Aimaa

[terryl965]

Does anybody belong or heard of GM Hee Il Cho organization the Action International Martial Arts Association. What benefits really come from this organization.

I was wondering saw his ad in the TKD times went to the website but had little info. If you send him $10.00 you can get a package but I'm to cheap to send that on just info.

 

[wade]

Don't.

 

[IcemanSK]

Don't.

Ok, I'll bite. Why do you say that, sir?

 

[wade]

He is a great martial artiest and a master and one hell of a business man. You understand I know all of this because I read about him in magazines in his adds that tell me his all of this. But the question is, why would you need certification from his group unless you are a member of his group? No one else will recognize nor respect it unless they are a member of said group. On the other hand you will get exactly what you pay for. Get it? A certificate that you paid for, not something you have earned. It's great if you have nothing else, I guess? But, once again, it is only worth something to some one in that group. I am sure they would afford you the same respect they themselves have earned for being in their group so I guess maybe it would be worth it. Hmmmmm. For far less you can print up your own certificate, start your own group, and that will actually mean more in the long run. Sorry, I'm starting to ramble so I'll stop now. Please understand, this is just my opinion.

 

[ArmorOfGod]

He is a great martial artiest and a master and one hell of a business man. You understand I know all of this because I read about him in magazines in his adds that tell me his all of this. But the question is, why would you need certification from his group unless you are a member of his group? No one else will recognize nor respect it unless they are a member of said group. On the other hand you will get exactly what you pay for. Get it? A certificate that you paid for, not something you have earned. It's great if you have nothing else, I guess? But, once again, it is only worth something to some one in that group. I am sure they would afford you the same respect they themselves have earned for being in their group so I guess maybe it would be worth it. Hmmmmm. For far less you can print up your own certificate, start your own group, and that will actually mean more in the long run.

I completely agree with everything you just said, but what you say applies directly to all martial arts organizations including the ITF and WTF.
There are quiet a few tkd people in here who send a lot of money off every month to be able to use that itf/wtf logo on their certificates and business cards.
(still, I agree with you and print my own certificates and do not promote my students under an organization.)

AoG

 

[terryl965]

Like I said I have meet him and he is a great Ma'ist but never really heard of his group before I saw his ad in the TKD times

 

[stoneheart]

I am not a member of the AIMAA either, but it seems no different than any other martial arts organization based on the power of the leader's personality. Will his association survive Mr. Cho? Who knows. If even the ITF could not stay together...

 

[Shaderon]

Hmmm online TaeKwon-Do training... I'm tempted...

Not.

I'm not keen on the self defence certificate name either.

That's just me though.

 

[Yeti]

Oddly enought there is an ITF school nearby and the head instructor made a big deal about being his assistant in all his videos, yet his school is not part of the AIMAA organization.

 

[Shaderon]

Says a lot about both of them!

 

[exile]

My gut instincts about this are the same as you folks'. The question is, why do we need yet another TKD org???

Suppose, just for fun, you wanted to put an association together which agreed on a curriculum spotlighting traditional SD-oriented TKD, Karate, and other MAs, as vs. competitive sparring. This would be kind of a `H2H-effective seal of approval' sort of deal. I can't see any reason why there might not be such an group; the British Combat Association seems to be just that in the UK, and it has some stellar members—Iain Abernethy, Geoff Thompson, Peter Consterdine and others whose public record on behalf of realistic combat methods in the MAs are celebrated (and dearly bought, I suspect). So that would be one rationale, maybe the best one for a new association (this ties in to some of the discussion on Terry's `Where are we?' thread). But if you check out the BCA, they are very upfront about their CQ combate-effectiveness orientation; you can't get away from it, with them! This is what they tell you right at their site's opening gate:


The Association was formed in 1993 and serves the needs of instructors and their students who study self defence or follow the more practical aspects of Martial Arts.


For many years, I had felt that the UK Martial Arts scene lacked a credible organisation, which specifically dealt with the issues of self defence and which was run by people who had years of street experience, not just theoretical application of traditional martial arts. Not only that, but even after decades of martial arts in Britain, most 'style' organisations were still political in the sense that they were protectionist, prevented their instructors from studying elsewhere, were closed to practical and realistic applications and were often run by people who were happier in a committee than engaged in hard training.

Right in your face about that, eh? Now look at what you can glean about AIMAA, apart from the fact that Gm. Cho is the best of the best and therefore that it makes sense to belong to any organization that he's taken the trouble to set up:

The AIMAA advocates the holistic profitability of its members.

This is the most specific thing I could find about them at their site—not much information, relatively speaking, eh? I happen to believe that Gm. Cho really is an outstanding, even legendary MAist (there are stories about him destroying heavy hanging bags with a single barrage of kicks, and for all I know those strories are true); but it's hard for me to see much content here. If I had an organization that had a very specific raison d' être, like the BCA, I'd be leading with that mission statement and hammering it into the ground on every page of my website. But it looks like you have to pay these guys $10 just to obtain the information package that tells you why you might want to join an organization that charges you $10 to get an information package telling you why you might want to join an organization that....

I personally will have nothing to do with any organization that leads to an infinite regress. Sorry, but that's just the way it is with me!

 

[wade]

Like I said............don't.

 

[Tames D]

Like I said............don't.

Send me $10 and I'll tell you if I will or won't.

 

[terryl965]

Send me $10 and I'll tell you if I will or won't.

Yea OK you are just kidding right.

 

[Tames D]

Yea OK you are just kidding right.

 

[terryl965]

Thought so

 

[Shaderon]

Yea OK you are just kidding right.

And if you send him another $10 he'll tell you that too

 

[jfarnsworth]

His aimaa is listed in his books I believe. That goes back into '87 or '88 for the copyright of his book(s). I'd have to go get mine to be sure but if you have his books.... Master's kick, or master's jumping kick, or even man of contrast, he has his organization plugged in the front and back if I'm not mistaken. It's been around for a while.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

The AIMAA has been around for quite awhile. Actually Hee Il Cho has grown the AIMAA pretty large and has been I believe pretty successful with it. Is it good or bad. Honestly I have no idea.

Here is the link to their website so that you can decide for yourself:
http://www.aimaa.com/

 

[exile]

The AIMAA has been around for quite awhile. Actually Hee Il Cho has grown the AIMAA pretty large and has been I believe pretty successful with it. Is it good or bad. Honestly I have no idea.

Here is the link to their website so that you can decide for yourself:
http://www.aimaa.com/

See, what I can't figure out—because their website, as I say, gives you no help at all—is what AIMAA is supposed to do. We know what the WTF does, and we know what the IFT has tried to do: maintain the quite different vision of TKD based on military utility that had at least something to do with the rupture between Gen. Choi and the ROK government. But `holistic profitability' doesn't strike me as something you would want to describe as a vision, or a mission... Isn't there anyone in the KMA fora who's a member and could say something about what the org is all about?