Bullseye,
With me, its never a question of "stuff" that I rate highly, its all about the individual. I've been with Paul for over ten years, and he is just a world class teacher and martial artist. Interestingly enough, only about 10% of my training with Paul has been focussed on "street" material, most of it has been Jun Fan, Kali, BJJ etc. He has been responsible for teaching me a large portion of my JKD. So, what I rate so highly, is Paul Vunak.
"Street" stuff. As you rightly say, it often comes across on this forum that I don't have much time for the "street" talk, and I will explain why. First of all, I went through all of that in my 20's, and its just something I left behind. Its not really a part of my life, I just try to be an athlete now, I'm not really worried about having a streetfight. So that will influence my views.
Secondly, as I am sure you appreciate, a lot of the talk you get on forums about the street is just bullshit, and when you have seen it up close you can just smell it a mile away. So thats another reason why my tolerance for many of the discussion is so low, its just people making stuff up.
All of that said, I am actually very passionate about self-protection, and although its not something I choose to bang on about, I focus on it a lot in my teachings. Several of my students are active Doorstaff, several are Police Officers, and several are Soldiers. I train with a number of SP experts in the UK, including some of Geoff Thompson and Pete Consterdine's team. I have all the time in the world for these guys, because they are the real deal, I probably just get a bit disinterested in a lot of the nonsense that people type on here about the street, thats all.
I will say, one thing that switches me off about alot of SP guys, in the UK are elsewhere, is they are far too focussed on spreading fear and paranoia. I have seen people get into that type of training and become very dark and unhappy as a result. Yes, violence exists in our culture, but nowhere near to the extent that these guys want you to believe, because it serves their income. I don't agree with martial arts being a dark pursuit, I think you can learn to fight and still have a smile on your face, and I see that approach work very well in Combat Athletics, such as Boxing.
I hope that helps to answer your question mate. |