Martial arts students from a Sundre-based club were recently in Saskatoon for a training seminar with 77-year-old Ji Han-Jea, former trainer of Bruce Lee.
“There was only five schools in North America invited and my school was one of the five,” said Perry Stokalko, head instructor at the school and part of the world traditional martial arts council.
The school was invited by the Flying Tiger Hapkido Club, which organized the seminar and is one of the clubs that Stokalko used to train at in Saskatchewan.
“In our day and age it's a rare event to meet someone that had even met Bruce Lee, let alone someone that taught him wrist locks and joint manipulations. So for us to be invited was a great honour.”
About 35 students from the Sundre club packed their bags and went to Saskatoon on Sept. 20 for a one-day seminar on Sept. 21.
Han-Jea is the founder of hapkido, which is what he taught Lee, according to Stokalko.
“It's the first time ever he did a kids' seminar in Canada. He taught wrist locks and kicking techniques and actually how to defend yourself with just a simple handkerchief,” he said.
A group of volunteers at the Shindo Kempho Karate Do and Combatives school in Sundre teach karate, kickboxing, jujitsu, wrestling and stick fighting year round. Students of the school can now be credited through Sundre High School (SHS).
“It's (credited through SHS) something that we've been really wanting to do. It's exciting because it gives kids opportunities to go farther in their education through martial arts,” he said.
The group has classes twice a week for children, youth and adults and it fundraised last month for the trip to Saskatoon. The seminar was limited to five schools in all of North America because 10,000 people showed up to the last seminar taught by Han-Jea, he said.
“It was unbelievable. He's a living legend. And if I would have just went myself then only I experience it. This time, not only did I get to experience it, my kids and my students got to experience it,” he said.
The knowledge shared by Han-Jea was a huge benefit to the students, he said.
“He didn't just share techniques, he shared about life experience and how you can be compassionate to other people. And even at the age of 77, how you can still maintain health and wellness,” he explained.
“It was a spectacular learning experience for all of us.”
