- Dieter Knüttel
Dieter Knüttel (b 1960) is a German practitioner of the
Filipino martial art ofModern Arnis .He was born in
Berlin and began his study of themartial art s in 1967 withJudo . He would go on to studyKarate ,Kung Fu , and Tai Chi. In 1978 he began to learn Arnis from Jackson Cui Brocka, a student of Roberto andErnesto Presas ofManila . He earned his black belt in the art in 1981. [http://www.dieterknuettel.de/Englisch/html/bio_en.html Datu Dieter Knüttel ] ] [ [http://www.modernarnis.de/general/download/fmadigest_specialedition_dav.pdf FMAdigest ] ] He studied with many Modern Arnis instructors in thePhilippines , like Rodel Dagooc, Rene Tongson, Cristino Vaquez, Bambit Dulay, Roland Dantes, later also Jerry de la Cruz and Victor Sanchez and the three Presas brothers. In 1988 he graduated from the German Sports University with the degree of "Diplom-Sportlehrer" (equivalent to a U.S. Master of Arts degree) insports science .Throughout the 1980s he focused on Modern Arnis as taught by Ernesto Presas (now called
Kombatan ). In 1994 he met Remy Presas, the founder of Modern Arnis, whom he regularly brought to Germany to teach seminars. In 1996 Remy Presas awarded him the rank of 6th Dan in Modern Arnis and the title ofDatu ., [ [http://fmatalk.com/showthread.php?t=644 The "Datus" of Modern Arnis (or:I am confused...) - FMA Talk ] ] In 2003 the “Council of Elders of Modern Arnis” in Manila, consisting of the highest Modern Arnis masters in the Philippines, promoted him to the rank of 7th Dan in Modern Arnis. He has also received the titles of “Senior Master of Modern Arnis” from the IMAFP as well as “Master of Classical Arnis” fromRene Tongson . [http://www.modernarnis.de/deutsch/frameset.html Homepage Deutscher Arnis Verband e.V ] ]Since 1985, Dieter Knüttel has been the chief instructor of the German Modern Arnis Association (DAV).Fact|date=July 2007 (The DAV is one of the largest independent Filipino Martial Arts associations in Europe.Fact|date=July 2007) He travels extensively in Europe, to the USA, and to Australia to teach Modern Arnis seminars, mainly for the general public but occasionally also for military and police units. He has been featured on several covers of German martial arts magazines and has demonstrated Modern Arnis on TV several times. [ [http://www.dieterknuettel.de/Englisch/html/videos_en.html Datu Dieter Knüttel ] ]
His most senior students are Hans Karrer and Jorgen Gydesen, who both hold the rank of 6th Dan in Modern Arnis. Together with Alfred Plath he organized the 1st and 2nd Filipino Martial Arts Festival in Germany. [http://fma-festival.de/ http://fma-festival.de/ ] ] The second attracted more than 600 participants-the largest Filipino martial arts seminar ever, worldwide.
In addition to teaching Modern Arnis, he has also gained recognition for his martial arts instructional videos and DVDs, produced by his company ABANICO (founded in 1989 and named for a certain Filipino martial arts style and strike). The company has produced videos and DVDs by practitioners of a variety of Filipino martial arts and other Asian martial arts.
He is married to Bea Knüttel (m. 1990) and has two sons, Sascha (b. 1993) and Marius (b. 1996). He currently resides in
Dortmund .References
External links
* [http://www.modernarnis.de/ German Modern Arnis Association (DAV)]
* [http://www.abanico.de/ ABANICO]
* [http://www.dieterknuettel.de/ Datu Dieter Knüttel's website]
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