RE: JKD Instructors Listing

[skinny]

I was thinking if anyone would like to recommend an instructor by location, styles and contact # or contribute their own name as an instructor we can then write up a master list on the website.

If you want to e mail names to me I will be wiling to put it all together. That is if it ok with the web master?

e mail me at pospiel@charter.net

[roodypoody]

i would very much like to be on your list

[skinny]

I will be gald to make you the first instructor on my list. I'm very jealous. I only started JKD and MA last year and do not instruct at all. I just had such a hard time finding an instruuctor that i was feeling bad for these guys who are looking and don't know where to start to look.

Of course I have website information for most of the big names like Dan Inosanto, Paul Vunak, and Burton Richardson etc. If you want to send me some basic info I will start compiling the info. Maybe once we get a decent list of instructors by state we can pass it on to those websites as well so everyone can refer students to instructors in every state and out of the country perhaps?

Greg

PS How long did it take you to become an instructor? Although I am 43, I would love to do that myself. I'm going to a Laryy Hartsell seminar this weekend in CT if you know anyone interested.

[roodypoody]

well.. when i finished my lessons with Paul Vunak.. he told me that now i have the knowledge and know how to go back to my home state (PA) and teach others what he taught me. Since then, i have been practicing and reading up as much as i can on JKD. I have taught my brothers and friends but yet to teach someone who paid me. And the only reason for that is cause I was tryin to get better b4 takin someone's money. I am currently making fliers and business cards to put up around my town so that people can call me and we can set up a date so i can teach them. Teaching JKD is what i wanna do for my career and hopefully sooner than later i'll have a studio instead of my basement to train someone,,so when I do get that first student, i wanna make sure everything i say and show him is done right. ya know? I have purchased all the necessary training items and I am ready to roll. But even though i haven't taught JKD to many ppl other than buddies, i feel i am very qualified and able to do so. And am extremely pumped about gettin the ball rollin..
if u still want my name and stuff just lemme know.... peace

[skinny]

Sorry,

I forgot you were in the Pitt area. My cousin who is an eye doctor used to live out there for about ten years or so. It sounds like you made a career choice and not an easy one to make I guess but it sounds like a great one. It sounds like you're doing your research. I'm not certain but I think you may want to find out about getting yourself business insurance in case anyone is injured unless you or your parents have umbrealla coverage that covers anything in their home. It shouldn't cost much maybe $200- $300 per year. You should check into that with your agent or fellow instructors. My wife is a director of an insurance claims co. so I know a little about it (not a lot.) but I'm certain she would want anyone doing business to be covered for accidents.

I will be proud to start our list with your name as JKD instructor. I'm not sure exactly how levels of instructor go but i think they are something loike one two and three so maybe we should say level one for now to be safe or maybe we don't need to be that specific. ? Let me know what you think.

Greg

[JKDFIGHTER]

Here's a thought, Bruce Lee HIMSELF would only certify you in JKD after thousands of hours of personal training time with him. You had to be made of the right stuff to earn that cherished 3rd rank level. He knew that it was very hard to get people to REALLY understand what JKD is. Consider how long people train today with someone before they are "certified". It's simply amazing and pathetic how so many are now so-called JKD instructors.

[smartmonkey]

Performance is the only measure that is worthwhile.

Performance of the deliverey systems against aggresive opponents, and the ability to teach others to perform the delivery systems against aggresive opponents.

That's all that matters.


If everyone forgot about the pieces of paper on the wall, and measured based on performance, this would be a non-issue.

In truth, it is a non-issue for all those who are motivated by peformance alone.


Only performance matters.

cheers
-Matt Thornton
www.straightblastgym.com

[JKDFIGHTER]

"Performance is the only measure that is worthwhile."

Of course. However, the paper on the wall CAN and SHOULD be a stamp of approval that a certain person has met the standards set by a given organization. Just as a BJJ belt around the waist is a measure of this person's ability and knowledge, a certificate on the wall should stand for the same thing. This certificate is how the common person knows going into their training that this instructor has met a particular standard, just the same as if they go onto an organizations website to find a qualified instructor or training group. It's when so-called "credible" instructors hand out these worthless peices of paper after a weekend or so of training and turn them loose when the know next to nothing.

For example, I had a student that had trained maybe 2-3 months with me before moving away. After that, he decided he was going to just pay his $1500 to $2000 to go to just such an instructor. After a good weekend, he was awarded an instructorship. He finally comes back to visit our school months later. He had no game whatsoever. Beginners with 6 months of training are soundly beating him in every range. Yet, this person has a piece of paper and is listed on this instructors website as an instructor. The common person seeks out a good JKD instructor and finds this guy. He has no idea about "performance", he is just trusting that this "credible" instructor certifies adequate reps for his organization.

It's disgusting.

[smartmonkey]

"Of course. However, the paper on the wall CAN and SHOULD be a stamp of approval that a certain person has met the standards set by a given organization. Just as a BJJ belt around the waist is a measure of this person's ability and knowledge, a certificate on the wall should stand for the same thing. This certificate is how the common person knows going into their training that this instructor has met a particular standard, just the same as if they go onto an organizations website to find a qualified instructor or training group."


Obviously that is very true. And if the method of learning was performance based to begin with, as it is in BJJ, that would not be an issue ever.

This is why understanding Aliveness is so important. Once a student grasps what Alive training means, and looks like, they won't be bullsh*ted again.

It has to begin and end with that understanding at an individual level.


If people are motivated by performance, as most MMA fighters, BJJ athletes, and other athletes tend to be, then they will train for performance, and most could care less about "certificates".

I people are motivated by "image", then they will go for the paper, regardless of what you do or say, and there will always be people who provide that.

By talking about the differences between performance and image, Alive-performance based training, and true forms of measurment, you can educate your students and help them look inside towards their own inner motivation.

And it's there and only there, inside your own inner motivation, that all change must eventually take place.

Cheers
-Matt Thornton
www.straightblastgym.com

[roodypoody]

I vote for smartmonkey... he's alllllllllllright

[JKDFIGHTER]

I think alot of it depends on how students are trained to value a piece of paper as to what it actually means. In BJJ, while it is definitely performance based, people are still very much shooting for that next belt level. They want what it stands for and many also have a little showing off that they like to do. Some even get online to announce that they just got their next belt. Whenever someone is asking about a BJJ instructors credentials, someone always asks, "What belt is he?" I contend that the certificate SHOULD be the same thing. It's a way to measure performance in place of a belt. If someone asks what level an instructor is the rank awarded by the certificate SHOULD be a reliable indicator of how skilled, by performance, the instructor is just as the BJJ belt does. There simply isn't anything wrong with awarding someone for their level of skill development. Although not necessary, it can help in many ways.

[M@T]

Most people think belts are important as it IS a way of describing your skill level and the higher the belt the better you are. We've all felt chuffed with ourselves when we come away from a grading with a new belt but really we weren't any more skilled than we was the day before without the belt so belts do mean something to people.

You have to earn them though obviously

[Sticksnstones]

Smart Monkey is correct. Thing is, a certificate on the wall doesn't make a fighter, but it SHOULD be a sign that the fighter could perform.

Unfortunately, it doesn't always mean that. Depends entirely on the group that issued it.

[delbert]

i used to be one of the ones that cherished the paper. i always wanted to be an certified instructor. i am in thai boxing(TBA) and junfan through an accredited inosanto instructor. what is the paper but a goal? once achieved what is next? do you quit. no way. i agree that some should not have the certification b/c they have just bought it and dont really deserve it. i personally have had proclaimed grandmasters in different arts get soundly defeated by my energy and technique.
i love to teach martial arts. there is nothing better for me than to see/feel a technique that i have taught worked on me.
the true teachers are not worried about the money only spreading the knowledge. i know that you cannot run a school that way and am glad all i have to do is teach not run a school.
that way i pick who i feel is worthy and who i know will be gone in 6 months after i have given freely of myself. i want to see people grow. i live for it. i make you better so i can grow more.