Differences through the times
- Thread starter Azulx
- Start date
frank raud
Master of Arts
I started in the early 80's, so maybe not quite what your looking for. I started in a jiu jitsu and kickboxing club where the kickboxers were pretty much expected to fight in the ring. Kickboxing instructor was 23 time world champion Jean-Yves Theriault. There was 1 woman in the kickboxing classes. There were a few more women in the jiu jitsu program, but only one female black belt at that time. Kickboxing classes are now predominately women, there are definitely more women in the jiu jitsu program, and I have lost count of the amount of female black belts. Certain techniques have been eliminated from the curriculum, other influences have been added in, many more kids. Much more family oriented than it was back in the day.
I got interested in Asian Martial Arts after watching the old Kung-fu TV series with David Carradine and Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon back in the 70s. Dunno if it was me or the times, but there seemed to be a lot more interest in the "exotic-magical-mystical" side of the martial arts back then. I started actually training in '76 and my first "Shaolin Kung-fu" shifu really played that fantasy stuff up. He was all into meditation, Chinese herbal remedies, and all that Qi stuff. OK, not knocking the idea of qi, but he presented it almost like "the force" in Star Wars. This kind of stuff was really common back then. Check out old issues of Inside Kung Fu from the period and you will see what I mean.
Later in '79 I switched to Wing Chun. There was still some of the "hocus pocus" but compared with my previous training, it seemed a lot more down to earth. After a year, I joined the "Wing Tsun" branch in 1980 and my Chinese Sifu in that system was considerably more pragmatic, but wasn't above using the exotic appeal of the art as part of his marketing. That was also the period of the big ninja craze. We WT guys all thought those guys were really out in la-la land. They seemed like the next wave of the fantasy-martial arts like the phony Shaolin stuff I had a brush with nearly a decade earlier. About the same time I got deeply involved in Escrima. It was taught very pragmatically. And of course there were always boxers, kickboxers, judo guys, and others who kept it real. Some of our guys mixed it up pretty well too. Me ... well I learned that although I could take a hit, I really didn't like it much. So our sparring was pretty light. When I went to play with the Chinese kids who went at it bare-knuckle by the dumpsters behind the old King Wah restaurant at Central and Southern, I hung out on the sidelines.
The introduction of BJJ and also the emergence of UFC in the 90's really changed how a lot of us came to look at the martial arts. That and the de-mystification of things coming out of Asia, especially the destruction of the old "bamboo curtain" and the opening of China. What was once exotic and magical seemed a lot more mundane. Although there are still some around who believe that their art will give them some kind of abilities like the old wu-xia stories.
Later in '79 I switched to Wing Chun. There was still some of the "hocus pocus" but compared with my previous training, it seemed a lot more down to earth. After a year, I joined the "Wing Tsun" branch in 1980 and my Chinese Sifu in that system was considerably more pragmatic, but wasn't above using the exotic appeal of the art as part of his marketing. That was also the period of the big ninja craze. We WT guys all thought those guys were really out in la-la land. They seemed like the next wave of the fantasy-martial arts like the phony Shaolin stuff I had a brush with nearly a decade earlier. About the same time I got deeply involved in Escrima. It was taught very pragmatically. And of course there were always boxers, kickboxers, judo guys, and others who kept it real. Some of our guys mixed it up pretty well too. Me ... well I learned that although I could take a hit, I really didn't like it much. So our sparring was pretty light. When I went to play with the Chinese kids who went at it bare-knuckle by the dumpsters behind the old King Wah restaurant at Central and Southern, I hung out on the sidelines.
The introduction of BJJ and also the emergence of UFC in the 90's really changed how a lot of us came to look at the martial arts. That and the de-mystification of things coming out of Asia, especially the destruction of the old "bamboo curtain" and the opening of China. What was once exotic and magical seemed a lot more mundane. Although there are still some around who believe that their art will give them some kind of abilities like the old wu-xia stories.
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