Grandmaster Haim Gidon, tenth dan and Israeli Krav Maga Association president, heads Israeli krav maga (Gidon System) from the IKMA’s main training center in Netanya, Israel. He was a member of krav maga founder Imi Lichtenfeld’s first training class in the early 1960s. Along with Imi and other top instructors, Haim Gidon cofounded the IKMA. In 1995 Imi nominated Haim as the top authority to grant first-dan krav maga black belts and up. Haim represented krav maga as the head of the system on the professional committee of Israel’s National Sports Institute, Wingate. Grandmaster Gidon, whose professional expertise is in worldwide demand, has taught defensive tactics for the last thirty years to Israel’s security and military agencies. He is ably assisted by some of the highest-ranked and most capable krav maga instructors in the world, including Ohad Gidon (sixth dan), Noam Gidon (fifth dan), Yoav Krayn (fifth dan), Yigal Arbiv (fifth dan), and Steve Moshe (fourth dan). More information is available at www.kravmagaisraeli.com.
Rick Blitstein is one of a few hand-picked individuals who traveled to Netanya, Israel, in 1981 to complete an intensive krav maga instructors’ course. Under the watchful eye of krav maga founder Imi Lichtenfeld, Israeli experts taught Rick for the purpose of introducing krav maga to the United States. Imi and Rick formed a very close bond and spent much time training together in both Israel and the United States. For much of the past twenty years, Rick has worked in the field of private and corporate security, teaching and using krav maga in real-life situations. A member of the IKMA and recognized as a senior black-belt instructor, Rick is committed to the proper expansion of the system in the US and around the world. Rick sent his student David Kahn to train with the IKMA for instructor certification.
H. C. “Sparky” Bollinger is a retired US Marine Corps officer and a United States Judo Association board member with more than thirty-five years of martial arts experience. Sparky holds multiple high-level rankings in several disciplines and systems, including a fourth dan in Japanese jujitsu from the USJA. Professionally, Sparky has trained senior hand-to-hand combat and defensive tactics instructors for the US Marine Corps, British Royal Marines, British Royal Navy, FBI Academy, FBI Hostage Rescue Team, DEA Academy, New Jersey State Police Academy, Tennessee Department of Corrections SWAT teams, and a host of other agencies.
Black-belt instructor Rinaldo Rossi began his krav maga training in 2001 and his advanced training with David Kahn in 2006. Rinaldo completed his instructor certification with Grandmaster Haim Gidon in both the United States and Israel. Rinaldo is one of only a few Americans to complete Grandmaster Gidon’s certification course in Israel. Rinaldo instructed at several prestigious locations, including a Naval Advanced Training Command, Marine Corps Martial Arts Center of Excellence (MACE), US Army Combatives School, and the FBI Academy. Rinaldo is responsible for the national rollout of Israeli krav maga in the United States with Don Melnick in coordination with the Israeli Krav Maga Association.