Director Tara Brown
Tara is the founder and director of 'Ohana Sports and is passionate about helping children and adults become safer, stronger and healthier. She has a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Studies and earned a Master of Occupational Therapy. She has worked as an Occupational Therapist with all age groups and in many settings. She also actively runs an online marketing company with her husband.
Tara is an athlete participating in varsity level sports throughout high school and since then has learned as many new sports as she has time for - Adventure Racing, surfing, rock climbing, kayaking, SUP boarding, triathlons and running. She continues to develop her martial art skill set and is most interested in functional self-defense and training those who want learn effective self-protection skills.
She leads our camp program with a staff of 20 teens and adults, heads up the middle school leadership summer program and is the lead instructor for ‘Ohana Sports ninja classes using mixed martial arts and self-defense curriculum to prepare young student for training in any advanced martial art system later in their life. A little ninja who has completed all belts will have a solid foundation in striking and grappling techniques as well as know how to defend from bullying and a larger attackers in multiple situations.
She is the lead instructor for a new mountaineering program; developing a cohort of strong athletes who explore nature, have healthy self-esteem, are building positive character traits, and setting high goals for themselves!
Tara is excited for the future of 'Ohana Sports and it's ability to enrich the lives of the families in our community!
Sensei Izaya
In 2025, Izaya completed the requirements to receive the first ever ‘Ohana Black Belt! He has relentlessly remained patient as 3 Sensei’s have come and gone. He dedicated years learning the material each one sensei passed on to him. Working with Coach Tara, Izaya combined the important content from his previous Sensei’s’ and the younger ninja program to come up with a comprehensive ‘Ohana Black Belt Curriculum! Coach Izaya and Coach Tara lead all ‘Ohana Ninja Classes.
Izaya is a Junior at West Hawaii Exploration Academy, a camp coach with ‘Ohana and enjoys hanging with friends and family, hiking and learning new skills!
Coach Soyer
Coach Soyer has been part of ‘Ohana Martial Arts since it’s beginnings in 2017 and trained in Martial Arts for 9+ years. He is a recent graduate at West Hawaii Explorations Academy and headed to college in the Fall. Soyer helps to teach Ninja Stars and Mighty Ninjas as well as coach many sports during break camps. In his off time you will find him catching big waves, diving, spear fishing, lifting weights and hanging out with his friends!
In 2022, ‘23 and ‘24 he won his age division in Spartan Races! He is a 3x Spartan Trifecta finisher - ‘23, ‘24 and ‘25. He completed a 130 mile adventure race in Australia as the youngest participant/navigator at the race. His sights are set on bigger races and more adventures!
Coach Mary
Coach Mary has been coaching on the field since 2019 and is our creative queen! Mary has years of experience teaching in the classroom and recently moved into a counselling position. She loves leading play camps, fun and friends and will be exploring getting to take her crafting to a new level at camp this year running Jewelry and Paining Classes. Here’s a lovely description of her jewelry making style!
Mary creates handcrafted jewelry that blends her love of color with inspiration from the islands of Hawai‘i, where she was born and later returned to live in 2007. Her work focuses on simple wire wrapping and beading, with earrings being her favorite pieces to design. She enjoys experimenting with all sorts of beads, often adding elements that reflect the natural beauty and spirit of the islands. She’s especially drawn to bright, bold colors that bring energy and joy to each design. In addition to earrings, she makes elastic cord bracelets — fun, comfortable, and playful, much like the friendship-style bracelets made popular by Taylor Swift, but always with my own creative touch.
Coach Julie
Coach Julie has been with ‘Ohana Sports since the inception of our field programs in 2019. She is an integral part of making sure our Summer and Break programs run smoothly and is growing to provide for more families. This last summer she created our Pre-K program so we can serve 4 and 5 year old’s on the field!
Julie is an high experienced teacher working in inclusion classrooms and spent many years running her own in home childcare for 0-5 year olds. She is currently a math resource teacher at Kealakehe Elementary School.
Julies fun and organized approach makes for wonderful camp days for her campers! She is usually accompanied by her teen daughter Coach Katy who loves teaching the little ones as well!