About Us

True Martial Arts was founded in 1982, and is one of the biggest and longest-running Martial Arts schools in the State of Washington We are conveniently located behind the Pine Lake Shopping Center next to Columbia Athletic Club. We offer Martial Arts training for youth ages 5-12, teens, adults, families, persons with special needs and youth ages 5 and under.

Founding History and Ownership

TMA’s founder, the late Thomas Zoppi developed a passion for martial arts by training and achieving 2nd degree Black Belt at Choi Karate Institute of Los Angeles in the 1970’s. In 1982, Mr. Zoppi, along with his wife Laurel, and their children moved to Bellevue, and had to leave his training in Los Angeles with SBN Dan Di Vito at Choi Karate Institute behind.

Mr. Zoppi never stopped talking about or practicing martial arts, so it wasn’t long before his son was begging to learn. As a birthday gift in October of 1982, Mr. Zoppi took his son Skyler out to the garage and taught him his first martial arts lesson. The lessons continued and shortly after, a family friend showed interest and became Mr. Zoppi’s first paying student. Word of mouth spread and other students joined including Laurel. In December of 1982, Thomas moved his lessons from the garage to his first rented location on Bellevue-Redmond Road in Bellevue. After many years of operating the school in the Overlake area, the Zoppi’s opened a second True Martial Arts location on the Sammamish Plateau in April of 1995.

After Thomas Zoppi passed away in 2001, the schools continued to thrive under the leadership of Mother and Son team Laurel and Skyler Zoppi. Skyler & Angie Zoppi became 2^nd Generation owners of True Martial Arts in 2019.

Our Philosophy

True Martial Arts takes a balanced approach, teaching traditional values and classic martial arts movements, but also teaching modern self-defense techniques that are usable and effective, and life skills that students can put to use every day.

The scope of our program goes beyond teaching just kicks and punches. We teach our students to approach everything they do in the Black Belt Way, with 100% effort, a positive attitude, and indomitable spirit.

What We Teach

Traditional Tae Kwon Do: a Korean martial art distinguished by its long & low stances, high kicks, and jumping & flying kicks. The style is great for increased fitness, stamina, strength, toughness, reflexes, flexibility, balance, and coordination.

Modern Arnis: a Filipino weapons and self-defense art. The style is great for increased hand-eye coordination, quickness, dexterity, depth perception, and practicality for defending yourself from weapon attacks.

Self-Defense: practical, effective and usable self-defense technique from Martial Arts styles and systems around the world including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Judo, Kickboxing, Wrestling, and more.

We provide a place where:

• Families can connect through their training
• Students increase their proficiency in defending themselves
• Students learn and practice respecting themselves, their family members, the school, and others
• Students learn and put into practice perseverance through challenges
• Students become more physically fit
• Students learn and put into practice goal setting and achievement
• Students become better leaders.