Shawn Forristall

Shawn Forristall is the owner and chief instructor of Atlanta Budokan. He is a 4th degree black belt in aiki-bujutsu, 2nd degree black belt in karate-do and holds multiple other black belt ranks in weapon arts including Shinkendo, Toyama Ryu and Bojutsu. Shawn started martial arts training in 1988, while in college. He joined Atlanta Budokan in 1991, pursuing an interest in continuing his training. He has been under the direct tutelage of master martial artist, Toshishiro Obata, founder and headmaster of Shinkendo, Traditional Japanese Sword & Aiki-Bujutsu Tanren Kenkyukai.

Shawn graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology & Physical Education from California State University Fullerton where he played Division I football. He obtained his Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist designation from the National Strength and Conditioning Association in 1993. He was a competitive power lifter for over a decade.

Under Shawn’s direction, Atlanta Budokan has continued to grow and expand as Shawn has seen a need and reached out to meet it, striving to create an environment with a traditional feel and a effective training style that is still non-threatening and family oriented. As a father and husband, Shawn’s personal life has helped direct the programs he designs. His desire to spend more time with his own four children prompted him to add children’s classes. His desire to keep them all safe helped guide his decision to start a women’s self-defense program. His corporate self-defense program grew from his desire to take all of what he could offer at the traditional dojo out to employers to empower their work force.

These programs have been successful, with his credits including a 2008 program with Q100 that reached over 4000 women in metro Atlanta; keynote speaker at Wellstar Healthcare System’s 2008 Annual Women’s Health Conference, presenting to 1200 women; and featured speaker for programs with 95.5 The Beat, Fox News, CBS, NBC, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the New York Times.

Shawn continues to enjoy both the training and teaching part of martial arts at Atlanta Budokan, and being a part of something that, on a daily basis, benefits others’ journey through life.

Mark Sears

Mark Sears joined the Atlanta Budokan in 1999. He received his Shinkendo rank of Ren-e in 2003, Toyama Ryu Shodan in 2003, and Instructor certification of Shoden Renshi in 2006. He currently serves as an alternate instructor in Shinkendo. He is an alumni of the School of Business at Valdosta State University, and has worked for the General Services Administration for the last 11 years where he currently coordinates a multi-million dollar federal capital investment program.

Jordon Schultz

Jordon Schultz has been training and competing in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for 5 years. His broad experiences with Jiu Jitsu include living and training in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for 3 months in 2008, filling the role of head Jiu Jitsu instructor at Western New York MMA academy, and competing in more than 100 competition matches. Jordon has Bachelors of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering which has helped him to obtain a core understanding of the mechanics and fundamental principles of Jiu Jitsu.

In 2009, Jordon moved to Atlanta with the intention of training full-time with the best Jiu Jitsu team in the world; Alliance. Currently, Jordon is working exhaustively to achieve his goal of becoming the best lightweight grappler in the world. Jordon’s competition record includes a first place win at the prestigious 2009 IBJJF Pan No-Gi Championships.

Jim Stratton

Jim Stratton joined the Atlanta Budokan in 1998, and received teaching certification from the Aikibuken in 2003, and in Shinkendoin 2004. He currently serves as an alternate instructor in both Aiki-Jujutsu and Shinkendo. Outside the Dojo, he works as a Computer Network Analyst.

Merlin Tolstyk

Merlin Tolstyk has been training at the Atlanta Budokan since 2002 and received his instructor certifications in 2004 for Shinkendo and 2005 for Aiki-Jujutsu.  He currently serves as one of our Shinkendo instructors and assists with the Aiki-Jujutsu classes when necessary.   Merlin holds the ranks of Hyaku-e in Shinkendo, Yonkyu in Toyama Ryu, and Shodan in Aiki-Jujutsu.  As one of the primary Fitness Kickboxing instructors, Merlin likes to bring a fun and dynamic approach to some pretty intensive workouts.  Outside of the dojo, Merlin is a member of the Florida Token Kai Japanese sword society, a ranked competitive fencer (epee) and works providing financial engineering and consulting services to large companies.

Dustin Del Rosario

Dustin Del Rosario joined Atlanta Budokan in 2007, bringing with him 4 years of experience as a personal trainer and 5 years of martial arts experience in taekwondo. He currently holds the ranks of Kirigami in Shinkendo and San Kyu in Aiki-Jujutsu, as well as Ni Kyu in Toyama Ryu. He holds the instructor rank of Kenshuin in both Shinkendo and Aiki-Jujutsu. Dustin also serves as junior instructor in Shinkendo and Kid’s Aiki-Jujutsu as well as teaching fitness kickboxing classes. Outside of the dojo, Dustin owns and operates his own business and writes music.

Eric Innis

Eric Innis joined the Atlanta Budokan in 2002. He currently serves as a junior instructor in Aiki-Jujutsu and Shinkendo, and holds a rank of Shodan in the Aikibuken and Goho-mokuroku in the International Shinkendo Federation. Eric is a graduate from Georgia Tech, and during the day works as an electrical engineer specializing in embedded systems and medical equipment. Besides training at the dojo he enjoys photography, strength training, and the local art scene.

Abigail Turner

Abi Turner has been affiliated with the Atlanta Budokan family since 2006 and has been a fitness kickboxing instructor since 2007. Ms. Turner brings a varied sports and martial arts background to her classes. Outside of the dojo, she is active in the community, coaching children’s soccer and basketball. Abi graduated from Kennesaw State University and currently works as an Operations Manager.

Kalila King

Kalila King began training in Shinkendo at Atlanta Budokan in 1996. She is currently an alternate instructor in Shinkendo and Toyama Ryu with certifications including Shoden Renshi and Shidoin respectively. Kalila brings a broad background to the Budokan. She teaches Taiji (Tai’Chi) to mostly senior citizens around Atlanta; is a former belly dance instructor; and is a former social worker. Kalila has a B.S. in Mathematics from Georgia State University and is married with two daughters and three grandchildren.

Kurt Bryant

Bryant has been at the Atlanta Budokan since 2005. He currently holds the rank of Nikyu and Kenshuin in Aiki-Jujutsu. Kurt has been married for 18 years and has 3 children. He runs his own business in Acworth, GA.

Kurt graduated from Shorter College with a BFA in Musical Theatre.

Jeff Johnson

Jeff joined Atlanta Budokan in May of 2006. He currently serves as an alternate instructor in Shinkendo, and Co-ordinator of our Firearms Training program. Along with minor training in Aikido, Judo, Jujutsu and Karate, He received specialized training in various military fighting systems and served as an instructor to troops under his command in those disciplines. As a Marine he was actively deployed as intelligence personnel to Somalia, Bosnia, and Iraq.

In addition to standard Marine training Jeff received SOC (Special Operations Capable) training in both England and Israel, consisting of advanced personal defense and weapons handling along with tactical theory. He was qualified as Expert in both rifle and pistol. He served two years with SPMAGTFX (Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Experimental) that was tasked with designing and developing new tactics and techniques for Marines in the era of low intensity conflicts.

As part of this unit he worked closely with operators from many branches in the subjects of MOUT (Military Operations Urban Terrain). He was involved in the direct cross training of Police departments in the Jacksonville area in advanced weapons and tactics as they apply to civilian police. Jeff has multiple white papers published on urban combat equipment and tactics and his contibutions and influence in this area of expertise have directly affected the tactics and capabilites of Marines currently serving in the war on terror.