Hapkido is a Korean martial art that is a form of self defense that employs joint locks, grappling, and throwing techniques similar to those of other martial arts, as well as kicks, punches, and other striking attacks. It also teaches the use of traditional weapons, including knife, sword, rope, cane, short stick, and staff, which vary in emphasis depending on the particular tradition examined. Hapkido employs both long-range and close-range fighting techniques, utilizing jumping kicks and percussive hand strikes at longer ranges, and pressure point strikes, joint locks, and throws at closer fighting distances. Hapkido emphasizes circular motion, redirection of force, and control of the opponent. Practitioners seek to gain advantage over their opponents through footwork and body positioning to incorporate the use of leverage, avoiding the use of brute strength against brute strength.

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We train under GM JR West of West Hapkido Academy.  Scott and Carrie have trained under GM West for many years and he is a huge influence on their approach to self defense.  

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West’s Hapkido Academy, Inc. opened its doors in 1973 in Jackson, Mississippi when GM J.R.West, then a Hapkido 3rd Dan, decided that it was time to begin to pass on the knowledge that he had acquired during his contact with the Korean Tiger Division (ROK Capital Cavalry) while serving an extended tour as a communications specialist in Binh Dinh Province in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam.

Hapkido was virtually an unknown art in United States in May of 1970 when GM West, a Hapkido black belt since 1967, returned from Vietnam. After searching the southeastern United States he was fortunate enough to become associated with Master (now Doctor) He-Young Kimm (Kim, Hyung-suk), an extremely well educated and talented man with an incredible knowledge of Korean Martial Arts including, among others, Hapkido and Yudo. The two began a friendship in the 1970s which continues to this day, with GM West, until 1996, serving as the director of associate members for Dr. Kimm’s World Hanmudo Association, and Dr. Kimm teaching clinics regularly at West’s Hapkido Academy as well as acting as GM West’s friend, mentor and advisor.  In 1996. Dr. Kimm wrote a Letter of Recommendation for GM West stating that the time had come for GM West to “take his place as a completely independent leader in the field of Hapkido”.

Today the academy maintains a 5,250 sq. ft. modern facility totally dedicated to the teaching of Hapkido to men and women in the Jackson suburb of Ridgeland, Mississippi, and offers the utmost in traditional Hapkido instruction for those who are more interested in learning than they are in the color of their belt. Every Spring and Fall, Hapkido stylists from all over the world make the trip to Jackson, Mississippi to train at one of Master West’s International Hapkido Seminars which continue to break all records for numbers in attendance and distance traveled.

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  For more information please visit- https://hapkido.com/