DragonzRage
05-25-2001, 10:16 PM
This is part of an interview with Matt Thornton of the Straight Blast Gym. His answers are simple, logical and to the point...no overly philosophical and semantic crap from him. He also addresses some of the problems that the JKD community faces. I agree with him, although I do not feel that the majority of good Concepts instructors are as bad as he sees. Crummy instructors and lazy students are the source of the problem rather than the Concepts school of thought itself. A few of his views are subject to a little debate, but he is right on about what JKD is all about. Read and learn, grassshoppers. If you still can't grasp JKD after this, then I pity you.
D: In your travels around the world now you have seen the JKD community at large. What would you say the biggest problems still are within the JKD community?
Short answer. . .Aliveness, period. Every JKD concepts person thinks or says they understand it, but then you watch them perform there drills and its just more DEAD patterns. Paul Sharp posted a funny story online about how a JKD Instructor visited his Gym in Illinois and said he had been working "pummeling", and the clinch with a prominent JKD Concepts Instructor. Paul asked to see, and the guy started demonstrating various switches to go in and out of hubud, chi sau, and the swim. As Paul said, "Some people can f*%k up a wet dream!"
Long answer, the problem goes to the very heart of what these Instructors think JKD is. The JKD Concepts people still evaluate growth through accumulation, as opposed to performance. A buffet method where you pick and choose through arts. It's a faulty teaching model. When Aliveness is taken out, and performance is no longer the only goal, politics, and weasels take there place. My job as an SBG Coach is to extract that weasel. Sometimes it's a delicate operation. (laughs)
As for the original JKD people, they still believe you must first learn the "style" of another fighter before developing your "own" style in fighting. In their case they believe in learning Bruce's way first. Again, this is just faulty logic. Imagine if I had a stable of fighters and I was going to prepare them for combat within a NHB or MMA arena. But, before we put them in the ring and had them box, clinch, wrestle, fight, I had them memorize and drill all of Frank Shamrocks moves. Now, I respect Frank Shamrock as a fighter allot.....but he has a unique style all his own developed through sparring and fighting. Imagine if I said you had to learn to fight like Randy Couture first before you fight. Fight with the underhook, etc. Randy is a friend, but Randy has also been doing wrestling most of his life, and he is a 'world class' Greco wrestler. There is no way I could 'imitate' his style, and it would be foolish of me to try. I could go on and on with examples, but the point is that if you really want to screw up the growth curve of a fighter make him imitate someone else first, before you begin letting him develop his 'way' in the clinch, on his feet, and on the ground. That will mess him up for life! (laughs) If you're a boxing coach, and you really want to mess up a boxers game have him try and imitate Ali, or Tyson, or Leonard. It's silly. To train a fighter you teach him the basics and you MUST then let him find his 'way' in the ring. He can only do that through sparring, NOT drill! You may pick up a move or idea from another fighter here and there, but you cannot imitate another fighter's game and expect to be that good. Remember Joe Fraziers son?. . . he was an excellent stick and move boxer, but his Dad tried to have him fight with 'his' style. A bobbing and weaving, hooking style. Marvis lost it all after that. It's just NOT good coaching!
So if I said Derrick, you need to imitate how a 130lb Chinese man who passed away in 1973 fought, do you think that would be a good idea?
D: No.
Exactly. It just does not make sense. You coach the basics of standing, clinch and ground, and let the athlete develop his own 'way' or style based on his physical, emotional, and mental capabilities. That's JKD. Frank Shamrock IS JKD. Randy IS JKD. A guy may say that he teaches JKD because a piece of paper says that, but if he has not gone through the trials to develop his 'own' fighting game at all ranges then he is not JKD and never will be no matter what anyone says or writes. And if he cannot help another athlete develop his own 'style' then he cant teach JKD. No matter how many drills, moves, notebooks, or certificates he has.
D: What about Jun Fan Gung Fu?
I don't claim to teach that. If someone walked in my Gym and said they wanted to learn to fight the way Bruce Lee did, I would explain to them that I don't teach that. I teach people to fight, I don't teach people to imitate other fighters. If they said they wanted to fight like Couture, or Rickson, or anyone else, I would say the same thing. So I don't claim to teach Couture Gung Fu, Shamrock Gung Fu, Thornton Gung Fu, or Jun Fan Gung Fu. I teach JKD, period.
I have had maybe two people out of the thousands who have walked in my Gym over the years, who were positive they wanted to learn "Bruce Lee's way". And that's cool, I send them elsewhere. Go see Steve Golden across the bridge. Go somewhere else, that's not what we do. Those were people that probably would not have survived in the Gym anyway. But, as I said, that's two out of thousands. Only twice in ten years of teaching. So I think most people simply want to learn how to fight, how to defend themselves, and have fun.
D: Why not just advertise as Mixed Martial Arts, or self defense then?
That's a good question. One reason is I started as a JKD Concepts Instructor, and this started as a JKD Concepts school, and we evolved to what we are today.
The other is I absolutely believe in my heart that what I teach is JKD. What JKD was meant to be. What Bruce Lee talked about is what we are. Even if everyone else in the world disagreed and wanted JKD to be "imitate Bruce Lee Do", or "cross train without performance Do", they would be wrong. The SBG is true JKD. I know this in my heart. I believe the best way to honor his memory is to keep cranking out fighters who have a high level of performance skill, coaching ability, and ethics. And that's what I am doing. I am very proud of all our Instructors and athletes. Their wins mean more to me then my own, and that's how we honor Bruce Lee.
D: So people should just forget about their certificates and simply train to fight then.
Of course. Only performance matters, not certificates. But if you want to teach Bruce Lee's method, then go ahead and accumulate a paper trail. If you want to teach Bruce Lee's ideal of martial arts perfection, JKD, then your certification is your students. If you want to know if someone can fight then try them and find out, be respectful, but understand if someone claims to teach grappling and wont roll with you, then there is a problem with their "certification". If someone wants to know if I can teach others to fight, look in my gym. My Gym and my athletes are my certification. I have a Gym full of champions. The people I coach all go on to become good fighters, athletes, and competitors. That's the one and only "certification" that counts within a performance orientated art. within JKD. What good would any piece of paper be if your athletes sucked! (laughs) it's all very silly.
"Courage is the resistance of fear, the mastery of fear...not the absence of fear."
D: In your travels around the world now you have seen the JKD community at large. What would you say the biggest problems still are within the JKD community?
Short answer. . .Aliveness, period. Every JKD concepts person thinks or says they understand it, but then you watch them perform there drills and its just more DEAD patterns. Paul Sharp posted a funny story online about how a JKD Instructor visited his Gym in Illinois and said he had been working "pummeling", and the clinch with a prominent JKD Concepts Instructor. Paul asked to see, and the guy started demonstrating various switches to go in and out of hubud, chi sau, and the swim. As Paul said, "Some people can f*%k up a wet dream!"
Long answer, the problem goes to the very heart of what these Instructors think JKD is. The JKD Concepts people still evaluate growth through accumulation, as opposed to performance. A buffet method where you pick and choose through arts. It's a faulty teaching model. When Aliveness is taken out, and performance is no longer the only goal, politics, and weasels take there place. My job as an SBG Coach is to extract that weasel. Sometimes it's a delicate operation. (laughs)
As for the original JKD people, they still believe you must first learn the "style" of another fighter before developing your "own" style in fighting. In their case they believe in learning Bruce's way first. Again, this is just faulty logic. Imagine if I had a stable of fighters and I was going to prepare them for combat within a NHB or MMA arena. But, before we put them in the ring and had them box, clinch, wrestle, fight, I had them memorize and drill all of Frank Shamrocks moves. Now, I respect Frank Shamrock as a fighter allot.....but he has a unique style all his own developed through sparring and fighting. Imagine if I said you had to learn to fight like Randy Couture first before you fight. Fight with the underhook, etc. Randy is a friend, but Randy has also been doing wrestling most of his life, and he is a 'world class' Greco wrestler. There is no way I could 'imitate' his style, and it would be foolish of me to try. I could go on and on with examples, but the point is that if you really want to screw up the growth curve of a fighter make him imitate someone else first, before you begin letting him develop his 'way' in the clinch, on his feet, and on the ground. That will mess him up for life! (laughs) If you're a boxing coach, and you really want to mess up a boxers game have him try and imitate Ali, or Tyson, or Leonard. It's silly. To train a fighter you teach him the basics and you MUST then let him find his 'way' in the ring. He can only do that through sparring, NOT drill! You may pick up a move or idea from another fighter here and there, but you cannot imitate another fighter's game and expect to be that good. Remember Joe Fraziers son?. . . he was an excellent stick and move boxer, but his Dad tried to have him fight with 'his' style. A bobbing and weaving, hooking style. Marvis lost it all after that. It's just NOT good coaching!
So if I said Derrick, you need to imitate how a 130lb Chinese man who passed away in 1973 fought, do you think that would be a good idea?
D: No.
Exactly. It just does not make sense. You coach the basics of standing, clinch and ground, and let the athlete develop his own 'way' or style based on his physical, emotional, and mental capabilities. That's JKD. Frank Shamrock IS JKD. Randy IS JKD. A guy may say that he teaches JKD because a piece of paper says that, but if he has not gone through the trials to develop his 'own' fighting game at all ranges then he is not JKD and never will be no matter what anyone says or writes. And if he cannot help another athlete develop his own 'style' then he cant teach JKD. No matter how many drills, moves, notebooks, or certificates he has.
D: What about Jun Fan Gung Fu?
I don't claim to teach that. If someone walked in my Gym and said they wanted to learn to fight the way Bruce Lee did, I would explain to them that I don't teach that. I teach people to fight, I don't teach people to imitate other fighters. If they said they wanted to fight like Couture, or Rickson, or anyone else, I would say the same thing. So I don't claim to teach Couture Gung Fu, Shamrock Gung Fu, Thornton Gung Fu, or Jun Fan Gung Fu. I teach JKD, period.
I have had maybe two people out of the thousands who have walked in my Gym over the years, who were positive they wanted to learn "Bruce Lee's way". And that's cool, I send them elsewhere. Go see Steve Golden across the bridge. Go somewhere else, that's not what we do. Those were people that probably would not have survived in the Gym anyway. But, as I said, that's two out of thousands. Only twice in ten years of teaching. So I think most people simply want to learn how to fight, how to defend themselves, and have fun.
D: Why not just advertise as Mixed Martial Arts, or self defense then?
That's a good question. One reason is I started as a JKD Concepts Instructor, and this started as a JKD Concepts school, and we evolved to what we are today.
The other is I absolutely believe in my heart that what I teach is JKD. What JKD was meant to be. What Bruce Lee talked about is what we are. Even if everyone else in the world disagreed and wanted JKD to be "imitate Bruce Lee Do", or "cross train without performance Do", they would be wrong. The SBG is true JKD. I know this in my heart. I believe the best way to honor his memory is to keep cranking out fighters who have a high level of performance skill, coaching ability, and ethics. And that's what I am doing. I am very proud of all our Instructors and athletes. Their wins mean more to me then my own, and that's how we honor Bruce Lee.
D: So people should just forget about their certificates and simply train to fight then.
Of course. Only performance matters, not certificates. But if you want to teach Bruce Lee's method, then go ahead and accumulate a paper trail. If you want to teach Bruce Lee's ideal of martial arts perfection, JKD, then your certification is your students. If you want to know if someone can fight then try them and find out, be respectful, but understand if someone claims to teach grappling and wont roll with you, then there is a problem with their "certification". If someone wants to know if I can teach others to fight, look in my gym. My Gym and my athletes are my certification. I have a Gym full of champions. The people I coach all go on to become good fighters, athletes, and competitors. That's the one and only "certification" that counts within a performance orientated art. within JKD. What good would any piece of paper be if your athletes sucked! (laughs) it's all very silly.
"Courage is the resistance of fear, the mastery of fear...not the absence of fear."