cjd4life

MaxMarks, Thank you again for the vote of confidence in my ChunJiDo program! You are very fortunate to be training in the DePasquale system. I feel very fortunate to have attended training seminars with both Sr & Jr. You are correct Michael is doing an amazing job carrying on his Father's legacy and Mr D will always live on through Michael, Bill D'Urso, Shawn Flanagan. and all of the others who share his teachings and keep his spirit alive! One of my most treasured pictures is one of me and Mr DePasquale Sr. http://chunjido.com/shots/387 I also wanted to share a link from our paper in Evansville, Indiana that just came out this week http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/dec/28/no-headline---ev_martialarts/ God bless and all the best!

DWx, My initial TKD training was with the World Taekwondo Association (WTA) and Grandmaster Duk Son Sung. My immediate instructor was Mr. Charlie LaVanchy here in Evansville, Indiana and our Midwest Director was Master Young Sik Choi who now heads the Traditional Tae Kwon Do Chung Do Association (http://www.traditionaltkd.com/index.html). After Mr. LaVanchy closed his school I trained in Shotokan for awhile, and then went back to training in TKD in the American Taekwondo Association under Michael Parks. I enjoyed my TKD training and still think it is definitely the best art for learning to kick with speed, power, and flexibility. I noticed you are from the UK and train in the Chinese arts as well as TKD. I am not sure if you are near Walsall, but if so please drop in and see Shifu Christos Stamatiadis and let him know I sent you. He is an amazing young martial artist who has lived in China and studied with the top Chinese Grandmasters. Shifu Stamatiadis was my National Director for Greece and has recently moved to the UK and opened the SCHOOL of TRADITIONAL CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS & PHILOSOPHY. You can see more about him and his contact information at http://chunjido-international.com/affiliates/16. Take care my Friend and best wishes in your continued training!

MaxMarks, One other thing I forgot to mention, I noticed you were in New Hampshire... if you get a chance you may want to get in touch with some of the guys that are in my organization from the New England area. There is a lot of great Kempo and Arnis in the area. Sigung Rudy Duncan, Shihan Jesse Dwire, Guro Dan Donzella, and Sensei Ken Swan are all up that way, and they all enjoy working with other open-minded martial artists. You can find contact information for all of them at https://www.chunjidointernational.com Take Care!

MaxMarks, thank you for your kind words, greatly appreciated. Actually the blend of Kempo and stand-up Jujitsu is my favorite blended part of my system. I have been fortunate enough to work with Michael DePasquale Sr. (now deceased) and also Michael Jr. in the past in Yoshitsune Jujitsu and also Combat Jujitsu, both amazing people and I still consider Mr. DePasquale Sr. to be the most incredible martial artist I have ever met. In our commercial video, I did not want to go too "combat" and scare people away All of my Jujitsu is stand-up, I greatly respect the ground practitioners, but since I don't have a Black Belt in BJJ, I do not teach it currently in my system. My California Director though, Sensei Mario Schapp, is currently training directly under the Gracies in Torrance, California and has conducted great Gracie Combative seminars at my dojo in Evansville, Indiana. My primary Kempo and Jujitsu Instructor was Professor Larry Hilton who founded the Nippon Ketsugo Kempo Jujitsu Association and taught until health problems forced him to stop training and teaching. I received my 5th Dan Kempo Jujitsu rank and Shihan title from him. I still consider him the fastest martial artist I have ever seen, and he turned out some great martial artists, John Geyston being just one example, Jeff Devoe another. Sojobo - I stand corrected and apologize for the error, I have been training for 32 years, and had my own school over the last 15+ years. Sorry for the confusion. As far as my Jujitsu, I think I have answered that above. Professor Hilton trained under Carl "Pat" Burke and also Professor Vistacion who were both great martial artists and Professor V was the instructor for Moses Powell. As far as the use of my title, I used it to let everyone know and have no doubt it was me responding to the inquiries on ChunJiDo. I am very comfortable using the title, it is who I am. Just like a Doctor, or Senator, or professor of Education. I am proud of the arts and what I have accomplished during my lifetime. I in no way meant to dishonor or disrespect anyone else. I am not a world champion, I have coached several world and national level competitors/champions, but you will not see me use that title, I am not a Grandmaster of any other art, but I am the Grandmaster and Soke for ChunJiDo. Through the years I have taken a lot of heat for "creating" my own art. I really have not created anything, no one has, I just have developed my own interpretations and system of teaching what has been there for a long time. I have blended systems and will continue to incorporate new and improved techniques into my system of teaching. But through the grace of God and a whole lot of bloods sweat, and tears along the way I have been fortunate enough to inspire and lead students through ChunJiDo. I try my best to never say ChunJiDo is the best art or better than all of the others, "best" is measured in a lot of different ways and it is a lot like being a gunfighter, no matter how good you are, there is always someone out there with a quicker draw or a better aim!) I think I have answered most of the questions, and again, I would like to thank those who have raised the questions about ChunJiDo, because it gave me the opportunity and privilege to talk to all of you about the arts, and specifically ChunJiDo... great conversation, take care and God bless!

Dear Friends, thank you for your interest and candid discussion about ChunJiDo! To provide a few more details... ChunJiDo is a progressive art incorporating striking from my Kempo training, kicking from my Taekwondo training, and grappling, throws, and joint locks from my Nippon Jujitsu training. I have been training in the arts for 32 years and hold high Black Belt rank in all of these arts. I started my first school over 15 years ago and now have ChunJiDo schools in Indiana, Washington, Tennessee, California, Russia, and the Ukraine that teach all or part of my ChunJiDo system. I also have affiliates to my ChunjiDo International Organization in 4 continents and 16 countries around the world. We have over 350 ChunJiDo students in the US alone I have always been one to take the "high road", rather than get involved with the politics and system comparisons that to often accompany the martial arts, I have chose to take my system of ChunJiDo to the dojo mats across the US and to many countries. I have done ChunJiDo seminars in the US, Canada, Italy, Germany, and in the near future will be going to the Bahamas. In 2005 I received my Sokeship in ChunJiDo after taking part in the Black Belt Elite HOF in Offenbach, Germany. My passion is still teaching, and still teach over 50% of my weekly classes even though I have several high ranking instructors. Throughout my 32 years of teaching and travel I have had the amazing experience in teaching along side of some of the greatest martial artists of this era. Many who I can now call "Friends" I love being on the dojo floor and welcome anyone to come and see what ChunJiDo is all about. I enjoy the friendships that can be made in the martial arts and sharing ideas, techniques, and philosophies. All this being said, I hope that anyone who has questions about ChunJiDo would please call or email me, or better, please come by my dojo in Evansville, Indiana. I would ask that you bring the true spirit of Brotherhood in the Martial Arts and share your own personal learnings and experiences with us as you learn more about ChunJiDo. It is always good to meet a new friend and share techniques! My goal is simple, "To try to give as much back to the martial arts, as it has given to me" and also to share the gift of martial arts, and ChunJiDo specifically with anyone who is interested. Skullsplitter - Thank you for looking out for your friend and asking about ChunJiDo, there are many schools that may lead your friend down the wrong path... hopefully your friend and his son will realize I am not one of those schools. I hope to hear from some of you to hopefully gain new friendships in the arts! Respectfully, Grandmaster Robert Cutrell Soke/Founder ChunJiDo