NAPMA Presents at Action Martial Arts Magazine Hall of Honors

NAPMA will be presenting at the 2011 Action Martial Arts Magazine Hall of Honors Award Show. January 21–22, 2011 at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Jeff Smith, Toby Milroy and Stephen Oliver will be featured seminar leaders along with some of the biggest names in martial arts.

This year NAPMA will present free seminars on “How to Turn Your Passion into a Six Figure Income” This is the first year NAPMA will participate in event and Toby Milroy, Chief Operations Officer, is excited to take NAPMA to an event attended by so many young martial artists who are considering making a career out of their passion.

Action Magazine publisher Alan Goldberg began the show in response to an invitation to receive one of many “Hall of Fame” award dinners popular in the martial art industry. In an interview with Toby Milroy, Goldberg explained his reason for starting the show 11 years ago. “I get invited to all of these so called “Hall of Fames” and “Hall of Martial Arts” events and so on and so forth, and it took some time. I wanted to do something, but I wanted to be able to cover the people that come to our event and not just have — you know, a guy says I’m running a Hall of Fame. He’s serving a chicken dinner and at the end of it you get a little plaque and you go home. To me, I think it’s really a slap in the face.”

The event began when Goldberg was approached by Dennis Combs, President of the Tropicana Hotel at that time. Combs showed Goldberg the banquet room that holds 1,400 people and suggested an awards show for the martial arts industry. Not knowing if he could fill a room the size of a football field, Goldberg started to put out the word and promote his event. To his amazement, he sold out the first year and continues to sell out every year since.

The show is now held in an area much larger than the original. It includes free demonstrations, vendor booths and seminars. People from all over the world attend. “It’s just come to a point where we have celebrities, I’m glad to say, that I’m able to cross that pond from Europe to here. Even from just the United States, to California. We have people from 22 countries that showed up last year,” reports Goldberg.

Free seminars and presentations for all attendees have been added to the show over the years. With more than 50 free seminars offered this year, an estimated $2,000 educational value, this event is popular with both enthusiasts and professionals. The top martial artists from all over the world, from every style of the art, will be in attendance.

The honors show is billed as “The Academy Awards of Martial Arts,” and celebrities from MMA and traditional martial arts attend as well as the top performers on the business side of the industry. This year will be the 11th anniversary of the show. Celebrities scheduled to attend are Jeff Smith, Stephen Oliver, Dan Severn, Joe Lewis, Shonie Carter, Ray Mercer, Chuck Zito, Frank Shamrock, Bill Wallace, Demetrius Edwards, Orlando Rivera, Christine Bannon Rodriguez. Cynthia Rothrock, Ronald Duncan, Don Wilson, Michael Jai White, Phil Morris, Jason Lau and more.

Every style of martial arts, whether it is Korean, Chinese, Japanese or Brazilian, will be included. Goldberg says, “ We try to open our doors to everybody. That’s actually a vision of mine, to unite people in that manner.” Goldberg is well on his way to achieving his vision. The expected turnout will be more than 2,500 people for this year’s show. To learn more about how to register for this event, go to MartialArtsProfessional.com.