“Sign her up, too,” my husband told the karate master when I was in the Ladies Room. “She needs the exercise!” Little did I know at the time that this inauspicious beginning would lead to an incredible martial arts journey for me and my son that’s lasted for 28 years and still continuing!
Today, Jim and I are Masters (5th degree Black Belts) and the owners of Quest Martial Arts Academy, a new Hapkido school in the Manor Shopping Center in the Jacksonville/Phoenix area. We are so excited to be a part of this community! For us, it’s coming home. We lived in this area, off Manor Road, for years and are looking forward to introducing Hapkido to the neighborhood.
Our journey began at a local Tae Kwon Do school where my husband and I went to sign our then 5 year old son, Jimmy, up for lessons. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a “big thing” back then and Jimmy had just been diagnosed with an attention deficit and a language-based learning disability. It seemed like a good idea to get him involved in something which would help him learn to focus and which would help build confidence. Jim was not an athletic child; in fact, quite the opposite. Today, you’d never guess that.
Martial arts has transformed Jim into an incredible athlete with kicks that sometimes seem to defy gravity! More importantly, martial arts helped improve Jim’s confidence, his ability to focus, persevere through challenges and to achieve whatever goals he sets for himself.
Quest Martial Arts is all about personal development – for kids, teens and adults. While our main emphasis is the development of life skills and positive character traits such as confidence, tenacity, leadership ability, and the setting and achieving of goals, we also encourage physical fitness and stretching the boundaries of what you think you can accomplish.
After spending nearly 7 years training in Tae Kwon Do, with each of us earning our black belts during that time, Jim and I changed schools and started training in Hapkido, another Korean martial arts style. We absolutely fell in love with it! We’ve been studying Hapkido now for more than 18 years and teaching it for more than 15 of those years. While Hapkido teaches many of the same kicks that Tae Kwon Do does, it also incorporates throws, take-downs, pressure point attacks and joint-locking techniques. Hapkido evolved as a blend of Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Aiki-Jujitsu and various other styles. It’s a “mixed martial art” with more than 4,000 years of history, preceding today’s “MMA” craze.
Jim was a student at The Jemicy School, a school for kids with language-based learning disabilities, for 8 years before he went on to graduate from Friends School and then from Furman University in Greenville, SC. In the summer prior to his senior year of high school, he lived in a dojang (martial arts school) in Australia and trained under a Hapkido Grandmaster there for 8+ hours a day. When he left for college, he started his own Hapkido class where he eventually promoted his first black belt student. After college, Jim lived in Japan teaching English and training in Judo. Upon moving back to the States, he started teaching at Jemicy, offering martial arts as an after-school athletic program and teaching it in the evenings at Global Martial Arts Academy in Hampstead, MD. Jim also coached Jemicy’s track team.
I, meanwhile, continued studying and teaching Hapkido at Global Martial Arts Academy for all 18 years. Martial arts has helped me learn to stay grounded during difficult times. It’s given me a confidence I never knew I had and a love of teaching I had never before explored. It has also provided a wonderful bond that Jim and I continue to share. I love the friends I’ve made through martial arts and the opportunities I’ve had. Through our affiliation with the United States Korean Martial Arts Federation, Jim and I know martial artists from all over the world and have both visited and trained in South Korea under the senior-most Hapkido Grandmaster alive, Kim Jung Sool. On one trip there, we each competed in the World Hapkido Championship Tournament. I won first place in the Womens’ Self Defense division and Jim won second place in the Men’s division (only behind our own Master, who also competed).
Martial arts has opened many doors of possibility for Jim and me over the years, from lasting friendships to extraordinary opportunities to visit and train in other countries. It’s been an exciting experience and one which will continue for many years to come! Opening Quest Martial Arts is yet another step in our journey. As students, you’re taking your first steps on your own wonderfully fulfilling path. Next stop: Black Belt and beyond!
Master Debbie Bannister
Today, Jim and I are Masters (5th degree Black Belts) and the owners of Quest Martial Arts Academy, a new Hapkido school in the Manor Shopping Center in the Jacksonville/Phoenix area. We are so excited to be a part of this community! For us, it’s coming home. We lived in this area, off Manor Road, for years and are looking forward to introducing Hapkido to the neighborhood.
Our journey began at a local Tae Kwon Do school where my husband and I went to sign our then 5 year old son, Jimmy, up for lessons. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a “big thing” back then and Jimmy had just been diagnosed with an attention deficit and a language-based learning disability. It seemed like a good idea to get him involved in something which would help him learn to focus and which would help build confidence. Jim was not an athletic child; in fact, quite the opposite. Today, you’d never guess that.
Martial arts has transformed Jim into an incredible athlete with kicks that sometimes seem to defy gravity! More importantly, martial arts helped improve Jim’s confidence, his ability to focus, persevere through challenges and to achieve whatever goals he sets for himself.
Quest Martial Arts is all about personal development – for kids, teens and adults. While our main emphasis is the development of life skills and positive character traits such as confidence, tenacity, leadership ability, and the setting and achieving of goals, we also encourage physical fitness and stretching the boundaries of what you think you can accomplish.
After spending nearly 7 years training in Tae Kwon Do, with each of us earning our black belts during that time, Jim and I changed schools and started training in Hapkido, another Korean martial arts style. We absolutely fell in love with it! We’ve been studying Hapkido now for more than 18 years and teaching it for more than 15 of those years. While Hapkido teaches many of the same kicks that Tae Kwon Do does, it also incorporates throws, take-downs, pressure point attacks and joint-locking techniques. Hapkido evolved as a blend of Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Aiki-Jujitsu and various other styles. It’s a “mixed martial art” with more than 4,000 years of history, preceding today’s “MMA” craze.
Jim was a student at The Jemicy School, a school for kids with language-based learning disabilities, for 8 years before he went on to graduate from Friends School and then from Furman University in Greenville, SC. In the summer prior to his senior year of high school, he lived in a dojang (martial arts school) in Australia and trained under a Hapkido Grandmaster there for 8+ hours a day. When he left for college, he started his own Hapkido class where he eventually promoted his first black belt student. After college, Jim lived in Japan teaching English and training in Judo. Upon moving back to the States, he started teaching at Jemicy, offering martial arts as an after-school athletic program and teaching it in the evenings at Global Martial Arts Academy in Hampstead, MD. Jim also coached Jemicy’s track team.
I, meanwhile, continued studying and teaching Hapkido at Global Martial Arts Academy for all 18 years. Martial arts has helped me learn to stay grounded during difficult times. It’s given me a confidence I never knew I had and a love of teaching I had never before explored. It has also provided a wonderful bond that Jim and I continue to share. I love the friends I’ve made through martial arts and the opportunities I’ve had. Through our affiliation with the United States Korean Martial Arts Federation, Jim and I know martial artists from all over the world and have both visited and trained in South Korea under the senior-most Hapkido Grandmaster alive, Kim Jung Sool. On one trip there, we each competed in the World Hapkido Championship Tournament. I won first place in the Womens’ Self Defense division and Jim won second place in the Men’s division (only behind our own Master, who also competed).
Martial arts has opened many doors of possibility for Jim and me over the years, from lasting friendships to extraordinary opportunities to visit and train in other countries. It’s been an exciting experience and one which will continue for many years to come! Opening Quest Martial Arts is yet another step in our journey. As students, you’re taking your first steps on your own wonderfully fulfilling path. Next stop: Black Belt and beyond!
Master Debbie Bannister