Ainsley Walters, Freelance Writer
Hiyaaah! Look out for Kenneth Edward's flying kick. - Photos by LeVaughn Flynn
JAMAICA has numerous martial arts schools offering various techniques, which their practitioners tout as being better than the other.
Similar to the karate movies of old, students break away from masters, form their own schools and constantly battle each other for supremacy.
One of the most famous martial arts squabbles, the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF)-World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) controversy, is almost 40 years old, and has alienated several martial artists, Jamaicans included, from representing their respective countries at the Olympics.
Taekwondo is the only martial arts allowed at the Olympic Games, making qualification the domain of WTF fighters, whose art is practised by striking only with the feet.
Being accepted
Arthur Barrows (right) and Ricardo Lewis.
However, being accepted by the Olympic movement does not make the WTF a better or more popular body than the ITF, which uses both hands and feet.
Jamaica's most internationally active martial arts unit, the combined team, draws on practitioners from various disciplines such as kick-boxing, karate, seido and taekwon-do but practises ITF format in team combat, battling countries, which utilise similar techniques.
However, the Jamaica Taekwondo Federation, which is affiliated to the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) and practises World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) techniques in individual fighting, is the local body responsible for qualifying fighters to the Olympics.
Therefore, as exposed and internationally successful as members of the combined team are, some being world champions in their respective international disciplines such as kick-boxing, seido and karate, they can only represent Jamaica at the Olympics if they are recommended o themselves to the Jamaica Taekwondo Federation, its WTF ring rules and techniques.
How it started
At first, there was only the ITF, started by Choi Hong Hi, who died at 84 in 2002.
Also known as General Choi, he was a South Korean army general and martial artist.
Choi is widely regarded as the 'Founder of Taekwondo', most explicitly by ITF members.
The ITF credits him with starting the spread of taekwondo internationally by stationing South Korean taekwondo instructors around the world, but he is also widely claimed to be either an unimportant, or even dishonourable, figure in taekwondo history.
In 1937, he met a fellow Korean, who was a karate instructor and taught Choi this martial art.
Choi combined elements of what was known as taekkyeon and karate to develop a martial art that he called Taekwon-Do, which means "the way of the feet and the hands".
However, in 1971, the South Korean Government refused Choi permission to teach taekwondo in North Korea.
As a result, Choi went into exile in Canada and the South Korean Government formed the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), which late itself to the Olympics.
Through the efforts of International Olympic Committee vice-president, Kim Un-yong, Taekwondo became a demonstration sport in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, as well as the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.
Taekwondo became an official Olympic sport at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
Dussard reaping rewards on both sides of fence
Kenneth Edwards (right) protects himself from a high kick delivered by Nicholas Dussard.
TAKEN out of active training by mentor and team captain, Jason McKay, in January 2007 to concentrate on his external examinations, Jamaica's teenage sensation, Nicholas Dussard, not only nailed eight passes but returned, unseeded, to shock rivals at the United States Open Martial Arts World Championship in July, landing the title of world junior black belt champion.
While his teammates were touring the world and basking in the limelight of victories, Dussard kept his head buried in his books, missing the prestigious International Tae Kwon Do Federation (ITF) World Championship in Quebec, Canada in June, an event in which he was almost assured of a gold medal in his final year as a junior.
It was a tough decision but the Wolmer's Boys sixth former still managed to reap rewards on both sides of the fence, returning with a bang after completing his examinations.
Now 18, Dussard showed exactly why he was decorated with the 2006 Prime Minister's Youth Award for Excellence in Sports, grabbing Grade One passes in Mathematics, English Language, Physics and Principles of Business as well as twos in Chemistry, Geography and Spanish and a three in English Literature.
Dream as a cricketer
A career as a professional cricketer also beckons for the multi-talented youngster.
Dussard played as an all-rounder for Wolmer's in the 2006 Grace Shield, helping to guide his team to the quarter-finals with a season-best bowling figure of five wickets for 28 runs against Excelsior, a match in which he also hit 35 not out.
Academics and sports, Dussard said, compliment each other.
"Each helps the other," he said.
"Both martial arts and cricket are physical but also mental games and that's what you need for school, to be mentally tough and able to take pressure," he added.
However, he was quick to point out there comes a time when sports have to be put on the back burner.
"There are times when sports gets stressful and I have to give the schoolwork most of the time.
Dussard said the balancing act might seem tough but it's all in the mind.
"My cricket coach, Dennis Miller, once told me one (sports and academics) helps the other. If you can train and study hard, you can do whatever you want to but don't let one overshadow the other. It takes a lot of hard work and you must be very humble."
"Cricket pays but I have more love for martial arts and with the sport growing in Jamaica, it's up to young guys such as myself to take it further."
- L.F.
Seido Karate a hit on the world stage
The Seido Karate team (in full white) and the Combined Martial Arts team (in red top) at Hope Gardens recently.
Like the Combined Martial Arts team, Seido Karate had another huge year with good international results. There were three major events on Seido Jamaica's calendar.
Seido Open International in June at the University of Technology, the Zendo Karate Open in May at the University of Technology and the World Seido Karate Championships in Nagayo, Japan in December.
At the Seido International Open in June, Enid Plummer was crowned female Grand Champion and Debra Chin won her heavyweight division while Omar Rose, who also competes on the combined team, won the male Grand Champion title at the Zendo Open.
Best result in japan
The seido team had their best results in Japan last month where they took home 14 medals: five gold, two silver and seven bronze.
Bruce McFarlane, who also competes on the combined team, defended his grandmaster title while Rose also held onto his middleweight title and added bronze in the kata competition.
Betty Salmon won gold in kata and also fighting. Everett Simms, the veteran, got silver in black belt middleweight fighting, losing out to Rose in the semis.
The Jamaicans dominated the finals, often making them all- Jamaican affairs. Judy Ann Henry got gold in the women's yellow belt kata division.
Sandra Simms doubled with bronze in women's black belt fighting and kata. Black belt Sheree Smith also doubled, as she got silver in kata and bronze in fighting.
Trevor Cooper was third in men's black belt middleweight fighting, while green belt Richard Austin won a bronze for fighting.
Instructor Jun Shihan Tony Robinson, a sixth degree black belt, said of their success in Japan:
"We have gone on the world stage, time and time again, pitting our skills against the best in the world and coming out victorious, so I guess that makes us the best in the world then."
With the next World Seido Championships scheduled for 2009, Robinson said this year, "We're looking to get bigger and better and trying to fight more international competitors."
- L.F.
Combined team on crest of a waveLeVaughn Flynn, Staff Reporter
Sandra Simms, Tony Robinson (instructor), Sheree Simms, Trevor Cooper, Betty Salmon, Omar Rose, Kenneth Edwards, Nicholas Dussard, Jason McKay, Arthur Barrows, Dwayne Brown, Ricardo Lewis, Sean Cummings and coach Claude Chin.
JAMAICA'S Combined Martial Arts Team, the Busta Fighters, completed another perfect year in 2007, maintaining their unbeaten streak in 21 consecutive international team bouts, reaching their tally against Cuba last December.
The Combined Team's fourth consecutive victory over Cuba, in the first leg of the annual Caribbean Games in Havana, added to other high-profile scalps such as Japan, China, Poland, the United States, England, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic.
The crown jewel in the team's 2007 achievements was the World Continental Championships at the United States Open in July, where the Jamaicans topped hosts United States, Britain, representing Europe and New Zealand as Pacific/Asia qualifiers.
The World Continental Championship represented Jamaica's first ever world team title, a hard-earned victory after putting their entire Jamaica Beverages sponsorship on the line, bypassing other international tournaments.
The team afterwards journeyed to China in August to compete in the Tri-Asian champs for the second year running, defeating the hosts before returning to the region to take on Cuba in a hard fought battle, sustaining significant injuries.
Championships in jamaica
The combined team's success has Paul Shoucair, general manager, Jamaica Beverages, along with parent firm, SM Jaleel of Trinidad and Tobago, aiming at staging the world continuous fighting championships in Jamaica later this year.
"They won the World Continental Championships last year and we're looking to bring an even bigger tournament here with possibly 10 teams. It's towards the end of next year and that's what we're gearing towards," said Shoucair.
"The last ISKA tournament was covered by ESPN Sports Network at the US Open and the organisation excellent, hopefully we can replicate it.
"We're looking at costing, obviously it will cost us more but our head office in Trinidad and Tobago is committed to it and it will be a major coup for Jamaican martial arts and the Caribbean."
Best Individual performances for 2007
Combined Team
Nicholas Dussard - U.S. Open junior blackbelt champion in sparring.
Bruce McFarlane - U.S. Open heavyweight continuous fighting champion
Kenneth Edwards - North American and Caribbean championship gold medallist.
Jason McKay and Edwards - Two man team champions at Tae Kwon Do Goodwill Games.
Arthur Barrows - Top performer on the local circuit, tallying most points in the Busta Martial Arts League.
Seido Karate
Bruce McFarlane - Grand Champion-World Seido Karate Championships.
Betty Salmon - Gold in kata and free fight at World Seido Karate Championships
Omar Rose - middle weight champion, World Seido Karate Championships Grand Champion, Zendo Open.
Jodi-Ann Henry - Gold, yellow belt, World Seido Karate Championships.
Enid Plummer - World Female Grand Champion-Seido Open International.
Debra Chin - heavyweight champion-Seido International Open.
