Hey folks,

registered here some time ago and troll through the posts regular when im at work.

Age 40
Grew up in the States in Alaska in a very small town. My father was carreer Military up until the Vietnam War. He served two tours then left the Army behind. One of his assignmets was as a Hand to Hand instructor, and when I was about 10 years old I was introduced into his style of hand to hand. This and a mail order book on Karate (yes a mail order book which by the way did wonders towards developing specific tecniques which are still my strongest) were my early influences. I grew up without Television and could only get radio in some areas. The book had picture instructions and many many home exercises.

at age 15 I left Alaska and moved to Washington DC!! it was here i attended my first formal Martial arts Class. taught by an ex ROK Marine (the Korean Marine Corps) instructor who taught Kung Fu, Hapkido, and Tae Kwon DO.. with each style drawing heavily upon elements of the others. I mostly attended the Kung Fu classes as they offered weapons (I did Kata in sword and Bo staff) I kept at this until I was 17.

17... As a young idealistic boy looking for his manhood I Joined the United States Marine Corps. I turned down offers to join the technical side and specifically chose Infantry. (Yeah i was pretty dumb for a smart cookie). 18 I finished Boot Camp (where all recruits go through basic (and i mean basic) hand to hand.. cumulating in pugil stick fights and smokers (kind of a no weight class free for all boxing event).

I went through Infantry training school and was recruited into, tired out for, and was ultamately accepted into a Reconnaissance Battalion where i spent the remainder of my time in (8 years).

The Marine Corps, and especially Recon.. attracts many Martial arts enthusiasts.. those with only minimal formal training (like myself) and men who were black belts or similar grade in many styles. We trained (while not in the field) just about every day in very free form hand to hand.

While on my second Deployment on board ship I joined the Ships Boxing Team.. I had never boxed before, not including the Many Smokers i had participated in.. but i had it in my mind that boxing was puting into practice my hand to hand skills with real hits against an opponent who did not already know the move (and counter). Needless to say I was hooked. Going on from that 6 month deployment (where we would train 3 to 4 hours every night) I ended up Boxing for close to 5 years.

When I Left the Corps, and moved to Australia, I pretty much gave up Boxing and my interest in Practicing my brand of Martial arts...this was in 1990.

So a year ago my son turned 13 and a GKR rep turned up at the door.. we signed him up.. I attended his first grading and was so impressed I Joined myself.

I work in Sydney and get home around time for the late class (730pm) and as a result get in maybe 1 training session a week. But i do practice one hell of a lot at home.

Favourite sayings "If your cheating.. you are only cheating yourself" and "the best exercise to improve your pushups are... pushups"

Pet Peeve Folks who come to class to goof off

Fav Kata First kata.. nice direct strong low stances and powerful I can see the Bunkai, and yes even use it in Kumite.. one thing that i rarely see are the basics (other than reverse punches and front and round kicks) being used in actual sparring.. I can box... but I love to see and use karate footwork and stances. Unfortunately my fitness is such that I move sooo slooow and my feet seem glues to the ground. But my dream is actually going to a tournament and use just Kartate techniques to win.

I have read with interest some threads that i will start posting on.

Look forward to the debate.

Btw im in region 15 NSW have been to two tournaments.. and enjoyed them both. (missed the World Cup though)

Welcome aboard Allan......

we'd all love to hear more about your past and present martial arts experiences..... im interested in your kung fu training...


Post and debate away....

Hi Allan,
Former grunt myself. One of the things that surprised me was that there is very little self defence training in the Australian Army apart from special forces and probably commando's. This quite surprised me especially given the far greater probability of actually needing it! Seems all I learned were the two best hand to hand weapons were a Browning 9mm (if you could actually get it on target!) and the Entrenching tool. Not much useful info there really

I'd agree with Matts comment about the Entrenching tool, I spent 5 years working along the regular guys and they used to swear by it.

oh - also, Im sure Jules will appreciate no longer being the only Yank on the board

I didn't think of that. We are truly international!

Hey and welcome!!



So true.... thinking of joining the NSW tournament team then??

Where abouts in NSW is region 15?

Region 15 is Central Coast NSW (Just north of Sydney or between Sydney and Newcastle).

My fitness is a slight problem. one I can overcome. but probably the biggest dissapointment I have with myself. I go Full out in training. that is i go as deep as I can (and dont you love it when your Sensei chooses that moment to talk? he he) by the time I get to Kumite (usually at the end of the class) my Legs are like lead. During Bow outs I Cramp.

My wife often Laments "where is that six pack you had when I married you?" and my fav reply... honey I inevsted it and now I have a whole KEG!

But seriously. I go to the late classes which are scheduled torun an hour and a half but usually run 2 hours or closer. some of my classmates are not even sweating at the end. But my eye is very critical on them during drills, warmups etc.

Its a long held Marine Corps schooling system that you learn best when you are at your limit physically. The military Drills endlessly to establish muscle memory and instant reaction. becase in times of high stress the first thing you lose are fine motor skills, we learn the "hard" blocks and strikes.

Kung Fu,

what I loved about Kung fu was the focus on circular techniques. My fav moves were crescent kicks.. inside outside. in the almost 2 years I attended we did not grade. The class was organised so that the senior and higher aptitude or skilled students were all at the front. to get moved up a row was basically a promotion. It was also very insular as we did not have any contact with other clubs. in this establishement it was a proper dojo/training hall that was owned by the instructor (he never had us call him by any title. He ran several classes a day. 7 days a week, and for a class fee you could attend any one or all of them. I had a Job in Highschool which ate up a large portion of my after school time, but i still managed to attend almost every night. and do double and triple classes on the weekends. And dont forget Summer Vacation !! 3 months of Martial arts Bliss.. triple classes most days!!

Tournaments,
I attended the last two tournaments before this years World Cup. I did particularily unspectacular. you see.. when in stress I revert to boxing.. and you have to pull your hand all the way back to score a point. I get frustrated with myself when I Block.. open him up real wide.. land a few strikes.. and have none scored. It is something I am almost loathe to work on. My jabs and punches work well, but pulling your fist all the way back opens you up to a counter as much as throwing your arms down to your sides and saying.. hit me. At the moment its very unnatural to me. Even the combos we do in the DOJO we reset our block. so im still so so on tournament sparring. I mainly go for my son (who own a bronze his last tournament) and to meet people and watch and mentally critique/admire. I participate for the fun and I do still do Kumite even though I know im going to score very little because its still me measuring against someone else.. where both of us are serious, deicated, focused and as real as we can get in a non contact spar.

I like that!!

Allan, hopefully you will become a regular contributor

Might add a bit of life to this forum !!!

Sorry guys, I meant that comment in the nicest possible way, but you gotta admit things have been very quiet around here lately. Is it just me that has no life?

Meh its the silly season.. always something better to do.