sensei jesse boyd, rokudan

Sensei Jesse Boyd is the founder and head instructor of Catawba Valley Martial Arts, a Cheonjikido dojo in Catawba County, North Carolina. He holds a 6th-degree black belt in Cheonjikido with two decades of teaching experience. He has also a 4th-degree black belt in Tomiki Aikido awarded by Sensei Jack Mumpower, the pioneer of Tomiki Aikido in the United States, a 4th-degree black belt in Traditional Chang Moo Kwan, and a 3rd-degree black belt in Carucado that was officially recognized by the Carolina Karate Association.  Additionally, Sensei Boyd has informally studied Shotokan, Longfist Kung Fu and Kyusho-Jitsu. He has traveled to nearly 50 countries as a Christian missionary, and has labored peacefully with his wife and three small children in many dangerous and hostile contexts. From November of 2014 until January of 2017, Sensei Boyd served as the General Secretary for the National Aikido Alliance (NAA); and presently, he serves as the style historian for the Indigenous Tomiki Aikido Alliance (ITAA).

Sensei Boyd's Rokudan rank in Cheonjikido was presented to him on April 18, 2015 in San Pedro, California by Grandmaster Jon Wiedenman (9th Dan) and with the support of an assortment of high-ranking instructors with direct ties to the patriarchs of both the Traditional Chang Moo Kwan and Tomiki Aikido traditional roots of Cheonjikido.  This honor was bestowed in the Wiedenman dojo the day following a grueling Chang Moo Kwan black belt test which included the demonstration of 18 forms, an open presentation of the art of Cheonjikido, including both Chang Moo Kwan and Aikido principles, and the submission of a 192-page thesis before a panel of nine judges, four of whom were the last students of Chang Moo Kwan patriarch Nam Suk Lee who has his place near the top of the Cheonjikido yudansha lineage.  This bequeathing was done in the stead of the late Sensei Larry Beal and in recognition of the efforts made by Catawba Valley Martial Arts to preserve and promote his heritage.

To this day, Sensei Boyd, is and remains a STUDENT, not a master, of the marital arts. He teaches and trains as a student of Tomiki Aikido under pioneer Jack Mumpower (6th Dan) and Michael Arney (5th Dan) AND in Traditional Chang Moo Kwan under the last students of patriarch Nam Suk Lee, Jon Wiedenman (10th Dan) and George Fullerton (9th Dan).

sensei jason geiger, nidan

Sensei Jason Geiger began his martial arts career in February of 2013 in his garage . Sensei Boyd would come work out with them twice a week after attending classes at the Newton Aikido Club. These sessions started with weight training, circuit training, running, and sparring. After the return of Sensei Boyd and Sensei Middleton from a missions trip, Sensei Boyd asked Jason Geiger and Daniel Middleton to join his Cheonjikido class which, at the time, only consisted of one other student. In May of 2013, Catawba Valley Martial Arts officially opened at the Hickory Granary, and Sensei Geiger has been actively involved ever since. In October of 2014, Jason Geiger and Daniel Middleton traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh to help Sensei Boyd conduct some martial arts demonstrations as a platform for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In March of 2016, Sensei Geiger earned his brown belt in San Pedro, California before the last students of Nam Suk Lee, the patriarch of indigenous Chang Moo Kwan. On the same day Sensei Geiger also earned Master Blue belt in indigenous Chang Moo Kwan. This was in conjunction with Sensei Boyd’s Chang Moo Kwan Nidan test.

Jason Geiger received his first black belt on January 14, 2017 after a grueling 3-day test that involved 20 kata, 100 Ippon Kumite, 100 Advanced Ippon Kumite, 5 weapons kata, up to 4-on-1 kumite, various types of randori, including 8-on-1 and 3-on-1 armed, spontaneous knife attacks with a double-edged live blade, presentation and bunkai application of a traditional form of his choice, and an oral presentation of a written thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the rank of shodan. In addition to the formal test, Mr. Geiger completed First Aid/CPR Certification and all Cheonjikido academic requirements.

Jason Geiger is an analytical martial artist, a gifted teacher, and has had the privilege of personal one-on-one training with Sensei Jack Mumpower: a former student of Kenji Tomiki and Hideo Ohba and the patriarch of Tomiki Aikido in North America. He also holds a Nidan rank in Tomiki Aikido, helps run Catawba Valley Martial Arts when Sensei Boyd is involved in overseas missions, and currently serves as the General Secretary for the North Carolina-based Indigenous Tomiki Aikido Alliance.

sensei eric trent, nidan

Sensei Eric Trent began his martial arts career in July of 2013 at Catawba Valley Martial Arts. He heard about the the dojo through his father, who worked with Sensei Geiger. In the early days, while attending classes twice a week,  Eric would also join the rest of the guys in their sparring sessions in Jason Geiger's garage. In April of 2015, he accompanied Sensei Boyd out to San Pedro, California and served as the uke for his Traditional Chang Moo Kwan Shodan test. Impressed with his proficiency in the Art of Cheonjikido and its indigenous Chang Moo Kwan roots, a quorum of high-ranking instructors awarded Eric a blue belt rank in Traditional Chang Moo Kwan. Later that same year, Sensei Trent traveled to South Asia to help Sensei Boyd conduct a martial arts demonstration as a platform for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was also part of a larger team experience under Jesse Boyd's leadership that involved three months of Great Commission labor high up in a remote area of the Himalayas. In March of 2016, Sensei Trent earned his Cheonjikido brown belt in San Pedro, California before the last students of Nam Suk Lee, the patriarch of indigneous Chang Moo Kwan. This was in conjunction with Sensei Boyd’s Traditional Chang Moo Kwan Nidan test in which Eric also earned a CMK red belt rank.

Sensei Trent received his first black belt at Catawba Valley Martial Arts on January 14, 2017 after a grueling 3-day test that involved 20 kata, 100 Ippon Kumite, 100 Advanced Ippon Kumite, 5 weapons kata, up to 4-on-1 kumite, various types of randori, including 8-on-1 and 3-on-1 armed, spontaneous knife attacks with a double-edged live blade, presentation and bunkai application of a traditional form of his choice, and an oral presentation of a written thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the rank of shodan. All of this was done before a board of ranking martial arts instructors representing Cheonjikido, Tomiki Aikido, and Traditional Chang Moo Kwan.  In addition to the formal test, Mr. Trent completed First Aid/CPR Certification and all Cheonjikido academic requirements.

Eric Trent is a dedicated martial artist, a gifted teacher, and has had the privilege of personal one-on-one training with Sensei Jack Mumpower: a former student of Kenji Tomiki and Hideo Ohba and the patriarch of Tomiki Aikido in North America. He also holds a Nidan rank in Tomiki Aikido, and a Nidan rank in Traditional Chang Moo Kwan. He has traveled all over the world with Sensei Jesse Boyd, and these two have trained together in many strange places.

sensei bethany boyd, shodan

sensei matthew boyd, shodan

sensei michael arney, rokudan

Sensei Michael Arney earned a black belt in Tomiki Aikido in 1994 on the same day that Larry Beal earned his Nidan. Mike was a student of Sensei Larry Hildebrand, an instructor instrumental  in terms of the preservation of Aikido in North Carolina; and much of his training under Mr. Hildebrand also involved personal time with Jack Mumpower, a student of Kenji Tomiki who opened the first Tomiki Aikido dojo in North America in 1960. Mr. Arney joined Catawba Valley Martial Arts in 2014 as a source of accountability in terms of our Tomiki Aikido roots, and he has faithfully given of his time since to help teach and provide the students with a window back into the old days when Larry Beal was still alive and a valuable part of North Carolina Aikido heritage. In 2016, he traveled to San Pedro, California to help uke for Jesse Boyd during his Nidan test in Traditional Chang Moo Kwan and to help oversee, along with the last students of Chang Moo Kwan Patriarch Nam Suk Lee, the brown belt test for Jason Geiger, Daniel Middleton, and Eric Trent. 

Michael Arney is an incredible Aikidoist who currently serves as the President of the North Carolina-based Indigenous Tomiki Aikido Alliance, and he continues to benefit from regular personal one-on-one training with Sensei Jack Mumpower. In the late 1960s, Mr Tomiki sent Jack Mumpower blank certificates bearing his signature and informed his American student that he no longer needed to seek approval from Japan for the promotion of his own students to black belt ranks in Tomiki Aikido. Kenji Tomiki made it very clear that Jack Mumpower was authorized to promote up to his own rank. On June 21, 2023, and for the first time in his more than 60 years of teaching, Sensei Mumpower did just that. Michael Arney is the only Aikido student to have received a 6th Dan from Mr. Mumpower, and the only student ever to have been promoted up to his teacher’s rank. Michael Arney’s contributions to our dojo have had a tremendous impact on the eclectic, pragmatic, and evolving nature of how we train. He teaches a weekly Aikido class at Catawba Valley Martial Arts (Mondays: 6:30pm-8:30pm), and Sensei Jesse Boyd remains his top student.