John Pellegrini
John Pellegrini |
Pellegrini began training in judo in Italy in 1964, then got involved in special-forces hand-to-hand combat training and counterintelligence self-defense with NATO forces in 1968 and 1969. While living in New York City in 1973, he started karate. He went on to train in taekwondo (in which he earned a ninth-degree black belt) and hapkido and to obtain instructor-level rank in jeet kune do and aikido. He opened a martial arts academy in the mid-1980s, then founded combat hapkido in 1990. The hybrid Korean art is taught at more than 250 schools in a dozen countries. Pellegrini’s International Combat Hapkido Federation boasts about 5,000 members. In addition to his flagship organization, Pellegrini founded the Independent Taekwondo Association, the International Police Defensive Tactics Institute, Self Defense America and the World Martial Arts Alliance. In 2003 he created Defense Arts Inc. to manage and administrate those organizations. In April 2004 Pellegrini, who’s also certified by the World Taekwondo Federation and Kukkiwon, made history when the World Ki-Do Federation in Pusan, South Korea, promoted him to ninth-degree black belt. He’s reportedly the first American to rise to such an advanced rank within the Korean organization. Later that year, he became Black Belt’s 2004 Instructor of the Year, earning him a place in the Black Belt Hall of Fame. Every month, Pellegrini travels to different parts of the world to conduct self-defense workshops, and he’s graced the cover of numerous martial arts publications, including Black Belt. For more information on Pellegrini, visit www.dsihq.com. Click here for more profiles! 
Distract, Disable and Destroy |
