Leroy Rodriguez began his Martial Arts training in 1963 with Duke Moore. He began his training with Sensei Kim around 1965. He continued training off and on until 1976, when he left and began his own group.

“One of the things I remember about the training with Sensei Kim was those Monday to Friday 1-4 p.m. classes at Duke Moore’s where we practiced judo under his close supervision. There was Richard Lee, Chuck Siani, Robert Leong and Frank Yuen (China). They were the best and talk about hard training – wow! Trying to fight with a guy like Chuck Siani was not fun in any way, shape or form – he was so big and so tough. Later on, when he started teaching karate katas, this was terrific training as well. I loved this part of the training.”

In our interview with him he said one thing many people do not know is that he was a tremendous dancer and he could really kick up a storm when it came to swing dancing.

Leroy went on to become on of the very best kata practitioners on the west coast, competing in many of Sensei Kim’s famous Black Belt Only tournaments that were old school karate, to say the least.

Today, Rodriguez runs his school and his own organization called Shinkyu Shotokan USA. He is still training and learning and when you see him perform kata you will see how the true essence of karate training can improve your overall health. He looks like a man half his age when he takes to the floor.