First Annual Korean Martial
Art Festival Hosted by Gordon Martial Arts in Crestview, Florida.
April 13-15, 2007
(Click for larger picture)
The First Annual
Korean Martial Art Festival here in Crestview, FL has come and gone. Weather was
absolutely gorgeous until Saturday evening/night and it got ugly. Cleared up
Sunday and was nice again. A bit cool for this time of the year but not enough
for a jacket. A few of the participants went to the beach and viewed some local
attractions.
So everyone has gone home and I'm finally getting a chance to recoup. I'm so
tired I can hardly type! Had a great time and I was humbled by the great martial
artists that came out to support the event. The seminar leaders were fantastic
and everyone seemed to have a great time. Frankly, it's not every day you get to
attend a martial art function and everyone seems to be free of egos. Friday
started out with a two blocks of three seminars. Then Grand Masters Hwang &
Timmerman started the Saturday session out and onto four more blocks of three
seminars running concurrently. Sunday wrapped it up with two more blocks of
three seminars each. The menu style seminars has always been appealing to me
since I first heard of them being hosted in California by the traditional
ju-jutsu guys. Finally attended a few in the mid/late 90's in Destin, FL and
then a few in Jackson over the last few years.
We had a lot of different styles represented with Hapkido, Taekwon-Do, TangSooDo,
KukSool, etc. Obviously the two keynote seminar leaders represented NKMAA and
ITF. Couldn't have done this without Grand Master Timmerman's support. The NKMAA
team of Master's Trudeau, Janisse, Custer, & Miner was first class giving
seminars on short stick (DanBong), pressure points, kick defense, cane, wrist
grab defense, and sparring drills/combinations. PTBA/ITTA's Master Hendrix
couldn't make it due to his wife being pregnant but was considerate enough to
send a stand in pitcher with Dr McKillican for the stick/arnis seminar. NKMAA/WKF's
Grand Master McMurray lead a "Hapkido....why it's better to give than receive"
seminar that was popular. Master DuFour gave a self defense seminar with a
TangSooDo flavor. Master Dante James of WHA did a ground defense and knife
defense seminar. Mr Wesley Wing of the ATA gave a kick seminar that made spin,
jump, & jump-spin kicks a bit easier. Speaking of him, pleasantly surprised at
the ATA folks that showed up.
Started planning on next year's event being held April 18-20. Grand Master Hwang
(ITF) and Grand Master Timmerman (WKF/NKMAA) have both committed to coming next
year.
I wish I could say we got good pictures of everyone but I'm afraid we didn't and some were pretty dark. Hopefully some pictures will be sent from other participants.