Pat's Bio

I began my martial arts training in 1972 at the age of 12. I have been training under Professor Jon Collins and Dr. Maung Gyi in Burmese Boxing, Naban, and Bando for more than 30 years, and hold a 4th level black belt from the American Bando Association. I also have black belts in Karate, Judo, and Doce Pares Escrima (2nd degree). All those degrees wont buy me a cup of coffee..

Starting in the mid-70s up through the mid-80s I competed in club fights, smokers, card fights and competitions in North America and Europe in PKA, WKA, Bando, Muay Thai, and a rather short –lived full-contact organization called the UWKA. I also competed in full-contact stick fighting and was nationally ranked by the WEKAF in the late 80s. In the early 90s, I began training in Shoot and MMA and had my last fight in 1996, after which I stopped competing to focus on completing my doctorate.

My first training experience in Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Martial Arts under Guro Dan Inosanto in 1982 and have been a certified with him since 1984. I have remained with him for more than 26 years learning the details and nuances of both JKD and FMA. I have been fortunate to have been able to train with Sifu Larry Hartsell (dec) in Jeet Kune Do from 1982 as well.

In addition to the other martial arts I teach and train, I also train and teach MMA. I began training with Sensei Yori Nakamura and Sensei Erik in the late 80s in Shootwrestling. I currently also act as the senior Representative for Erik Paulson in the state of Maryland and teach/coach MMA under the auspices of Sensei Erik Paulson's Combat Submission Wrestling.

One of my favorite activities is practicing my Tai Chi. I first learned the Simplified (Beijing Short) and traditional Sun Style Tai Chi Forms 25 years ago. Since that time I have learned the 35 and 13 movement Sun Style Tai Chi forms as developed by Sun Lu Tang's (creator of the traditional form) daughter, Sun Jian Yun. I also had the opportunity many years ago to learn the traditional long Wu form of Tai Chi as created by Wu Chuan You. I am currently learning the traditional Hao Style of Tai Chi as created by Wu Yu Xiang. I practice both my Sun and Hao styles daily.

If you want more specific details regarding my martial arts history, look over the Evolution section. I address my martial arts adventures ad nauseum there. Or, just ask me in class.

Personally, I come from a family of extreme overachievers. Ma and Pa Finley did real good, raising six kids, two girls and four boys, of which I am fifth in line. While we were never rich, we had everything we needed, and best of all, we had good genes, good discipline, high expectations, and much love. Both my younger and older sisters hold PhDs and are professors at different schools around the country. My oldest brother is a retired Colonel, who after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy served almost 30 years in the Army. The next brother is is a J.D./M.B.A. having worked for the same big four firm for over 30 years. The third brother is a retired Navy Captain, who, after graduating from the U. S. Naval Academy, also served almost 30 years in the Navy. In addition to being outstanding scholars, all were also talented athletes throughout primary and secondary schools as well as college in football, wrestling, lacrosse, and swimming (we were each expected to compete in one sport per season growing up). We even had a high school and college All-American among the tribe. 

In terms of my education, I double majored as an undergrad in both philosophy and kinesiology graduating from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1983. After the bachelors I attended George Washington University where I received my Masters in exercise sciences. Immediately after earning the Master's I was accepted into the Ph.D. program in exercise physiology at Florida State University and began taking classes towards that end. Deciding I had had enough of school for a while, I withdrew from the program the following year. It would be almost ten years before going back to the University of Maryland and earning my Ph.D. in Public Health.

During college & grad school I worked as a bouncer at the usual dives. After doing that for years, I got the chance to learn the DJ business and during the rest of my grad school, I did that at night. During the day, I had jobs, though. In the early part of my graduate program I held a position as Program Director for Fun and Fitness Spas, a chain of health clubs in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia. A year into grad school, I was offered the chance to join the faculty of the Exercise Science/Life Fitness faculty as an instructor. This sort of opportunity is rare for a graduate student since typically they will use you as a TA (teaching assistant) which doesn't have the same level of importance when applying to certain positions, and does not pay as well (not that either really pays well). While teaching and attending classes at GWU, I was offered another teaching position at American University, also in the Physical Education department, and also teaching self-defense and martial arts.

Deciding that I did not have the freedom to train that I wanted at that stage of my life, I left my teaching position at AU and to work for the U.S. Army's Institute of Research conducting pharmacological research in the Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Behavioral Biology. Our primary focus at that time was to researching the possibility of using various pharmaceutical agents and/or protocols to enhance performance of troops in the newly constructed rapid deployment paradigm. My job was to research drug/exercise (work) interaction, including the collection, analysis, and interpretation of physiological data related to those agents and protocols. I, along with the psychiatrists assigned there (most were military MDs), collaborated on the physiological and psychological outcomes, and then developed recommendations that we then presented to the top brass. While working for the Army, I continued my teaching position at American University. During my time working with the army, my martial arts club and classes at GWU were handed over to former student, Steve Braun.

At the beginning of 1987, I moved from D.C. to Baltimore to take a position as Director at the League for the Handicapped. This position gave me the opportunity to work with physically and intellectually challenged adults and children, working to improve their health and quality of life. The position in Baltimore also put me geographically closer to Professor Collins. It was during this time that I also handed my UMCP Martial Arts Club over to Steve and took a sabbatical from teaching martial arts to spend more time training with Professor Collins.

During the summer of that same year, I was offered a teaching position at Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland. I accepted and have been teaching there for more than 21 years. Additionally, during those early years teaching HCC, I was also employed by Howard County Police as  the drill instructor of defense tactics and hand-to-hand for their Academy.

In 1991 I decided to pursue a personal interest and spent a year studying Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Traditional Acupuncture Institute (TAI) in Columbia, Maryland. After completing my course of study at TAI, I spent the next two years teaching part-time for the Institute.

I currently spend about 4 hours a day training Monday through Friday, and 2-3 hours on Saturday and Sunday. Additionally, I teach about ten hours of martial arts-related classes a week. Mondays through Fridays when not training or teaching martial arts, you will typically find me either in my office or in the classroom. I teach classes in Exercise Science, Health Care Management, and Health Education. These include courses such as Sport and Exercise Nutrition, Health Care in the U.S., Foundations of Health Promotion, and many, many others. Over the years I have taught more than 30 different courses through four different delivery systems (traditional classroom, online, classweb, and telecourses).

Along the way I have been certified as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS-NSCA) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (www.nsca-lift.org) as well as certified Health/Fitness Instructor (HFI-ACSM)through the American College of Sports Medicine (www.acsm.org). I am also certified as a sports nutritionist (CSN-ISSN) through the International Society Sports Nutrition (http://www.sportsnutritionsociety.org/).