Instructor Tim Toon
Tim Toon
Tim Toon was born in Walnut Creek, California, on January 26th, 1989. After moving to Oklahoma with his family as a young boy, he began his martial arts journey at five years old. Heavily inspired by his favorite television show, "Walker Texas Ranger," starring Chuck Norris, Tim began seeking an opportunity to learn Karate. After talking to his parents about the idea, he found an academy to train in Tae Kwon Do. This was the beginning of his infatuation with martial arts.
Tim trained eagerly to win a trophy similar to the ones he saw daily in his academy. In 1994, he competed in the Arkansas State Tae Kwon Do Championships, winning 2nd place as a 6-year-old in the 6—to 8-year-olds division.
After returning to California in his early teens, he was introduced to Boxing and Shotokan Karate. He trained for two years before taking a break and returning to Shotokan at 17. Tim competed several times in Karate and Kickboxing (point and full-contact) tournaments facilitated by the FSKA, AKA, and IKF, winning first place in several Point and Full Contact rules events. He was promoted to Black Belt in that discipline at 19 and currently holds the rank of "Shodan - First Degree Black Belt" in Shotokan Karate.
In 2010, after repeatedly driving by Crosley Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Brentwood, Tim decided to research Jiu-Jitsu as a self-defense style along with all of the schools that offered the discipline in town at the time. He was happy with what he learned about our school and the instructors and enrolled in a trial class for Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai shortly after. Tim immediately fell in love with both arts. He's competed and won in gi, and no-gi competitions at several Northern California tournaments overall belt ranks.
In addition to his love for Martial Arts, Tim is passionate about teaching and helping others discover what Martial Arts training can offer them. For the past year and a half, he's been assisting the Black Belts with classes in the Youth Program. He has also been leading occasional Adult Intermediate classes under the direct supervision of Professor Gracie.
As an Instructor, Tim looks forward to watching his students develop their technical abilities and reap the benefits of martial arts in all areas of their lives. Last year, Tim enrolled his then 5-year-old son in the 4-6-year-olds program and is now witnessing the same positive changes that the training provided him over 25 years ago in the next generation of the Toon family.
After 13 years of dedication to Jiu-Jitsu, Tim was deservingly promoted to Black Belt at our Summer Belt Ceremony in June 2024. He can be seen teaching group and private Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai lessons at our Academy weekly.