yorkshirelad
Master Black Belt
I've told my story once before somewhere here, but nowhere near indepth, so I just want to relay something to you and the lesson I learned about my personal journey just last night.
In 1993 I was 17. I was alone, scared and unsure of the future. I had had a dispute with my step father the previous year that had resulted in me being kick out on my ***. I found a job and rented a bedsit in Leeds.
I had been training in traditional Jujutsu and Aikido for a number of years and I had been training with an EPAK brown belt at the end of every Aiki lesson. My instructors knew that I was struggling, so they covered the cost of training on the condition that I set up the tatami before practice and cleaned them after use.
I was sitting on the bed of my bedsit one night when I looked up and saw that the ceiling was bulging. I moved the bed out of the way of the bulge and at around 0300 the ceiling bulge collapsed. The landlord didn't care. It was at that time that I really wanted out. I knew that Martial Arts was all I wanted to do, so I wrote to many prominant Masters of Jujutsu, Aikido and Kenpo. I waited for replies, just a sign that the people I respected the most cared. Only one guy wrote back, Larry Tatum. He sent me an autographed book, a patch and a two page handwritten letter, giving me advice on life and learning the arts.
I asked my Kenpo instructor how I could go about learning Kenpo fulltime. He said that I could move to Southern California, but I had no money, no visa and noway of survivng once I got there. His next idea was that I go to live in Dublin. He knew that I wouldn't need a visa to live there and that I could get there cheap on the bus. He told me that Dublin had the largest Kenpo community in Europe and that I would be able to find a fulltime school there.
Anyway, I saved 350 pounds and got the bus/ferry to Dublin. I didn't know anyone there, but stayed in a hostel on Gardner street for a few weeks, before landing a job at a small hotel working nights.
I went to numerous Kenpo schools and eventually settled at Professor Shay McNamee's place on Leeson street. I worked throughout the night and throughout the day I would train EPAK with Professor McNamee, Arnis with Paul Cox (when he wasn't jet setting) and on occasion Kickboxing with Mugendo's Richie Carton. In my latter years in Dublin, I trainined with Massan Ghorbani in Hapkido in Bray Co Wicklow.
Anyway, I always wanted to learn Kenpo in the States, so one day I found a copy of the Panther productions catalogue. There was four or five kenpo guys who had adverts in it, so I asked a friend of mine to check them out on the internet (I had no idea how to even turn on a PC at the time).
I saw Steve Spry's website and it mentioned Jujutsu, Aikido and Lua along with Kenpo. Because of my love for Jujutsu, I thought I would check it out on a training vacation. Well, what was originally a training vacation became a permanant move.
I left Spry's in May of '07, I believe when he closed the studio to pursue other passions and since then I have been training with friends in a non commercial environment.
I came back from OSUT at Fort Benning in Feb of this year and have felt the itch to begin training again and so I called Mr Tatum. He invited me to his studio for class last night and so I went.
I felt like a little child again! I couldn't believe that I'd at last realized my dream of training with Larry Tatum and what's more, I have been given the chance of becoming a personal student of his.
The letter he wrote all those years ago, has made such a huge impact on my life. Because of that one small act of kindness, I live in Southern California, just a stones throw from the beach, I can train in the art that I love with who I believe is the world's premier master, I have rubbed shoulders with heads of states and some of the most famous and influential people in the world and the most important thing of all, I met, fell in love and married my beautiful wife.
The most important lesson I have learned from Larry Tatum is this: To be a little more kind, for who knows what an impact a small act of kindness may have on the life of someone who needs it.
Thank you Grandmaster Tatum
In 1993 I was 17. I was alone, scared and unsure of the future. I had had a dispute with my step father the previous year that had resulted in me being kick out on my ***. I found a job and rented a bedsit in Leeds.
I had been training in traditional Jujutsu and Aikido for a number of years and I had been training with an EPAK brown belt at the end of every Aiki lesson. My instructors knew that I was struggling, so they covered the cost of training on the condition that I set up the tatami before practice and cleaned them after use.
I was sitting on the bed of my bedsit one night when I looked up and saw that the ceiling was bulging. I moved the bed out of the way of the bulge and at around 0300 the ceiling bulge collapsed. The landlord didn't care. It was at that time that I really wanted out. I knew that Martial Arts was all I wanted to do, so I wrote to many prominant Masters of Jujutsu, Aikido and Kenpo. I waited for replies, just a sign that the people I respected the most cared. Only one guy wrote back, Larry Tatum. He sent me an autographed book, a patch and a two page handwritten letter, giving me advice on life and learning the arts.
I asked my Kenpo instructor how I could go about learning Kenpo fulltime. He said that I could move to Southern California, but I had no money, no visa and noway of survivng once I got there. His next idea was that I go to live in Dublin. He knew that I wouldn't need a visa to live there and that I could get there cheap on the bus. He told me that Dublin had the largest Kenpo community in Europe and that I would be able to find a fulltime school there.
Anyway, I saved 350 pounds and got the bus/ferry to Dublin. I didn't know anyone there, but stayed in a hostel on Gardner street for a few weeks, before landing a job at a small hotel working nights.
I went to numerous Kenpo schools and eventually settled at Professor Shay McNamee's place on Leeson street. I worked throughout the night and throughout the day I would train EPAK with Professor McNamee, Arnis with Paul Cox (when he wasn't jet setting) and on occasion Kickboxing with Mugendo's Richie Carton. In my latter years in Dublin, I trainined with Massan Ghorbani in Hapkido in Bray Co Wicklow.
Anyway, I always wanted to learn Kenpo in the States, so one day I found a copy of the Panther productions catalogue. There was four or five kenpo guys who had adverts in it, so I asked a friend of mine to check them out on the internet (I had no idea how to even turn on a PC at the time).
I saw Steve Spry's website and it mentioned Jujutsu, Aikido and Lua along with Kenpo. Because of my love for Jujutsu, I thought I would check it out on a training vacation. Well, what was originally a training vacation became a permanant move.
I left Spry's in May of '07, I believe when he closed the studio to pursue other passions and since then I have been training with friends in a non commercial environment.
I came back from OSUT at Fort Benning in Feb of this year and have felt the itch to begin training again and so I called Mr Tatum. He invited me to his studio for class last night and so I went.
I felt like a little child again! I couldn't believe that I'd at last realized my dream of training with Larry Tatum and what's more, I have been given the chance of becoming a personal student of his.
The letter he wrote all those years ago, has made such a huge impact on my life. Because of that one small act of kindness, I live in Southern California, just a stones throw from the beach, I can train in the art that I love with who I believe is the world's premier master, I have rubbed shoulders with heads of states and some of the most famous and influential people in the world and the most important thing of all, I met, fell in love and married my beautiful wife.
The most important lesson I have learned from Larry Tatum is this: To be a little more kind, for who knows what an impact a small act of kindness may have on the life of someone who needs it.
Thank you Grandmaster Tatum
