It’s been 8 years since Grandmaster Kang Jun, founder of the mixed-martial art Gongkwon Yusul, has held a World Seminar outside of South Korea. Several founding members of COMAT were able to attend previous seminar in Munster Germany (home of the European GKYS HQ) and we were excited to try and bring as many members of the GKYS COMAT team as possible to the 2025 edition of the Grandmaster’s World Seminar. This seminar was held in the sleepy German village of Coesfeld which is home to an absolute beast of a GKYS school, the Kampfkunstschule Coesfeld. With the assistance of COMAT and funded by member activities and generous donors COMAT was able to provide significant assistance to COMAT’s GKYS team and as a result we were able to send the full range of team members including a regional director, instructors, black belts and color belts for this fantastic martial arts training and education opportunity.

“With COMAT I was able to have an affordable trip to Germany, where I was able to train directly under Grandmaster Kang and Master Yun in Gongkwon Yusul. Although there were language barriers, I was able to understand and learn some of the finer points of Gongkwon, and it was an excellent, if exhausting, leaning experience.” - Patrick, GKYS black belt and instructor

“I received a COMAT stipend to travel with other Central Ohio Martial Arts students to Germany for a Gongkwon Yusul seminar held by the grandmaster. Knowing that I wasn't draining most of my savings to do it made it far easier to enjoy the trip and get the most from the seminar. It was a rare and delightful experience to train alongside students from across Europe under the instruction of the founder of the art, and I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity.” - Halene, GKYS color belt