Dan Siegel
Dan Siegel began his training in martial arts at the age of 11 in Tae Kwon Do under the late Master Y.C. Kim, initially getting into the art because of being bullied and looking for a form of self- defense. It wouldn’t be until he was in college that he watched the very first UFC and saw a much smaller Brazilian man by the name of Royce Gracie who was handling and beating opponents much larger than himself. He decided then and there that this new art called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu would be something that he must learn. In 1998, he was introduced to a friend who happened to train in Judo and BJJ and offered to teach him because he needed a training partner. Immediately, he was hooked and trained every moment he could and has been doing it ever since. Since then he has also trained in other art forms such as Judo, Muay Thai, Wrestling, and dabbling in Kali. He has been very lucky to have met many wonderful people on his journey and has had the opportunity to have trained with many black belt Worlds, Pan American, and other grappling organization champions.
Dan loves to teach and takes a vested interest in his students. Having an extensive coaching background in Girls Junior Olympic Volleyball and many other sports, has given him the basis of coaching children as well as adults in not just sports but also in helping to shape and build the lives of others by using discipline, structure and positive reinforcement.
Accomplishments:
2010: awarded Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Pan American 2010 Purple Belt Absolute Senior 1 Bronze Medalist
Multiple times Gracie Submission Challenge, OGC, NAGA and Arnolds’ medalist and competitor
Fritz Goss - Judo Instructor
Fritz Goss began his judo career in 1967 at Ohio State University with Sensei George Funakoshi, after playing football and wrestling in high school and 1 year at Otterbein College. He won his first (of many) Ohio AAU Judo State Championship in 1968, achieving his black belt and winning the Big Ten Judo Championship in 1970, while placing fourth in the AAU National Championships 172lb. division. In 1971-72, Fritz served as an officer in the U.S. Navy and as judo instructor to Seal Team One in Coronado, California, winning the All-Navy Judo Championship both years and the Sasebo Young Man's 1971 Championship in Japan. After his honorable discharge from the Navy in 1972, he won a one month trip to the Munich Olympics in the fall of 1972 with an Ohio touring team, training with the U.S. Olympic team and fighting exhibition fights throughout Germany and Switzerland.
In 1973 he ban a 28-year career as a teacher and counselor in the Columbus Public Schools, at South H.S., Mifflin H.S., Westmoor M.S. and Wedgewood M.S. He resumed training at Ohio State Judo Club with judo national champions, Dean Tower and John Saylor. He continued training and finished 4th in the AAU Nationals in 1976 and 1978 and was selected to participate in the 172lb. class in the first National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs at the national Sports Training Center. He was the Sensei at the Columbus Hilltop YMCA Judo Club from 1978-1988 coaching numerous state champions and two national champions, Bryan Kazee and Molly See.
In 1987 Fritz won the National Judo Master's Championship and in 1997, at age 50, he came out of retirement to fight the young boys in jujitsu. winning the 180lb. division of the Battle of Columbus Jujitsu Tournament and the Ohio State Martial Arts Championships, losing only the Grand Championship match to the heavyweight champion, for a 9-1 record, after which he retired again. He received his Rokudan (6th degree Black Belt) in 2005 from the Judo Black Belt Association and writes occasional training articles for his old training partner and best friend, John Saylor, founder of Shingitai Jujitsu. Fritz lives in Worthington with his wife Kate, son Danny and daughter Nora, where he works as the Founder and CEO of Goss Financial Services.
Fritz is available for private lessons. Please contact him at fgoss@columbus.rr.com for more information.
