Before Jean-Claude Van Damme Became A Hollywood Superstar, He Was A Martial Artist Well Trained In A Variety Of Styles

If you were growing up in the 1990s and had a thing for martial arts in reel life then movies like Kickboxer, Bloodsport and Lionheart are nothing knew to you. One common factor in this films, apart from the martial arts of course, is the actor playing the main role. Yes, we are talking about the Muscles from Brussels, none other than Jean-Claude Van Damme. His movies are more often than not on the martial arts theme. Even when they are not, he is never shy to display his skills with hands and legs and we never get tired of it.

So it comes as no surprise that before he made it big in Hollywood, Van Damme was a martial artist. In fact he was trained in a variety of styles particularly Karate and Kickboxing. Her started training when he was 10. At 16 he also took up ballet to help him gain balance and poise. It paid off as he secured his Karate black belt at the age of 18.

When he was 12, he trained at the National Center of Karate and in four years time found a place on the Belgian Karate Team. He would later take up full-contact karate and kickboxing. Between 1976 and 1980, he took part in 48 semi-contact matches out of which he won 44. He was part of the team which won the 1979 European Karate Championship. At the Challenge Coupe des Espoirs Karate Tournament (1st Trials), he defeated 25 opponents before losing in the final to teammate Angelo Spataro.

In 1977 he started his full-contact Kickboxing and in 19 encounters he won 18 of which all were knockout. He also took up Taekwondo and Muay Thai. In 1982 he announced his retirement as he wanted to take up acting as a full-time profession.

In the movie Bloodsport in 1988 we see his skill in the art of Kumite, which is accepted as the deadliest form of Karate. As his stardom increased his skill in martial arts was evident.

For over 3 decades he mesmerised us on the screen with his martial arts skills. But if he had continued his career as a martial artist, well, there's no doubt he would have achieved great things. What Hollywood gained, the martial arts world lost.

That is what made him special both on and off screen. The man had a unique talent and was poetry in motion with his punches and kicks. Grace and power all locked into one.