- Thread Starter
- #21
Simply put, that's a pretty good answer.:asian:Karazenpo said:Shane, I guess you could say you join a particular association or organization for the same reasons you would join MartialTalk and other martial arts discussion forums. Since I've got involved in several of the forums I have not only broadened my knowledge, diversified and learned from others but I have also made new friends. I have visited a school in New Hampshire and given a seminar from someone I met on the Kajukenbo Cafe who's also a member of MT (Sensei John Evans) I've been visited by several different members of this forum and plan to get together with several in the near future, some to teach, others to exchange information, although even in teaching, the teacher also can become the student. I have gone to my association events only to meet someone on this forum (Shaun-Kenpo5th) and hit it off like we knew each other all along, perhaps because we have...... A good association can be like a 'brotherhood'. Way back in 1987, I joined the U.S. Police Defensive Tactics Association based out of Ohio, I'm in Massachusetts, knew really nothing about it and I made some very close friends for life. It's founder, Gm. Ray Szuch, my wife Kathy and I became great friends and still get together every so often. We are currently planning a reunion of some of the original members, retired heavyweight kickboxing champ Joe Hess and Tuhon Leo Gaje are just a couple of them. All this from a mailing list type of letter to my school pitching the USPDTA. It can be a nice camaderie if you join the right group(s) and usually the fees aren't that extravagant, so it can be worth taking the chance.