The question is completely moot in regards to this discussion. The discussion is focused on Dr. Beasely's credentials, or his qualifications to teach JKD which he claims to have received certification from Joe Lewis who has never received any certification in JKD or JFGF. Its a simple fact, there is no arguing that.
I can fix quite a few things on my car, it doesn't make me a certified mechanic. I can tell someone to do a pushup and run a little but it doesn't make me a certified physical trainer. I can even set a broken bone but that doesn't certify me as a paramedic let alone a doctor.
Having ability doesn't mean you are a certified (the key word being certified) anything. Joe Lewis is not a JKD instructor, he may have all of the technique in the world but if someone hasn't handed him that certification then he isn't an instructor.
My BJJ instructor received his blackbelt from Rigan Machado. Now, when he was a brown belt would it have been acceptable for him to claim black belt status, even if he already knew everything that a blackbelt knew?
When he tested for his blackbelt he didn't know that he would be testing. His test happened on a Sunday afternoon. On that Sunday he became a blackbelt, but would it have been acceptable for him to claim blackbelt status on the previous day . . . just one day before on Saturday? Of course not . . . but what changed in that one day, what changed in that single 24 hour period? Did he learn a new technique? devise a new strategy? Did the whole enchilada finally just click? No. The difference is that someone, in this case a very qualified someone, recognized his accomplishment and awarded him his blackbelt. Without that recognition and award, he would have never had the right to call himself a blackbelt, no matter how many new techniques or strategies that he integrated into his game.
Joe Lewis is one of the best EVER in American Karate, but that and some training with Bruce Lee doesn't make him a JKD instructor or give him the right to award intructorships. If Bruce Lee didn't see fit to award an instructorship to Joe Lewis and Joe Lewis never saw fit to pursue said instructorship with someone else then what justifies claiming it so many years after training with Bruce Lee? And if he doesn't have the certification to instruct or award others a certification then where does that leave Jerry Beasley? |