Corey Whitlatch is an Electrical Engineer with Pickering Associates at the Charleston, WV office. Though Engineering is his career path, Corey’s passion takes him down the path of Jiu- Jitsu, a form of Martial Arts fighting. What is Jiu- Jitsu? In the world of Martial Arts there are various fighting techniques, karate is self defense tactics using various Japanese weapons, and Jiu-Jitsu is more hand to hand combat and manipulation techniques to overthrow your opponent. Corey has been studying Martial Arts for the last 12 years. Being a smaller kid his mom got him started in classes when he was 11 years old, at 13 he went on to karate and at 14 he started studying Jiu-Jitsu. As Corey grew older he started to play football, but continued his Jiu-Jitsu studies and the training that Jiu-Jitsu provided was able to help him to excel in football.
As an adult Corey has become a Sensei, or Teacher, of Ju-Jitsu with his father, at a training school in Harrisville WV. Corey has 6 students, and has taught from ages 14 to 28 year old adults throughout the past few years. “I am really looking forward to the competition, and to see how my students perform throughout the day as well, there should be some great competition at the event”, mentioned Corey. The event is sponsored by Don Madden a very distinguished Martial Arts fighter in the United States, and this competition will allow him to select members to be on the American team.
When asked what he hopes to do with his passion for Jiu-Jitsu, Corey responded, “I enjoy the work I do here at Pickering Associates as an engineer, but this is a passion of mine and I would love to fall it all the way. Even if it continues to be just a hobby, it would be amazing to have my own school someday, and I would love to continue to teach students and to see where they go with the skills they learn and develop in classes.”
We would all like to wish Corey good luck at the competition on August 11th, we are all rooting for you!