Kujuujutsu | Staff

Alec

A downtown Torontonian with a training history of more than 20 years, assumed formal training at age 13 with karate. That training continued daily through school, and as a black belt, eventually literally INTO school as co-captain of the first Jarvis C.I. martial arts club. The period following high-school were a descent onto a path that would lead him out of Canada over the years and across the world to train at some of the most renowned martial arts halls in Europe and Asia. Woven throughout many of those years saw the aspect of teaching others (when available) manifest deeper, then into personal protection services, and then a lengthy period as a bouncer at many of the largest and most well-known nightclubs in the metropolitan downtown area. His reputation in both the compact martial arts and security circles had been built upon the result of years of training, plain and simple. In the summer of 2004 he travelled to Las Vegas to compete in the first ever K-1 open try-outs, where, coming first in his bracket and after winning all three matches (first match by head-kick) he was interviewed afterward by Fuji Television and was then formally invited by Sadaharu Tanikawa and Daisuke Teraguchi to come to Japan to compete. Taking them up on their offer a few months later, he ended up at the Kyokushin Ichigeki Academy, training to compete for them in the Japanese pro MMA circuit. Leaving Japan amidst the political scandal that eventually destroyed the Japanese MMA scene and its biggest shows, he ended up back (via Hong Kong) in Canada and once again entered the teaching and security fields. Over the following years, after calling may pro gyms home (including moving down to Las Vegas, making another open try-out and joining the Wand Fight Team) and eventually toying with the idea of opening a gym in Canada…the late summer of 2013 saw the birth of that school in downtown Toronto, and with it, the return of over 20 years of training… for the next generation…

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Started with Kempo Karate as a kid in downtown Toronto.
First studied Gracie JJ under Rorion and Royce Gracie (regularly hosted by their local GJJ affiliate) in Thornhill.
Studied Tae Kwon Do at Jong Park Institute of Tae Kwon Do under the technical supervision of A.A. Park
TKD instructor certificate issued by General Choi.
Over 20 years training Russian Sambo.
Travelled to Amsterdam, Holland to train (K-1 style) Dutch kickboxing at the Chakuriki Dojo.
Travelled to Bienne, Switzerland to train full-contact karate (K-1 style) at the Swiss Seidokaikan.
Moved to Tokyo, Japan to train at the Ichigeki Academy, the MMA division of Kyokushin Karate (IKO-1)
Moved to Las Vegas to join Wand Fight Team, training under Vitor Vianna (BJJ) and Wanderlei Silva (MMA)

Talmon Firestone

A graceful and delicate mountain of a man, Talmon is a veteran nightclub bouncer, a long-time (3rd degree black-belt) student of Grandmaster Jong Soo Park, and the 2013 Maccabi Games heavyweight gold-medalist Tae Kwon Do champion. Believe it! His storied life in the martial arts also includes journeying to the Chakuriki Dojo in Amsterdam, the Swiss Seidokaikan, and to an extended period in Beverly Hills (pursuing his master’s degree in space science) where he joined the renowned BHJJC training under Marcus Vinicius (BJJ) and Amir Perets (Krav Maga) as well as having appeared in numerous films and television shows, showcasing either his mental talents (as a space expert for CBC news) or his physical talents (as a martial arts “baddie” in several films) from time to time. His classes are challenging and fun mix, with an emphasis on control, precision and fitness. His grace will awe you and his highly technical observational-teaching style goes hand-in-hand with giving students the best start possible. His technical “repairs” to the movements of those who need it come as lessons distilled from being a first-generation student of one of the greatest living masters on the planet. He is literally a champion produced by a champion. Curious to see what he can help to produce in you?

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3^rd degree black-belt and instructor of ITF Tae Kwon Do under Grandmaster Jong Soo Park.
TKD instructor certificate issued by General Choi.
Travelled to Amsterdam, Holland to study (K-1 style) Dutch kickboxing at the Chakuriki Dojo.
Travelled to Bienne, Switzerland to train full-contact karate (K-1 style) at the Swiss Seidokaikan.
2013 Maccabi Games champion gold-medalist, heavyweight division, in WTF Tae Kwon Do

M. Levy

A polarizing figure and co-founder of the method taught at the Institute, Mr. Levy is typically only present in either an administrative or advisory position…but when he does occasionally teach, usually he is found heading up some adult and professional classes only. His main contribution to the Institute is his dissemination of the Daito-Ryu derivatives (hence the Takeda-Matusmae emblem) that form the 2nd range techniques that occupy that transitional “grey area” between outright percussive techniques (1st range) and outright ground-grappling techniques (3rd range)…although the 2nd range techniques can be simply awesome in and of themselves, many typical Aikijutsu (or traditional Ju-Justu or Aikido) practitioners are often lost on how to effectively weave percussive strikes into their practice (if need be, to initiate or complete a given strategy). When not away working in the field of personal protection, he is typically honing his craft, having spent a lot of time in Japan training amongst students of the Sagawa school, adding to his training base (since the late 80’s) of JKD and, of course, Israeli Krav Maga. His secondary contribution to the curriculum at the institute is his counter-bulling program for kids, which aims to link the physical aspects of training with imprinting advanced mental and personality aspects… aspects that in their current form (in a bullied individual) may be at the root of what unsavory groups or individuals may seek to exploit in a “weak” person. Critically, if someone is going to invest time and energy learning an art, shouldn’t that art also make that practitioner a “better” person? Beyond the physical, his 2nd range practices contain compassionate techniques often completely absent in members of security and police units…where the inability to effectively subdue an incensed or chemically deranged individual without becoming injuriously abusive (or putting an officer themselves at greater risk) during the conflict is clearly evidenced by report after report in the media of people in power using muscles, tazers, and guns as a first-resort…often with final, fatal results. Individuals active in those fields arguably benefit the most (and society at large as a result) from deeper levels of applicable combat knowledge. Mr. Levy’s rare classes are extremely intense, and although he does aim to make them fun and strangely humorous, students should expect them to be a quite a test. Largely, the curriculum and movement methodology taught in his absence would be through other instructors on staff.

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Over 30 years of JKD and Israeli Krav Maga.
Trained extensively in Japan, and dedicated to the advancing of Daito-Ryu Aikijutsu technical derivatives.
Over 25 years of training and teaching Russian Sambo.
Extensive background in both security and personal protection services.

A.A. Park

Witnessing the power-output of strikes thrown by Arnold Park is perhaps best relatable to witnessing a force of nature in action…beautiful, frightful, awe-inspiring stuff. One could be forgiven for literally thinking that the laws of physics simply apply differently to him… but thankfully he is also a bright, patient and extremely eloquent instructor capable of explaining clearly the amazing things he can do with his body. Being the son of a grandmaster, and having literally grown up around the arts, he witnessed up close (and at a distance too…an important aspect to his well-rounded perspective) his father’s earlier training methodology and movement, as well as having worked with many of the senior instructors that made their home at his father’s institute. A living bridge between past and present, his greatest gift is his photo-tactile observational skill combined with the patience and intuition needed to take something that seems largely theoretical and “pound it out on the anvil” until he comes up with a deep understanding of a particular combat tool… it’s development, and applications…and then, almost Bodhisattva-like, to see others who are not yet where he is, or are heading down a lesser path, and seek to impart his understanding. He is an astute observer of many different martial arts, and his studies in other systems and styles are an attempt, within himself, to seek out the common physics of the human form, and how to best apply those findings within his personal form of physical expression. There are those that can do a particular movement well, but cannot teach it…working with Arnold is like being able to ask an encyclopedia what you are doing wrong and having it actually answer…and in the dojo(indeed, as in life) who out there doesn’t seek answers? What answers does Arnold hold in store for your questions?

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A life-long practitioner of martial-arts, Tae Kwon Do black-belt under GM Jong Soo Park.
A master physical technician and the official technical movement advisor of the KujuuJutsu Institute.
A savant…a genius…a force of nature…(only half-joking, seriously!)