my first post on a new and updated martial arts website

My first post on a new and updated Martial Arts website/blog. Welcome to you who read this. I’ve been involved with the Martial Arts since I was a child. A demonstration I stumbled upon with my parents fascinated me and I told them “I want to do that”. So I began my journey across time that has led to this moment in time. A long journey it has been, now over a half century long. I have been given great knowledge from a handful of the highest ranking Masters on this planet, all of them actual combat fighters and that is what they trained me to be. I never participated in a tournament that was about who looked best at running some form or “won” a match that was based on “point sparring” and not real contact. When I tell students about some of things my teachers had done or the way I trained under them, they shake their heads and tell me I must have been mad to put up with it. Some of it was just like what can be seen in some of those old “Chop Socky” movies from the 1960’s and 1970’s…teachers walking around the hall carrying staffs and whacking students legs to put them in correct stance or walking by and then suddenly throwing a strike, pulling it at a hairs distance to test the students reaction. And there had better to have been one or the second strike came with serious intention. We learned quickly to develop eyes in the back of our heads to keep track of where the teacher or teachers ( sometimes three in the hall at the same time! ) were at at all times and to be ready to counter a possible strike to the head at any moment. This was not the usual school found on streets all across the USA. Over the years I saw many people come in the door and leave out the door, some on their first day. In my career as a teacher, I’ve had the same thing occur. Few are those that stay for years or even fewer beyond a decade or more. But those that do know in their hearts and minds that they are among the best martial artists out there. They have also learned to be humble, not let Ego determine their actions, and to only use their skills in defending themselves or loved ones or if openly challenged. I hold the true and ancient arts to be an almost sacred thing. There are the flashy modern forms that are known as “demonstrative”. They are known for being very acrobatic, sometimes more resembling a gymnasts Floor Exercise routine than anything else. Then there are the “martial work” styles and forms. These are designed to train the practitioner to be a hand to hand ( or weapons ) expert. No movement is wasted, every movement, even the slightest, has purpose. These are the styles and forms in which I was trained. And so, I teach as I was taught, though I do consider myself to be a bit more forgiving than some of my teachers were. I have no desire to ever hurt a student, but I also understand that to be a top flight fighter, the person wanting to be that must train hard and that means sometimes going home with bruises. I just tell them that it all “builds character”. I must admit to being very disappointed when someone sporting a Black Belt comes to me and the first time they are hit they drop like a sack of hammers. That’s when they admit that they only trained in Point Sparring or if contact was to be made, they had to dress up in what I call “The Michelin Man Suit”. I’ve never been able to figure out how someone who has never been hit and has no idea of how to take a punch or fight through the pain can lay claim to high rank. The ancestors roll in their graves.

So, if any of you reading this would like to have an experience that is different from that from the vast majority of martial arts schools, please feel free to contact me at the email address for the school.