Ph. (904) 745-6019
6035 Ft. Caroline Rd.
Suite 22
Jacksonville, Fl. 32277.

Editor: Soke Frank E. Sanchez

Fax: (904) 744-4625
24 hours a day

 

August - September 2004

 

WORLD GRANDMASTERS COUNCIL


COUNCIL'S 11TH ANNUAL WORLD EVENT CANCELLED - Our 11th Annual Meeting/ Hall of Fame & seminar symposium scheduled to take place on September 3rd - 4th at the newly renovated Doubletree Hotel in Orlando, Florida was cancelled due to Hurricane Frances.  Hotel officials called me on September 1st in Jacksonville (Florida) to request that I cancel the event for the safety of our participants. Hurricane Frances which was the largest Hurricane in Florida's history to hit the State,  "touched down"  on that weekend forcing us to postpone our event til October 24th. All non-refundable tickets issued for the Hall of Fame will be honored on that date. .For awardees unable to attend on October 24th, we will mail your awards out to you.

Received an e-mail from GRANDMASTER TINO & Adele TUIOLOSEGA that they will be moving back to the U.S. after spending a little over 1 1/2 years living in Mexico City. The Founder of Hawaii's art of LIMA LAMA & his family will be moving back after the New Year. RUDY, GRANDMASTER TUIOLOSEGA's Son was officially appointed the new SOKE  for LIMA LAMA by GRANDMASTER TINO during JEFF SPEAKMAN's ANNUAL KENPO CAMP held in Las Vegas in June.


Grandmaster Dan Verkerke shown with Professional
Wrestling Legend, Waldo Von Erich (CANADA

 

Grandmaster Vincent Marchetti, Director of Police
Tactics Instructors of America (center) w/ Soke
Neal Hunmerstone ( right of Marchetti) conducting a
seminar at the late Mindi Klase's dojo in Florida

GRANDMASTER DAN VERKERKE of Canada will be featured in commercials & infomericials advertising a new stretch exerciser created by 70's wrestling legend, Waldo Von Erich....The new exerciser, called THE POST  was given to DAN to try for a week & DAN agreed to endorse the item  So, be watching for the advertisements.

 GRANDMASTER VINCENT MARCHETTI of New Jersey is now the "new" DIRECTOR/ OWNER  of  the POLICE TACTICS INSTRUCTORS OF AMERICA, an organization started by the late Grandmaster Bill Klase of Florida. VINCE  who has been busy doing seminars up & down the U.S. for his new organization has agreed to make the grandmasters of the WHFSC, HONORARY DIRECTORS of  the POLICE TACTICS INSTRUCTORS OF AMERICA.

 DID YOU KNOW THAT??  The current trend in one martial arts magazine which will remain nameless is to "bash" traditional martial arts as being ineffective in street encounters as compared to the new "reality systems". They even go one further by allowing a columnist of theirs to call demonstrations by  martial arts masters who use larger volunteers as being "fake" because the volunteer is not resisting the technique. If you  are like me & naturally small in stature, anyone you ask to volunteer is naturally bigger than you. In fact the largest student in my class is 6'7"compared to my height of just 5'5". I also know that the last time someone tried to resist a technique of mine in a demonstration, I ended up breaking the gentleman's  nose�Not because I wanted to, but because he resisted my technique as I was taking him down & I was not about to be embarrassed in front of the crowd that came to see me. So, the advice given by the columnist to resist is not a very good one..In fact, it may get someone hurt. As for traditional martial arts being weaker than the reality systems. I  myself practice a system which I developed from some very good traditional ones. One of them was Danzan Ryu Ju-Jitsu. The Inheritor of this system, the late PROFESSOR SIG KUFFERATH was my instructor & a member of this Council..Along with Judo  from another fine instructor, SENSEI YOSHITOSHI "MOON" WATANABE who was a champion in the art of Judo from Hawaii. Either of these gentlemen would've had NO PROBLEM taking care of ANY street thug, because they were skilled in their arts. In fact, MOON demonstrated his skill one day when a large athletic type attacked him from the back as we were walking to a class he was conducting at the Y.M.C.A....Moon simply picked up the giant fella in a hip throw (O'goshi) & then changed his mind & placed him back on his feet again. The guy ran off shouting "I knew that's what you would do" Never to be seen again. Which is better, reality arts or traditional martial arts? BOTH ARE GOOD. One may take longer to learn (traditional) while the other may be easier to learn (reality) for those who wish to acquire quick fighting skills, but in the end it is the practitioner that determines the system's effectiveness.

HANSHI GEORGE ALEXANDER held his Annual MARTIAL ARTS CHALLENGE SUMMER CAMP on August 13th, 14th & 15th at his ISKKF Honbu in Reliance, Tennessee.

 PROFESSOR WILLIAM RANKIN of England celebrated his 90th Birthday & 75 years in the arts on September 12th CONGRATULATIONS PROFESSOR!

 GRANDMASTER PHIL LITTLE's Isshinryu dojo does it again!.....They were the big winners at the  AMERICAN OKINAWAN WORLD ISSHINRYU TOURNAMENT held in Charlotte, North Carolina, winning ALL of the Grand Championships in Empty Hand Kata, Kumite & Weapons at the tournament. A FINE TESTIMENT to PHIL's teaching methods & to his style of LONG-SHIMIBAKU ISSHINRYU!

 MASTER JOHNNY WU of Ohio will be commencing principal photography on his new fan film, "A JOKER'S CARD", based on DC Comic Book characters starting October 15th-30th .  The short film foretells the plight of Jonathan Napier, the angry son of super villain, The Joker, who pairs with Mr. Freeze's son to destroy all the sons and daughters of comic books most celebrated super heroes. For more information on JOHNNY's new film, you can visit the film's web link at http://www.mdifilm.com/joker    

 GRANDMASTER CRIMI & GREAT GRANDMASTER RALPH CASTRO of California,  aside from being good friends, have decided to combine their respective arts of HIKARI RYUZA RYU JUJUTSU & SHAOLIN KENPO to come up with a new dynamic martial art form..For more information, you can access the web link  http://ryuzado.com/10%20july_2.htm 

 From England,  WHFSC Representative, SOKE GARY WASNIEWSKI reports that he was recently interviewed & featured on US National TV, Fox News in California. Video copies of the interview are available on GARY's website of www.ty-ga.co.uk   

 Received an e-mail from WHFSC Member, GENERAL (GRANDMASTER) ALEXANDER RETUINSKIH of the FEDERATION OF RUSSIAN MARTIAL ARTS in St. Petersburg, Russia CONGRATULATING us on the 11th Anniversary of the WORLD HEAD OF FAMILY SOKESHIP COUNCIL  ( as sent by Russian translator, Alex Fefelov of Russia). Though he is not able to visit with us this year, he is wishing us "further success in the task of development & perfection of martial arts"...At present, GRANDMASTER RETUINSKIH  is busy with the reorganization of the FEDERATION OF RUSSIAN MARTIAL ARTS  which is taking place now, but hopes that after the reorganization is over, we will continue with  mutual cooperation between our two groups....OF COURSE, we look forward to working with you again, my friend!    

From Moscow, Russia , GRANDMASTER HERMAN POPOV is looking for a United States movie actor to take part in a motion picture being produced there, authored by POPOV called "AMERICAN (RUSSIAN) BROTHER" ..If you feel you fit the criteria, you can contact GRANDMASTER POPOV directly at  herman_popov@yahoo.com

 IT IS TRULY A SMALL WORLD..Received an e-mail from a martial arts instructor in Sri Lanka advising that he saw an article on my martial art system of SAN-JITSU in the April issue of MARTIAL ARTS ILLUSTRATED Magazine from England & was interested in learning my style...Though I am accustomed to getting letters & e-mails from far away lands, it was the first time I had ever gotten a communicae from Sri Lanka...It was nice to be contacted out of the "blue" like that from such a far away place..We truly live in a wondrous age for communication, my friends.

 From Michigan, ARJARN NICK HEWITSON reports that he was  named "USA Muay Thai Instructor of the Year" & International Muay Thai Instructor of the Year" by the U.S. Muay Thai Association.  He also recently returned from Thailand were he was honored by the Professional Muay Thai Association as "International Instructor of the Year" & where he received an award from the King of Thailand for his services to the growth & development of Muay Thai. To top everything off, NICK also became the Father of a new baby girl. CONGRATULATIONS NICK!

 SHIHAN JOHN GEYSTON of Illinois is also the proud  new Father of a baby girl. CONGRATULATIONS JOHN!

  IN OUR NEW MEMBERSHIP DEPARTMENT, we are delaying the announcement of our newest members until the signing of their certificates on October 24th at the rescheduled WHFSC event in Orlando, Florida. We will announce their names after this event.

 IN THE MEDIA THIS TIME AROUND (magazines received as of this date for review)...The October issue of INSIDE KUNG-FU features an article on MASTER JACKIE CHAN, along with mentions of PROFESSOR WALLY JAY & MASTER ROBERT CASTRO..The November issue features mentions of SIJO ADRIANO EMPERADO & MASTER JACKIE CHAN - The September/ October issue of BUDO INTERNATIONAL features an article on the late GRANDMASTER ED PARKER & a  mention of COLONEL SANTIAGO SANCHIS..and lastly, the SEPTEMBER issue of TAEKWONDO TIMES has mentions of GRANDMASTERS BILL WALLACE, STEPHEN HAYES,  SERGE BAUBIL & JOHN PELLEGRINI..

 Well, this concludes our issue for this bi-monthly period of August - September, Remember to "STAY AGGRESSIVE & FAIR" in all you do until' next time & DON'T FORGET  to send in your news for the next newsletter..

 

 

GRA

Sincerely yours in martial arts brotherhood.





Grandmaster Frank E. Sanchez
10th dan (Judan)
Founder/ Executive Director International

NOTE: The WHFSC has been in existence since May of 1993 and is a private enterprise of Soke Frank E. Sanchez in service to its membership. Any additions or deletions to its membership must be in writing..RECEIVING THIS NEWSLETTER DOES NOT CONSTITUTE YOUR BEING AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF THIS COUNCIL. All membership certificates with an expiration date are NOT automatically renewed and MUST be renewed by written request to our Headquarters.