The Martial Arts Academy, located at 925 Hale Place in the Eastlake area, tested some of its students for advancement on Dec. 16.
The students who tested were Luis Luquin, Caipora Luquin and Lavorus Williams. The students were tested by a distinguished board of examiners consisting of some of the top martial arts Masters and Grandmasters in California.
Luis Luquin tested for his first-degree Black belt, Caipora Luquin tested for her third-class Brown belt and Williams tested for his Orange belt.
The list of examiners included Grand Master Robbie Lee, Grand Master Michael Fugate, Grand Master Jerry Baxter, Grand Master Reynaldo Leal, Grand Master Gustavo Martinez, Grand Master Larry Spears, the distinguished, and talented professor Karen Sheperd (star of many martial arts action films), professor Orned (Chicken) Gabriel, Sensei Danilo Pasion and Sensei Enzo Pisano.
Other martial artists who attended to witness the test were Grand Master Noel Languban, Master Evelyn Languban, Kosa-Nim John Fleming and Captain Franklin Parra Jr.
Grand Master Byron Mantack asked those in attendance to stand and show their respect to Soke Great Grand Master Frederick Douglas Peterson, who is 98 years old but still gives seminars and demonstrations nationally, and is also one of the oldest living active martial artists in the country.
“The students who tested performed excellently, and were given such high scores by the examiners, resulting in them passing the examination; and promotion to their respected ranks, in the Shorin-Jitsu karate discipline,” Mantack said.
Shorin-Jitsu is a system of unarmed combat that was derived from the fighting styles and philosophies of Okinawan Shorin-Ryu Karate and Kodokan Judo. This system was developed eight years ago by Mantack, who began studying martial arts in 1957, and who holds high Black belt ranks in several martial arts disciplines, including Shorin-Ryu Karate, Kodokan Judo, Kenpo Karate, and Taekwondo.
Pasion, who began his martial arts journey in 1983 at the Gateway School of Karate under the tutorage of Mantack, was promoted to the rank of fourth-degree Black belt and was endowed with the title of Master. Lee presented Mantack with the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Lavourus Williams undergoes testing. Courtesy photo
