This year represents the 50th anniversary of the World Kuk Sool Association and in honour of that a huge World Championships and Masters Exhibition took place in Houston, Texas. I decided to go along with my usual cohorts (SBN Richard Jones and SBN Scott Slack) as well as my original instructor KJN Steve Isaacson and KJN John Watson and a great time was had by all.
The tournament was a strange experience for me as they decided to have a 4th dan competition so I had to pull myself out of retirement and compete! This was the first time I had competed in 2 years and I was pleased to get 2 silvers (techniques, weapons) and a bronze (forms). SBN Scott got his usual gold in forms with what I regarded as a flawless performance.
That night was the masters exhibition which was a fantastic display of martial arts from the cream of WKSA Masters. The highlight being a demonstration from Kuk Sa Nim, the first time he has demoed in many, many years. This was the third time that I had visited Houston and until now, I had never managed to get in to the demo but beings that this was a truly 'world event', I managed to get in it quite a bit! I very much enjoyed being in the SBN, breaking, weapons sparring and acrobatics demo teams as well as having the 'honour' of being beaten up by KJN's Nebgen, Watson and the Suh brothers.
Overall, it was a great trip that I will remember for a long time. It was great to see a lot of old friends again and meet some new ones. Also, it was fantastic to witness so many master promotions (including our travel partners of JIKJN's Isaacson and Watson).
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