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Greetings WOMAF Members,
President Kim S.C. has been very active with WOMAF in 2004 and his plans include more involvement in 2005. He extends his Best Wishes for 2005 and is pleased with his students for their support of WOMAF. As many of you know President Kim’s original CHUNG DO KWAN Instructor is now the president of WTF. This is very exciting for all WOMAF as well as WTF instructors and students. This means more active involvement with Tae Kwon Do groups will likely occur.
As part of this increased involvement, currently, the Korean and U.S. Headquarters for WOMAF, PACIFIC RIM MARTIAL ARTS ACADEMY, are coordinating the changes in rank requirements for both Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido. As many of you know, in Korea martial arts training and expertise are an essential component of the requirements for employment in law-enforcement and government work. Consequently, those who possess a WOMAF Black Belt certificate have a significant opportunity to be professionally successful.
For those who have not had the privilege of training with President Kim it is important for everyone in WOMAF to know the origin of our organization and the pivotal role President Kim plays in the martial arts community.
HAPKIDO was founded in Teague City, KOREA. WOMAF was founded in 1986 in Seoul at a meeting of martial arts leaders who wanted a no compromise, skill based, coordinated training organization. I attended this meeting which included many of the martial art leaders of Korea. These Master Instructors were concerned that much of the essence of martial art training was being lost in favor of a more commercialized approach. By the end of the meeting the members had convinced President Kim to develop and organize WOMAF. At that meeting Mr. Herr was appointed Vice President for South Korea and I was appointed Vice President for the United States as well as other International Divisions.
The Korean Division Headquarters of WOMAF is still located in Teague City today. However, as President Kim spends much of his time in Oregon the headquarters for the International Division is located at Pacific Rim Martial Arts Academy. The Aikido, Judo and Jujitsu Divisions were originally located in Japan; however they have now been relocated to Pacific Rim as well. All other divisions, including Karate and Kempo, are also located at Pacific Rim Martial Arts Academy.
For 2005 we have several seminars scheduled. In January we explored the aspects of taking balance and throwing. In February we will build on the January seminar by reviewing belt requirements. The March seminar will prepare students for the International Instructor Seminar to be held in May. President Kim is expected to be in attendance at that seminar.
Additionally, we are beginning a Question & Answer component on this web site. If you have martial arts questions please feel free to send them to womaf@yahoo.com. we will make every effort to answer them and post them, on a weekly basis.
I hope that each WOMAF member, or those interested in the training that WOMAF divisions have to offer will not only attend a training session, but also have the opportunity to meet and train with President Grand Master S.C. Kim.