Thoughts on my martial arts journey

My journey into martial arts has been one prewritten for me. I joined karate when I was way younger maybe 7 or so? Only for maybe 4 months maybe as dad pulled us out cos he didn't think we were getting anything from it. They would joke about years later when I began promoting that during the bow in process one class when I was a kid with my head down thinking about the class ahead I actually fell asleep lol. Then again, thinking back, I can understand why. I joined the same club again in 2009 except this time it was as one its self defence consultants, selling karate memberships as well as training in the art with the aim of teaching it later. After that fell through, I stopped training.....as I found my self training not because I enjoyed it anymore but because I felt obligated to continue, seeing the path before me I quit.

It was also during this time I had been reading up and rewatching alot of Bruce Lee Movies and documentaries. I got my hands on as many books as possible and through his work I realised what it was that I was missing. No holds barred, free expression martial arts based on the science of using what works for you and discarding what doesn't work for you. I knew I couldn't learn from books alone but there were no JKD schools around me in Christchurch. So I kept fit in my backyard and by playing indoor football. And thought one day I could travel to America.

Then Last year March 2011 I moved to Auckland to pursue my dream of being an actionstar. And it was during my first time walking around the city centre that I discovered the martialarts shop, and that shop, thank god, I found a flyer about NZ's first JKD school opening up. I texted him right away, we got conversing and I was invited to his house as he and a couple of his students were training, Chris was his assitant instructor and those 2 taught me heaps. Sifu showed me some things and some nunchaku and I was hooked. I finally found the missing pieces to my expression. There is a bhudist saying, that when the student is ready, the master appears. I think this was happily, the case here :)

Anyway over a year or so later with a life full of ups and downs training and not training I am back in the gym. After my sanda fight a couple weekends ago I am back to prove to myself not let myself down again. True to form, on the thrusday after I returned to training and got back into spar, I won 6-1 sanda rules and didn't get taken down once. If I just don't think, relax and attack in broken rhythm I have all I need! The Wushu tournament showed me that I don't need to do anything but be myself and let my body do the work instead of overthinking things. I read book where Bruce lee once said when somebody asked him how come he can kick so fast, he said one day a ladybug asked a centipede how was it that the centipede could walk with all of those hundred legs? when the centipede tried to think about how he did it he stumbled and fell over. The moral being just be. Your eye blinks before you see the speck of dust in the air, alot of us speak before we think lol I just need to let my fist find the opponents target instead of taking that second to think how I'm going to throw this punch, because it's that second that the opponent uses to duck my punch and take me down.

So yeah, learning some Dummy stuff at the moment and more wrestling take down techniques, and the more I'm learning the more I feel I've found my calling. Just wanting to share this with you all because it feels good to find a home away from home. Sifu took his JKD class from his house to a memorial hall then to a school hall, and now he owns a fully customised gym with punching bags, a ring, weights equipment, dummies and wallbags. I'm happy I was there near the start and can see how big the club has grown, I also feel I'm a more complete martial artist then I once was. I hope to one day teach it. Because though sometimes the sweat and energy burnt on that gym floor can seem crazy, the rush you feel when walking away with a smile makes it all worth it :)

Last week. This week.

Last week I did 3 days on Shortland Street and 1 day on Power rangers which was fun, I met some great people, had a good time and enjoyed my time there. Happy to get filmwork since it had been a small while since I was job hunting a bit.

If you read my blog regularly you might have noticed I deleted a post that I made about that week's work which I removed because I accidentally might have spoiled things I didn't mean to spoil which was a huge misjudgement on my part. So I just wanted to apologise to all those involved and who it may have affected and to also say that I didn't intend any wrongdoing or deliberate spoiling of any story for the shows intended viewers. I was just sharing what I've been up to but its only now I realise that people actually do come across this blog so in that regard, I will be much more careful when writing about extrawork that isn't my own productions as I don't want to be 'that' guy who people won't hire cos he talks too much. I really need any filmwork I can get if I want to make a career out of this and as New Zealand is a small industry where everyone eventually knows everyone I'd hate to get a bad reputation. (especially since I planned to pitch something to some of these companies late next year) So yeah, if you did happen to read any of my blog about this before I deleted it if you could be really nice and keep the information to yourself until either of the episode airs, I'd appreciate it greatly :) Again, a Massive sorry to anyone I've upset or caused headaches for. I'd kick myself if I could reach, I feel so stupid. 

In other news I started my first day at a Temp job as a cratewasher in a production environment. Safe to say It was the last day too. I'm soo tired after 8 hours of scraping, stacking, unstacking crates. I thought it was easy, I underestimated my physicality as it suits bigger guys who have more reach and more batteries lol Then again, skipping breakfast wasn't the smartest idea was it. (it's been a day of bad decisions it appears).  But was worth it, met another contact I can use in my film as a fighting extra so the day was another day closer to my goal after all. Will be hunting for more office based work in the mean time.

Also got Arnold Schwarzeneggar's new book. Bodybuilder. Actionstar. Governer. Legend! was so excited to buy it! Now I'm excited read it! This guy's a huge idol, I always love hearing about people who do what they say as those sort of people inspire me. Bruce Lee, Jose Mourinho, Arnold schwarzeneggar, Donnie Yen, the list goes on :) So yeah, once upon a time in a small farm village in Austria....

Also been on the internet for an hour now, I should really work on my script, so in the words of one of the greats ...

The Sanda Fight, My first public fight

"I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life."

MUHAMMAD ALI, comment after losing to Ken Norton, Mar. 31, 1973

Yesterday I took part in my first Sanda competition at the NZ national wushu champs, Weighing in at 69.1 Kg, and having trained about 4 times between the announcement of the competition and competition day without any sparring in between, I wasn't over confident nor naive to think I would do well, relying on natural ability and drive. However I thought that the experience of the fight and the opportunity to test myself against an opponent outside of the club was too big to be missed. Not only would this help me grow as a martial artist, but it could also be a catalyst to help me get my life back together . It didn't disappoint.

I knew in my heart I wasn't prepared and they say a fight is won or lost before you even step inside the ring. I thought that even so, I would be OK. A couple days before the fight I learnt some takedowns from Sifu and one of his talented students, but as brucelee said, you shouldn't punch but let the fist hit all by itself. I can kick and punch without thinking, but takedowns and counter attacking is still very thought taxing for me and I believe that downtime cost me this fight. (And obviously, the lack of real life training thanks to my car and transport issues. )

Walking into the gym bleary eyed and heart beating at 9 in the morning (fights at 11.30) I was instantly struck by the level of fighters there. I could already see from the build and the way they conducted themselves these guys had been training very hard for this, and possibly do this thing all year. I definitely felt way out of depth here. We warmed up in a nearby gym outside of the main stadium, before the organisers went over the rules.

Then we went back to warming up and they called the draw out. Murphy's Luck they called my name for the first fight of the tournament. The guy I was fighting was called Jack something, he was a member of an mma club (they told me after he had fought before), and he took me by surprise with a square sock to the face, a little dazed I continued fighting, trying to work my way in, but my efforts tired me quickly. His takedowns were pretty efficient and he made good work of the thigh kick punch combo, in fact, it really impeded my efforts to fight my thigh was so bruised from the whelps.

Anyway, The fight ended near the end of the second round having been thrown off the mat 3 times. He went on to win the gold medal so I'm not complaining, Well done to him, it's uncontested that the better fighter on the day won that fight. I'm grateful to learn this lesson the hard way. Since then I have fought in the ring at my club, with a slight limp, but did well, dominating and in control, not on the back foot retreating like I did back then, now I'm back to my normal self, dancing to my own rhythm, striking with my own trigger. When takedowns become second nature to me and a punch is nothing more than an annoyance instead of a threat, I'm going to get one of those medals next year. Til then, I'm going to train, train, train :)

Here's some pics, 

and here's my bruise from my opponents leg kicks. thanks friend ;)

I'll post the video too once I edit what I have together in one coherent clip. Til next time!