Master Thornton started Taekwondo when he was seven years old at one of Grandmaster Kim’s first schools in Courtenay BC.

He received his first degree black belt at the age of twelve and by the age of fourteen started teaching a few classes at the Courtenay club.

For eight years he continued to teach and became the head instructor. Through his hard work and dedication the Courtenay Club became very successful.

At the age of 23 Master Thornton a 3rd degree at the time decided to move to Korea to further his studies of Taekwondo.
 
 
 

He found a live-in Taekwondo school and lived with the master and his family for over a year and trained 4 hours a day 6 days a week. The following year he received his 4th degree black belt after testing at the Kukkiwon. During Master Thornton’s tenure in Korea he trained with some of the best teams in the world and some of the highest level competitors from many different countries, including Dong Song High School and Korea Physical Education University and the Samsung Professional Team to name a few.

After returning to Canada in the summer of 2004 Master Thornton took over the instruction of the Woo Kim Newton Taekwondo School which is now known as Woo Kim Surrey Taekwondo.

In November, 2004 Master Thornton tested and passed his 5th degree test which Grandmaster Woo Kim and Master Large conducted in front of his students at the surrey location.