Grand Master Rod Batiste is an 8th-degree black belt with over 58 years of martial arts experience. He has black belts in six different styles. He has trained over 1000 people to the level of black belt and two to the level of master instructor (Master Geoff Thompson of Northern VA, and Master Michael Amenu of Maryland).
Some of his more noticeable private students include James V. Kimsey, CEO Emeritus of AOL; Queen Norr of Jordan; Richard Trumpka, Former President of the AFL-CIO; Mary Wilson of the “Supremes” female singing group; and Congresswoman Jane Harman of California.
He began martial arts in 1967 in New York, where he studied the Yamaguchi style of Gojukai. He studied Tai Chi for the first time with Sifu Alan Lee’s Northern Shaolin Academy in Manhattan.
In the Army, he continued his Tai Chi training under Sifu Dean Chin’s Jow Ga Kung Fu School in Washington, D.C.
Taking a break from Kung Fu, he mastered his first form of Taekwondo with James Roberts’ Mu Do Kwan Taekwondo association in Alexandria, VA.
After leaving Master Roberts, he became an instructor with the Jhoon Rhee Taekwondo organization, where, in the 70’s, he became the NKL World Kickboxing Champion after defeating Jimmy Horsley in Asheville, NC. Unfortunately, the NKL went defunct. Batiste, though, continued his kickboxing experience and went on to become the PKA’s United States Middleweight Champion by beating Texan Ray McCallan.
Currently, Grand Master Batiste is the Chief Tai Chi Wellness instructor with Riverside Wellness and Fitness Center, a division of Walter Reed Hospital in Gloucester, VA.
His student body includes a range of professionals in high-stress occupations: Police officers, Firefighters, Nurses, Doctors, Therapists, schoolteachers, Real Estate Agents, and Counselors.
Because stress is the number one reason people seek medical advice, his services are highly recommended by many of the hospital’s personal care physicians.