Welcome to The Martial Arts University! It’s my aim to promote intelligent analysis, discussion and teaching of the martial arts.
Having studied martial arts daily for nearly 50 years now, and taught – almost daily – for nearly 40 years, I like to think that I’m almost getting the hang of it! Most importantly, I hope I can offer some useful perspective and stimulus to others trying to master these wonderful, though often utterly frustratingly elusive, forms of human expression. Wonderful, because I truly believe that martial arts can offer one of the most comprehensive forms of education ever created by humankind; frustrating, because any time you think you’ve ‘got it now’, you have almost certainly lost it!
I’ve had the privelege of training with many wonderful teachers and exponents of the arts from a variety of fascinating and unique cultures. Having done so over such a long time-scale, I’ve witnessed a massive expansion in the number of arts, systems and styles available to the public in the UK, USA and Europe. However, at the same time I believe that with the increase in the availability there hasn’t always been a corresponding improvement in the standard of performance and teaching.
Like all enthusiasts, I have my likes and dislikes which, if you follow my blog over time, the reader will become all too familiar with. Although I hold many teaching ranks, I do not claim to be the best exponent, or the most deadly fighter around. But I think I can probably claim to be a reasonably accomplished teacher, and my main concern is with the quality and methodology of the teaching and learning experience, which subscribers will see reflected in the writing. I’ll be offering tips and training methods for a variety of related skill areas, which I hope you will find useful and stimulating, and I’ll be talking about a number of the talented individuals it has been my pleasure to teach, learn from or collaborate with over the years. I hope you enjoy what I write, and that you’ll feed back your own thoughts on topics I cover, suggest others to discuss and investigate training with many of the teachers I hope to recommend to you.
