CMATS Child & Youth Instructors
Jordan Dellabough
Head Instructor
A home is where we should feel safe. At the age of four, Jordan Dellabough was signed up for his first martial arts lesson by his mother. For her it was about safety. For him it was a chance to disappear like a ninja, strike like Bruce Lee, act goofy but awesome like Jackie Chan, and have fun. He soon learned that by listening to people wiser than himself, he could try to be "a positive effect on this world."
Passion and ability grew together. He earned his first black belt at twelve from Grand Master Sung Ju Kim, was already helping teach adult classes, and had his sights on the 1988 Olympics. Circumstances stopped that particular dream. They did not stop him.
As a teenager he used what he was learning everywhere else: winning chess games against adults, lending a shoulder, coming back after being knocked down, driving with awareness, setting track records, and making hard decisions. By the time he finished high school and moved to another province, he knew martial arts had already changed his life, even if he never learned to vanish like a ninja.
He stepped away for a year while he worked three jobs and built a new life. Then he came back. Over the next three and a half years a new instructor tested not only his physical skill but his confidence, loyalty, determination, humility, respect, and patience.
Life and work improved. One highlight was serving as a personal attendant during the 2002 Golden Jubilee visit to Victoria by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.
In the summer of 1996, at a seminar hosted by his instructor at the time, Sensei Mike Chin, he first saw Professor Remy A. Presas, the founder of Modern Arnis. Watching the Professor move with the canes, he knew he had found the art he would practice for the rest of his life. Modern Arnis answered questions other arts had left open. It did not depend on size, strength, or shouting. It was the flow, and a few "love taps." It is often called "the art within the art."
He trained under Sensei Chin and attended every seminar he could when the Professor came to town. After a difficult parting from that school, and after Professor Presas passed away in 2001 at 64, Jordan's wife Jenny wrote to one of the Professor's successors, Jeffrey Delaney. Delaney travelled to Victoria to continue the training.
In 2004 Jordan founded Canadian Modern Arnis Training Studios. The idea was never meant to stay with one person. He still travels on weekends to share Modern Arnis with other groups across Canada, and during the week he teaches full-time to adults, youth, and children at the CMATS studio in Victoria.
He has trained for most of his life: some karate, a few years of judo, seven years of taekwondo, more than ten years of aikido, some Wing Chun and tai chi, and about thirty years of Modern Arnis - the art he has chosen to pass on. Students have included police and RCMP, high-school gym classes, black belts from other systems, the head of Kenpo Karate Canada, federal marine safety officers, and military personnel.
He is willing to share what he has learned. Be prepared to train.
Sairose Dellabough
Lil Stix Program Instructor
She's had a stick in her hand ever since she was in a baby carrier, watching from the side of the mats while her father was teaching. Practicing Modern Arnis since the age of five, she was raised in the community her father built and began training in the Lil Stix class at a young age. The studio has always been like a second home to her.
Having seen and experienced firsthand the positive impact that her father and the studio have had - and continue to have - on people, she brings that same spirit to her own teaching.
At thirteen, she graduated from the Lil Stix program with a green belt and moved into the adult class. After a few years of training, she was invited to help instruct the Lil Stix class - a role she has held with dedication for more than four years.
She loves teaching the children and works alongside her fellow instructors to create a safe, supportive environment where young students can learn, play, laugh, and discover what they are capable of. Striving to make training the best part of the kids' day, she looks forward to meeting your child!
Juan Antonio Gutierrez
Lil Stix Program Instructor
Juan Antonio was born in Mexico City in 2002. His martial arts journey started when he was just seven years old with karate, and he later moved to Canada when he was nine. A couple of years later he joined Canadian Modern Arnis Training Studios and began training under Jordan Dellabough. His early memories of Lil Stix class are learning cool moves, having fun, and leaving each class feeling stronger, more confident, and capable of looking after himself.
He left CMATS at fifteen to focus on high-performance competitive swimming and returned in the summer of 2023 after retiring from the sport during university - where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 2026. He describes his experience with the martial art as a way to learn more about himself: what he is capable of, and a way to grow into the person he wants to become. He loves Modern Arnis and sees it as dynamic, intricate, technical, and simple all at once. The training and the community around the studio have been an incredible support in shaping the man he is today.
Those who know him tend to call him warm, fun, caring, and quick to laugh. He looks forward to sharing what CMATS has taught him and helping others on their journeys to grow and learn more about how strong they can be!