Mission Statement

ADVANCE! Martial Arts is dedicated to providing a safe training environment for people of all ages and fitness levels, and regardless of martial arts experience.

As Martial Artists we value and promote these principles; That in ourselves we develop strength, through self reliance, self control, and confidence; and that we encourage others through respect, patience, and compassion.

Our duty is to help each of our students reach the highest level of mental, physical, and moral development, overcoming their personal obstacles to achieve their very best.

Instructors

Master Seth Dowdy

The owner and head instructor of ADVANCE! Martial Arts, Seth Dowdy is a dedicated martial artist himself and an experienced instructor.

Master Dowdy began learning martial arts in the nineties, under the tutelage of Sah Bum Nim Shawn Shelton, studying the traditional art of Tang Soo Do, a Korean martial art resembling Karate, with a heavy emphasis on kicking. He achieved his 4th Dan (Sah Bum Nim, or Master Instructor) ranking in 2008, and has since been promoted to 6th Dan. He has been a professional instructor for over fifteen years, and takes great pleasure in helping other people to enjoy and benefit from the Martial Arts. “Teaching Martial Arts is a great responsibility. It is also one of the most rewarding careers I can imagine.”

The curriculum at ADVANCE! Martial Arts Training Center follows the traditional Tang Soo Do curriculum, , with additions and refinements by Master Seth Dowdy.

He also has training in Boxing, with Jozsef Szasz, an amateur boxing champion from Romania, Seth also holds a Black Belt ranking in Devine Jiu-Jitsu under Scott Devine. Seth is an enthusiastic competitor, having taken gold as a teenager in the AAU Junior Olympics in Taekwondo in 2002, with several state championships from the same period. Since then he has branched out into grappling and mixed martial arts, with several tournament wins in BJJ and an amateur MMA record of 7-5, having never been knocked out or submitted.

Mrs. Tracey Vsetecka

Mrs. Tracey is a 2nd-degree Black Belt in Tang Soo Do, and has presided over two generations of her family training at ADVANCE! Martial Arts; her grandchildren train alongside her now. She looks after and values every student in the After-School program, and helps keep everyone in line and on task!

Concepts

ADVANCE!

The idea behind the name ADVANCE! is the idea of continual progress. It is to move forward with unflinching tenacity, not heedlessly or recklessly but deliberately and with purpose. Not to allow oneself to be held back by the fear of failure, which has crippled the endeavors of more people than has actual failure, but to act bravely with the available knowledge. Many things can only be learned by making the attempt. Move forward, learn, move forward, learn. ADVANCE!

The Five Elements

The traditional five elements of Fire, Air, Earth and Water, as well as the fifth element of nothingness or the Void, were considered to make up all things, according to the variety of their admixture. Miyamoto Musashi, in his Book of Five Rings, used them as allegories for martial arts concepts. In the same way, the Five Elements curriculum breaks martial arts down into five essential elements; Air is striking and footwork, earth is joint manipulations, pins and strangulations, and water is takedowns and takedown defense. Fire is those techniques too dangerous for friendly competition, such as biting, eye gouging or small joint manipulations, and the Void represents the spiritual and mental aspects of the Martial Arts. Tang Soo Do and Boxing provide us with a good basic in the striking component, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the area of grappling; takedown techniques derive from wrestling and judo. These form the technical basis of ADVANCE! Marital Arts, along with a strong emphasis on character development and personal responsibility.

ADVANCE! Code

See Things As They Are, Without Partiality

Act With Purpose

Learn and Improve

Morals

Do not be ruled by emotion

Never make an enemy, when you could have a friend

Defend and nurture those weaker than yourself

Be reluctant to engage in conflict, and quick to avoid or end it