BITW Martial Arts » Instructors

Instructors

Damon Gilbert is an 8th degree Black Belt in the Art of Kajukenbo Effective Self-Defense. Training over 30 years he has trained more than two thousand students.

Damon is a 14-x sport karate sparring world champion and a member of sport karate’s most prestigious team, Team Paul Mitchell. Receiving his black belt in 1991 he began to fight on the professional circuit in 1992. Damon has won several national and international martial art tournaments.

Due to his success in competitive fighting he is one of the most sought after fighters for seminars/workshops in and out of the United States. Damon has been featured in Black Belt magazine, Inside Kung Fu magazine, ESPN 2, local newspapers, and has been featured on the cover of Sport Karate International magazine twice.

Damon has been a Police Officer for Oakland Police Department for over 15 years. He served as the lead Defensive Tactics instructor for the Oakland Police Department for 10 years. During that time Damon was able to teach women self defense classes to more than 800 residents and city employees. Damon is also a POST (Police Officer Standards and Training) certified physical trainer.

14 X WORLD CHAMPION

Started martial arts in 1980
Received black belt in 1991
1992 ranked #2 NBL sport karate heavy weight sparring
1993 NBL heavyweight sport karate sparring world champion
1994 NBL heavyweight sport karate sparring world champion
1994 NBL overall sport karate sparring world champion
1995 ranked #2 NBL sport karate heavyweight sparring
1995 NBL team sparring world champion
1996 NBL heavyweight sport karate sparring world champion
1998 NBL super heavy weight sport karate sparring world champion
1999 NBL super heavy weight sport karate sparring world champion
2000 ranked #2 NBL sport karate super heavy weight sparring
2001 NBL super heavy weight sport karate sparring world champion
2001 NBL team sparring world champion
2002 NBL super heavy weight sport karate sparring world champion
2003 Quebec Open overall sparring grand champion(Montreal, Quebec)
2004 NASKA 30-39 overall sparring world champion
2006 US open overall sparring grand champion (televised on ESPN)
2006 Battle of Atlanta overall sparring world champion
2006 NASKA 30-39 overall sparring world champion
2007 Quebec open overall sparring grand champion(Montreal, Quebec )
2007 Battle of Atlanta overall sparring world champion
2008 Battle of Atlanta overall sparring world champion
2008 NASKA 30-39 0verall sparring world champion
2008 NASKA 30-39 sparring world champion
2008 NASKA team sparring world champions(Team Paul Mitchell)
2008 NBL 35+ super heavy weight sparring world champion
2008 East West Open (Karate Olympics) (2) Gold Medals.
10 X NBL fighting world champion
4 X NASKA fighting world champion

PRESTIGOUS TEAMS SELECTIONS

1993 PKC-USA KARATE TEAM
1995 WAKO-USA 1ST PLACE AT TEAM TRIALS
1995 WORLD CHAMPION TEAM FULL CONTACT ELITE
2001-2005 WORLD CHAMPION CJB PROFESSIONAL KARATE TEAM
2005-PRESENT WORLD CHAMPION TEAM PAUL MITCHELL KARATE

Sport Karate Kumite World Champion Si Gung Charles Herndon is a 6th degree Black Belt and has over 30 years of martial arts experience. Sifu Herndon is a proud graduate of New Mexico State University and has retired from Amtrak after 40 years of service as a conductor.

Sports Karate Kumite World Champion Si Gung Earl (Doc)Jones is a 6th degree Black Belt and has over 30 years of martial arts experience. Sifu Jones is a graduate of Howard University and is the former President/Senior Instructor of the International Association for Orthodontics (I.A.O)

Nisha Gilbert is B.I.T.W Martial Arts Academy program director and lead instructor of our Sport Karadio fitness program. Nisha is a 2nd degree Black Belt with over 25 years of martial arts experience. In 1995 Nisha was ranked #2 female middle weight fighter in the world by the National Black Belt League (NBL). Nisha is a proud graduate of Cal State Hayward University with a BA in Liberal Studies and currently a Elementary school principal for the Dublin Unified school district