Larry Holland started Isshin-Ryu karate at the dojo on Main Street in Elkton, Maryland in the late 1970s. His first sensei was Bucky Garret, and he eventually trained under Sensei Ronnie Cimorosi in 1991. Other than a bit of Judo training, Mr. Holland’s martial arts training was only within the Order of Isshin-Ryu. According to Sensei Cimorosi, he was a very dedicated student and was knowledgeable about karate history and Japanese terminology.
Sensei Cimorosi recalls of his black belt student, “Of all my students Larry Holland, Tony Campbell and Jeanette McCarl did so well at their sho-dan evaulation that no questions were even asked during their evaulation before Chinto kata (Chinto is the fifth kata learned out of a total of eight empty-hand forms required for black belt in the OI). In fact, Master Cooling finally stood up and walked onto the floor, stood behind the candidates and raised his hands to the evaluation panel suggesting to the members of the panel to start asking questions.”
Mr. Holland’s career background included computers and finance.