The instructor of the Chattanooga Bujinkan Dojo, Matthew McKinney, has been with the group since July of 2010.  As a young child, he started his martial arts career training in kung fu under his brother in law, discovering what would become a lifelong passion for martial arts.  Next, he started to train in Kenpo Karate with a small bit of jiu-jitsu in East Ridge.  When the school started to reach the end of its time, he joined a kung fu school in Hixson, continuing what he started many years earlier.  After a couple of months, he decided to also start taking part in the Filipino martial arts class also offered at the school.  He took a real interest in learning weapons based martial arts and the correlation between empty hand techniques and weapons based techniques, discovering how they worked together.  The highlight of his time there was attending a seminar held by the creator of the system, Tuhon Ray Diolando, and taking part in a technique demonstration.  After leaving this group for personal reasons, he reached out to Christopher Sanders of the Chattanooga Bujinkan Dojo to check out the class.  He immediately fell in love with the movements, techniques, and teaching style, finding where he was truly meant to be.  He formed an immediate friendship bond with another student.  While they approached the techniques differently, they complimented each other perfectly.  They worked very hard on their own time, training together to improve what they were learning and become better martial artists.  Sadly, this student passed well before his time.  One of the best memories so far of his time with the Chattanooga Bujinkan Dojo was being able to take part in training with this student one last time at his home, weeks before his passing, and being a part of Christopher presenting him with an honorary black belt for his hard work, his fight with cancer, and still wanting to train and take his licks during this training, showing no fear.  

Matthew has always been willing to give of his time to train with students that were approaching a test and wanted an extra session or two to really polish their skills, or just have a phone conversation about technique, what was expected, or just talk about martial arts in general.  He has also spent time training with and sharing techniques with other martial arts groups in Chattanooga of varying styles, always happy to help, try something new, or see martial arts from a different perspective.  The two groups he has trained with most recently are Kengo Iwa Kai, a Danzan Ryu Zenyo Bujutsu dojo headed by Rokudan Anthony Holtz along with his son Nidan William Holtz.  Also, with the United Karate Studio in Chickamauga, and now Dalton, GA, led by head instructors 4th degree blackbelt Tim Marks and his wife, 3rd degree blackbelt Curcha Marks.

Other interests include music, as Matthew has been playing guitar for nearly 30 years, as well as fitness and a healthy lifestyle.  He has a small home gym attached to the space where he trains and practices martial arts where he exercies 5 days a week with weights and cardio as well as tracking calories and what he eats to promote healthy choices, wellness, and weight loss.