ABOUT
THE INSTRUCTOR
Florian Joo started his martial arts career at the age of 4 years. He began learning Taekwondo from his father, Grandmaster Sung Bok Joo, and has been practicing this martial art ever since. Belonging to World Taekwondo (formerly known as the World Taekwondo Federation), the style of Taekwondo that his father taught is unique in that it is very military based. Grandmaster Sung Bok Joo served as drill sergeant in the Korean Army and trained the US Marines. Hence in addition to the usual Taekwondo curriculum, combat forms of Boxing, Judo and Self-defence played a major role in his teaching. Master Florian Joo continues this tradition of teaching this realistic and practical form of Taekwondo.
In an endeavour to learn more of the martial arts, Florian learnt Aikido during his university years and found this form of soft circular movements to highly complement his hard linear techniques in Taekwondo. A high degree of weapons defence skill was also developed during this Aikido training.
Florian continued his martial arts journey to become more of an all-rounder by learning Brazilian Jujitsu and Mixed Martial Arts within the Machado BJJ group of schools. The invaluable ground-fighting techniques that he learnt filled the void in his martial arts skillset. He also learnt modern training methods from MMA which he mixes with his traditional training methods in his Taekwondo teaching.
However, Florian’s real passion within the martial arts has always been self-defence. Hence in a quest to develop this further, he researched into the various other martial arts on offer to see which would be best to add to his skillset. After much research, he settled on Krav Maga thanks to its proven effectiveness, sole focus on self-defence and its evolution from real-world conflict situations.
Personally trained by one of Israel’s most respected Krav Maga instructors, Master Lior Offenbach, Florian has attained his instructor qualification in Combat Krav Maga. And since gaining his Krav Maga qualification, Florian has continued his relentless pursuit for self-defence excellence by training in and attaining Dan and Instructor qualifications in Hapkido, Hosinsul (Applied Korean Self-defence) and Tukkong Moosool (Republic of Korea’s Military Special Forces Close Quarter Combat). Florian’s Krav Maga training boldly supplements all his other martial art skills giving him a unique competitive advantage in his self-defence teaching and expertise.
Alongside martial arts, Florian’s other developed skills and interests include piano, violin, classical music, camping, mountain biking, skiing and travelling the world. His engineering career includes working as an Engineering Project Manager for various multi-national corporations and Product Development Manager at a leading automotive company.
Background:
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Instructor Krav Maga – Combat Krav Maga International
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6th Dan Taekwondo – Kukkiwon
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4th Dan Hapkido – Korea Hapkido Federation
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4th Dan TukKong Moosool – Korea World TukKong Association
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Instructor Krav Maga – Combat Krav Maga International
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Blue Belt Brazilian Jiujitsu
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Mixed Martial Arts Training
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Kukkiwon International Master & Poom/Dan Examiner
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Occupational First Aid Skill Set [HLTSS00068]
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Working With Children Check – Victorian Government
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Bachelor of Engineering [BE] – University of Melbourne
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Diploma of Leadership and Management [BSB51918]
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Diploma of Business [BSB50215]
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Diploma of Sport (Coaching) [SIS50319]
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Certificate IV in Training & Assessment [TAE40116]
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Certificate IV in Fitness [SIS40215]
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Certificate III in Fitness [SIS30315]
