2025 Message from president

Firstly, it is with utmost gratitude and appreciation that I write to you all as we greet a New Year and usher in the 45th year of the Action International Martial Arts Association.

A Look Back at 2024 

This past year of 2024 was one of great personal challenge, particularly for our leadership, while also being a year of collective steady growth and renewed vigor for our organization’s members. Personally, I learned that I had suffered from scattered strokes earlier in the year. Recovery has not been easy, but I continue to heal and teach regularly at AIMAA Headquarters. Our AIMAA Technical Director, Grandmaster Philip Ameris, also faced health challenges, miraculously overcoming two cancer diagnoses in the past year. We are both indebted to Tae Kwon Do as it continues to save and enrich our lives, granting us the perseverance and indomitable spirit to embody the principles of our art. We hope our lives serve as testament to the martial arts and inspire you all to always strive to be and do your best in the face of life’s challenges.

Our AIMAA European Director Grandmaster John Darcy continues to oversee growth throughout AIMAA Ireland, hosting regular events and entering competition circuits to represent AIMAA more diversely throughout the region.

Master Charles Boyle of AIMAA Scotland and Grandmaster Peter Byrne joined the 2024 AIMAA International Training Camp in Ireland and presided as judges during the belt test while also welcoming our dedicated students and junior instructors from Hawaii—Keale and Kainalu Dulatre and Faith Slansky.

Master Karim Belgacem of AIMAA Scotland expanded to a larger facility and successfully hosted their first Black Belt test at their new location while welcoming in new charter instructors Mr. Andy Gillan and his daughter Ms. Rose Gillan. Ms. Kristy Gough and Mr. Alex Walker also remain steadfast with their schools in AIMAA Scotland, while AIMAA England continues to foster enthusiastic participation in the West Midlands region under Masters Amrit and Manjit Kalcutt and Master Stephen Hall, and in the West Yorkshire region under Mr. Salik Miah.

AIMAA USA saw renewed enthusiasm with tournament activities led by Mr. Joseph Kaufman’s school in Texas, and Mr. Nico Stoian from New York was welcomed as a visiting instructor at Grandmaster Ameris’ school in Pennsylvania. Master Percy Brown from Alabama also exemplified great resilience after a significantly challenging year with his health, returning to teach by the end of the year. Mr. Jacob Cho continues to foster a strong and tight-knit community at his academy in California.

There are so many more not named but far from forgotten; we owe the success and strength of AIMAA to each and every one of you. It has been wonderful to see each AIMAA region and every AIMAA Master and instructor thriving as best as possible. I hope to see even greater collaboration and connection amongst everyone in the coming year.

Looking Ahead to 2025

I founded AIMAA in 1980 with a vision to unite community under the shared spirit of all martial artists and martial art styles. This vision has remained the same despite our community shifting and evolving many times throughout the last 45 years. I acknowledge that as the organization aged, so have I. Looking forward to my 85th year in life and reflecting on over seven decades of Tae Kwon Do, I would like us to return to some of what served our members well in the past and welcome in new changes to help us continue forging ahead for the years to come.

New AIMAA Administration

Beginning March 1st, 2025, all administration will be handled directly by my daughter, Jasmine Cho as AIMAA Program Administrator. Memberships, tests, and orders will now be processed by her with my continued oversight. Please submit all your materials to Ms. Cho at:

Jasmine Cho | 23 Seneca St. | Pittsburgh, PA 15219 | USA | Email: admin@aimaa.com

Bank account information remains the same, and a direct line of communication will stay open with me at aimaahq@aol.com. As many of you know, Ms. Cho has been translating and corresponding on my behalf for most of her life. I entrust her to continue communicating my intentions and wishes moving forward.

To commemorate our 45th anniversary, Ms. Cho will also lead efforts to collect stories from all members and revive our AIMAA newsletter. I would like our small but mighty community around the world to be brought closer together once again through this revived form of communication.

AIMAA International Black Belt Tests

Grandmaster John Darcy will now oversee tests up to 8th Degree Black Belt for the AIMAA European region. AIMAA Ireland will host an AIMAA International Training Camp again this summer at Kenmare Bay Hotel with an International Black Belt Testing on Sunday, July 13th, 2025 at this event. All members throughout AIMAA Europe and beyond are highly encouraged to participate.

AIMAA World Headquarters in Hawaii will also host an International Black Belt Testing on Sunday. November 23rd, 2025. For students who are unable to attend the camp and test in AIMAA Ireland, this will be a second opportunity for you to test for your high degree Black Belts. Black Belt students interested in testing for their high degrees should plan months in advance to seek permission from AIMAA leadership closest to them and prepare accordingly.

Celebrating 45 Years

I am deeply proud of and grateful for our AIMAA family. When starting AIMAA, I never wanted organizational politics to hinder the process of an individual’s journey in the martial arts. Instead, I wanted to honor tradition while keeping an open mind toward innovation, constantly balancing between the contrasts that facilitate our progress as human beings. I am pleased that so many of you have remained steadfast to the overarching vision of uniting practitioners in the holistic principles of the martial arts. I look forward to a new year that is far less challenging and far more prosperous for us all with renewed motivation and purpose; a rebirth!