Reset Button: if you could...

So Tony, what are your choices?
I was considering asking for some private lessons in Venusian Aikido, but I actually don't think the Doctor would be a very good instructor. Not enough patience for explaining the fundamentals.

I'd probably stick to the modern age. I think the level of technical and pedagogical knowledge in unarmed martial arts is higher than it's ever been. (Knowledge of sword arts has probably dropped off drastically over the last couple of centuries, but I'm less concerned about archaic weaponry.)

Lots of great choices for BJJ. I'd probably go with Ryron Gracie for teaching ability, technical skill, attitude, and a good fit with my personal BJJ goals.

For Judo I might go with Neil Adams. I'm sure there are other Judo coaches just as good or better, but he's the best I've encountered personally and I've wished I had more opportunities to learn from him.

My third choice it would probably be either Marc Denny for DBMA or Rodney King* for boxing.

*(The South African Rodney King, not the guy who got beat up by the LAPD.)
 
I was considering asking for some private lessons in Venusian Aikido, but I actually don't think the Doctor would be a very good instructor. Not enough patience for explaining the fundamentals.

I'd probably stick to the modern age. I think the level of technical and pedagogical knowledge in unarmed martial arts is higher than it's ever been. (Knowledge of sword arts has probably dropped off drastically over the last couple of centuries, but I'm less concerned about archaic weaponry.)

Lots of great choices for BJJ. I'd probably go with Ryron Gracie for teaching ability, technical skill, attitude, and a good fit with my personal BJJ goals.

For Judo I might go with Neil Adams. I'm sure there are other Judo coaches just as good or better, but he's the best I've encountered personally and I've wished I had more opportunities to learn from him.

My third choice it would probably be either Marc Denny for DBMA or Rodney King* for boxing.

*(The South African Rodney King, not the guy who got beat up by the LAPD.)

Thanks for that asterisk. Seriously. I started chuckling until I saw the clarification.
 
And, I'd finish with Morehei Ueshiba. But not the older, spiritual Ueshiba. The younger, meaner Ueshiba.
What would you learn from this younger person do you think? thank you :)
 
For Judo I might go with Neil Adams. I'm sure there are other Judo coaches just as good or better, but he's the best I've encountered personally and I've wished I had more opportunities to learn from him.

He's very cool. He also does seminars for MMA people, well worth going to anything he's teaching at. He also does the commentary for Judo on television ( Eurosport usually), he a very good communicator.
 
He's very cool. He also does seminars for MMA people, well worth going to anything he's teaching at. He also does the commentary for Judo on television ( Eurosport usually), he a very good communicator.
I've only been to one seminar of his, but I liked it a lot. Very different from any other Judo classes I've had.
 
Assuming they'd treat me as a serious student and I could withstand their training...

Mas Oyama during the pre-Kyokushin days, aka Oyama dojo days when all the legends of Kyokushin were there - Nakamura, Shigeru Oyama, Ashihara, and on and on. Talk about a tough group.

Cus D'Amato/Teddy Atlas/Kevin Rooney in Catskill, NY during the young Mike Tyson days.

Jigoro Kano right around the time he first tied black belts around his top guys' waists and inadvertently started the ranking system. I figure that was when Judo was at its true roots. I'm not a Judo historian though.

I figure with those 3 I've got an excellent karate base with Mike Tyson's hands and body movement, and Judo's pre-competition explosion throws, chokes and locks.

Just to observe for a little while (it was very difficult to choose between him and Oyama) -
Chojun Miyagi - I'd love to see if the current bunkai experts are close enough or completely off. And to see his training methods. He created and altered most of my favorite kata (and brought some of them to Okinawa) so I'd love to see what he actually intended.

Jeez, I would have loved to have trained with Mas Oyama. Can't believe I forgot him.
And would love to train with Teddy Atlas. Damn.
 
Jeez, I would have loved to have trained with Mas Oyama. Can't believe I forgot him.
And would love to train with Teddy Atlas. Damn.
It's ok. The point of this exercise is to open up a dialog about who people would have liked to have the opportunity to have trained with.
 
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I would love the opportunity to train with Bas Rutten. Besides his obvious experience, I think it would be a lot of fun.
 
Jeez, I would have loved to have trained with Mas Oyama. Can't believe I forgot him.
And would love to train with Teddy Atlas. Damn.

There's so many great ones out there. One that sticks out afterward is Shigeru Oyama (no relation to Mas Oyama). Shigeru Oyama left Kyokushin and started Oyama karate with his brother.

He passed away last year (or was it 2 years ago? Pretty sure it was last year). Watching his eulogy on YouTube (kinda weird), his son had some interesting things to say about him...

When his son was about 15, he had him sparring (bare knuckle of course) with the adults. His father put him up against one of the top guys in the dojo. His son was getting beaten pretty bad (within dojo etiquette), but he landed on solid counter punch the wobbled the guy for a second or two. Afterwards his father took him out to dinner at a pub on their way home, ordered him a beer, and in the middle of a random conversation says "nice punch" with a proud smile. Then picked up the conversation where he left off.

His son talked about when we was a kid, Shigeru brought him to the beach. He went under the water and pulled out a bunch of rocks. He nonchalantly started karate chopping them and breaking them in half. He said "that's when I first realized my father wasn't a normal guy." His students always said he was the strictest, toughest teacher, but if you did right by him, he was an extremely nurturing guy who'd do anything for you.

Him and Nakamura were Oyama's top guys, sent here to the States to start Kyokushin. I've got to get to Nakamura's dojo this summer. I've been to a few special mass workouts, but that's not the same.
 
What would you learn from this younger person do you think? thank you :)
Fair question.

In my mind's eye, I see the younger O-Sensei vigorously teaching, demonstrating, talking and moving, engaging with the students on a daily basis. I wasn't there, so my mind's eye might be watching a whishful-thinking movie, I've no way to tell. But, the teachers who came out of this period of O-Sensei's life, e.g. Tomiki Kenji and Shioda Gozo are closest to my personal way "of doing things." I ... feel as if I would understand what O-Sensei is/was doing better than the later stuff, which I perceive, perhaps incorrectly, as being more spiritual.
 
Been to Barrow Alaska twice, and these days I work in a walk-in freezer up to 6 hours at a time as part of my day job. I swim in the Hood and in the Colombia River in the winter some times.

Heart attack testing... and I've been living in Oregon for 7 years now. Cold tested, cold appoved.
No Kidding! Why does your profile say Austin? It does say Austin, doesn't it. Am I dreaming? Maybe I'm cross-referencing personalities, like the time I did that with Tony and Buka. It happens. Tryin to keep so many profiles straight in my leaking head.
 
Fair question.

In my mind's eye, I see the younger O-Sensei vigorously teaching, demonstrating, talking and moving, engaging with the students on a daily basis. I wasn't there, so my mind's eye might be watching a whishful-thinking movie, I've no way to tell. But, the teachers who came out of this period of O-Sensei's life, e.g. Tomiki Kenji and Shioda Gozo are closest to my personal way "of doing things." I ... feel as if I would understand what O-Sensei is/was doing better than the later stuff, which I perceive, perhaps incorrectly, as being more spiritual.
I can appreciate how you mean this. This does not mean then that Tomiki Kenji and Gozo Shioda are more appropriate teachers for you? thank you x
 
No Kidding! Why does your profile say Austin? It does say Austin, doesn't it. Am I dreaming? Maybe I'm cross-referencing personalities, like the time I did that with Tony and Buka. It happens. Tryin to keep so many profiles straight in my leaking head.
I lived in Austin TX for many many years of my life. I will have to double check my profile. It's a work in progress.

I looked through my profile, and I don't see it listed
 
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You'll need to contact the Admins about changing your forum name to TSDOregonian. We can't be having this sort of false advertising here.;)

Hahaha. I was born in texas. I am a Texan no matter where I am.
 
... and he's freakin' hilarious! Got a chance to enjoy a seminar he was teaching here in Houston a few years back. Fun guy, good instructor, excellent purveyor of the "how it works."
 
So you're walking down a street and a blue police call box materializes right in front you, and a nice British guy or Scotsman steps out and says sorry, there's been a terrible mistake, I just saved the earth, but your martial arts skills, muscle memory, and training were *ahem* lost.
He continues:
I will be glad to help you recover new ones as a replacement. Step inside, and tell me three instructors you would like to train under for as long as you like. While undergoing your training I will reset your age to remain at 18, and the universal translator will take care of the rest.

You step inside as you say:
Grand Master Haeng Ung Lee. I didn't get to train with him anywhere near enough.

And that would do for me. Although, Doctor, if she has no objections, I'd like to roll with Rose! :D
 
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