I'm pretty sure that TOAS Nabard is the real deal.
I have been to the TOAS school on three separate occasions. Two of those times I actually sat down and talked with Master Sofaku one on one about my own question about his background and training and what he teaches. I meant to take classes there but then I move to a different city. I have since moved back to Pensacola and I went once again to check out the school and sign up for classes. Regrettably, my work schedule change only a few days after getting the money to sign up.
I found Master Sofaku to be very down to earth and technically oriented. He pointed me to do other research to verify the origins of Martial arts and fully admitted to me at the time that Kung Fu was a major part of the system, but that it was changed to reflect a more useful and practical system for actual self defense. At the time that I was checking out the school is was called TOAS Nabard Kung Fu. That’s even how it is listed in the phone book to this day. However, he has since taken away a lot of the references to this on his web site and I assume in other media, like brochures. But while many of you see this as some kind of fraud, I see this as a vote of confidence in his truthfulness.
Bruce Lee never called Jeet Kun Do “Jeet Kun Do-Kung Fu” even while fully admitting that he borrowed heavily from Wing Chun. And I certainly don’t think that after over 20 years of further refining his own variations of TOAS Nabard that Master Sofaku should call his School Kung Fu any more either. He only did so to help people who didn’t understand martial arts to figure out what his trained was most likened to from the laymen standpoint. Once again, I see this as a vote of confidence in his honesty, not some hoodwinking of his students. The first time that I met him he was completely honest with me about what he was teaching and why it was called what it was called. I assume that same must be true for others if he has been teaching loyally devoted students for over 20 years in the same location.
No, I am pretty sure that Master Sofaku is the real deal, because Pensacola is a relatively small city and a big military town. Fly by night “Self Defense” joints come and go here all the time. Some military retiree is always popping open another “Self Defense” place around Pensacola all the time. Meanwhile, Master Sofaku still gains loyal students all the time, many of them from the failed fly by night “Self Defense” places, as he has always done.
Master Sofaku could have easily called his school, “Self Defense” or simply “Martial Arts” as many other unprofessional places do, but that’s not who Master Sofaku is in my opinion. Instead, he called his school what most people would recognize from a particular arts standpoint. It is much easier to just call yourself “martial arts”, but like Bruce Lee, Master Sofaku told the truth about what he is teaching, why he is teaching it, and where the system originated from.
People all over this forum often say things like, “I do some JKD and utilize my stick maneuvers from kali” all the time. They often tell people that use this part of a system of martial arts for one thing and then some other system for another. Do you fault them for doing so? Of course not. Here you call that honesty and being forthright, but then you look at Master Sofaku and claim that he is not being honest when he is trying to do the same thing.
All anyone had to do was read his web site to find out what is going on. His web site is one of the most complete martial arts school web sites that I have ever seen, which is where these videos come from in the first place. But instead of crediting him with going above and beyond and showing actual students of his performing extended routines, you all slam him for being some kind of knock off. If he was just a knock off he would be showing you his students online. Instead, he would be telling to by his book for 20 bucks and some DVD.
Sometimes it seems you martial arts people are never happy. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I for one would feel honored to take classes from Master Sofaku because he has done a considerable amount of work on his school, his students, and his system. That alone is more than I can say for almost all of the other so called schools that I have seen.
The schools that I have seen are some empty small room in a strip mall somewhere that doesn’t even have a balancing pole area at all, let alone one outside in the open air. Most places that I have seen don’t even have a building with ceiling in it that are taller than a normal house. How are you to practice pole arm weapons in a 7 foot ceiling room? The answer is that you can’t.
No, I am pretty darn sure that Master Sofaku is the real deal and one of best friends trained with him for over a year and said the same thing.
I have been to the TOAS school on three separate occasions. Two of those times I actually sat down and talked with Master Sofaku one on one about my own question about his background and training and what he teaches. I meant to take classes there but then I move to a different city. I have since moved back to Pensacola and I went once again to check out the school and sign up for classes. Regrettably, my work schedule change only a few days after getting the money to sign up.
I found Master Sofaku to be very down to earth and technically oriented. He pointed me to do other research to verify the origins of Martial arts and fully admitted to me at the time that Kung Fu was a major part of the system, but that it was changed to reflect a more useful and practical system for actual self defense. At the time that I was checking out the school is was called TOAS Nabard Kung Fu. That’s even how it is listed in the phone book to this day. However, he has since taken away a lot of the references to this on his web site and I assume in other media, like brochures. But while many of you see this as some kind of fraud, I see this as a vote of confidence in his truthfulness.
Bruce Lee never called Jeet Kun Do “Jeet Kun Do-Kung Fu” even while fully admitting that he borrowed heavily from Wing Chun. And I certainly don’t think that after over 20 years of further refining his own variations of TOAS Nabard that Master Sofaku should call his School Kung Fu any more either. He only did so to help people who didn’t understand martial arts to figure out what his trained was most likened to from the laymen standpoint. Once again, I see this as a vote of confidence in his honesty, not some hoodwinking of his students. The first time that I met him he was completely honest with me about what he was teaching and why it was called what it was called. I assume that same must be true for others if he has been teaching loyally devoted students for over 20 years in the same location.
No, I am pretty sure that Master Sofaku is the real deal, because Pensacola is a relatively small city and a big military town. Fly by night “Self Defense” joints come and go here all the time. Some military retiree is always popping open another “Self Defense” place around Pensacola all the time. Meanwhile, Master Sofaku still gains loyal students all the time, many of them from the failed fly by night “Self Defense” places, as he has always done.
Master Sofaku could have easily called his school, “Self Defense” or simply “Martial Arts” as many other unprofessional places do, but that’s not who Master Sofaku is in my opinion. Instead, he called his school what most people would recognize from a particular arts standpoint. It is much easier to just call yourself “martial arts”, but like Bruce Lee, Master Sofaku told the truth about what he is teaching, why he is teaching it, and where the system originated from.
People all over this forum often say things like, “I do some JKD and utilize my stick maneuvers from kali” all the time. They often tell people that use this part of a system of martial arts for one thing and then some other system for another. Do you fault them for doing so? Of course not. Here you call that honesty and being forthright, but then you look at Master Sofaku and claim that he is not being honest when he is trying to do the same thing.
All anyone had to do was read his web site to find out what is going on. His web site is one of the most complete martial arts school web sites that I have ever seen, which is where these videos come from in the first place. But instead of crediting him with going above and beyond and showing actual students of his performing extended routines, you all slam him for being some kind of knock off. If he was just a knock off he would be showing you his students online. Instead, he would be telling to by his book for 20 bucks and some DVD.
Sometimes it seems you martial arts people are never happy. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I for one would feel honored to take classes from Master Sofaku because he has done a considerable amount of work on his school, his students, and his system. That alone is more than I can say for almost all of the other so called schools that I have seen.
The schools that I have seen are some empty small room in a strip mall somewhere that doesn’t even have a balancing pole area at all, let alone one outside in the open air. Most places that I have seen don’t even have a building with ceiling in it that are taller than a normal house. How are you to practice pole arm weapons in a 7 foot ceiling room? The answer is that you can’t.
No, I am pretty darn sure that Master Sofaku is the real deal and one of best friends trained with him for over a year and said the same thing.
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