Instructors

Ryan May: Lead Instructor

At the age of 8, Ryan May was invited by his new best friend to a Tae Kwon Do class. He began his training with Master Frank Sanders in a small class in Eupora, Mississippi. He trained there for two years and reached his green belt and had to stop due to the class closing. At age 17 he found his old instructor in another town and started his training again along with four of his younger brothers. By age 21, Mr. May had earned his first degree black belt and had found a great love for teaching and helping others learn. He received his second degree black belt two years later. Master Sanders had opened another school in Starkville, Mississippi, where he placed Mr. May as the Head Instructor. Now, as a third degree black belt, Mr. May is Chief Instructor and owner of Starkville Tae Kwon Do, continuing to train others and training himself for his fourth degree black belt, then his fifth degree black belt (being the degree of Master status).

Juan Corrigan

Juan Corrigan took interest in martial arts since the series Kung Fu.  Growing up in New Albany, MS there weren’t any martial arts or instructors in the late 70’s.  Football, baseball, and basketball were the main sports available.  It wasn’t until 1980 (9th Grade) that he found out there was a class being taught by an industrial arts teaching in W.P. Daniel.  At the age of 14, he began to take classes under Robert Lyles.  Three and half years later, at the age of 17, he earned his black belt under James Dye and Oliver Miller.  He assisted teaching in the last semester of high school and later taught TaeKwonDo classes for electives at Mississippi State University.  In 2000 he reached second Dan, as he was a fitness and aerobics instructor for the Joe Frank Sanderson Center.  His academic majors are all related to physical fitness with a B.S. in Kinesiology and M.S. in Exercise Science.  He has over 27 years in the Army National Guard with two deployments.  He has two sons that are students in the class and want to follow in his steps.