Enthusiasm for martial arts shifts to high gear

The Jeddah Sports Tech Club successfully wrapped up the bolt-wrestling seminar, which was conducted for the first time in the Kingdom by the American pro-wrestling champion, Kenny Johnson, last week.
The three-day seminar organized by the Saudi Committee of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu witnessed the participation of 70 adults and kids.
“We have organized over 60 martial arts competitions and seminars in the last four years in Jeddah,” said Captain Abbas, one of the organizing members of the committee.
“We are investing in our youth by giving them proper martial arts training and hope in the near future that they will conquer international championships. We are offering them what could not be offered to us when we were their age; we had to travel abroad to seek knowledge. Nowadays in the Kingdom, martial arts practitioners, whether they are kids or adults, do not have to travel to attend seminars or improve their game because we, the Saudi Committee of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, can bring this knowledge right to their door steps,” he said.
Kenny Johnson, who visited the country for the first time, was pleased with the participants’ response.
“This is a good start to build a professional wrestling team in Saudi Arabia, and I will be more than happy to give more seminars here,” he said, lauding the enthusiastic attitude toward martial arts in the Kingdom.
“The participants seemed focused and eager to learn. The martial arts programs and the overall level of performance that I witnessed in Jeddah was beyond my expectations,” he said.
Abdulahad Gari, one of the participants who won first place in the Desert Force Martial Arts Championship last month said: “Kenny Johnson’s seminar has definitely improved my ground fight game and in three days I learned more than I thought I could; he has a unique way of teaching the techniques.”
All participants were awarded internationally recognized certificates at the end of the program.