Awesome Tile Break Performed For Original White Belt Training Tape Performed By
Grand Master Gary Powell
Grand Master Gary Powell
Gary Powell, Born July 18, 1953 was born in the small town of Kapuskasing Ontario. At an early age Gary was always interested in the fighting arts. Unfortunately back in the early days of his youth martial art schools were hard to come by. He managed to join a wrestling team as a teen and was trained by an Olympic medalist George Pavlovich (Unsure of spelling of last name). While practicing wrestling drills Gary used to notice and watch the fencing team who would practice in the same hall as the wrestlers did which gave him some in site to fencing. Eventually Gary went down south to Leamington Ontario where he stayed with his aunt who at the time was studying Judo and had taught him through the duration of his stay learning many of the techniques. Eventually Gary's Pilgrimage lead him to British Columbia where he met Master Young Oh (Unsure Of Spelling Of Name.) Where he began his study of International Style Tae Kwon Do up to a red belt. During this time Gary was a wild youth who ended up getting into alot of fights which would later help him develop his skills in developing his own style of martial arts ( Powell's Personal Combat System) Eventually Gary moved back to Kapuskasing where he met his lovely wife Judy. Wanting to get back into the martial arts he could only Find a Karate school teaching Wado. After a few years of practicing in this style he decided to resort back to Tae Kwon Do and managed to get his black belt certificate and permission to teach with Soo Kon Kim whom is a very famous Tae Kwon Do Grand Master. In 1984 Gary opened his first public Dojang (Korean for Martial Arts School) in a basement studio on the circle in Kapuskasing. From here on Gary interacted and exchanged knowledge with many masters and styles over the years beginning with deciples of White Crane, Wing Chun, Shaolin Tai Pai, Shotokan, Goju Ryu, Vietnamese styles, and many others since the list would be to long to be specific. in 1986 Gary Decided to move to Sturgeon Falls with his family to relocate his school. Shortly after this time period he broke away from his teacher who was pressuring him to compete. Gary does not believe in competing for trophy or money but to practice to develop ones self and to have self protection. This is when Gary developed Central Canada Martial arts Association and Designed his style Powell's Personal Combat Training and has held the rank of founder 9th Dan Traditional Tae Kwon Do, Powell's Personal Combat System and is the president of the Association. In 2014 Gary received DOJO membership as well as the rank of Genin (First Dan) in Ninjitsu By notable Grand Master and author Ashida Kim as well as accepted as a Black Dragon Fighting Society member along with his son Justin. Gary Powell is a proud member of the ITF HQ Korea.
Gary would also like to deeply thank his wife Judy for all of the love and support she has provided him through out the years and a thanks to his son for proudly following in his foot steps.
Central Canada Martial Arts Association