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Twin Tigers Martial Arts
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My parents were upset with the way I was putting my training to use so they pulled me out of the program promising to re-enroll me when my attitude changed, but it never changed...

I was a high school jock playing football, soccer, baseball, and wrestling. I was big and strong and made hellish the lives of a group of nerdy kids that I liked to pick on.

 

Things began to change when I enlisted in the Air Force and began training at the base’s dojo, starting with a form of Okinawa karate called Shotokan that emphasized strength and power demonstrated in strong basic stances and techniques developed through mastery into a fluid aikido-like style. From those beginning lessons, I felt that I had discovered what I wanted to commit my life to. I began to train 4-5 hours a day, earned my black belt second degree, and placed second in a statewide Nevada competition. At the meet I was scouted by a man named Bill Roy — a three-time undefeated world champion Kick Boxer. I began studying Tiek Soo Chang Shaolin Kick Boxing with him, and Shaolin Kenpo under a third-degree black belt named Jack Turner.

Shaolin Kenpo is a Chinese style that involves long-range hand strikes emphasizing speed and power and incorporating five or six combination strikes in lightning-fast sequence. The style also includes a variety of kicks, sweeps, and leg blocks.

The discipline of karate served to put an end to my aggressive tendencies. For one thing, in those days advanced-form martial arts was conducted as a rough-and-tumble full-contact sport. I picked up a collection of bruised ribs and painful sores — and quickly got some of the aggression kicked out of me.

My first instructor was a Master Miagi type person who taught me that a central quality of genuine martial arts is respect rather than fear. I learned that earning the respect of others begins with showing respect to others. I began to replace arrogance with deference. I stopped imagining that people were bad. “No matter how good you are,” the master told me, “there will always be someone better.”

One important message was that I should become a leader rather than a follower. The best leadership qualities were based upon displaying an example of high standards; becoming an example of good character. When I began teaching my first classes, I worked diligently at emphasizing by word and example the lessons that I was teaching, such as “How you behave is how people will treat you.” I taught my students that discipline drives out belligerence by eliminating arrogant, “I want this; I want that” kinds of attitudes. I helped them understand that there is a consequence for every action. If you do good you will be rewarded; if you do bad you will be punished.