MARTIAL ARTS
My Martial Arts training started when I was six years old. I was always being harassed and bullied at school. To this day I still don't know why, but one day I came home from school and was all bruised and bloody from a fight. That evening my mother and father decided I should be trained to protect myself.
We looked at all of the schools in my town, but none of them fit the criteria of my parents. Needless to say my mother and father became my instructors. My father, a former martial arts student, taught me how to fight and my mother, a former professional dancer, taught me about endurance and flexibility. Even though I was trained to fight by them. I was never allowed to start a fight. I was only to fight to protect myself. I was told by my parents that if I ever started a fight, they would never train me again.
One day I came home from a fight that I had lost. My father asked me to show him how I defended myself when I was being attacked. I explained very thoroughly what happened and showed him what I did; he just stood there and said, "Come here, son. We're going to watch some Bruce Lee movies, and after that I'll tell you a story about when I met Bruce." What my father said about his meeting with Bruce and what he showed me that day changed my life forever. From that moment on I was always reading and studying about how to become a better Martial Artist.
I started to train with other people in different arts and to absorb whatever knowledge I could. My passion and love for the Martial Arts and Bruce Lee lead me to the Inosanto Academy of Martial Arts, which taught the theories of Bruce Lee himself. I knew that one day I would be a student of Sifu Dan Inosanto's. It became a dream of mine to be his student and to one day be an instructor at his academy. I am fulfilling that dream one day at a time, and I currently am a 'Level five Associate Instructor' certified by Simo Paula Inosanto AND Sifu Dan Inosanto.
Since my training at the Academy I have met many amazingly talented and humble Martial Artists that I now consider family. I was asked to accompany a group to give a demonstration at the 35th anniversary of Sijo Bruce Lee's death in Seattle, Washington, from July 18-20, 2008. Sifu Yorinaga Nakamura took me and five other students at the Academy to give the demonstration on behalf of the Academy. I was so honored and grateful for everyone at the Academy and for all of their love and support. I love them all.
A Martial Artist's path is never finished; if you say to yourself, "I've achieved the highest level," then you've failed yourself. I still don't really understand why I push myself so much. I train everyday of my life, and at the end of each day I always want to go beyond perfection, knowing full well that it will never be achieved. It's a life-long journey and I'm still on it. To this day I have so much more to learn.
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LEVEL FIVE ASSOCIATE INSTRUCTOR CERTIFIED BY SIFU DAN INOSANTO.
STUDENT OF SIFU DAN INOSANTO AND SENSEI YORI NAKAMURA.*
U.M.A.C. 'WORLD RECORD HOLDER' FLYING SIDE KICK: 8 FT. 4 IN.*