CO-FOUNDER, MANAGER

Joined: 2005 Founding Member

TEACHES: Knife, axe, shuriken and spike/nail throwing

DAY JOB: Ordained Chaplain
Reserve Police Officer
Ambulance Driver
Certified Optician

HOBBIES/FAVORITES: HUGE Star Wars fan, loves Admirals hockey, martial arts, writing, sketching and absolutely loves teaching.

Jonathan is married to his high school sweetheart, Kirsten. Jonathan and Kirsten love hockey and playing catch. But you will also find them stick-fighting in their back yard as they are both avid martial artists. Jonathan loves anything involving accuracy. His favorite demo is sticking a business card with a throwing knife.

Jonathan's Dad started him out throwing knives when Jonathan was about 6 years old and has been throwing for more than 30 years.

Jonathan proudly serves as a reserve police officer and department chaplain for a local EMS services and works full time in crisis ministry.

"If you hit the bull's-eye, it shows you can. If you hit it again, it proves you meant to." ~ Jonathan Winski

CO-FOUNDER

Joined: 2005, Founding Member

TEACHES: Axe, knife and shuriken throwing

DAY JOB: Electrician, Firefighter, 1st Vice President for WI Scottish

HOBBIES/FAVORITES: Wisconsin Scottish, hockey fan, bowling

David and his wife Dena have two beautiful children, Elise and Jonathan. David is very involved at the administration level with the Wisconsin Scottish. And for goodness sake call it a kilt! The man throws axes - hard! Seriously, David puts on quite a demo with very powerful throws; it's not uncommon for Dave to send chunks of 7 - 8 inch thick tree rounds flying off with a single throw!

When not working as an electrician, he serves as a Firefighter specializing in chemical fires with great pride! David also evaluates and buys all our axes. He and Jonathan have been best friends since high school and both are highly competitive. They seem to have the most fun when seeing if the other can match a move or trick.

Hint: Just ask and Dave is happy to move back to about 55 feet for a triple or quadruple rotation throw into a 22 inch target!!!

INSTRUCTOR

JOINED: 2005, Founding Member

TEACHES: Axe and knife throwing

DAY JOB: General Manager, Optometry

HOBBIES/FAVORITES: Hockey, loves studying architecture, playing catch, stick fighting

Kirsten graduated with a double degree in pyschology and communications so let's just say Jonathan ain't got a shot at lyin'. Kirsten loves recruiting and training professionals as well as networking and bringing the right people together. She has also been a guest lecturer at an area college.


During events, Kirsten enjoys "working the crowd" and jumping in to instruct those who are especially apprehensive. She has a very special gift for instruction; everyone Kirsten teaches is hitting the target in minutes. Kirsten is also known for playing on Jonathan and Dave's egos for impromptu competitions. It doesn't take a lot to get those two to compete but Kirsten really comes up with some challenging shots that she knows they haven't tried before or practiced.

INSTRUCTOR / WEBMASTER

JOINED: 2005, Founding Member

TEACHES: Knife and axe throwing

DAY JOB: Graphic Artist

HOBBIES/FAVORITES: Creates phenomenal movie prop replicas, movie production

Jason is homing in on his favorite knife to throw - a serious endevour as a thrower develops great skill when paired with the right knife. He has progressed rapidly over a very short time but his focus has developed his skill quickly! Jason easily earned the respect of the entire team of instructors a long time ago.

Even though he is soft spoken, it takes a great deal of skill and confidence to call on your talent spontaneously. Jason is our "sleeper" instructor; he is quiet and almost shy but always attentive, encouraging and successful.

Jason is also a film maker. We just hope his first block-buster involves a small group of knife and axe throwers... hint, hint. He also always has the best men's costume at our events!

We LOVE our site and if you do too, contact Jason through our "contact" tab and find out what KD Interactive can do for you.

INSTRUCTOR / AMBASSADOR

JOINED: 2005, Founding Member

TEACHES: knife and shuriken throwing

DAY JOB: Board Certified Optician

HOBBIES/FAVORITES: Loves fairies and art, especially drawing

Robyn is very outgoing and is a fantastic instructor. Robyn is usually the first instructor you meet at our events as she loves to interact with the crowd. Very attuned to fine detail, Robyn is honing the finer points of evaluating technique.

Robyn and her husband Jason also love exploring and trying other throwing weapons like shuriken and spikes.

In her free time, Robyn writes poetry and loves fairies and fairy lore. An easy fit into any Renaissance Faire, this blade throwing maiden will keep any squire on his toes!

INSTRUCTOR

JOINED: 2006

TEACHES: Axes, knives

DAY JOB: Electrician

HOBBIES: Making chain mail, music

Glenn shows natural talent as a teacher and has a real gift as an instructor. We are proud to have him!!! At our events safety is the most important thing and Glenn is usually the first to notice if anything is out of place. In his spare time Glen also makes chain mail! He is usually wearing something he made and has many items on display at our events.

Many new learners have begun with Glenn and keep coming back with great confidence. Glenn's very strict sense of safety is appreciated by all and ensures a great time for throwers of all ages.

Glenn has two wonderful kids. I wonder if they like throwing as much as Dave's kids...hmm?

INSTRUCTOR-IN-TRAINING

JOINED: 2009

TEACHES: Knives, Axes

DAY JOB: Teacher

HOBBIES/FAVORITES: Motor cycles, martial arts, Admirals hockey, sky-diving (did we mention he's crazy?)

David served in the U.S. Marine Corps and is an avid martial artist with a great passion for training. His self-discipline and drive to perfect his technique is a defining trait.

When David is not working or training, he and his wife Carrie are huge Admirals hockey fans. As season ticket holders, Jonathan and Kirsten join them in the front row at the Milwaukee Admirals every season! Wooohoo!!!

David got his initiation at the WI Highland Games in 2009. His enthusiasm to teach and share cool experiences is infectious. We look forward to watching him become a great instructor and possibly performer - you may want to keep a look out for David and a blindfold in the future... Way to go David!

Instructor-In-Training

Joined: 2010

TEACHES: Knife and Axe

DAY JOB: Retail Manager

HOBBIES/FAVORITES:


Greg will be attending his first official event at the 2010 WI Highland Games. Greg's favorite activities are time spent with his family, playing with pointy objects, hunting/fishing and watching cartoons.

Greg most recently finished his Bachelors Degree in the Science of Criminal Justice Administration with future ambitions to complete his masters degree. He and his beautiful wife Bonnie have two children together named Benjamin and Liam. Greg grew up in the valley of the sun but made Wisconsin his home in 2002. With a competitive attitude it will not take long for Greg to dial in on the bulls-eye and learn to master many tricks.

INSTRUCTOR-IN-TRAINING

JOINED: 2009

DAY JOB: Teacher

HOBBIES/FAVORITES: Motorcycles, Admirals hockey, sky-diving (Yup, runs in the family...both Klemps don't know how to stay put in a perfectly good airplane. They're crazy but we love 'em.

Carrie is a HUGE Admirals hockey fan and leads the Ads to victory with much glass pounding from the front row!! Yeah!!

Carrie and her husband David have taken up sky-diving last year. Mind you, there was no problem with the plane, no fire, no aliens...they just jumped out! I dunno.

When Carrie and her husband aren't jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, they are frequently out on the road taking their motorcycles for a spin.

Carrie looks forward to meeting the hundreds of festival guests we meet at each event and helping get them prepared for their lesson or answering questions about our appearances. Carrie's personality is perfect to welcome new throwers and tune their excitement to attentiveness as they prepare for their first lesson.

INSTRUCTOR-IN-TRAINING

JOINED: 2010

DAY JOB: Sports Management

Look for Harry, our newest instructor, coming to an event soon. Harry wields an incredibly fast learning curve and will be joining us in demos soon, I'm sure.

During his first show we will get a picture of him and pop it up here. While waiting to add his picture, suffice it to say he is no stranger to martial arts either...a fairly common theme, though not required or intentional criteria for our troupe. Harry has a great deal of experience teaching martial arts and holds at least a half dozen state championship titles in weapons. With weapons experience like that the "in-trainig" part of his title is bordering on laughable.

Our MKAT family is certainly growing with great new additions! We love having them and we're sure you will enjoy meeting and taking lessons with them!!

INSTRUCTOR-IN-TRAINING

JOINED: 2009

DAY JOB: Student

HOBBIES/FAVORITES: While maintaining consistant honors in academic excellence, Holly loves to sketch and draw and likes Japanese anime. She also enjoys writing, reading, listening to music, hanging out with friends, and watching movies/anime.

Holly is our newest instructor and was just featured on the front page of her hometown's newspaper!! After displaying natural talent the past two years at the Janesville Renaissance Faire we extended her an offer as an instructor. Although quite proficient in knife and axe throwing she is currently being trianed to analyze and critique a thrower's techniques.

Not one to be intimidated or shy, Holly started working on trick throws and heading out with senior instructors to put on demonstrations at the 2010 Port Washington Pirate Festival.

INSTRUCTOR-IN-TRAINING

JOINED: 2009

TEACHES: Knife, Axe

DAY JOB: Manager in Media Production

HOBBIES/FAVORITES: Costuming, dance, gardening, camping, and as much volunteer work as I can do for the local Breast Cancer Center in Evanston

Although Kiri has thrown axes before, she is taking on the challenge of learning to teach the sports of knife and axe throwing. Throwing is the easy part, learning to properly critique and correct is where the work really comes in.

Kiri got her BFA from Parsons New School of Design in NYC 3 months after graduating from High School. She has been working around renaissance faires for almost 17 years now; running her own jewelry store, working with entertainment, wardrobe, and as a cast member….still love the show! Kiri has also worked in music promotions as well. ...busy lady!!

Kiri also won "Bartender of the Year" in Chicago 1995, 1996 and 1997.

Performer-in-training

Joined: Sept 2009

Throws: Knives and axes

Mitchell learned to throw knives and axes with us our first year at the WI Highland Games in 2005...he is a natural!
By the second day he was throwing "Robin Hoods" (sticking the his 2nd axe into the handle of the first). After Mom and Dad gave the okay we adopted him into our group and have been waiting for him to put a couple years on. Mitchell will be joining us and performing in 2011.