Hello Excessive,
I know Guro Bob, have trained with him on a number of occasions over the last 10 years, and he is an outstanding martial artists and instructor. He is a Full Instructor under Guro Dan Inosanto and was the first person to ever bring Guro Inosanto to the UK. He is considered to be the Godfather of JKD in Europe. He is especially noted for his close range game, and as Ghost rightly says he is considered a leading expert on knife defence. He has also been responsible for producing many of the younger generation of UK instructors under Guro Inosanto, and has also trained many champions in the competitive arena. I could go on but to answer your main point…..
Before finding JKD, Guro Bob was one of the leading Karate teachers in the UK in the 1970s, so his roots are very much in the traditional Japanese mentality. His teaching does to this day still hold those ideals, as Ghost said his sessions can be tough and disciplined. In terms of actually teaching traditional Wado Ryu drills, yes I have been at seminars under Guro Breen where he has taught these, and he does still maintain his instruction of traditional Karate. He doesn’t say this is JKD, and it doesn’t confuse the training, it just offers his students a different way of doing things. Hope that helps
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