Cathleen Martinez Information

Martial Arts Expert
St. George, UT

Biography:
Being the youngest of five children, Cathleen learned at an early age the meaning of "survival of the fittest." Aside from the informal training she got from her siblings, Cathleen began exploring an active lifestyle at a very young age. Thanks to her mother, she was introduced to dancing: tap, ballet, and jazz at just three years of age. She danced through Elementary school and spent most summers playing soccer for the Wasatch County Youth Soccer Team. Nearing the end of Elementary School, dancing and soccer began to fade and tumbling with the Heber Handspringers became her full time fun for the coming year. Little did she know that all that power tumbling was going to come in handy later on in her life, but it was not however what Cathleen was created to do. There was a life long passion lurking in the nearby future. It was only months before her 11th birthday when she discovered Taekwondo at American Championship Martial Arts and this became her new love.

For many years to follow, Cathleen faithfully studied, trained, competed and taught Taekwondo, Hapkido and Kwan Bop Kickboxing. Through high school she also became an avid weight lifter and physical education enthusiast. Every summer she managed to play county softball but never missed a workout on the mat. Martial arts was her life and everything paled in comparison. She graduated high school a year before her class and enjoyed taking half of the year to focus on Martial Arts. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, Cathleen was unable to continue with her Taekwondo family at ACMA but was fortunate enough to get further martial arts training while in college and after. From age 18 until the current, she has not only continued with her mother disciplines but has also studied combat Jujitsu, Brazilian Jujitsu, Mui Tai Kickboxing, Kenpo Karate, Tai Chi, American Boxing, Hatha yoga, and Haidong Gumdo. Other sports have been a big part of her life while growing up also like: snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing, volleyball, basketball, softball, soccer, mountain biking, hiking, triathlon, track, rock climbing, and horseback riding just to name a few.

Because of her love for high impact/dangerous sports, she has had the forced pleasure of learning the anatomy and physiology of the human body and the human body in conflict. This became something of a new passion for Cathleen. So much so that she started a career in the medical industry. Her college led her from Shinshyu University (Nagano, Japan), to Utah Valley State University (Orem, UT), to Diagnostic Labs (Honolulu HI), Davis ATC (Kaysville,UT), and is now an adjunct instructor for Dixie Community College (St. George, UT). Through these educational experiences she feels she has gained even more knowledge about the human body and plans to never stop learning.