Sensei April Noss
4th Dan Hayashi-Ha Shito-ryu Kai
2nd Kyu Yammani-ryu Kobudo
Ikkyu Kenshin-ryu Kobudo
Sensei April Noss is a 4th degree black belt in Hayashi-Ha Shito-Ryu, and has been practicing karate for 35 years. The daughter of Shihan Reed Noss and Sensei Myra Noss, and niece of Sensei Rick Noss, Sensei was born into a “karate family”. She spent her early teenage years as a Sempai in the Noss dojo, Timberhill Karate Club. As she progressed through the ranks to her current Yon-Dan she was Sensei in Oregon for Corvallis Parks and Recreation and Timberhill Karate Club, Oviedo Karate Club, and now Sensei and owner of Sarasota Karate Club.
Sensei April Noss was active in traditional karate tournaments, especially the USA National Karate-do Federation, where she won over forty gold medals and various silver and bronze in State, National, and International tournaments, including two gold medals in the 2000 Junior Olympics. She competed in kata, kumite, as well as kobudo for over a decade.
In the summer of 2000, Sensei April went to Tottori, Japan to extensively train with Soke Yoshimi Inoue, as well as Sensei Mie Nakayama. She has attended numerous workshops with Soke Teruo Hayashi, founder of Hayashi-ha Shito-ryu. Sensei April uses this education, as well as her training in other numerous workshops and private lessons with top karate-ka, to help with her intricate teaching practices.
Sensei April Noss also studies traditional Okinawan weapons, formerly training in Kenshin-ryu kobudo, and now Yamanni-ryu kobudo, where she holds a 2nd kyu rank in sai and bo.
Along with traditional Japanese karate, Sensei has both volunteered and led workshops on women's self-defense since she was a teenager, including with the non-profit Determined Spirit Self-Defense in Oregon.
Sensei April developed Empowered Spirit Self-Protection to instruct people from all walks of life to strengthen and utilize their intuition, verbal and nonverbal communication, and tools, to learn de-escalation strategies and practice, physical self-protection techniques, and self-care steps (including breathing techniques, meditation, yoga poses, and qigong exercises).
Sensei April has been practicing yoga for 25 years and has her 200 ryt from Yoga from the Heart in Sarasota, FL. She teaches children and adults and uses her knowledge of body alignment, anatomy, and breathwork in her karate teaching. She is a former tutor and science instructor at Girls, inc and has worked with children in environmental education. Among her many passions, she is an aspiring songwriter and musician, an avid traveler, a bookworm and writer, an herbal medicine enthusiast, and loves to cook. She and her husband, Sensei Armando Ubeda, have three children, ages sixteen, twelve, and six.
Sensei Armando J. Ubeda
3rd Dan Hayashi-Ha Shito-ryu Kai
Sensei Armando J. Ubeda is a 3rd degree black belt in Hayashi-ha Shito-ryu. Born in Nicaragua, Sensei Armando was introduced to karate at a young age; however, his formal training started when he joined the Renbukaikan Karate-Do dojo lead by Sensei Rodolfo Baez in the City of Managua. After graduating from college in 1997 with a degree in Marine Biology, Sempai had to move away from his former dojo to pursue his professional career. He spent two years assisting with coral reef community’s studies in the Caribbean of Nicaragua.
In 2000, Sensei was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship that allowed him to move to Corvallis, Oregon to continue with his graduate education where he earned a Masters Degree in Marine Resource Management at Oregon State University. It was that year that Sensei found the Noss Dojo led by Shihan Reed Noss and Sensei Myra Noss, where he was introduced to Hayashi-ha Shito-ryu and Yamanni-Chinen Ryu kobudo (traditional Okinawan weapons)
Since joining Hayashi-ha Shito-ryu, Sensei Armando have had the opportunity to attend workshops led by Soke Yoshimi Inoue and Shihan Toshihiro Oshiro, and trained under Shihan Reed Noss, Sensei Rick Noss, Sensei Myra Noss and Sensei April Noss.
In 2006, Sensei along with his family moved permanently to Sarasota, FL to work for the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory. From 2008 to 2016, Sensei worked for an environmental organization called LightHawk as their Mesoamerican Program Manager. Now, Sensei works for the University of Florida at the UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County’s office as the Sarasota Sea Grant Agent.
When not studying, teaching martial arts, coaching youth soccer and working for conservation issues, Sensei spends his time reading, hiking, surfing, scuba diving, grilling and traveling with his family.
