Randall Engle, a yudansha (black belt level) practitioner of the Bujinkan arts, is co-founder of the Bujinkan Raku Rai (Falling Thunder) Dojo of Murfreesboro, Tennessee and founder of the Bujinkan Fudo Arashi Dojo of Gadsden, AL. He is a member of the Bujinkan Taka Seigi Dojo (Hawk Justice) headed by Shihan Phil Legare. He trains as often as possible with the other instructors of the BTSD in Alabama. Born in Gadsden in February of 1981, his father passed away four days before his fifteenth birthday. This is one of the main reasons he began training in martial arts was to learn more about being a good man and a better human being. However he didn't want to train in just any thing which looked good, he wanted what he trained in to be effective as well while teaching him life lessons.
Beginning his training at the age of fifteen years old under sensei Calvin Bomar and his student Yancey Walker he quickly rose to the rank of assistant instructor and was one of the three original students of the Gadsden Bujinkan Dojo under Yancey Walker-sensei when he reformed the dojo in 1998 after Sensei Bomar left for law school. The others were Richard Harris, now ranked Shodan (2002) and Barry Turner also ranked Shodan (2006).
Randall began to train under a wide variety of practitioners within the southeastern US beginning in 1998. His teachers include Lee Drew of the Birmingham Bujinkan Dojo, Mike Tucker, now head of the Mobile, AL and Monroeville, AL Dojo, Shidoshi Zane Prater, head of the Bujinkan Raku Rai Dojo, Sensei Seth Burrows of the Bujinkan Middle Tennessee Dojo, and Shidoshi Arlando Sanders, head of the Tuscaloosa, AL BTSD Dojo. He credits each with a huge contribution to his training. He has also attended seminars taught by Jack Hoban of New Jersey, Bud Malmstrom of Atlanta, Mike Pearce of Japan, and Phil Legare, head of the Bujinkan Taka Seigi Dojo. He also attended the 1998 Smokey Mountain Tai Kai in Gatlinburg, TN, skipping school for three days to do so. It was here he was exposed to the Bujinkan and its top practitioners from around the world for the first time on such a grand scale.
Randall recently moved back to his hometown of Gadsden, AL to begin laying the groundwork for yet another dojo to bring the Bujinkan to a new generation of students. He calls his martial arts group the Bujinkan Fudo Arashi (Immovable Storm) Dojo. His top students are currently Danny Brown, 1st Kyu and Haywood DeJarnette, 3rd Kyu. Aside from the Bujinkan arts he has also studied Kali and Arnis, Gracie Jiu Jitsu, Boxing and dabbled in many other grappling arts.
The focus of his classes tends to lean towards developing a strong knowledge of the kihon and basics, and grasping the feeling of what makes the techniques work more effectively. He also draws upon his experiences working with violent patients at various state facilities where he was often employed in the take-down and restraint of the patient.
His hobbies include photography, drawing and stenciling cartoons, writing poems and short stories, video games, for which he has won a handful of FPS style game tournaments, paintball, hiking and outdoor activities, movies and animation, and he is also a devout Christian. He has one daughter, Adrianna Mackenzie Kay Rose Engle born on June 15th, 2003, the seven year anniversary of beginning his training.
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