by Steffan de Graffenried

Sifu Jamie Hooper began his martial arts career in 1971 after seeing Bruce Lee in what was released in the US as "The Chinese Connection" (we now know that the labels were accidentally switched at the factory with "Fists of Fury"). In 1971 North Alabama offered little in the way of martial arts variety, so at age eight Sifu Hooper started training in what is known now as "old" Taekwondo. Traveling extensively throughout the US to compete in Martial Arts Tournaments gave him the opportunity to meet many masters in a wide array of styles. Being a gifted student, he was able to learn a great deal from many masters who he met at these events. During the twelve years in which he competed he won nearly 600 Titles including 65 Grand Champion Titles. In 1981 he was rated as one of the top three competitors in the US and nicknamed "High-Kicking Jamie Hooper" by Karate Illustrated magazine who called him one of the top ten kickers in the Nation.

By the age of 15 he had intensified his training to over 7 hours per day; striving to achieve his goal -- to be better than Bruce Lee. Sifu Hooper studied many different martial systems including: Tang Soo Do, Iaido, Kenjutsu, Northern Shaolin, Eagle Claw, Cha Chuan, Hung Gar, Choy Li Fut and both Wu and Yang style Taijiquan. In the last ten years he has specialized in and taught Choy Li Fut and Yang Taijiquan exclusively being a top student of Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong in San Francisco.

As an instructor, he has had numerous students win National Titles. Some of his students have even gone on to have successful careers in Television and Movies. Having also been inspired at a young age (by a Jackie Chan Movie) to learn Gymnastics and Tumbling, he trained with a coach from the US Olympic Gymnastics Team and a member of the famous Beijing Circus. He later began teaching Tumbling to the local High School Cheerleading Squad and soon he was teaching squads all over North Alabama achieving great success. Several of his squads won National Cheerleading Competitions.

Although he came from small town (of approx. 3000) in the South he went on the accomplish what no other Martial Artist from the South has done before or since. Sifu Jamie Hooper is one of the most outstanding Martial Artists of the 20th Century.