What Is FEKM Krav Maga, and Who Is Richard Douieb?
FEKM Krav Maga is run by its President Steve Schmitt who took over in 2018 from Richard Douieb, who originally created the organisation in 1997. Richard is the official representative of Imi Lichtenfeld in Europe, and the European Federation of Krav-Maga now includes more than 20000 members in 15 countries, which makes the FEKM number one in the world in terms of membership!
Richard Douieb taught Krav Maga in France and Europe from 1987 and was officially delegated by Imi Lichtenfeld, the founder of Krav Maga itself, as his European representative. Born in Jerusalem in 1956, Richard lived in France until the age of 16 at which point he returned to Israel and began to learn the martial arts.
At 17, while in the military, he started training in Krav Maga under the top military instructor Imi Lichtenfeld. At the age of 23, Richard returned to France and began training in other various disciplines such as Atemi-ju-jitsu, Thai Boxing, and American Boxing, where he won a championship in France in 1983.
Finally Richard decided to devote himself to Krav Maga after getting his instructor qualification in Israel and opened the first school of Krav-Maga in Trevise in 1987.
In 1990 he received his 4th darga (FEKM version of black belt ‘dan’ grades – it is a Hebrew word that literally means ‘step’) and gave his first instructor training course in Switzerland. Three years later, Richard became the sole instructor in close combat for the prestigious French GIGN (this is a post that he no longer holds). He achieved his 5th Dan in 1995 and has been at the forefront of developing Krav Maga within Europe and indeed across the world ever since. The quality and thoroughness of his work has earned him recognition and respect across the martial arts world, and he is the author of many DVD’s and reference books on Krav Maga. He is currently retired, assisting Steve Schmitt when required and travels across Europe giving workshops and seminars wherever he is asked. Richard is universally liked and respected by his students for his immense human, moral and martial qualities.
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