Senior Instructor, 7th Dan
Shihan Yu
Shihan Yu is a 7th degree black belt (“nana-dan”) in shotokan karate and a 1st degree black belt in shito-ryu. She has tested for shotokan ranks before JKA Sensei Kenichi Haramoto and Hidetaka Nishiyama, and before legendary Hirokazu Kanazawa, Kenzo Mabuni, and Osamu Ozawa. Shihan Yu currently teaches youth classes, yoga, and women’s self defense. She has served as the AAU Karate State Director since 2005, and helped other state directors grow their programs. In 2022, she was appointed as a National Head Coach for AAU USA Karate and has traveled with 7 athlete delegations abroad. She has degrees from Stanford University and UC San Diego, and was a swimmer and cheerleader in high school.
Sensei Anna
Instructor, Weapons Specialist, 3rd Dan
Sensei Anna is a native Japanese speaker and the hardest working student at the dojo. She surpassed her sons in karate, has won countless medals at state, regional, and national championships, and substitutes for other instructors whenever she can (even though she is a busy engineer). During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sensei Anna furthered her Okinawan weapons knowledge by training virtually with the late great Sensei Dometrich; Today, Sensei Anna teaches fundamental weapons class which covers proper handling and fluid movement of bo, eiku, sai, and kama.
Instructors
Shihan Robinson
Technical Advisor, 7th Dan
Shihan Robinson is founder of B.E.S.T. Karate and teaches advanced students at TBK. He is Nana Dan (7th degree black belt) in shotokan karate with more than 30 years of training. Shihan has developed and coached 15 world karate champions at Triangle’s Best Karate. He trains karate and kata everyday and designs challenging workouts at the dojo. He spends many weekends officiating and training referees. Robinson was appointed to the National Referee Council for AAU Karate in 2009 and to the World Union of Karate-do Federations (WUKF) Referee Commission in 2018, where his title now is Vice President of WUKF. In 2023, Robinson became a Rookie Ambassador for the Men Wear Pink fundraising campaign for the American Cancer Society.
Sensei Craig
Senior Instructor, 5th Dan
Sensei Craig is a charter member of Best Karate dojo; he started training from our opening day in 2004. Sensei Lawton, a 5th dan, completed two years of instructor training in Philadelphia, teaches beginner and advanced adults, and is part of the coaching staff for the dojo’s competition team. Sensei Craig is rated as a Referee A (highest before Chief) in the U.S. and received a Judge B rating at the WUKF World Championship 2022. Sensei Craig has two other black belts in his family, his daughter Brianne and his son Joshua, both of whom were members of the AAU Karate Junior National team. Sensei Craig also is an executive with an international banking institution. His high school sports were swimming and water polo.
Sensei Dave
Weapons Instructor, 4th Dan
Sensei Dave Henshall, Yondan Shito-Ryu, has studied various traditional weapons since 1995 with Sensei Dometrich and others. He teaches kobudo (weapons) and coaches our local and national team members. Sensei Henshall also teaches karate at Carolina Martial Arts in Durham under Shihan Kevin Gurganus. Sensei Henshall competes regularly in Open Hand Kata and with Sai, Kama, Bo, Eku, and Tonfa. Sensei Henshall is an active senior/master competitor in kobudo, kata, and kumite.
Sensei Thierry
Instructor, 4th Dan
Sensei Thierry started karate in France at the age of 9 under Sensei Michel Bezot and Serge Chouraqui, who were former students of Sensei Taiji Kase. He currently holds the rank of 4th Dan in Shotokan. He is an accomplished competitor in both kata and kumite, having won gold medals as a regional champion in France from 1995 to 2008 and several national gold medals, and was an accredited WKF referee at the county level. Sensei Thierry came to the United States in 2012, landed first in Boston, then San Francisco, and settled in Raleigh. He is VP of Professional Services for a French company that produces software for pharmaceutical and personal care products. Outside of karate, Sensei Thierry plays soccer, had played violin, and enjoys French rap and electro music. He and his wife have two young sons.
Sensei Dimple
Instructor, 3rd Dan
Sensei Dimple is a 3rd degree black belt who has trained at Best Karate since 2007. When in high school, she was introduced to Jiu-Jitsu and Shotokan Karate and fell in love with martial arts ever since. She manages IT projects for the State of North Carolina.
Sensei Regina
Instructor, 2nd Dan
Sensei Regina started karate in Brazil at age 9, when she was the only female in her class. She received her black belt at age 17 under the instruction of Antonio Flávio Testa. She currently holds the rank of 2nd Dan in Shotokan and is an accomplished athlete in kata, kumite and kobudo. She has competed as a junior, adult, and veteran. She has also trained and competed in taekwondo and kickboxing. Regina came to the US in 2001 to pursue her MBA and has lived in Salt Lake City, Seattle, NYC and Raleigh, while having the privilege of training n 5 excellent dojos. And in her opinion, TBK is the top one. Outside of the dojo, she is a project manager at a global financial services company.
Sensei Scott
Instructor, 3rd Dan
Sensei Scott received his initial training with Billy Bly in Cary, North Carolina. Sensei Scott trained remotely through the pandemic and received his 3rd degree black belt in 2021. Scott received his BEE in Electrical Engineering at Villanova, and his MBA in healthcare from Iona University School of Business in New Rochelle, NY. He is an avid Boston Celtics basketball fan.
Sensei JJ Yu-Robinson
Chief Instructor, 4th Dan
J.J. has been a competitive karate-ka since age 5. He is a 4th degree black belt who enjoys training, teaching, and coaching kata, kumite, and conditioning. J.J. also played high school football, began Olympic weightlifting in college, and enjoys pick-up basketball. Kata: J.J. has won the Amateur Athletic Union national championship in shotokan kata for seven years straight (2018-2025) and grand champion in kata for 5 years. Kumite: After winning his first kumite world championship at age 13, J.J. was nearly unbeatable in the U.S. (an average of six national championship titles between 2015 and 2021) but won only two international bronze medals. J.J. reinvented his eating and training regimen to gain size and speed and in 2022, won one Gold and 3 Silver medals at the World Union Karate Federation worlds. Coaching: In 2024, Sensei J.J. started teaching kumite clinics along the East Coast U.S. as a visiting instructor. In 2025, he started teaching private lessons online to both kata and kumite athletes. After an ACL rupture in early 2026 that required surgery and 9 months of PT, Sensei J.J. leaned into his teaching and coaching skills. He served as an AAU National Coach at the WUKF World Championships in Cluj, Romania.