The “Budo Gym” sports club was set up in 2007 in Bucharest, at the initiative of Gruia Docan Docan - the first Romanian to get a medal at an international kyokushinkai competition in the +90kg category (silver medal at the 1995 International Kyokushinkai Championships) and, currently, the president of the club ( more...).
The initiative of setting up this club came about with the high-class results obtained in the past few years at national kyokushin karate championships, and with the success with organising a large number of domestic and international sports events.
The main purpose of the events organised was to promote martial arts in general, with a focus on martial arts practiced in Romania; the events followed two main directions :
1. National and international martial arts festivals
These were organized between 2002 - 2007, with the first editions held in Piatra Neamt and Constanta; the last edition - the International Martial Arts Festival - was organized in October 2007, in Bucharest. All the editions organised brought together important names of the martial arts field in Romania, as well as international masters who shared their experience with us, the martial artists and with the public attending the shows organised within the festivals ( more...).
Among such names we mention the following :
• Pham Huang Tong - 10 Dan, Vietnam - founder of the qwankido style ;
• Giacomo Spartaco Bertoletti - 9 dan Jiu jitsu, Italia - president of the World Jiu Jitsu Kobudo Organization ;
• Josef Borza - 6 dan Kyokushinkai, Hungary ;
• Angelo Balcony - 6 dan jiu-jitsu, Italy ;
• Leonardo Voinescu - 7 dan Sei-Budokai, Germany;
• Dave Jonkers - 9 dan - Ashihara Karate, Netherlands (Holland) ;
• Kamen Radev - 5 dan Jiu Jitsu - Jiu Jitsu - president of the Bulgarian Jiu Jitsu and Aikido Federation, Bulgaria ;
• Eugen Musalimov - 4 dan, Republic of Moldova ;
• Mînă Florin - 6 dan, coach of the national kick-boxing team ;
• Ionel Stancu - 2 dan kyokushin ;
• Nicolaie Stoian - 2 dan kyokushin.
A first-time presence in our country at such an event was the four-times K1 world champion Semmy Schilt, whose attendance was greatly the result of the efforts made by Gruia Docan the president of Budo Gym Club, of course supported by master Leonard Voinescu and Nelu Garbea.
2. Training courses (training in many different martial arts styles during the preparation sessions at these courses). ( Photo - see... )
Training courses started in 2002 in Bucharest and continued over the next years in Piatra Neamt, Constanta and of course Bucharest. The courses have been organised within the martial arts festivals, which offered us the possibility to benefit from the experience and knowledge of the above-mentioned masters from Romania and abroad ( more...).
3. National and International Championships. Budo Gym (Photo - see...) ;
Alexandru Husariu - bronze medal in 2009 at the national championship, cat. -90 kg
- 4 place in 2010, at the national championship, cat. -90 kg
- 1 place Romanian Cup 2010, cat. -90 kg
- silver medal at "Memorialul Geambazu" competition 2010, cat. -90 kg ( mai mult... ).
The roots of the Budo Gym Club however go back to the period immediately after December ’89. The summer of 1991, the first kyokushinkai club in Neamt county - and of course, in the whole Moldova - is set up in Piatra Neamt ; the coach was the current president of Budo Gym Club, Gruia Docan, - who at that time had just been awarded the ‘martial arts coach’ title after the exam in May. The name of this new club was Ronin Club.
The beginnings were rather hard, as at that time there were a number of martial arts schools of various styles active in Piatra Neamt, with experience already accumulated over one year and a half of activity.
Also, in that period and especially in Piatra Neamt at that time, it was rather difficult to promote and impose a martial arts style that was based on a very tough training method, materialised through knock-down competitions that would often end in elimination of the competitor from the fight, sometimes with rather unpleasant consequences... (which would also be the result of great differences in terms of the competitors’ value, at various stages of the competition…) ; however, these competitions were the ones the public enjoyed best, and the halls would often be too small to harbour all the large numbers of attendants.
The first training sessions took place at Elementary School no. 3 (Piatra Neamt people probably know where it is - or where it was…), then continued to other locations, such as the sports hall of the Chemistry High School, Elementary School no. 1 and the Sports Hall of the Ceahlaul Club in Piatra Neamt.
The kyokushinkai style was promoted and recognised as an effective system for training and fight in the years to follow, first of all due to the serious, committed approach of both the coach and the students training at that time in this branch of martial arts… and especially due to the results obtained by coachl Gruia Docan in domestic and international competitions, which came as confirmation for the quality of training in kyokushinkai at that time in Piatra Neamt.
The main objective of the Clubului Budo Gym (alongside other objectives that have to do with high performance in sports) is to educate mainly the children and young people who train at the club, relying on the very purpose of martial arts: educate the physical body and the spirit, and leading the human being towards achieving a stage of full harmony with itself and with the surrounding universe.
This goal can only be achieved with sound, continuous training guided by a master, but especially with strong discipline and rigorous observance of the martial arts principles ( mai mult...).
Compliance with an etiquette in the dojo (the training hall), as well as in daily life and within the society, but especially compliance with a set of rules (that are a reminder of the "Bushido" samurai code) based on respect for self and for the ancestors define the martial arts as one of the most modern and effective methods in educating and training the noble traits of character that our society is in such great need of nowadays!
In this sense, martial arts become a true warrior path (do) for every human being, towards breaking through the limits of their existence and winning the true “battle” of life - the fight of the self with it-self.
In martial arts, the proof of the “super-human” does not come from the fierce, invincible fighter shown in the "trendy" movies and sports contests, but from the one who will succeed in finding the feeling of inner harmony and fullness by conquering himself.
We must be aware of the fact that the sports aspects of martial arts are merely a stage in our completion as budoka.
The martial art is the art of peace, and the art of peace is the most difficult one: you have to win without fighting!!!
