Premier Martial Ats Collinsville

The history of Collinsville’s Premier Martial Arts, begins with the owners, husband/wife team, Tom and Missy Whitaker. Mr. and Mrs. Whitaker met at a martial arts school back in 1994. They immediately connected, began dating and were married in the spring of 1995. When they first met, Mr. Whitaker was a blackbelt, boxer, and kickboxer. Mrs. Whitaker worked in the fitness industry as a cheerleading coach, gymnastics coach, and aerobic instructor for the city of Fairview Heights Recreational Dept.

Throughout the mid and late 90’s Mr. and Mrs. Whitaker spent their time in Boxing and Kickboxing gyms as Mr. Whitaker trained, traveled, and fought. Mrs. Whitaker was by his side and in his corner assisting him every step of the way. In 1997 Mrs. Whitaker was recognized as the 1st female assistant coach to the great 1986 US Team Boxing Coach, Ray Cubbin at his South Broadway Boxing Gym.

It was during this time that Mr. and Mrs. Whitaker began to plan for a World Class Martial Arts Training Facility. Although it was to be far in the future, they loved martial arts and boxing, and wanted to open a school after Mr. Whitaker retired from the ring.

As they planned as a husband/wife team, Mr. and Mrs. Whitaker decided they wanted a place that would appeal to the entire family. They planned and researched the industry for nearly 3 years. Then in 1999, while moving a pool table, Mr. Whitaker suffered a back injury. It took nearly a year for him to recover. While recovering, and nearing age 30, Mr. Whitaker decided to retire from the ring and open the school he and his wife had planned for so long.

In the summer of 2000 the school that is now known as Premier Martial Arts was born. For the 1st year Mr. Whitaker worked 2 jobs to pay the rent and Mrs. Whitaker assisted at the school while pregnant.

Collinsville’s Premier Martial Arts is now over 200 families strong, and offers everything from kids’ classes to fitness classes, to a full contact fight team. Over the past eight years we have seen children improve their confidence, attitude, and work ethic at school and home through our Black Belt Success System. We have seen adults become more confident and physically fit in our adult programs.

In addition to our martial arts program; we also train boxers, kickboxers, and MMA fighters on our competition fight team. Since July of 2000 we have trained 13 champions in our 5,000 sq ft facility in Collinsville.

In 2007 we were recognized by one of the largest and most reputable professional martial arts organizations in the world, Black Belt School International, as being one of the Top 100 Schools in the country.

Mr. and Mrs. Whitaker, are still involved daily, working their dream, and along with their professionally trained team, helping others to reach their goals.