1. When did you first fall in love with the martial arts?
2. What was your first exposure to armed combat (i.e. stickfighting).
3. Who are some of your favorite martial artists and why?
4. If you could meet Bruce Lee, what would you say to him or ask him?
5. Any advice to someone starting out?
nice idea T0ki, but damn why me? :-) last yr tjmitch did the same interview type q's on the OG.
this might help me to finally do that "about me" page for my site i've been meaning to do.
1. When did you first fall in love with the martial arts?
around 10 yrs old, my dad taught me some yoga asanas and the old yang style long form before taijiquan/taichichuan became "wushuized". he forced me to practice the tai chi. did not like it at the time nor did i understand it then. but i was too young to appreciate this slow moving MA, and stopped practicing. around the same time, he had me sit in the horse stance and i never lasted the incense stick which was lit. sounds like a movie right?
he was a student of tang fung who was the last disciple of wong fei hung for a short time. he told me some of his training stories that i saw in the movies, like rolling the barbell down the arms, horse stance with lit incense stick, etc.
he also showed me some very very basic stuff on WCK. i probably really fell in love with MA around 18 or so. had some HS buddies and college buddies who was into karate, TKD, and southern praying mantis. around this time, i also watched all the Bruce Lee movies and it really sparked my interest. i got the books and read them voraciously. the TAO OF JEET KUNE DO was amazing to me. here was one guy who would research all the various MA available to him at the time and made notes on what worked for him and what he thought was good. most of my friends were still one style only and my style is the best.
edit: despite my lack of training in the MA, my love for the MA has sparked me to do my site, http://stickgrappler.tripod.com, archiving some great info on MA posted to various forums. my site really started as a way for me to keep the notes from the various stuff i've read off of the forums in one place so that when i can actively train, i will have the notes. then i just figured i would take it a step further and help out other MAists. but due to family (wife, 2 daughters + a newborn son), i will not be able to have quality/consistent training time for some time.
2. What was your first exposure to armed combat (i.e. stickfighting).
a kid in elementary school pulled a makeshift switchblade made of popsicle sticks with rubberband holding the contraption together. another kid pulled a nail clipper with the little knife on me once. does these count? :-)
around 18 or so, read all the MA rags and with my interest on Bruce Lee, read up all the Dan Inosanto interviews. he was promoting the FMA at the time and it was cool to me that you can train weapons and it will improve your attributes so i figured kill 2 birds with one stone. but i did not seriously train FMA until about 30 or so. got married when i was 32 and have been inconsistently training since then. going to school, chasing girls, hanging out with buddies bowling, shooting pool, cards, clubbing, bar-hopping, etc was my focus at the time from 18 yrs old on. hindsight is 20/20 they say and i sort of regretted not being disciplined enough to practice MA while working daytime and going to college at night.
3. Who are some of your favorite martial artists and why?
could list many i've not personally met but only read about. could list some i've met but have not trained with. and i will list those MAists i've met and trained with first.
--met and trained with--
Dr. Gyi - this guy is in his 70's and he is very explosive. if i could be 1/10th as explosive as he is in his 70's now, i would be very happy with my skills. but in addition to the hurting aspects of the MA, he also teaches the healing and harmonizing aspects and sometimes in today's MA scene, those are missing IMO. he knows it all: weapons, empty hands, healing, etc. plus most of his stuff is simplistic (those who have trained with Dr. Gyi know what i mean). probably the last of a dying breed :-(
Phil Dunlap - very nice guy. periodically offers free seminars. now in this day and age of MA = money, who does that? plus not many people know or heard of Kachin Bando and he's sharing that. some good stuff. www.thaing.net is his site.
Guro Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny - despite some forum members experiences :-), i feel with my limited experience in MA now, he has much to offer. www.dogbrothers.com is his site.
plus a few more.
--never met nor trained with--
Rickson - 'cos he's Rickson.
Bruce Lee - 'cos he's Bruce.
Contra Mestre Dennis Newsome - to check out jailhouse rock/52
Coach Tony Blauer - his whole approach to self-defense stressing the mental aspects is only now slowly coming to the forefront. back in the 1980's he was already sharing his research to mostly deaf ears probably.
loads more. then there are forum members both here and other forums, who i interact with and would love to be able to train with if given the chance.
4. If you could meet Bruce Lee, what would you say to him or ask him?
presumbably you mean i'm still alive and meet him :-)damn, you would think every MAist who has even heard of BL would have an answer already. i don't. sorry. i'll be back to you with this one.
5. Any advice to someone starting out?
keep an open mind. ultimately every style/art/system has merit. file away anything you learn. it may not be in vogue now or you may think it is useless and have rejected it, but as you go on in your training, you will come full circle and see that the stuff you thought was useless and discarded was probably actually good stuff.
i will end with a friend's favorite quote: "The years see what the day will never know".
Interesting article, Thanks
& Great advice.
Peace
Its always great to see the background of certain posters on here.
well, i feel me as the subject is a pretty boring one cos i don't have real experience like some of the more esteemed and experienced members we have on here.
who's next?
Thanks for that Stickgrappler. Ever the modest one, I see. But the REST of us realize the amazing resource we have on the weapons forum and are glad you're here.
thx for the kind words T0ki, but trust me, i've met in person and online plenty of guys that are much more of a resource than me. and 100% of the time, i fill out my profile in the various forums saying i'm but a beginner.
again, who is next? T0ki? TKDFighter? Dark Knight? e. kaye? ironmongoose? FutureProdigy? RayFloro? jonwell? sreiter? poobear? krept? 4 Ranges? Sickboy13? Sled Dog - well the dog brothers site has his bio. or any of the rest of this forums members which i cannot think of off the top of my head.
Regardless of who comes next, that person will pale in comparison to the mighty Stickgrappler ;-)
Yes, Stickgrappler has taught me much.
Thanks!
ttt for Stickgrappler- a class act all the way.
ok, you guys. i just got back from the hat store. my head is so big from reading the comments on here that i needed a new hat :-)
i regret that i did not focus my time and energy on the MA and chose to hang out with my buddies instead as a form of stress release of the pressures of working full time in the day to support my night classes. also, another regret, i did not practice the MA continuously since the age of 10 with my dad :-(
ttt for Stickgrappler and check out his awesome
website. He is amassing an encyclopedia of
practical martial arts information. Also, eyery once
in a while let him know how much you appreciate
his website, he puts a lot of work into it and needs
to know we like it.
Grandpab
"Contra Mestre Dennis Newsome - to check out jailhouse rock/52"
Hey, Stick. I live here in Dallas, and I guess that you know through your research that Dennis Newsome has a sister school here. While they teach Sao Bento Grande style Capoeira, and Kelenda stick fighting I was wondering if a person trained there, and showed a sincere desire to learn the Afro/Brazillian arts, if they would be receptive to teaching an outsider Jailhouse Rock/52.What do you think?
How is the research coming?
one point i neglected to post above but thought i did: i have not had any formal MA classes. the closest is the handful of seminars i was fortunate to be able to attend. also the little my dad taught me of tai chi and WCK and a very little taste of hung ga (tang fung/wong fei hung lineage). i have 2 training partners much more experienced than me and we sometimes get together in a park to bang sticks or hit focus mitts or kick the thai pads or do some knife drills. we do not have access to mats so no grappling yet. there's not much level ground with grass in that park :-( now with 3 young kids, i don't think i will be able to sign up for classes anytime soon.
Sickboy13,
the following comment is not meant to be racist in any way or as an attack on CM Newsome or anyone affiliated with him: from what i gathered CM Newsome is receptive to teaching students he feels he can trust the JHR/52 provided they are African-American. i could be wrong on this. so if you fit the profile, maybe you have a shot. i can email him if you want.
re: JHR/52 research - i had a few leads, but due to work and newborn recently, i have not been able to follow up. there was a potential lead in which i've forwarded contact info to forum member and friend Jason Couch, in hopes that he can get together with this one guy who emailed me. unfortunately, the guy is in the military (or something to that nature) and shipped out. i am pretty much caught up with work for being off for 2 wks and i have a new email from "Big Red" (he's the guy who informed of the Alto 52's) and i will start up with him again on monday and the other ones.
"Guro Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny - despite some forum members experiences :-), i feel with my limited experience in MA now, he has much to offer. www.dogbrothers.com is his site."
Hummm, i wonder who your refering too?
"my young apprentice, you have much to learn"
- yoda
Steve,
actually i do have much to learn - you are correct. just soaking it all up from all the various sources.
and that comment was not meant as a dis on you. if it came across that way, please accept my sincerest apologies.