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White Belt
I've been conditioned not to start a new thread as a white belt, but you seem to encourage it so here goes:
I discovered martial arts late, watching my then-almost-11-year-old son take karate from Eric Hung. It was too cool just to sit and watch, so I started taking it a few months later and have been doing it ever since. I lucked out, the school's got really good teachers and although it's sport karate they really know their body mechanics. Started as a Kensho Ryu school, then went independent as "Seishin Martial Arts / Sport Karate Academy." I've been there for 3.5 years, am Nikkyu, and help coach in the kids' classes.
After I'd been there for a few months, professional fighter (UFC, Pancrase) Jason DeLucia showed up and started teaching Aikido there. That's when I discovered that Aikido is my true love. I kept taking Jason's Combat Aikido classes even after he stopped teaching at the karate school. Jason's classes include traditional Aikido kata but also a lot of groundwork -- he's a certified Pancrase Hybrid JuJitsu instructor so he can teach all that, and he also knows a lot of old-style Aikido ground moves that don't tend to be taught in Aikido schools these days. We do a lot of randori (free sparring, just one attacker but realistic attacks). We have several police officers in class, who say they use their Aikido on the job.
Then I discovered a pretty amazing Tai Chi teacher so I've been his student for over two years and recently started going to his TenChi Kenpo karate classes. This teacher, Elliott Edwards, is a 5th Dan under TenChi Kenpo founder / former street brawler / bar bouncer Norman Armstrong. Norman, who learned Tai Chi from T. T. Liang himself, was an early student of Nick Cerio and is the person who, becoming a 5th Dan, drew up the Kensho Ryu Family Tree that's on display in Kensho Ryu dojos.
I've been incredibly lucky at finding exceptional martial arts teachers who don't mind students cross-training. It's been quite a journey, and I'm glad that I've still got a long way to go. What I learn from the different teachers reinforces the same ideas and fundamentally uses the same principles.
I discovered martial arts late, watching my then-almost-11-year-old son take karate from Eric Hung. It was too cool just to sit and watch, so I started taking it a few months later and have been doing it ever since. I lucked out, the school's got really good teachers and although it's sport karate they really know their body mechanics. Started as a Kensho Ryu school, then went independent as "Seishin Martial Arts / Sport Karate Academy." I've been there for 3.5 years, am Nikkyu, and help coach in the kids' classes.
After I'd been there for a few months, professional fighter (UFC, Pancrase) Jason DeLucia showed up and started teaching Aikido there. That's when I discovered that Aikido is my true love. I kept taking Jason's Combat Aikido classes even after he stopped teaching at the karate school. Jason's classes include traditional Aikido kata but also a lot of groundwork -- he's a certified Pancrase Hybrid JuJitsu instructor so he can teach all that, and he also knows a lot of old-style Aikido ground moves that don't tend to be taught in Aikido schools these days. We do a lot of randori (free sparring, just one attacker but realistic attacks). We have several police officers in class, who say they use their Aikido on the job.
Then I discovered a pretty amazing Tai Chi teacher so I've been his student for over two years and recently started going to his TenChi Kenpo karate classes. This teacher, Elliott Edwards, is a 5th Dan under TenChi Kenpo founder / former street brawler / bar bouncer Norman Armstrong. Norman, who learned Tai Chi from T. T. Liang himself, was an early student of Nick Cerio and is the person who, becoming a 5th Dan, drew up the Kensho Ryu Family Tree that's on display in Kensho Ryu dojos.
I've been incredibly lucky at finding exceptional martial arts teachers who don't mind students cross-training. It's been quite a journey, and I'm glad that I've still got a long way to go. What I learn from the different teachers reinforces the same ideas and fundamentally uses the same principles.
