The WSEF recognizes Gura Jackie Bradbury for her efforts in the martial arts along with her husband Kevin. As a special promotional effort SGM "D" has chosen to award Gura Bradbury for her consistent effort in supporting the WSEF promotional efforts with a Banquet of the Masters promotional DVD set! All of us at the WSEF congratulate Gura Bradbury for her consumate professionalism & dedication in her martial arts pursuits. I encourage all who are familiar with Gura Bradbury to wish her a sincere congratulations as well!
Guro Michael Schwarz
President of the WSEF
following content courtesy of "The Stick Chick" Blog:
With her husband, Kevin, I've been studying Modern Arnis and related arts since 2008.
We started the martial arts studying PaSaRyu Tae Kwon Do at John Wade Karate in Southaven, MS. My daughter also studied there starting at age five.
At the beginning, we fell in love with the marital arts immediately and it changed our lives very much for the better! I can't imagine a life without martial arts in it now!
What I loved about PaSaRyu was my instructor, Darrell Kellner. He is an excellent martial artist and includes a lot of great physical conditioning in every class. I learned many forms, learned martial arts basics, and even played around with the Bo a little bit. Always a humble and open-minded person, I'm proud to call Darrell a friend to this day, even though I no longer study PaSaRyu. I eventually reached the blue belt level before I relocated to Las Vegas.
A few months after starting PaSaRyu in Mississippi, David Jones entered our lives. David is a brilliant martial artist (and all-round awesome person) who introduced us to a number of arts, including Ryukyu Kempo and Modern Arnis. At the time, it was a rather informal "play" group versus a class, but we learned tons and fell in love with the sticks! We still travel to study with him and his students at least once a year at seminars, usually taught by Bruce Chiu and Jack Hogan.
Just before I moved to Las Vegas, I discovered I was pregnant with my second child. As I did not want to practice any hard arts during the pregnancy - it was considered high-risk due to my age and other factors - I studied Tai Chi Chuan with two different teachers in Las Vegas. One taught me a smattering of Chen style, and once he stopped teaching, I started studying with this group: The Las Vegas Tai Chi Meetup Group. That's a great group and if you're in Las Vegas, I highly recommend you check it out. What I learned there definitely influences me to this day.
A few months after the safe delivery of my perfectly healthy younger daughter, circumstances required us to move (again), this time to the Fort Worth, TX area. I briefly studied Tae Kwon Do again, but my heart was not in it, as my husband and I really wanted to continue studying Modern Arnis (or a close enough version, if we could find a tacher) more than anything.
That's when we got very lucky.
It was literally our last week or so at the Tae Kwon Do school. We planned to simply save up and study with David Jones in MS on a quarterly basis since we couldn't find anybody who teaches what we wanted to learn close by us. One of the instructors at that school points to a man sitting aside the mat and says, "That guy knows your art."
He knew we'd studied Modern Arnis, so I almost fell over myself as I rushed over to introduce myself to the man. It turns out, I'd spotted him months earlier posting really good stuff about Arnis (and other topics) on Martial Talk and noticed he was nearby, so I messaged him and got no response. I figured he'd either quit MT or maybe he'd moved or something, so I wrote it off in my mind.
The guy that instructor pointed out to me is the same guy! His mailbox at MT was full and he didn't see my message - so maybe we were destined to meet him eventually!
He is Mark Lynn, and is our main instructor today at Hidden Sword Martial Arts. My daughter also studies with him in his Tae Kwon Do program and recently attained the rank of Black Belt (1st Degree) under Mark.. My younger daughter is chompin' at the bit to start studying as well, as soon as she's old enough!
Kevin and I are both black belts (Lakan and Dayang Isa) and we both help instruct our lower-level students at Hidden Sword as well as study with Mark. We opened our own community-center based Arnis program - Mid-Cities Arnis - at NRH Centre in North Richland Hills, TX in July 2015.
I have studied the Jo under Mark Lynn, and I am currently studying Kobudo with A-KATO. Kevin studies Goju-Shorei weapons (walking cane) with Keith Freeman at Freeman's Martial Arts
I also enjoy the Kansas City Chiefs, sci fi and fantasy geekery of all kinds, Celtic and punk music and art, low carbing, liberty, and of course, being a mom and wife.
Guro Michael Schwarz
President of the WSEF
following content courtesy of "The Stick Chick" Blog:
With her husband, Kevin, I've been studying Modern Arnis and related arts since 2008.
We started the martial arts studying PaSaRyu Tae Kwon Do at John Wade Karate in Southaven, MS. My daughter also studied there starting at age five.
At the beginning, we fell in love with the marital arts immediately and it changed our lives very much for the better! I can't imagine a life without martial arts in it now!
 |
| Me and my PaSaRyu Yellow Belt. |
What I loved about PaSaRyu was my instructor, Darrell Kellner. He is an excellent martial artist and includes a lot of great physical conditioning in every class. I learned many forms, learned martial arts basics, and even played around with the Bo a little bit. Always a humble and open-minded person, I'm proud to call Darrell a friend to this day, even though I no longer study PaSaRyu. I eventually reached the blue belt level before I relocated to Las Vegas.
 |
| David and I cross sticks. |
Just before I moved to Las Vegas, I discovered I was pregnant with my second child. As I did not want to practice any hard arts during the pregnancy - it was considered high-risk due to my age and other factors - I studied Tai Chi Chuan with two different teachers in Las Vegas. One taught me a smattering of Chen style, and once he stopped teaching, I started studying with this group: The Las Vegas Tai Chi Meetup Group. That's a great group and if you're in Las Vegas, I highly recommend you check it out. What I learned there definitely influences me to this day.
 |
| Bruce Chiu, me, Jack Hogan, Kev. |
A few months after the safe delivery of my perfectly healthy younger daughter, circumstances required us to move (again), this time to the Fort Worth, TX area. I briefly studied Tae Kwon Do again, but my heart was not in it, as my husband and I really wanted to continue studying Modern Arnis (or a close enough version, if we could find a tacher) more than anything.
That's when we got very lucky.
 |
| Mark Lynn - he delivers bruises to us frequently! |
He knew we'd studied Modern Arnis, so I almost fell over myself as I rushed over to introduce myself to the man. It turns out, I'd spotted him months earlier posting really good stuff about Arnis (and other topics) on Martial Talk and noticed he was nearby, so I messaged him and got no response. I figured he'd either quit MT or maybe he'd moved or something, so I wrote it off in my mind.
The guy that instructor pointed out to me is the same guy! His mailbox at MT was full and he didn't see my message - so maybe we were destined to meet him eventually!
He is Mark Lynn, and is our main instructor today at Hidden Sword Martial Arts. My daughter also studies with him in his Tae Kwon Do program and recently attained the rank of Black Belt (1st Degree) under Mark.. My younger daughter is chompin' at the bit to start studying as well, as soon as she's old enough!
Kevin and I are both black belts (Lakan and Dayang Isa) and we both help instruct our lower-level students at Hidden Sword as well as study with Mark. We opened our own community-center based Arnis program - Mid-Cities Arnis - at NRH Centre in North Richland Hills, TX in July 2015.
I have studied the Jo under Mark Lynn, and I am currently studying Kobudo with A-KATO. Kevin studies Goju-Shorei weapons (walking cane) with Keith Freeman at Freeman's Martial Arts
I also enjoy the Kansas City Chiefs, sci fi and fantasy geekery of all kinds, Celtic and punk music and art, low carbing, liberty, and of course, being a mom and wife.
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