My Week in Martial Arts: April 10 to April 14th-Thanks Part 1: Instructors

Well I rested this week apart from Capoeira as I let my body heal. As I rested I decided to write a three part thank you to those have helped me in my journey to becoming an apprentice instructor in Warriors Eskrima.

Thanks Part 1: Instructors


This is to say thank you to all the people who have helped me on my journey of the martial arts so far. This is more about how they inspired and motivated me. This post can also be viewed as a follow up to this post I did in August. I have so many to thank. The first part is devoted to instructors. The second part tomorrow is devoted to Martial Artists and the third to family, friends and external inspirations.

In chronological order of being taught by them:

Steve Powell JKD/CHOSIN KAI instructor-1984
If my brother and I didn’t find Steve Powell we may have never been exposed to so many different arts. We were lucky; the Chosin Kai Karate club was based in the upstairs of a pub literally 2 minutes away from our takeaway/takeout. This wasn’t your ordinary karate club as well as the traditional stuff, there were elements of Wing Chun and Thai Boxing that were thrown in or at least acknowledged. This was way back in 1983/84 before Mixed Martial Arts were popularised in the media and practiced in gyms as MMA.
Although we can argue it wasn’t true MMA in the sense that there was no BJJ it was definitely the first steps in my experience of using what was useful.

After the local club closed down, we attended the main gym based in George Street Chinatown was used and lesson were taught by the chief instructor himself Steve Powell. Steve Powell has a wealth of experiences in different arts and all to a high level as well as real life experiences bouncing on the door. Steve knows what works and doesn’t work in Martial Arts, that’s the bottom line. His class later evolved into a JKD class (I guess it was inevitable with so many different arts involved). Although I literally attended a handful of lessons at the Portland Street gym and filmed a video there for a college project in 1994/95, my brother Lun however attended quite a few lessons. There were so many elements of different systems being used. It was here that Lun was first taught Eskrima and thus exposed to the art. The exposure of so many arts such Muay Thai, Silat, Eskrima and Wing Chun has taught me to appreciate and respect all Martial Arts. We restarted at Steve Powell’s in 2002 and still train there on a semi regular basis.

Steve Powell is and still remains a big inspiration.

It was in 1995 my journey stopped for my studies, I attended a handful of WTF Tae Kwon Do lessons and a jiu jitsu lesson but other than that it was quiet….

Khalid Iqbal ITF Tae Kwon Do-2001

Little do I mention my ITF Tae Kwon Do days in my blog but I learnt a valuable lesson at Mr Khalid Iqbal’s TKD class. Mr Iqbal is of average height but his TKD skills are awesome and he is very friendly and humble. The classes were and still held at Salford University ironically I joined the classes with Lun after I left University. In one session I was sparring with one of Lun’s work colleague’s who previously studied in a style of Kung Fu.

Letting my ego take over I just threw out the TKD stuff I had just learnt and proceeded to use “everything” I know against him as used his Kung Fu. We totally disbanded and disrespected TKD by using different arts in the Do-Jang (training hall). Mr Iqbal took us aside and told us to empty our cups (as in our existing knowledge) and learn what was being taught in the class.

From then on I had no problems in the class and had learnt that you need to be humble and respectful if you are new to a class, no matter what other skills other have learnt in the past. I trained there for 6 months and used it to keep me flexible and my fitness up.

Bob Melia Warriors Eskrima 2002
Maybe I should have put Bob earlier in my list because I recognised him when I was a kid as every year we would watch the Lion Dance to celebrate Chinese New Year and he was one of the drummers.

However it was in 2002 that we got to really know Bob. Assisting him was Simon and Rob Campion like Lun and I are brothers who with Bob all used to train under Master Chu in Chu Gar Kung Fu. I shall write a section on them. Bob used to tell Lun and I some great stories about his days in Kung Fu but most importantly he is a good teacher and our first teacher in the Warriors Eskrima system.

Again Bob has tons of experience and was quite inspirational during his teachings. He moves fast for his size and is very powerful. He puts his quickness and skill all down to training and drilling his techniques as I remember him telling us that once. As the class averaged 6 to 7 students I guess it was easier to communicate with Bob although he was always approachable. Bob is not involved in the Warriors Eskrima system now he is now following the path of Sun Shi Martial Arts and is very much there for any mentoring advice. His latest blog gives a great account of his recent trip to Beijing.

Danny Henry 2002 Capoeira

He is my Capoeira teacher and his endless devotion and passion to his art is a big inspiration. He is truly a politics free Martial Artist. No association governs what he does and I know he has been subject to criticism by a known “official” Capoeira group. I know this because former students of the other Capoeria group have told me that the instructor/mestre always discourages students to go to Danny (which doesn’t make sense since they are not training at Danny’s in the first place). But Danny persevered by improving his art and has his own group which is expanding. This is why I respect Danny so much because he puts up with the crap from the other group (who are making far more money than Danny) by showing his students what he can do.

Rick Faye 2002 (MKG Kali Group, Wisconsin Summer Camp and Various Seminars)

Training with Rick Faye in the states for a couple of weeks was very inspiring. There was huge emphasis on footwork and because at that time brother and I restarted the stick drills (combined with the footwork) were hard to follow. However these drills helped us on coordination. Rick is very inspirational with his words I remember one seminar that he said something on the lines of this: “Why live just for 2 days of your life when you can find what you want to do and live for 7?” He meant about people just looking forward to weekends because they didn’t enjoy what they did weekdays.

Rob Campion 2002 Warriors Eskrima
Rob is the older brother of Simon. His power and Eskrima skills are awesome. He helped assist Bob during our early days of Warriors Eskrima. He is one of two representatives of Warriors Eskrima in Manchester the other being Simon.

Simon Campion 2002 Warriors Eskrima
When Bob left the classes to Rob and Simon, Rob taught a class in Wythenshawe and Simon carried on at Salford. During the first few months we could see Simon’s teaching method gradually evolve. As this was the first time he was teaching on his own with no real support it was initially difficult. Then over the months his confidence grew and after passing us on a grading the class became more structured and fun.

Simon like his brother never gave up his quest to study other Martial Arts, he even did Capoeira with me for a while. Simon’s skill also improved although there was nothing wrong with it in the first place, he seems more powerful and quicker than before. It’s such an inspiration to train under a first time instructor who is also evolving. He has coped well especially as he helped pass 4 apprentice instructors in the Warriors Eskrima system.

Pangulong Guro Krishna Godhania 2003 Warriors Eskrima

I have done seminars under Krishna and he has given us lessons at the end of gradings, however it was awe inspiring when Simon and I did a private lesson with him last year. Due to his extensive knowledge and experiences of Eskrima he showed us some great techniques with deadly precision. Along with his extensive background and having further read his book contributions and magazine articles, I feel very lucky to be graded under such a leading authority in Eskrima.

Karl Tanswell 2005 Straight Blast Gym.

A truly inspirational coach training us in the alive training concept (moving constantly), we joined the gym to learn stand up and BJJ. Although I have yet to formally begin BJJ training yet, I found his stand up lessons very useful to my own personal progress. I also find his style of teaching inspirational.

These are the instructors that I find most motivational and inspirational.
Thanks for reading and I shall post the 2nd part tomorrow!
Kit