And while Marshall maintains a slim healthy physic he admittedly explained that slim hasn’t always been the case. Seems Dan was, what he calls, “pudgy” when he started martial arts at age ten. Those were ninja turtle craze days when every kid was enamored by the heroic talking reptiles and the invent of all the martial arts video games. Hooked on kicks and punches, Marshall found the nearby Cain’s Tae Kwon Do school to start lessons. Confidence came quickly as he entered his first tournament as a novice and he thought he had lucked out being paired with a much smaller kid for his first fight. However his first sport karate lesson was to never underestimate your opponent as he went down 5 to 0. This little bit of discouragement for the ten year old kept him entirely out of competition for several years until his junior black stripe belt was achieved.

By 1999 Marshall was ready to attempt competition once again. As a member of the newly formed PKC New York team he set his initial sights on winning the PKC New York title. But with the Super Grands going to be held in nearby Niagara Falls, Canada, he set a goal for that international competition as well. Competing in the Amateur Internationals portion of the Super Grands, Dan only wound up with a fifth place in sparring, but it was his mere one point loss to the emerging Willie Hicks that gave him the confidence to continue in competition in the future.

The following year he traveled with the PKC team to the NBL CanAm National conference tournaments. Super Grands in Savannah, Georgia in 2000 gave Marshall his first big break as he topped the best of the best in the 12-14 Korean forms world title division. Now looking back, little did Dan know just how important that year would be, as the first national tournament of the year that he went to in New Jersey would also be the young Ashley Artese’s first national as well. As time progressed through the years they became acquainted leading up to a competitition partnership that would wind up awarding them with back to back team forms world titles in 2006-07.

While Dan is well known for his creative duet with Artese and his Korean forms prowess, he is equally respected for his point and continuous sparring talents. Winning a title in sparring is not an easy feat in NBL but one that Marshall has captured three times. Winning men’s light heavy point sparring in 2004 and 2005 and the same for continuous in 2007 and topping such notables as Wade Taylor, Mike Levy, Ryan Freeman, Bryan Young, Hakim Walker and Jonathan Garcia along his way.

But regardless of all the sparring and Korean forms wins, his first team forms win has to be one of the Super Grands most memorable moments. The year was 2006 and Dan and Ashley were both attentively studying in college with virtually no time for traveling to competition for Super Grands seeding. But the pair hung together practicing a newly developed team forms routine for a surprise wild card entry at Super Grands. Surprise and acclaim was what they gained with a runner-up position against the number one rated team of Corky Sikes and Edgar Cordova in the eliminations to place them into the Grand Finale for the world title contention. In a nail biting competition filled with ties and near identical scoring, the couple pulled off the unseeded win to a very enthusiastic audience.

So What’s He Really Like
If you want the reality about someone always ask their friends. With a smile and laugh Ashley Artese described him as the most talented competitor “clutz” she’s ever known. Describing his non-competitive ability of tripping over, spilling, dropping and being virtually clumsy about everything. But he’s good for a laugh” states Artese as she find this as one of his most compelling attributes. He also loves to “state the obvious” she says, which is good for another laugh and candid conversation. Admittedly, Marshall enjoys his quirkiness admitting he’s also a “geek” when it comes to his attraction to electronic technology amusements such as TVs, video games, movies and the like. Artese relates her disgust of the electronics blaring away as he’s studying for classes but admits it works as he retains great grades. Even during this interview he admitted being on the computer reviewing movie trailers when he’s talking to me.

Next year finalizes a masters degree in sport management for the 23 year old as he hopes to operate his own fitness and karate center in the future. In the meantime he's planning on another successful year at the Super Grands trying to catch up to his rival’s (Artese’s) fourteen world titles. But I wonder if he takes into account that when he wins a title in team forms that she does also? But maybe we shouldn’t pull a Dan Marshall and “state the obvious”.