Rene Garza began practicing martial arts in 1975 under Oscar Garcia when his mother enrolled him in a community education course. He continued training under Mr. Garcia at the local Boys and Girls club.
Garza began his formal training in TaekwonDo Moo Duk Kwan under the tutelage of Jerry Galvan and Grandmasters Saul and Samuel Saldana.
Garza has taught and promoted the martial arts since 1988 earning a 7th dan from the Taekwondo Jidokwan in 2016 from Grandmaster Dae Sup An. He is recognized as a 4th dan through the Kukkiwon and US Tae Kwon Do Han Moo Kwan. He has received several Letters of Commendation and Achievement from both the Kukkiwon and the TaeKwonDo JidoKwan in Seoul, Korea. In 2017 he was honored by the Universal Martial Arts Hall of Fame as TaeKwonDo Man Of The Year.
In addition to Taekwondo, Garza has dan and instructor rankings in Tendo Ryu Karate, Tsuru Kempo, and Combat Submission Wrestling.His instructors have included, Dae Shik Kim, Won Pyo, Erik Paulson, Daniel Graves, Edward Suarez, Prof. Silvero Guerra, William Holland, Frank Shamrock, and Mark Hatmaker.
Garza is the founder of the Empirical Fighting System, earning recognition from the Universal Hall of Fame in 2008.
Rene Garza is also an educator, instructional technologist and master tech education Jedi. Garza is an alumni of Texas A&M University-Kingsville. After graduation he worked as a professional journalist and photojournalist before transition into public education where he taught art and English for 15 years. He currently works for Los Fresnos CISD as a digital learning specialist. Rene Garza currently resides in the Rio Grande Valley with his wife and two dogs, where he guides students out of his school The Dojang Martial Arts Academy.
Garza believes in a growth mindset philosophy and teaches his students …”Stop talking about how good you are, and start pursuing your excellence. Be better than you were.”