PAST EVENTS
Grandmaster Gary hits the French Press
GM.Gary conducted a historic seminar/gradings at Master Jacques Levinet dojo in France.
GM.Gary seminar was four hours long and over 15 new TYGA black belts from France passed gradings with TYGA Martial Arts International. Yet again GM.Gary amazed and delighted the over 60 strong course participants to his legendary kicking/fighting skills. The skills that have taken him to Star in 3 action movies in LA, USA later this year the first movie is aptly named THUNDERKICK! French course members came from Karate, Taekwondo, Jujitsu, Full-Contact and SPK mixed martial arts system.
by G.Ioannou.
The third outstanding seminar was by the host of the day Grandmaster Gary Wasniewski. This article is called the “Gathering” like in the film Highlander, and as the film suggests “there can be only one”, and on this day it was Gary Wasniewski himself. Gary gave a display of supreme leg kicks of varying techniques with speed, power and pinpoint precision, finishing off with the trademark spelling of his name with his leg 6ft in the air and toes tapping the side of a student’s head with each letter. Gary has a very charismatic way of teaching that captivates an audience’s full attention and combined with his phenomenal kicking ability makes him a supreme martial artist. It is no wonder that he is well renowned and breaking into the film industry.
The evening events kicked off around 7pm with once again a blessing by Sri Dinesh, followed by some superb demonstrations of varying martial arts by Grandmaster Tony Leslie and the indomitable figure of “Mamma G” Miller and her equally brilliant assistant. This was followed by a lavish three course meal and the beginning of the evening’s presentations to the awardees. There were many categories that included Grandmaster of the Year, Master of the Year, Special Merit Award, Dedication to Martial Arts and Fighter of the Year that were received by martial artists from around the world. A full list of winners will appear in the near future on the TY-GA website. I received Master of the Year along with Tony Johnson of The Anglo Japanese Bujutsu Association who also received lifetime membership to the Global Black Belt Society. John Ritschel received Fighter of the Year Award and trains in Hapkido and PKA kickboxing. Mike Gingel from Judo and Jason Kirk from PKA kickboxing received Dedication to Martial Arts Award.
Compared to Seni a few weeks earlier, this event was a breath of fresh air. Seni has seemed to lose its track of the early days were it used to promote all styles of martial arts, these days it just seems to promote MMA submission fighting and the sale of MMA “T” shirts. Don’t get me wrong, I am a great fan of MMA and attend the exciting Cage Rage on a regular basis, but was expecting more than what is now known in the martial arts circle as the MMA “T” shirt show. Whereas the 3rd London International Martial Arts Hall Of Fame was a great advert to martial arts worldwide due to the expertise of the day’s participants and varying styles unified under one roof. It was an honour to be one of the awardees at this prestigious event, with the day being a great credit to Grandmaster Gary Wasniewski’s vision of worldwide unified martial arts. Well done Gary!
By David Gentry.
