Reality Bites... Hard

[auto]

Well Ice, yeah, I grew up in the ghetto where even as a "wee feller" riding say, your bicycle up the street someone would try to beat you up and take it. It is sad but very true. In this day and age it is even worse where I grew up. Now everyone just shoots everybody. Stupid, really stupid. It does not pay to be a badass nowadays in Los Angeles. You will just eat a bullet. Growing up in LA though is what made me the way I was. Fighting all through grade school, high school, and even in college, go figure. I hear your country is really beautiful though not like the states. Hopefully i will visit one day now that I am an old man;--))

[Ryu (JKD?)]

Hi Auto,
Well I received a Phase 1 instructorship in PFS JKD by Paul Vunak back in 1998. I had a couple years of JKD in me with some PFS students, and instructors like Thom Cruse. Paul awarded me the instructorship after one of his IPTPs. I'd been in martial arts for about 10 years at that point, but my JKD training was really only around the 3 year mark by the time I trained with him.
Paul Vunak is certified to teach JKDC from Dan Inosanto, and he's a very famous practitioner. He's been doing his stuff since the late 70's actually.
The reason I have a question mark by my name is because I haven't trained with Paul in a long time, and spent most of my time with BJJ and judo. I recently started training with more NHB styled sparring, groundpounding with gloves and headgear, first strike scenarios, encroachment strategies, adrenaline management, and weapons.
Right now I pretty much practice a "style" that includes a lot of ground and pound, submission, Thai kickboxing, and Filipino knife drills.
But I am studying a lot of Sammy Franco's material too, plus Richard Dimitri's, etc.
I grapple a lot because I have a strong newaza background, but I train it with "street" in mind, so I emphasize a lot of escapes, ground and pound, top positions, defending and using a weapon on the ground, eye gouging, etc. I also of course practice stand up, and use a lot of palm strikes, knees, and the basics of jun fan kickboxing.

Because I've kind of "strayed away" from Paul's destruction, straightblast, and HKE strategy, I sometimes wonder if I can still call what I do JKD...... though in actuality, that is what "JKD" was meant to be... a personal journey into functional martial art.

Since it's been such a long time that I've trained with Paul I don't know if my instructorship is still working or not. BUT.... I am still writing a book on JKD, and will probably train with Paul again in the future to try out for a full instructorship.



Ryu

[Ryu (JKD?)]

PS. Auto,

My training partner also grew up near south central LA. He's Chinese, and has seen a lot of what you described too.

Ryu

[Bau]

Ryu...what youre doing is totally JKD...

in fact I think any kind of cross training that makes YOU a better fighter is "JKD"

though some "JKD purists" wouldn't think so....theyre only fooling themselves...

[auto]

Thank you for the reply. I was very curious as to the continued developement of JKD. That is really cool. And BTW remember what Bruce said "My JKD is not your JKD". It was all about self knowledge. You ARE JKD in your own way-it doesnt come from an instructor. What worked for me may not work for you-ya know- different body structure/attributes and such. Good luck on your journey into the "self". Just remember, teaching is like leading a man to water-what he does with it is up to him. Will he drink from it? will he bath in it? will he take a swim in it? or will he continue searching through the desert in search of another pond? or even better, create his own body of water?

[Fighter]

As for JKD I dont think of it as a "style" I think of it as a philosphy or way of life.

Taking what works, take it down to the basics, and ditch what doesn't.

Whats the point of using a complex technique when the same ting can be achived using a simple or basic one.