A great many of our friends and associates in the Martial Arts community see little value in tournament fighting. Many of them claim that competition fighting is so far from reality that it leads students to learn techniques that will not work in the street. There is a belief that the tournament fighter is deluding himself into believing he is tougher or more competent than he really is. The fear instructor’s face is that the student will believe the fighting style they need to adopt to be a… Continue

Grand Master Leo Giron said to me, “I can lead you to the door; but you must walk through”. For years I thought about that statement and how it pertained to my studies in his art. Many times, when I struggled with a technique, I could tell he would reach a moment when he could not teach me any more and I had to learn it for myself. This was one of many moments when he had led me to a door that I must walk through. When I graduated, I went on to become an instructor under Uncle Leo and then… Continue

Leo Fong started a recent seminar with a great story about Abe Lincoln. One of his greatest quotes was “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe”. Sometimes it is not important how many styles you study or how many techniques you know. It is important to perfect the ones you have been given. Too often, students are lured by the flash and complexity of exotic techniques and arts. They fit well into the student’s fantasy of “Martial Arts”. There…

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