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291 Highway 51
Ridgeland, Mississippi 39157
(601) 856-8487
West's Hapkido Academy, Inc. opened its doors in 1973 in Jackson, Mississippi when
Grandmaster J.R.West, then a HapKiDo 3rd Dan,
decided that it was time to begin to pass on the knowledge that he had acquired during his
contact with the Korean Tiger Division (ROK Capital Cavalry) while serving an extended tour
as a communications specialist in Binh Dinh Province in the Central Highlands of South
Vietnam.
HapKiDo was
virtually an unknown art in United States in May of 1970 when GM West, a HapKiDo black
belt since 1967, returned from Vietnam. After searching the southeastern
United States he was fortunate enough to become associated with Master (now Doctor)
He-Young Kimm (Kim, Hyung-suk), an extremely well educated and talented man with an
incredible knowledge of Korean Martial Arts including, among others, Hapkido and
Yudo. The two began a friendship which continues to this day, with GM West, until
1996, serving as the director of associate members for Dr. Kimm's World HanMuDo
Association, and Dr. Kimm teaching clinics regularly at West's Hapkido Academy
as well as acting as GM West's mentor and advisor.
In 1989 GM West married Renee Sebren, a former student who had
attained 1st gup at West's HapKiDo Academy prior to moving to Colorado in the early '80s.
Together Grandmaster and Master Mrs. West, a 5th degree black belt,
strived to expand the knowledge and ability of all HapKiDo practitioners with
whom they have come in contact, with Mrs. West served as an example to female Martial artists
everywhere that they too, can be as good as they want to be. In 1996.
Dr. Kimm wrote a "Letter of Recommendation" for
GM West stating that the time had come for GM West to "take his place as a
completely independent leader in the field of HapKiDo".
In 2003 Master Renee West passed away after a lengthy illness. The women she trained are now proudly working to continue the tradition of excellence she set for them to follow.
Today the academy maintains a 5,250 sq. ft. modern facility totally dedicated to the teaching of HapKiDo to men and women in the Jackson suburb of Ridgeland, Mississippi, and offers the utmost in traditional HapKiDo instruction for those who are more interested in learning than they are in the color of their belt. Every August and February, HapKiDo stylists from all over the world make the trip to Jackson, Mississippi to train at one of GM West's "International HapKiDo Seminars" which continue to break all records for numbers in attendance and distance traveled.
School Hours -
- Beginner Classes - Adults - Tuesdays & Thursdays - 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
- Advanced and Black Belt Class - Adults - Mondays - 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
- Open Classes - Adult - Saturday - 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm; - Wednesday - 6:00pm to 9:00pm
- Private instruction is available at no extra charge during "open class" times as well as before and after regular classes.
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