Martial Arts Sound Off

[Guest FiddleDog]

Any training? Which did you learn and why? Also who was your instructor/sifu/sensei etc.

I'll kick it off. I learned the sil num pah as a kid. I trained under Rusty Gray back in the day and both my dad and my uncle taught me shaolin and wing chun principals as well.

I'm fair to middlin' at it and have had the privilege to have train with some pretty awesome practitioners.

[Guest Jamie]

That's funny... Back in the early-mid 80's, when I knew Rusty, he was teaching Northern Shaolin and Wing Chun out on Nolensville rd... When did you train under him? Was Doug Smith still running one of his schools?

Edited December 21, 2010 by Jamie
Miscalculated how long ago it was... eeek.

[kesava]

TKD and Karate as a kid. Useless as a defense art IMO.

Moved onto American boxing as a teenager. Court ordered (Judge got tired of seeing me in the courtroom and sending me to Juvi, he owned a gym in Youngstown, OH - My next fight needed to be in a ring or else I was going to big people jail - with bubba ... and most of my cousins).

Judo and Brazilian Jiu jitsu as a teenager and adult (STILL A LOT TO LEARN AND LONG WAY TO GO!). But VERY effective against 1 person

Most fights end on the ground. Neither Karate nor TKD offer any usefull wisdom on the ground or instant incapacitation.

Thought I was a bad ass till I ran into gung fu student in college. He was half my size and cracked 3 ribs with one palm shot. Yeah....

Gung fu master > all

[Guest clownsdd]

swift kick or jerk of the gonads has derailed most "karate kids" I've ever dealt with.

[Guest Jamie]

swift kick or jerk of the gonads has derailed most "karate kids" I've ever dealt with.

You must've been playing with some of those "dojo ballerinas" that thought they actually knew what they were doing...

[daddyo]

1st Dan - Wado Ryu Karate Do.

Was taught traditional karate, judo, kenpo and randori fighting styles. The major benefit for me was physical conditioning and weight control. I was never under any illusion that I was Chuck Norris or Steven Segal. It did wonders for my self-confidence, however.

Just like carrying a firearm for self-defense, martial arts is intended to be a defensive technique, not offensive. It's doubtful that one would ever have to use martial arts skills for anything except situational awareness (zanshin).

The only sensei I remember at the moment is Dick Wessels at David Deaton in Brentwood.

[Guest m14man]

tkd/american freestyle a little akido.jui jitsu, alot of glock foo i believe the last to be the most affective for self defense.

[Punisher84]

swift kick or jerk of the gonads has derailed most "karate kids" I've ever dealt with.

Some dislocated and broken limbs have stopped most "bar brawlers" I've ever dealt with.

Grew up doing TKD and did a few tournaments, got away from that and now study Aikido and some Brazilian jujitsu. Really like Aikido as a defensive art.

[E4 No More]

Ryukyu Kempo, (Tuite-Jitsu & Kyusho-Jitsu), before Master Oyata re-named it Ryu Te in response to George Dillman plagiarizing his work. My instructor was Mike Waddell out of Gladstone, MO who directly studied from Master Oyata who was in Independence, MO.

I was a police officer at the time, and I chose this style because it was mostly made-up of wrist grappling and nerve strikes along with traditional Karate techniques. It was nicknamed "1 second fighting" technique because if the fight last longer than that you F'd up. Mike was a police officer as well who took the wrist grappling and adopted it for weapon-retention techniques. He in fact showed one of the blood-chokehold techniques to Sgt. Lindell of KCMO PD who named it the "Lindell Chokehold" and proceeded to teach it far and wide as his creation.

[Guest Jamie]

Okay, here's the full list of styles and people who taught them that I've studied, been instructed by, or been otherwise involved with in some capacity... best as I can remember it:

Bushido Karate, Wado Ryu - Wayne Tyler, Larry McKee

Northern Shaolin, Wing Chun, Kick-Boxing - Rusty Gray, Doug Smith, Johnny Bradley

Ishinryu Karate - Gary Bush

Then there's:

TDK, Hapkido, Kali, Escrima, and any weapon or weapons related class I cold find or take, by a host of people who's names I can no longer even remember. And there's also European swordsmanship and other related weapons ( Mace, pole ax, etc. ) in there too. Most of that instruction comes from talking with people on various forums and reading what surviving original material there still is, then coming up with an appropriate weapon or facsimile thereof, a warm body to use as a "target" and seeing if what you've read can be translated into something useful.

Results varied on that last one.

The reason for all of that was pretty simple... I wanted to learn how to fight. Also, having had a strong interest in weapons of all sorts for as long as I can remember, some were chosen for being quite strongly weapons-oriented. And I'm not bragging or exaggerating when I tell you that there's probably not a hand-held weapon known to man that I don't know at least something about using and have either built, obtained, or otherwise had some experience with. A few of them I am or at least was fairly good with.

A couple of 'em absolutely kicked my ass though...

And there's no doubt more that I've forgotten... Getting old sucks, and most of that stuff was a long time ago.

Edited December 21, 2010 by Jamie

[Kelemvor]

Chinese Kenpo under Scott Dudley and Paris Bynum when I was a teenager.

[E4 No More]

Okay, here's the full list of styles and people who taught them that I've studied, been instructed by, or been otherwise involved with in some capacity... best as I can remember it:

Bushido Karate, Wado Ryu - Wayne Tyler, Larry McKee

Northern Shaolin, Wing Chun, Kick-Boxing - Rusty Gray, Doug Smith, Johnny Bradley

Ishinryu Karate - Gary Bush

Then there's:

TDK, Hapkido, Kali, Escrima, and any weapon or weapons related class I cold find or take, by a host of people who's names I can no longer even remember. And there's also European swordsmanship and other related weapons ( Mace, pole ax, etc. ) in there too. Most of that instruction comes from talking with people on various forums and reading what surviving original material there still is, then coming up with an appropriate weapon or facsimile thereof, a warm body to use as a "target" and seeing if what you've read can be translated into something useful.

Results varied on that last one.

The reason for all of that was pretty simple... I wanted to learn how to fight. Also, having had a strong interest in weapons of all sorts for as long as I can remember, some were chosen for being quite strongly weapons-oriented. And I'm not bragging or exaggerating when I tell you that there's probably not a hand-held weapon known to man that I don't know at least something about using and have either built, obtained, or otherwise had some experience with. A few of them I am or at least was fairly good with.

A couple of 'em absolutely kicked my ass though...

And there's no doubt more that I've forgotten... Getting old sucks, and most of that stuff was a long time ago.

It sure does, but it beats the alternative.

[Fallguy]

Wow....can't belive I've seen others who were in Wado.

I made it to 3rd Dan in Wado-Ryu Karate-Do. My main instructor was Jean Coop-Zimmerman but also trained under Cecil T Patterson and others. David Deaton that DaddyO mentioned was one of the evaluators on my Black Belt exam.

I have always been a fair sized boy, but used to wonder how big I might get if I quite working out....I have found out. :-( Keep thinking of starting back at times. My brother, who started the same time as me (July 1983) is currently a 7th Dan

[Guest Jamie]

It sure does, but it beats the alternative.

Depends on who you listen to. If some folks are right in what they believe, the alternative might just be a whole lot better than getting old and falling apart.

Time will tell, I guess.

[Guest FiddleDog]

I took from Rusty in the late 80's, mainly Shaolin, but he was focusing heavily of Goju fighting at the time - lots of qi-na. No so much discipline in form. I did it when my dad left the picture. Rusty had a more emphasis in the sil num dao applications of his wing chun. More mobility at the cost of efficiency of power. I started to taper off after him. I then started working out with David Stevens, who for some reason really liked my application of wing chun.

Initially, I learned because it was a family thing - that and being Taiwanese, it was the main part of our heritage that I could get with. Kind of a discipline/punishment sort of thing. I maintain the sil num pah, just because I like the principles of movement in wing chun. I got to work out with silat practitioner who also took kali - heaven 6 and chinese Chi-sau have almost identical philosophies of movement.

I do have to admit...the hardest I've ever been hit was by a western boxer. It completely erased any ideas that my young self had of entering into competitive open-style fighting...good thing, too. Getting hit has become one of my least favorite things to do.

[Guest Jamie]

Wow....can't belive I've seen others who were in Wado.

I can give you a couple of more:

My mother studied Wado under O.V. Meyers jr. back when I was 7 or 8, and one of the sergeants at the S.O. also studied under Tyler and and McKee, as well as Roy Hinkle. ( Another name I'd all but forgotten. )

All that definitely seems like "a long time ago, in a galaxy far away"...

Of course, given that I started at 13, and knew most of those people between then and my 17th birthday, I suppose it was...

[Guest Jamie]

Getting hit has become one of my least favorite things to do.

Yeah it gets old fast... and is one of the main reasons I only lasted at kick-boxing a year or so.

I may have a hard head, but it's not that hard...

BTW... was Rusty still married to April at that time? Or had he moved on to a 3rd wife?

( Interesting story behind wife #1 and #2, but I won't tell it here. )

[Fallguy]

I can give you a couple of more:

My mother studied Wado under O.V. Meyers jr. back when I was 7 or 8, and one of the sergeants at the S.O. also studied under Tyler and and McKee, as well as Roy Hinkle. ( Another name I'd all but forgotten. )

All that definitely seems like "a long time ago, in a galaxy far away"...

Of course, given that I started at 13, and knew most of those people between then and my 17th birthday, I suppose it was...

I took a few classed under Wayne Tyler too as well as some Iaido classes. Hinkle sounds famillar as well. Also was lucky enough to have few seminars with Master Otsuka and his son a few times.

[Guest FiddleDog]

It was when he was at the Sportsplex on West End. I can't remember if Rusty was with April or Angela. Rusty didn't really socialize with us. He went through some stuff from what I understood, and this might have been either around the beginning of that time or early middle of that time.

Edited December 21, 2010 by FiddleDog

[Guest Jamie]

I took a few classed under Wayne Tyler too as well as some Iaido classes. Hinkle sounds famillar as well. Also was lucky enough to have few seminars with Master Otsuka and his son a few times.

Y'know, thinking back on all of this, it's funny the stuff I know about some of those people, and how I'm quite sure they wouldn't want the rest of the world knowing it now.

Wayne's first wife Was Jackie... and his Top student at the time was a cute little thing named Julia, who had a sidekick that would cut you in half...

Julia's maiden name was Ledbedder or something of the like, as I recall. Last time I saw her, about 1983 or so, she was Julia Tyler...

[Guest Jamie]

Rusty didn't really socialize with us.

That ain't the Rusty I know... Myself and several others have drank more carafes of white wine with him, out at what was then Major Wallaby's, after class, than I'd care to think about. And you haven't seen anything 'til you've seen an entire theater taken over by a bunch of half-plastered Kung Fu and Kick-boxing students who wanted to see "The Kentucky Fried Movie".

[Guest FiddleDog]

"What was dat? This is not a chawade...for dis...we need compwete consentwation."

[Guest Jamie]

"What was dat? This is not a chawade...for dis...we need compwete consentwation."

You sure you weren't there?

Nah... you'd have only been 7 or 8 at the time.

[Guest FiddleDog]

As I suspected. We did miss each other by around 7-8 years. It sounds like you guys had a lot more fun than us later folks. and of course, the Kentucky Fried Movie transcends all ages and generations.

Edited December 21, 2010 by FiddleDog

[Guest Jamie]

As I suspected. We did miss each other by around 7-8 years. It sounds like you guys had a lot more fun than us later folks. and of course, the Kentucky Fried Movie transcends all ages and generations.

Yeah, it sounds like we did have more fun... but it also sounds like some of that fun caught up to Rusty in a bad kind of way.

That's too bad, 'cause he's a good guy and a very knowledgeable teacher. Hopefully he's gotten it together and is doing well now. I don't know if he'd even remember me if we ever met again.