Halloween Awareness

Michelle Manu interviews Gordon Richiusa

Do NOT try this at home

As I was about to post a flyer for my upcoming series of Archery Instructor Certification classes, one of the members of the Laguna Woods Archery Club (I am the current president) sent me this video. It demonstrates that an amazing level of archery skills can be (and has been, throughout history) developed with determination and practice. Enjoy!

Archery Certification Class--continued training

Raise the market value of your dojo, dojang, studio, temple or club with Instructor Certification from the United States Olympic sanctioning body (USAA) and receive multiple benefits for you and your students, including training videos, texts, and insurance issued through USAA. Become a certified USA Archery and National Field Archery Association instructor. Broaden your client base, by including certified archery instruction into your program, or increase your individual marketability by becoming USAA certified.

What: Level One Instructor Certification

When: March 7th 2015

Where: Whispering Sage Ranch and Martial Arts Academy, 23864 Japatul Valley Rd., Alpine, California. Just outside of San Diego.

Cost: $120 (This includes $40 for USAA training manual, official tests and other required applications. Students are advised to obtain training manual prior to the certification event, whereas $40 will be deducted from the cost of the training.)

NOTE(S): USAA membership, SafeSport certification and a background check are NOT required for  Level 1 certification. However, a RANGE PASS is required for Level 1 Instructors to run USAA sanctioned programs (JOAD etc.). A Range Pass is $15. This can be obtained later, if needed. The process for SafeSport certification is free and a certificate is issued online. Applying for membership to USAA and getting a background check (both valuable in marketing) can be obtained online through USA Archery.

Contact Whispering Sage Ranch at: olivierlucy@hotmail.com or Gordon Richiusa (of Five Birds Martial Arts, who will be instructing the course) at fivebirds@mac.com or 949-206-0977 for more information or to register.

See the attached, official USAA notification.

Archery Coach Training, Sanctioned Events, Special Skill Survey

            Many of you know the name Gordon Richiusa. His 51 year history as a martial artist led him to found Five Birds Martial Arts, as described in the Rick Burgin article of the Traditional section of WorldWideDojo.com. He is a member of The Legends, Masters, and USA Blackbelts Halls of Fame and has received awards for his writing, and is well regarded as an educator (California Teaching Credential) and innovator in a number of other areas. Gordon Richiusa is on a quest to bring the worlds of competitive karate together with competitive archery, and he is uniquely qualified to do it.

            His martial arts teachers included Bob Ozman, Mike Eaves and Frank Dux for whom he taught “Special Skills” classes from the 1980s to the present. One of those “special skills” is archery. “I started shooting a bow when I was ten, about the time I started karate classes with Bob Ozman. I was on the archery team in high school and have also studied kyudo (Zen Archery) in Los Angeles and Hawaii. My students were routinely introduced to archery as just another form of meditative martial art.”

            Gordon Richiusa is campaigning to bring the worlds of competitive martial arts and competitive archery “officially” together for the first time, and he wants YOU to join him. Not only is Gordon ranked as a Grandmaster (7th degree black belt, in Dux Ryu Archery and considered the Director of Dux Ryu’s Archery program), and is the president of The Laguna Woods Archery Club, but he also is US Archery Association certified as a Level 2 Instructor by this, the Olympic Archery sanctioning body.

            What does this mean to you? Gordon Richiusa is offering archery training AND TEACHER CERTIFICATION classes. USA Archery Level 2 instructors—such as Gordon Richiusa--are authorized to teach classes, run sanctioned events AND CERTIFY coaches and instructors as Level 1 Instructors for USAA. If a USA Certified Instructor (this includes Level 1 instructors) is running an event, it is USAA supported! Support includes everything from training videos to liability insurance!

            Certification in Five Birds Archery (specifically geared toward martial artists—including Dux Ryu certification) can soon be obtained ONLINE at The Martial University and through Five Birds Special Skills, and may lead to USAA membership and certification. Five Birds Martial Arts (a member of the Dux Ryu organization) focuses on preparing students (whether they are traditional martial arts students, or members of some other completely unrelated pursuit such as the Boys and Girls Club, Scouting, public school or intercollegiate team) to learn to enjoy the sport of archery, from certified instructors within their own discipline, and to prepare for the upcoming inclusion of archery (without cultural limitations or distinctions) into the formerly closed worlds of either martial arts or Olympic Sanctioned competitions and events.

            By allowing your current martial arts students to learn archery as a “Special Skill” under these conditions, we can move closer to bringing the western and eastern versions of the wonderful sport of archery together in a meaningful way, broadening your client appeal, while giving you and your students greater opportunities to pursue success and significance.

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN BECOMING A CERTIFIED COACH, ADDING ARCHERY TO YOUR CURRENT CURRICULUM OR HAVING ARCHERY AT YOUR NEXT EVENT?

Email: Fivebirds@mac.com                                                          or CALL: 949-206-0977