This month sees the New Zealand launch of a new range of Martial Arts instructional DVDs produced by Summersdale Productions, exclusive to Fight Times, featuring some of the finest martial artists the UK has to offer. Offering world class instruction in a variety of styles from traditional karate – Shotokan, Wado and Goju-Ryu to Street Fighting, Wrestling, Wing Chun, Judo and Nijutsu, there is sure to be something for fighters of all disciplines.
Lets take a look at some of the people involved.
Geoff Thompson
Geoff Thompson made violence his profession working as a doorman at some of Britain's roughest clubs. As the holder of the rank of 6th Dan black belt in Japanese karate, 1st Dan in Judo and equally well qualified in other martial arts he is a TOUGH man. As well as many books he has written a film script, Watch My back, based on his life and a stage play, One Sock, that inspired The Royal Court Theatre in London's West End to invite him into their exclusive writers' group. In 1997 Geoff was flown out to the United States by Chuck Norris to teach at his international seminar. As an ambassador for the martial arts, Geoff has appeared on national and international TV and Radio – for a couple of years as the BBC Good Morning self defence expert – talking about and, giving advice on self protection and related subjects. His work is both innovative and thought provoking. He is currently Sub Editor of Martial Arts Illustrated and contributory editor of Men's Fitness magazine.He has published several articles for mainstream glossy magazines such as Loaded, Maxim, FHM, Arena, Esquire and has published several articles with GQ Magazine (Britain-Paris). He has also appeared many times on mainstream TV including ITV's Martial Arts: The Real Story televised in two – one hour programmes. As well as his books and videos He was Martial Arts choreographer for the production 'Hard Fruit' at the Royal Court, London and winner of the EMDA Award for the screenplay of the film 'Watch My Back'. In 2004 Geoff's short film Brown Paper Bag, with Ray Winstone, won a BAFTA.
Shihan Chris Rowen
Shihan Chris Rowen is highly regarded in the martial arts world, having qualified in Japan under the legendary 10th Dan Gogen Yamaguchi – the only westerner to have done so – and his direct karate lineage can be traced back to 15th Century. Chris is a Japanese Shinto priest and healer and a world authority on Goju-Ryu Karate-Do. Offering a unique teaching style and a calm and relaxing demeanour Chris' teaching is accessible to students of all levels, abilities and styles.
Rick Young
Rick Young has been studying martial arts since 1975. Beginning his training under Shaun Stanley, Rick then began to study Wado Ryu Karate along with Western Boxing and Grappling. In 1979, at the age of 17, Rick first met and became a student of the legendary Dan Inosanto. In 1984 Rick travelled to Los Angeles to train with Guro Inosanto and other prominent artists. Since then Rick has travelled to the Inosanto Academy at least once a year. In 1995 Rick was awarded his full instructorship by Sifu Inosanto in Jeet Kune Do and the Filipino Martial Arts. This made him the first person outside the USA to be given this honour. Rick is currently the two-times World Champion, Pan-American Champion and European Champion in Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and also trains with the legendary Gracie family.
Sensei Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy has been involved in the martial arts since childhood. Iain holds a 5th Dan in Karate with the British Combat Association (one of the world's leading groups for close-quarter combat, self-protection and practical martial arts) and he is also a senior instructor for the British Karate-Do Chojinkai. Iain regularly writes for the UK's leading martial arts magazines and he is a member of the "Combat Hall of Fame". One of the UK's leading exponents of applied karate, Iain has written a number of critically acclaimed books on the practical application of traditional martial arts and is well known for his work on the pragmatic use of the techniques and concepts recorded in the traditional kata. Iain's seminars, books, videos, DVDs and articles have proved to be very popular with those groups and individuals who wish to practise their arts as the pragmatic systems they were originally intended to be.
Alan Gibson
Alan Gibson formed the UK Wing Chun Federation in 1990. Alan has studied martial arts for 16 years attaining a Black Sash in Wing Chun in 1986. Since then he has been teaching Kung Fu and has also taught Women's self defence for Southampton Department of Adult Education and the Probation Service. During this time he has frequently travelled to Hong Kong to train with Grandmaster Ip Chun, whose late father Ip Man, taught Bruce Lee. Alan is a man who lives and breathes Wing Chun and through his numerous DVDs and books wants to uniformly improve the standard of Wing Chun both in the UK and abroad.
All DVDs are produced by Summersdale Productions a specialist Martial Arts production / publishing company based in the UK. In Great Britain the DVDs are considered to have significantly raised the bar for the standard of Martial Arts instructional In DVD production. Martial Arts Illustrated referred to the Summersdale catalogue as 'representing the evolution of instructional DVD's. Gone are the days of dodgy camera angles, VHS and instructional tapes shot on home camcorders. Martial Arts instruction is moving towards attaining the professional levels of production that its integrity should have always commanded.
