi Rod Sanford and his son, Sensei Sean Sanford.
Mr. D enjoy’s “mixing it up”, by introducing crossover karate techniques into modernized sport orientated martial arts such as Muay Thai and Boxing.