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Master Mayo has used Gongfu for real life survival including the interests of bodyguard clients. With 22 years experience as a bodyguard, Mayo has protected Patti Labelle, Earth Wind and Fire, Steve Harvey, Jamie Foxx, and was Usher’s first bodyguard.

Gongfu (Kung-fu/Gungfu) instructors are scarce. Credible Gongfu instructors are rare. Fortunately for Cleveland, Ohio, there is Master Greg Mayo of Royal Liu Siong Gongfu, one of the world’s most credible Gongfu instructors.

Master Mayo’s martial lineage stems from Chinese Royalty through Grandmaster Liu Siong. Mayo’s instruction comes through Moorish American, Grandmaster Arthur Sikes, whose awarding of the 4^th degree master’s red sash was witnessed by Grandmaster Willem Reeders, Tam Kim Sjong, Paul Tjan, and Grandmaster Sam Wong, representing Gongfu interests in Indonesia, China, USA, Hong Kong, and Canada.

Master Mayo has used Gongfu for real life survival including the interests of bodyguard clients. With 22 years experience as a bodyguard, Mayo has protected Patti Labelle, Earth Wind and Fire, Steve Harvey, Jamie Foxx, and was Usher’s first bodyguard.

Mayo has been training for 46 years and has had a school in Cleveland since 1971.

Mayo began in martial arts with Karate, Tae kwon do and Judo. He became involved with Gongfu when Grandmaster Sikes convinced him that he had much to learn.

Mayo’s Gongfu teaches the physics of combat. For example, an opponent’s motion or body positioning may be seen as circular, triangular, or square and one shape or motion may be utilized to defeat another. To the uninitiated, the intentions of Mayo’s movements, though deadly, are not simple to grasp, as they are not large movements or easy to see. His movements conceal deadly threats at every changing turn or shift of an elbow, wrist, or even a finger. Such an approach to combat involves not being the aggressor, but the aggressed. Mayo’s Gongfu teaches that it is the energy, the force, of the opponent, that causes the opponent’s own destruction.

Master Mayo stresses the importance of believing in a higher power. “Gongfu training is physical, mental, spiritual, and a blessing that prepares one for life. My Gongfu deals with meditation and prayer,” says Master Mayo, who prays for guidance as a teacher and encourages others to “Have an open mind and heart and to venture out and find things.” Master Mayo is practical, his training stresses the importance of top physical discipline and fitness not just in order to face danger with violence, but also in order to run away, if need be, because, as he says, “A battle can be decided with common sense, as opposed to hands and feet.”

“I can see the martial arts in African statues. The true art form comes from Africa and developed in China and India,” says Mayo. Depictions of some of the same martial techniques still utilized today may be seen on walls of Egyptian pyramids. China’s first Emperor, Tai Zu, of the Xi Dynasty was a Gongfu master and a man with very dark skin, a wide nose, thick lips, and kinky hair, as was Da Moor, the founder of what became known as Shaolin Gongfu.

Mayo has students nationwide and a body of Master and expert instructors, such as Grandmaster Reginald McKissick, Masters Abe Sullivan, Don Wallace, and Adrian Watson. Third degree instructors Paul Styles, Marty Wade, Tyrone Riddly, Ron Foster, Joe Golden, Mike B., and Ted Archibold, who support the art’s growth and development.

Offering also reflexology, Tai Chi, and acupuncture, Master Mayo’s school, Northern Wind, located at 8311 Superior, is well equipped, has the atmosphere of authenticity and feels welcoming. “We train anyone who comes through the door,” says Master Mayo.

LAS CRUCES —John-Dylan Cully won’t let muscular dystrophy stop him from striving for his black belt in taekwondo Saturday.

The 11-year-old Las Crucen has Ullrich Congenital muscular dystrophy, a genetic condition causing severe muscle weakness over time.

John-Dylan does the martial arts moves on his knees, as he cannot walk, and often modifies arm movements because he has limited range of motion in his elbow joints. Sometimes he verbally describes the actions if he can’t perform them himself.

“He never asks to be treated differently due to his handicap,” Gold Medal Taekwondo master Marcy Shoberg said. “He figures out himself how to modify things as he needs to.

“He is hardworking and has a “never-give-up attitude,” Shoberg said.

On Saturday, John-Dylan will demonstrate sparring, board breaking, a series of movements called the eight traditional forms and a self-defense skit with a partner, much like a movie fight scene, to earn his first-degree black belt.

“It just gives me something to do rather than sitting here playing video games,” the East Picacho Elementary School fifth-grader said.

Breaking boards is his favorite part of competitions because it doesn’t require memorization like other events, he said.

John-Dylan competed in the All-Star Specially Challenged Martial Arts Championship in Houston in 2011 and has competed in multiple tournaments that aren’t aimed at special-needs competitors.

He began taekwondo after kindergarten on his physical therapist’s recommendation.

“It’s gotten harder for him to do as time goes on, but the people at taekwondo have been really helpful at having him modify it,” mom Jamie Cully said.

Taekwondo strengthens John-Dylan physically, Cully said, but it also promotes self-esteem and positivity.

“(It’s) focusing on what he can do and trying to do things even if they seem impossible,” she said. “A kid who never learned to walk is going to earn his black belt.

Mark Clark has spent almost his whole life studying martial arts, but he never anticipated it would help him recover from a crippling accident.

Now the American Karate Academy owner and instructor wants to help his students learn the focus and discipline that helped him heal.

Twelve years ago, Clark and his son were walking to his car outside Francis Scott Key Mall when an SUV backed into them.

He was able to protect his son using a dive roll, he said, and he credits his years of martial arts for the skills he needed to save their lives.

“I think my training made me quick enough to react, to draw my son, cover him, and then instead of holding down and taking the force of the vehicle, which would have killed us both, I went with the force,” he said.

His son was not seriously injured, but the crash left Clark unable to walk for six years.

Recovery was difficult physically and emotionally. Martial arts helped with both challenges, he said.

Doctors told him that he would never walk again, but by incorporating elements of Eastern medicine into his Western physical therapy regimen, he slowly became more mobile.

Clark began doing stretches pioneered by judo master Moshe Feldenkrais in which he was helped into a fetal position and slowly stretched back out again.

The exercises helped him manage the pain, he said, but it was a long time before he was in a condition to teach karate again.

Clark had taught martial arts in Frederick  since 1993. Before that, he was an Army boxing instructor at Fort Hood.

Being unable to teach made him feel like he had lost direction in life, he said, so he relied on the discipline and techniques he had been studying since the age of 4 to get back to teaching.

“I think having the martial arts gave me a center. It was something I knew that I could go back to,” Clark said.

“I took little steps. I said, well, first I’m going to learn to stand up again, and then I’m going to learn to take a step. I made those goals just like when I was a karate student.”

Clark returned to teaching slowly. He gave lessons from a chair or told his instructors what to demonstrate for the class.

Before he was injured, Clark had four American Karate Academy locations. He decided to close all but the Frederick site and focus his attention there.

He can now teach regularly, but the accident left him with a painful condition called reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome.

“It’s a pretty severe, mean monster,” he said.

Clark’s students understand that he may need to pause or adjust the lesson when he has reached his limit, he said. In fact, many come to him to manage their own pain, and he has had students referred to him by their doctors.

Clark teaches four to five classes to a total of about 180 students. He teaches children as young as 4 years old, as well as families and adults.

Life skills share the curriculum with self-defense.

Clark teaches his students safety techniques, such as having a plan for emergencies, as well as the dive roll that saved him and his son. He encourages his students to be independent and focused and to set goals, he said.

“I let everyone know they’re going to get knocked down. It’s a matter of how well they get up that makes the difference,” he said

Michael Rhoades, founder and President of Jin Jung Kwan Hapkido-USA, Inc., in Wentzville, was named Wentzville Citizen of the Year for 2012. Rhoades was recognized at the Jan. 16 Wentzville Board of Aldermen meeting and was presented with a plaque by Mayor Nick Guccione and Board President Rick Stokes.

Rhoades has studied and taught martial arts for twenty-five years. Rhoades’ martial arts school recently moved across West Pearce Boulevard to a new, larger location.

The text of the Citizen of the Year proclamation reads:

Whereas Michael Rhoades has been in business in the City of Wentzville for over 15 years, and

Whereas Michael Rhoades has had a positive influence of the City of Wentzville, adults and chldren, and

Whereas Michael Rhoades relocated his business in the Downtown area to help beautify and improve the area, and

Whereas Michael Rhoades has continuing dedication to his studens and the City.

Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Mayor of the City of Wentzville, Missouri, I do hereby deem it an honor and pleasure to Michael Rhoades, Wentzville Citizen of the Year 2012.