Posts by Sam_MAIA

MAIA President Walt Missingham has today congratulated the Martial Arts industry in collectively rising to the occasion in dealing with the Covid 19 Crisis and its impact on our industry.

“In less than 3 weeks we have had over 20,000 instructors successfully complete the certification process, it is a credit not just to the MAIA team who developed and released the program but to the thousands of instructors who have been able to respond in a non political way to the benefit of our industry – well done to all involved!”

Walt revealed that the Covid Safe Certification Program is only the first part of what the MAIA will be doing over the next 6 months. We have a comprehensive awareness campaign that centres around the single ‘Covid Safe School brand’.”

“Many instructors are focused on the date that they can return to teaching and this is, of course both reasonable and understandable, but this is not the only challenge we face. The far greater challenge is to deal with the very effective fear campaigns waged by both our governments  and our media.

The Covid Safe Martial Arts Schools initiative is designed not just to effectively educate instructors but also to give the general public confidence in returning to training with ‘Covid Safe’ Instructors.”

The program can be accessed here:

https://www.openlearning.com/courses/covid-safe-martial-arts-school/

It provides online training for any martial arts instructor.

It has been developed by the MAIA as a free service to our industry and provides a pathway via which any martial arts instructor can obtain the training needed for a safe a legal resumption of their classes.

Walt acknowledged the input of the certification development team:

“An essential and vital job for our industry completed in record time – well done to the team Sam Sujatna, Fred Ong, Kevin Blundell, Fari Salievski, John Bedwany and Joel Rheinberger.”

MAIA President, Walt Missingham, has today ordered the suspension of all MAIA Accreditation Intakes until the 1 June 2020 at which time the Covid 19 situation will be reassessed.

The MAIA will reschedule accreditation intakes that were to have occurred in the first half of this year once it is safe to do so.

Special arrangements have been made to extend the period in which reaccreditation can occur so that no one is disadvantaged.

The MAIA are still processing accreditation submissions People doing updates should still lodge them People who have commenced level one courses will have the time to lodge the required documentation extended by the time that our countries shutdown goes for. For example if your 12 month lodgement time was up in March of this year you will have one month, after shutdown stops, to lodge your materials.

All other accreditation requirements/conditions will remain.

During this crisis MAIA members are receiving regular Bulletins but is important to realise that the situation moves quickly. Please click here to get the latest information from the Government/Health Department website.

https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert?utm_source=health.gov.au&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=digital_transformation&utm_content=health-topics/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov

The much awaited Bruce Lee App has now been released. Described as The Ultimate Bruce Lee Resource it is AVAILABLE NOW On Itunes

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bruce-lee-path-of-the-dragon/id1478232002?ls=1

and Android Google Play

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.brucelee

Christmas greetings and thanks to all of our committee members, coaches athletes and members.

Our office will be closed from the 21st of December and will reopen on the 28th January 2020

KWA President Walt Missingham has today confirmed that the 2020 World SANDA Cup will be staged in Melbourne from the 4-6 September 2020. The event will be the biggest martial arts event ever staged in Australia and the first World Championships to be conducted by KWA.
The multi million dollar Event is being fully backed by the global martial arts event giant KLF and will feature the largest global media coverage ever provided to an Australian martial arts event. Walt paid tribute to the commitment, professionalism and vision of KLF Founder & CEO Jiang Hua and KLF Pacific Asia CEO Ted Yang. We all look forward to what will be a truly amazing milestone on the evolution of martial arts media events.

Recently I have been approached by a number of media organisations to comment on the portrayal of Bruce Lee in the latest Quentin Tarantino movie ‘Once Upon a Time In Hollywood’.  As the senior Jeet Kune Do person in Australia and as the producer of three documentaries on Bruce Lee I am often asked to speak about Bruce Lee – I generally decline such invitations however on this matter I feel I must comment.

Firstly let me say that I have enormous respect for Quentin Tarantino as a film maker but equally on this occasion he has simply got it wrong.

I absolutely support the comments made on this matter by Shannon Lee:
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/bruce-lee-quentin-tarantino-shannon-lee-interview-1203302850/

Kareem Abdul Jabbar:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2019/08/16/kareem-abdul-jabbar-slams-quentin-tarantino-bruce-lee-once-upon-a-time-hollywood/2033791001/

and Dan Inosanto:
https://variety.com/2019/film/features/bruce-lee-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-dan-inosanto-1203287237/

When I first viewed the film I was offended by the inaccurate and derogatory way Bruce Lee was characterised but as the film is a work of fiction I must cede to Kareem’s comments in that “Tarantino has the artistic right to portray Bruce any way he wants,”. This however does not wash when Tarantino, upon being criticized, defended his portrayal as being ‘accurate’!

So on the question of ‘accuracy’ let us ‘fact check’. The scene in question is an encounter between Bruce Lee and the aging stuntman Cliff Booth on the set of the Green Hornet (circa 1966).

* Bruce Lee’s hair style was not as presented for this period , the style featured is more 1972-73- i.e. the portrayal is inaccurate
* The Bruce Lee character speaks about Cassius Clay, in fact in 1966 Cassius Clay had already changed his name to Muhammad Ali and it is by this name that Bruce Lee referred to Ali –  i.e. the portrayal is inaccurate.
* The style of ‘fighting’ by the Bruce Lee character is a parody on his movie fights and bears no resemblance to what Bruce Lee practiced and advocated in real fights – i.e. the portrayal is inaccurate.
* Bruce Lee was particularly critical of flying side kicks in real fights and would never have used such a technique in a real fight – i.e. the portrayal is inaccurate

• The ‘cat calls’ made by the Bruce Lee character were not used by Bruce Lee until his Hong Kong films and were certainly not used by Bruce Lee in a real encounter – i.e. the portrayal is inaccurate.
• Bruce Lee was not the arrogant caricature presented by Tarantino in fact the characterisation is almost the opposite of what Bruce Lee was – i.e. the portrayal is inaccurate

There is no need for me to add to the personal experiences and knowledge of Bruce Lee already presented by Shannon, Kareem and Dan all of which highlight and recall an amazing man whose contributions are still being felt by many. I earlier said I have a great respect for the abilities of Mr. Tarantino as a film maker sadly that respect cannot extend to his capacities as a man as he is  so completely bereft of the capacity to admit that he is wrong.

Walt Missingham has released the following information about a new scifi action film ‘THE WHEEL’

“Great to be able to endorse ‘The Wheel’ directed by my good friend Dee McLachlan.
Recently the Winner – Best Martial Arts at the Urban Action Showcase Festival in New York, The Wheel – featuring David Arquette (Scream) and starring Jackson Gallagher (Playing for Keeps) is a a sci-fi, action film about a powerful biotech military corporation who promises paraplegic inmate Matt Mills the use of his legs back, in exchange for volunteering in a nano experiment – but in The Wheel no one survives. The film will please both action film and scifi fans.”

Any MAIA member and students will be able to attend the premiere in:

Melbourne 2 September at the Lido Cinema, Hawthorn
https://www.lidocinemas.com.au/events/the-wheel-premiere-screening-and-filmmaker-q-and-a

and Sydney 4  September at the Ritz Cinema, Randwick:
https://www.ritzcinema.com.au/Movie/The-Wheel

Walt will form part of an all star panel discussion at the Sydney Premiere

The official trailer is at https://www.thewheelmovie.com/trailer