Master Tsai is currently a 4th degree midnight blue belt with the Moo Duk Kwan and has trained in the Martial Arts for over 19 years.
Prior to attaining his masters belt, he was the United States Soo Bahk Do National lightweight sparring champion for 4 years in a row and won 1st place in the full contact continuous sparring division at the Battle of Baltimore.
Some of the many styles Master Tsai previously studied included Japanese Karate, Caeporia, Jiu-Jitsu, Tai-Chi, Wing Chun, and wrestling. He also regulary practices Astanga Yoga and enjoys break dancing in his free time.
Master Tsai also holds a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Engineering and a Masters Degree in Information Systems from the Johns Hopkins Univeristy. He telecommutes full time for RightNow Technologies as an Application Engineer developing web applications.
As a young boy, Frank was fascinated with the martial arts and attributed much of his interest from watching kung fu movies. While visiting his Aunt in San Jose, California one summer, he took a trial class at a Japanese Karate school. During his first sparring class, he accidentally kicked his partner in the face. He felt so bad he never returned.
A few years later, Frank started attending free kung fu classes offered through the local Chinese Language school back in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. The kung fu teacher only taught classes part time and appeared to have mainly learned his techniques from video tapes.
Frank was anxious to train more seriously, so he begged his parents to enroll him in a full time karate school. The cost was significantly higher, however being able to train at a full time studio was definately worth it.
At the age of 11, Frank was officially enrolled in Cho's Karate, the closest martial arts studio his parents could find. It turned out this school taught the traditional Korean art of Soo Bahk Do / Tang Soo Do (Moo Duk Kwan) and this was where his martial arts journey began.
The school's former owner was the late Moo Duk Kwan Grand Master Hwang Kee's son in law Kook Hwang Cho. When Frank began his training, Master Cho had already left to become a pastor in Los Angeles.
Frank's first instructor was one of Master Cho's senior student Master Monty J. Fulk (Dan ID: 26298) who took over the school. Master Fulk was a Sam Dan (3rd degree midnight blue belt) at the time.
In the beginning Frank attented every class he could, even 2 classes a day. He even went to a another Karate club offered through the Ohio State University on Sundays when Cho's Karate was closed. Frank trained 7 days a week for the next few years until he finally dropped the Karate club and dedicated training with Master Fulk full time.
When Frank became a Cho Dan (first degree midnight blue belt), he started to teach all the childern's classes. By then Frank was in 8th grade and got involved in wrestling. It was the closest activity related to the martial arts, so he trained concurrently in Soo Bahk Do and wrestled through out high school.
After graduating high school in 1997, Frank left for Baltimore, Maryland to attend the Johns Hopkins Universty. There were a couple Soo Bahk Do programs in Maryland, but they were too far to attend regularly, so he tried out the local clubs offered through the Univeristy. He trained with the Wing Chun club and particapated in a couple Tae Kwon Do classes. Nothing provoked his interest, so he decided to teach Soo Bahk Do on his own.
He created some crude fliers and posted them around his dormitory offering free Soo Bahk Do classes. A few of his floor mates saw the flyer and decided to give it a try. This was the beginnings of the Johns Hopkins Soo Bahk Do Club which is now an official sports club ofstill now run by his senior students today.
Throughout his years at Johns Hopkins, Frank trained primarly on his own in addition to the montly instructor classes offered by Master Russell Colston (Dan ID: 22358). Master Colston was the former head of the German Federation and relocated to Maryland. This is where he met his second instructor of the Moo Duk Kwan.
During the US Soo Bahk Do National Championships in 2003, Frank met Master Eui Sun Choi (Dan ID: 19203). In 2007, Frank was presented with the opportunity to open a 2nd school with Master Choi. Master Tsai finally passed the reins of the Johns Hopkins Soo Bahk Do club to his senior students and moved to Danbury, CT to open Han Dol Martial Arts.
