Written by Zoie Denton

Greatness wears many faces. For 18-year-old martial artist Joel Westbrook, greatness is carved into every determined push of his wheels. As the first ever male wheelchair athlete selected for the U.S. Para-Karate National Team, he has become a living symbol that limitations don’t define a person. His journey is proof that true strength is not bound by the body, but by the fire that drives it forward.

Westbrook was born with spina bifida, a condition that affects how the spine and nerves develop. He can walk short distances using braces and crutches, but his wheelchair is where he feels strongest and most comfortable. Despite the challenges he faces, he has never felt limited.

When Westbrook was around eight years old, he saw a television show with a character performing martial arts in a wheelchair. For most viewers, it was simply a character, but for Westbrook, he saw himself represented in a sport that had always seemed inaccessible. Under the guidance of his physical therapist, Westbrook and his family discovered Green’s Karate in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a dojo known for adapting karate for all students.

Westbrook was not always the seated warrior he is known today. Spina bifida progresses and becomes more taxing on the body with time. Training for Westbrook was different than what it was for other students. Braces and crutches didn’t pair well with the matted floor. Movements were tiring, and learning standard routines required him to reimagine each technique.

The leg braces that Westbrook used to learn karate soon became the wheelchair he so effortlessly utilized. But the wheels snagged against the soft mat, stopping his momentum cold. Each push felt heavier than it should’ve been, and the chair was dragging instead of gliding. “It was really hard to move at first,” he said. “My regular chair just wasn’t made for training.”

Eventually, he got a specialized sports wheelchair, a faster, more responsive chair that allowed him to turn sharply and move fluidly. The improvement was immediate. Every training session since has involved switching between his daily chair and his sports chair.

When Westbrook arrived at his first competition, he felt a wave of excitement that he will never forget. “I was ecstatic,” he said, smiling at the memory. “It felt like I was finally fulfilling my dream.” 

Wheelchair accessibility at competitions was almost nonexistent. There were no ramps, mats weren’t reachable, and some platforms required stairs. Westbrook was the only wheelchair competitor there at the time. 

Competitions became a mix of preparation and problem-solving. Carrying Westbrook up stairs, moving mats, or rearranging competition spaces, his family and mentor did whatever it took to ensure Westbrook could compete.

Spectators weren’t sure what to expect from a wheelchair competitor, but as he delivered his performance, the silence transformed into admiration. He didn’t just compete; he excelled, and he started winning. Those first medals were more than victories to him, but proof that he belonged on the mat. Over time, he has collected over 40 gold medals, each one a symbol of the battles he fought.

Westbrook’s biggest breakthrough came in July 2025, at a national competition where he performed one of his strongest katas. USA Karate officials took notice, not because of the use of a wheelchair, but because he was performing at a level worthy of Team USA. Westbrook was then selected to join the U.S. Para-Karate National Team as the first male wheelchair athlete in the organization’s history.

“Being named the first male wheelchair athlete made me feel so inspired,” Westbrook said. “I wanted to represent the USA the best I could. It was my goal since my first competition.”

Now, preparing for the international championships in Cairo, Egypt, Westbrook spends long hours perfecting kata, strengthening his upper body, sharpening his timing, and focusing his mind on the routines. Representing his country is a chance to show the world what wheelchair athletes can do.

Behind Westbrook’s strength stands his family, who have supported him every step of the way. Driving him to practices, helping him transition between chairs, carrying him up stairs at inaccessible events, and cheering him on from his very first day at Green’s Karate. 

“They’ve had my back since the beginning,” he said. “I wouldn’t be here without them.” Their support gave him the confidence to pursue his passion, even when the path was filled with obstacles. Every medal he holds is shared with the people who believed in him long before the world knew his name. His determination has encouraged many events to improve accessibility, and his success is inspiring other wheelchair athletes to join martial arts for the first time.

“You don’t know anything until you try. Always try, even if you think you might fail.” Westbrook lives by those words. The 18-year-old U.S. Para-Karate National Team members are proof that a person’s limitations do not define their greatness; only their willingness to take the first step does.

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Dojo Determination

Written by Cooper Thompson

Corey Green is far more than the Sensei at Green’s Karate in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is a renaissance man whose passion for teaching has pushed him down many paths to bring him to where he is today. As self-described entrepreneur, author, innovator and sensei, Green has found a way to evolve his love of karate to bring profound change to his students’ lives beyond the dojo. 

When Green was eight years old his best friend asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. His quick response to that question was simply “a ninja”. He joked that he stayed on that track and today is kind of “a teacher of ninjas”. Green found karate as many kids did in the 1980s, by watching Daniel LaRusso go against Johnny Lawerence in the movie The Karate Kid. Green said that he identified with Daniel as he was also bullied as a child. Karate became the path for him to grow his confidence when he was young and quickly became a passion that he would dedicate the rest of his life to. 

Green opened his first karate dojo 27 years ago in his home state of Alaska. In 2000, his brother got married in Chattanooga, Tennessee and he discovered where he was headed next. Three years later he relocated and opened his first dojo in Chattanooga. He said it was the river running through town that reminded him of home and made him fall in love with the Scenic City. 

As with so many self-employed business owners, the theme of running his karate dojo has centered around overcoming adversity. From the dot-com bubble in 2000, the Great Recession in 2008 and finally opening his newest dojo two weeks before the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Green has learned to adapt and hustle his way to success. His passion for teaching karate has had him work multiple jobs over the years to keep the doors open to his students. 

Beyond adapting to the challenges of running a business, Green’s real skill has come from adapting ways to teach his students. From day one Corey has prioritized inclusivity of differently abled students. This is what makes Green’s Karate and Green’s teaching methods so unique. 

At 18 years old, Green became an instructor and his first student was missing one arm and one leg. He says he had to learn to adapt what he knew about karate to teach from day one. His adaptive training techniques have been primarily self taught over the past 27 years. He now has a program that he uses across all his students’ training. He is passionate that he is not teaching students with disabilities a different type of Karate, only teaching them in a unique way to achieve the same end result as students without disabilities. 

Green has turned his dojo into an incredibly inclusive environment for students. He has proven that his adaptive training techniques are effective across the spectrum of intellectual and physical disabilities. He has students competing at all levels, from the local to world stages and worked with students with down syndrome, autism, ADHD, amputees, spina bifida, blindness and brought these students to competition at the national and world stage. His goal is to bring all his students together and not segregate them by their abilities. 

The adaptive training techniques that Green has developed over the past 27 years are what makes Green’s Karate so unique. He estimates that he has taught over sixty thousand classes and working with differently-abled students since day one is what has shaped his teaching program. His non-traditional methods, like using color versus descriptive verbal cues have proven to be tremendously effective. Small things, like removing the traditional practice of facing mirrors for students has made large impacts. Green says that he, “accepts people for what they can do at the level that they are at and then goes from there.” 

Corey Green’s first real breakthrough moment with adaptive learning came years ago with a blind student named Katie. He had previously worked with another blind student and was able to start with the new student with what he thought would be an effective methodology from day one based on his learnings. She came in and within 7 months was competing at the national level, winning a silver medal in the Karate National Championships. This was validation that he had a model to teach new students and found how to effectively adapt it to his differently abled students. 

Green’s expectations for his students remain very high, as he expects them to commit and practice regardless of their disability. His expectations goes beyond the students and continues to their parents as he looks for their engagement as well. He creates training videos for his students and parents so training can continue outside the four walls of his dojo. He believes that, “laziness is the habit of resting before you get tired,” and expects his students to work hard and practice regularly. 

Beyond the dojo, his students have grown incredibly outside of their karate skills. His differently abled students have shown improvements in grades, are more focused in school, increased self-confidence and improved motor skills. In a CNN profile on one of his students with autism, Brandon Earnshaw, his mother went into detail on the multiple changes that her son experienced from taking karate from Green’s Karate. After just a few months, her son had learned to tie his shoes, ride a bike and teachers asked if he had begun taking new medicine because of his improvements in the classroom. This student, Brandon Earnshaw, would go on to win gold in the U.S. Karate Nationals a few years later. 

Corey Green believes that karate is 90% mental and 10% physical, so his students can achieve beyond any limits that have been placed on them by their disability. This November, Green is headed to the World Karate Championships in Cairo, Egypt with his student Joel Westbrook. Westbrook is competing at the highest level and was Green’s first student in a wheelchair. 

“It’s made me realize I have a purpose and I need to carry the torch until someone can take the torch from me”, he said. It is obvious that teaching karate to his students is not only a job but his life mission.

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