ABOUT THE AMAA
"Empowering Martial Artists to Inspire the World"
The American Martial Arts Alliance Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
We have been granted federal tax-exempt status as a charitable, educational 501 (c)(3) organization.
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Established in 2003, The American Martial Arts Alliance was founded by Grandmaster Jessie Bowen, a former regional director for the American Martial Arts Association. Grandmaster Bowen, a 10th-degree black belt, author, motivational speaker, and life success coach, has been a student of martial arts for over 40 years and has positively impacted the lives of thousands of martial artists.
The AMAA offers Consultation Services that assist instructors in running a successful program by providing education training courses and hosting tournaments. We also provide support in the development of a successful martial arts curriculum for any form of study. Our mission is to promote the ethics and integrity of Martial Arts worldwide
Our Mission Statement
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The American Martial Arts Alliance Foundation and the American Alliance Institute are dedicated to instilling discipline, respect, honor, accountability, and leadership through the practice of martial arts. Their goal is to provide services and guidance to foster technical excellence and maintain the highest standards in the martial arts community.
Students are strongly encouraged to participate and compete in order to interact with and learn from other martial artists. At the American Martial Arts Alliance Institute, we value integrity, ethics, and the spirit of fairness in sports karate, and we are dedicated to recognizing and supporting the unsung heroes of martial arts. We are committed to paving the way for future champions and promoting the growth and development of martial arts as a whole.
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About Grandmaster Jessie Bowen
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Grandmaster Bowen is an expert in life success, sports performance training, and international business coaching. He is a corporate educator for Duke Corporate Education and trains executives on how to break through barriers to achieve their next level of success. He is the President and Owner of Karate International of Durham, Inc., Elite Publications, the American Martial Arts Alliance Institute, and Elite Corporate Coaching.
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He has a diverse educational background, holding a Bachelor's degree in Business, a Master's degree in Christian Counseling, a PhD in Humanities, and a Doctorate in Marshall Science. He has also served as a member of the physical education staff at Duke University for over 28 years, where he taught martial arts, mindfulness training, and bowling. His impact as a martial arts instructor is evident in the thousands of lives he has touched through his teaching.
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Grandmaster Bowen established his martial arts school in Durham, NC, in 1980, and successfully trained hundreds of students. He founded the Durham Karate Open tournament in 1979, which is one of the oldest and most prestigious martial arts tournaments in North Carolina. Bowen served as the coach of Duke University Taekwondo Team, the former martial arts coach of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill football team, and the former sports coordinator for the NCAS and the USOC Olympic Festival. Over the course of his career, he has been inducted into numerous martial arts halls of fame, including the Action Martial Arts Magazine Hall of Honors 2023 Contribution in Publishing Award, the World Soke Council 2023 Leadership Award, and the London International Black Belt Hall of Fame Publisher Award.
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Fulfilling A Need In The Martial Arts
The martial arts dominated almost from its beginning by the bias opinions of
who are the best and which is the best. The American Martial Arts Foundation
is an organization for everyone. Especially the martial artists that want to learn how to have a better life through the principles taught in martial arts. Through my frustration watching politics in the martial arts, I decided to make a difference by creating an organization founded on truth honor, and integrity.
After coming out of retirement as a competitor in 2002, I traveled to Hawaii to compete in what I was led to believe is a sanction martial arts event by the USOC. Only to learn that the event was a fraudulent event and receiving a letter in the mail notifying me that this event I attended had nothing to do with USOC events. After I got over my anger about going to this event spinning a lot of money to get there. I decided the best way to get back was to form my own organization American Martial Arts Alliance LLC, in 2002.
The American Martial Arts Alliance launched in 2003. We hosted the AMAA Hall of Fame, the AMAA Business Summit, and the AMAA Nationals Martial Arts Championship, and the AMAA Sport Karate League.
In 2005, we paid tribute to my teacher O'Sensei Jan Wellendorf and his business partner Dale Brooks for their contributions to the martial arts. This was also the launch of the Who's Who in the Martial Arts Autobiography Book. Since then we have published five other books featuring martial artists from all over the world sharing their story of how martial arts has impacted their lives.
In October of 2019, the organization had a name change from the American Martial Arts Alliance to the American Martial Arts Alliance Institute. Today our focus is education and personal development for martial artists wanting to grow their martial arts industry.
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In January 2020, we are growing the organization to a new level through our nonprofit organization, the American Martial Arts Alliance Foundation. The foundation will be working towards helping underprivileged kids get experience in the martial arts and business owners who are members of the American Martial Arts Alliance Institute to receive grants for building their martial arts programs. If you are one of those individuals looking for an organization you can connect with for making a difference, then I invite you to become a member of the American Martial Arts Alliance.​