as sent in to the BUDO International Martial arts Magazine recently......
International Alliance Of Martial Arts Schools
...the true spirit of martial
On 12th of September 2002, Rayners Lane Taekwon-do Academy instructor, Stuart
Anslow, put forth a realization of an idea he’d mulled around with for a long
time.
He put the first stone down to establish the I.A.O.M.A.S (International Alliance
Of Martial Arts Schools). He contacted a few International friends involved in
teaching martial arts & they came on board as well and the England IAOMAS site
was establish.
First to join up & now definitely considered a co-founder was Tim Posynick
from Canada who works tirelessly on IAOMAS (Canada & International items). A
little while later David Melton had established a US Country Page, followed by
Piotr Bernat from Poland, Ger Healy & Philip Fox from Ireland &
Christian Hell from Germany.
The IAOMAS has grown from its humble beginnings, after the England site was
founded, Canada followed on quickly, founded by Tim Posynick, it now has an
amazing 76 schools involved, England has 38 by the way, Canada was closely
followed by the USA (Dave Melton) with further country sites founded in
Australia (Glen Doecke), Belgium (Peter Vermeeren), Denmark (Annie Lysebjerg),
Germany (Christian Hell), Holland, Ireland (Phillip Fox & Ger Healy), New
Zealand (John Burton), Nigeria (Sunday Igbinedion), Poland (Piotr Bernart),
Scotland (Robert Bass), Spain, Thailand (Gabriel Chin) & Wales (Neil
Muirhead), with new country sites being founded soon in, Brazil & Malta.
Each ‘Country Site’ have numerous schools, in fact at the last count (some
months ago) the IAOMAS was fast approaching 300 schools worldwide.
Schools are also aligned from Austria, Argentina, Brazil, Cyprus, Estonia,
Malta, Morrocco, India, Iran, Isle Of Man, Pakistan, Phillipines, Georgia
(former Russia), Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa & Sri Lanka. The
IAOMAS really is Worldwide!
What is even more amazing is this unity was brought forth without any costs to
Instructors or students, without any political problems, because no-one has to
leave their present associations. The amount of co-operation on such a vast
world-wide stage I don't think has ever been realized & even if it has,
never so quickly, this truly is a new era for martial arts!
Virtually every style is covered somewhere & hopefully one day every country
will be covered as well.
The IAOMAS has its own forum, with instructors & students around the world
discussing all manner of martial arts related subjects, from competitions to
training & pattern/ kata applications to tuition billing services to self
defense courses for OAP`s, all with openness & a willingness to help, such a
wealth of knowledge in one place is reason alone to be part of the IAOMAS.
IAOMAS members have now got special discounts in certain stores like Sai Martial
Arts, with other members freely helping with web site optimization & other
issues.
All this has been achieve free, with no charge to instructors or students, which
is one of the main aims of the IAOMAS.
Discussions have taken place to hold IAOMAS tournaments on national &
international levels, plus very soon IAOMAS seminars are due to take place in
the UK & the USA.
So What is the IAOMAS?
The International Alliance Of Martial Arts Schools is a student support system,
the co-operation of Martial Arts schools worldwide to allow all martial arts
students to continue to train wherever they go (ie. On holiday, vacation, work
etc.). Its good for all students involved (through the club) & good for
instructors to be able to offer training where-ever their students are in the
world. After all, open minded martial artists can all learn from each other.
Whose Involved?
Schools from various countries around the world are joining day by day, at the
time of writing this there are nearly 300 schools involved.. There is also every
style involved, Taekwon-do, Karate, Kung Fu, Judo, Hapkido, Jun Kune Do, Ju
Jitsu, Free Style, Sombo etc
What’s the deal?
Simply (on its most basic level), it’s a list of schools in as many countries
as possible, that agree to allow any student (from schools involved) `FREE`
training, for at least two weeks, should they visit that country (or area). This
is `NON-POLITICAL`, and is based on individual school instructors rather than
Associations. You don’t have to leave your associations, there’s no fee’s,
just instructors co-operating & putting in some hard work on the sites. We
establish a single site in each country that is maintained by an instructor from
there, linking all the countries together collectively.
How do you become involved?
Just go to www.raynerslanetkd.com,
click on the IAOMAS link. Check it out & then email your details to the
England Site or the site that your country is situated on. (Students should get
the instructor of their clubs permission first before agreeing to be part of
this if they are the ones that can email/host their schools web sites)
Of course, it goes without saying that all IAOMAS schools should treat visiting
students with respect (no matter what the style), and students should obey the
clubs rules at all times.
Keep checking the web sites as the International Alliance Of Martial Arts
Schools is growing at a tremendous rate.
International Alliance Of Martial Arts Schools
...the true spirit of martial
...become part of something BIG, something unique, something World Wide,
something pioneering in the world of martial arts
... open your eyes to the true spirit of martial arts