Today marks the funeral of martial arts pioneer, Ridgely Abele.

Last week the martial arts world lost a true pioneer in our sport. Hanshi Ridgely Abele battled cancer and at the age of 59 passed away. This was a man who experienced all aspects of martial arts: training, competing, teaching, authoring, but most of all leading. He began his career under Hanshi John Pachivas and become a chief instructor of Shuri-ryu Karate-Do worldwide. His accolades are many and he will be missed by thousands.

KICKgen extends our thoughts and sympathy for the family, friends and students of Ridgely Abele.

To read more about the life of Ridgely...

Ridgely Abele is survived by his wife of 18 years, Sally, his daughter and son, Sasha Katz and Jordan Abele; sister, Jan Konesey and brothers, Lawrence, Paul and Edward Abele and two grandchildren, Quinn and Leila.

Funeral services were held at the Church of the Harvest, 4865 Sunset Blvd., Lexington, SC 29072 on Friday, December 18 at 2 p.m.

Memorials may be made to Ridgely’s favorite charity, The Women’s Shelter, 3425 N. Main St., Columbia, SC 29203, www.womenshelter.org.

To sign the online guest book and show your respects to Ridgely and his family:
http://www.thompsonsfuneral.com/FuneralHome/Default.asp

Pre-registration savings at Lonestar Open

Register Now for over 20% savings

Lonestar Open, held in beautiful Austin Texas is coming up soon – January 29th and 30th. The Lonestar boasts great tournament quality with the highest national talent in attendance in addition to a gorgeous venue in a perfect family vacation city. What you won’t find at Lonestar is poor sportsmanship and bruisers. What you will find here is a professionally run tournament where respect and courtesy are the mode of operation with a nice flare of Southern hospitality.
In order to save you money, the Lonestar tournament has devised pre registration discounts – but hurry they expire soon.

Early registration expires December 19th. You will SAVE over 20% by registering before the 19th.

2nd early registration pricing deadline is January 16th. You will SAVE over 5%.

REGISTER HERE

And more savings…

Encounter an Austin hotel unlike any other and discover the distinct style and diverse personality of the Lone Star State at the Renaissance hotel in Northwest Austin. This hotel is the venue for the tournament and overnight accommodation making attending this tournament easy.

The discounted tournament room rate is $129 per night. That is a savings of $70 per night. When contacting the hotel to receive your tournament discount, ask for the karate 3A tournament rate. The cutoff date for this discount expires on January 8th and the regular room rate of $199 will apply. Hurry and book your room soon to receive this discount before the room block fills up.
Renaissance Austin Hotel. 1-800-468-3571 (Ask for the karate 3A rate)