Mark DeLuca, Coach - Instructor
Mark DeLuca, a Coach/Instructor, began training in the art of Muay Thai in April 2000. During this time he had not competed in Muay Thai, and by the fall of 2001, had stopped training altogether. He trained for just over a year at the US Muay Thai Academy under Kru Sitha "Ood" Phongphibool. Kru Ood taught him the basic techniques and how they would be applied for self-defense. In February of 2004, he resumed training with a specific interest in fighting. He went to see Stephen Strotmeyer, whose first trainer was also Kru Ood. Stephen had taken on the responsibility of running the Cool Hearts Muay Thai Club fulltime, and was Pittsburgh's most experienced fighter.
Mark worked very hard and had his first fight in May of that year, winning
against a USKBA tournament champion. It was a great experience and he fought three more times in 2004. During 2004, he was the runner-up at the WKA Nationals and in September was the USKBA novice 143lb Champion. Mark trained diligently through the winter focusing on having a successful year in 2005. The highlight in 2005 was traveling to Scotland to fight internationally
against an opponent with 2x his ring and training experience. It was an amazing experience and opportunity and he was fortunate to bring home a very convincing unanimous decision. He holds a Muay Thai record of 6 wins 3 losses (4 KO).
Also in 2005, Mark began to help with coaching and training some of the new members in the gym. Our instructor, Stephen Strotmeyer, teaches and trains everyone at our gym. He awarded Mark the title of an Assistant Instructor so that in case he would be unable to make a class, Mark would be able to fill in and make sure that everything ran smoothly. As the numbers of our participants are growing, we have split them up into novice and intermediate level classes. Currently, Mark has mostly been guiding the novice level and teaching them the basics while Stephen oversees the intermediate level classes and fighters.