I was a student at Mark Hawkin's Hidden Valley Kajukenbo Dojo, an outlet of Mark Tyrrell's Napa MMA Dojo (they're now in Middletown), for a couple years while I worked at Harbin and before moving to Spring Valley.

One of the style's founders visited while I was in the Dojo but not in class, so I never met him, although I wish I had.

Here's a link to the Tyrrell Dojo.

This training filled in my on-the-ground techniques and furthered my education in joint locks and throws.

Kajukenbo stands for Karate, Judo & Jujutsu, Kenpo and Boxing, and the Hawaiian founders developed the style for street fighting.

I also took a couple semesters of defense tactics from Jim McGowan at C.O.M. where my mother taught swimming and several years of Chen Tai-Chi from Virgil Rogers at West Marin Martial Arts in Fairfax CA.

Of course It's always a good start when you have a man like Ralph Cutler teach you wrestling in P. E. for three or four years, too.

I recently called the current President of the POA and left a message regarding getting an agenda item to discuss whether the COMMUNITY would like me to teach Tai Chi at the Community Center, gratis, maybe starting on Saturdays and guaging interest for more over time. And they could keep the monthly fee, as it would help keep me in top shape.

But I never got a call back.

However, there are potential insurance liabilities--I received my defining back injury doing an exercise taught by a top instructor, and I knew he'd been injured in the past, too.

And teaching Tai Chi without the martial applications is just waving your hands in the air.

Sensei used to walk around the Marin County Fair after his bat-breaking demonstrations on broken ankles

When I fought Sensei to earn my Black Belt (along with a lot of other fighters, who were there to try to get a piece of me) I somehow over extended my thigh on a kick and the distal (bottom) part of my right thigh turned black, not blue.

Although it never hurt and the color was gone in two weeks (and I waited another month before restarting my workouts.)

So you will get injured if you want to get good at it, although you'll also learn how to overcome those injuries, and that's what some would say is the important part

And if you hurt, you must still be alive . . .

OSU!

Photograph courtesy Tyrrell Dojo Website.