Mike’s initial martial arts training began in the U.S. Marine Corps in the 1960’s. He was introduced to Taijiquan in 1987 by Cindy Born, who inspired him to study with her teacher, Sifu Pat Rice, beginning in 1988. Sifu Rice’s annual event, “A Taste of China, Taijiquan”, allowed Mike to extend his studies with Grandmasters Yang Zhenduo, Yang Jun and numerous other masters in the US and China. Through national competitions, in 1993 Mike was selected as one of the ten members of the North American Taijiquan Team, which placed highly at the First International Invitational Taijiquan Competition in Fuzhou, China. Mike traveled and studied in China, returning to the USA in 1994. Mike continues his studies with Grandmaster Yang Jun, and has been teaching continuously since 1994, through college, hospital, adult education and senior center classes in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Maine. He established a Taijiquan & Qigong school in Rockland, Maine, in 2002, and became a Yang Family Tai Chi School Director in 2013.