Question about training

[Jared Davis]

Here's the deal. I started studying Jun Fan JKD a year and a half ago, with an emphasis on trapping. I trained with my instructor on average 3 hours a week. Since the beginning of May, I found out my so called instructor lied to me about his lineage and certificiation in JKD and stopped training with him because of this deceit, however, I know it WAS JKD because of all the books and videos I have viewed to veryify that the techniques and principles I learned coincided, not to mention on a few occasions trained with an another instructor under Cass Magda.

ok thats the backround on my situation.

Where I am located, the only JKD school remotely close to me is 50 minutes away. The scheudle has classes for an hour 5 days a week, but add up 70 miles round trip 5 days a week and you can see where I am going with this (not to mention I am a college student and very poor to begin with).

the question I have in regards to my training is what should I do about it? Going to that class really isn't an option. Should I keep training the things that I have learned until an opportunity presents itself to train with someone qualified (and good enough) to learn under? I have a good idea of the basics, such as footwork, mobility, overall fitness, trapping, boxing, fighting concepts, etc. but in no way am I where I want to get to in terms of my JKD. Another problem I am having is finding someone as dedicated to training as I am. I am on my mook jong, heavy bag, and practice drills i can do alone almost everyday. i cant find anyone to really hold my focus pads for me because whenever i try to get something going with one of my former classmates, he always bails, so I am stuck with having my girlfriend hold them for me.(tip---not the best idea)

I am growing very frustrated with this and I have contemplated giving up JKD all together because it is almost impossible for me to train the things i need to train without a partner AND an instructor, but i have spent so much time and invested so much money in training and inequipment that i dont know what to do???? HELP!!!!!!! :x :x :x

[lssanjose]

How far are you from Boardman OH?

[Jared Davis]

actually about the same distance, are you an instructor?

[lssanjose]

Nope, but there is an instructor in that area. go to the jun fan jeet kune do puerto rico website and they'll have an instructor's list. or you can go to totallyjkd.com and it will have basically the same thing.

well, not to make you feel any worse, but I have a friend who has to go a long ways to get JKD training, making trips to HK from where he's at in SE Asia.

[Tim Tackett]

I drove 80 miles 1 way to learn JKD. I would get home about 1am them up at 5:45 get ready to drive 40 miles to teach high school. I did this 2 nights a week and then went to learn on Sat.
Tim

[lssanjose]

That reminds me; Shawn, the group's newest instructor drives roughly 300 miles two ways to train on Wednesdays when he can. I don't know if he still does that, now that he's a cop. However, I wake up at 4:45 to 5 in the morning to make a 1 hour bus ride to Walnut from LA. It's taking a toll financially, but that's why im in the process of getting work at the school I go to. Also, there are some seminars I would like to that I know will cost a pretty pretty penny. Not because of the attendance cost, but things like air fare and hotel considerations.

[Jared Davis]

im not a stickler for money, but obviously the world is built around it. I used to drive 40 mins to my previous instructor before i found out he was a fake, so its not that big of deal (distance that is)

the problem lies in the "tuition" that the school 50 mins away from me has in addition to the gas money i have to spend. i make just enough money to make my ends meet, but there is no way i can justify an extra 180 dollars a month in gas in addition to the 70 monthly fee to enroll at the school i was talking about. btw im located in Kent, OH about 45 mins south of cleveland. obviously if i had the money i really wouldnt be complaining, as i could afford the gas and tuition if i had it. its just frustrating that i cant really train in something i really enjoy doing

[lssanjose]

hmm, try and contact greg smith (from the totallyjkd.com list of instructors) and ask what his fees are if any.

[Tim Tackett]

What did your instructor claim that wasn't true?
Tim

[Geoff]

I started of doing wing chun when i was 14 but really didnt get to grips with the structure....so in away...YES! i could tailor make it fit me yes....but i wasnt doing it honestly so to speak.... it is reported that when bruce was on the set of enter the dragon he could see what jim kelly had done with his own method(but from a different foundation) so thats why he let him do his own fight sequences(but it wasnt jkd by far) i sorted of done the same thing as mr kelly..... but from wing chun roots(not to say im doing it better than bruce....no way!! just and understanding and nothing else.
The only thing that really interested me was the "chi sao" and at the time we were all doing it from different leeds (but still i wasnt thinking it was jkd..no!) its just i have an understanding on how bruce broke away from certain things...theres alot more things to jkd than doing "chi sao" from a right leed or reference point trapping... that i dont know and not!! qualified to do so....
I have trained with jkd instructors and i have a close friend who trains and is an instructor...so i have the privilage to see for my self.
Just because ive been to a few seminars and read a few books.... i dont feel im doing jkd because i dont know it.....there maybe things that one sees in it and point out ....yes thats right leed forward or he did a cut-in with a vertical punch....or that was a ?? etc.
I have to traveled to find out about bruce lees martial art..
ps... as i said im not qualified and dont know jkd....but only have an understanding of what bruce lee did....thats all...kind reagards geoff

[Jared Davis]

well tim, let me explain :D

its kind of a long story, so get ready to listen.

Not this past January, but LAST January, I decided I wanted to take a martial art. Being that I didn't have much money, I decided to look at what my college's Recreation center had to offer. There was boxing, Tai Chi, Gung Fu, Karate, and something called Jeet Kune Do. Up until then I never had heard of such a thing. (and to be quite honest I thought martial arts were all the same). After the first class, which consisted of Pak Sao, Lop Sao, Hubud and Chi Sao, I was hooked. The instructor showed me the limitations of other martial arts, and after seeing it for myself I was a believer. I literally became obsessed with JKD overnight. I researched all about it, read every book (all styles, not just JKD included). It completely changed the way I lived, especially in regards to nutitrion and my overall level of fitness. About a month or so in, I asked him who he was certified under (because I read that there are "frauds" all over) and he told me he was certified under Paul Vunak and a few other people.

So in addition to being a blackbelt in Karate, he was also a blackbelt in Aikido and Shin Kendo (sp) so he seemed pretty legit. A few weeks later, he told me he was training in JKD for the past 6 years, and told me he trained almost every day with his instructor, who was "certified" under Paul Vunak. He told me his instructor, Mike was a bad teacher and he told me he could teach me everything he knows about JKD in about 3 years. This was partly true, because that Mike guy was HORRIBLE teacher because I trained with him a few times. Either way, I thought it was awesome that I would be learning so much, and I knew from that moment on I wanted to keep doing JKD and help other people realize the potential they could possess if they found their "own" JKD. Around May of last year, after school ended, I went to my instructors house on Sundays and trained with him for 3 hours at a time. The majority of the training i received was trapping, but I also learned some aikido as well. Somehow we got into talking about certification again and this time he told me he was also certified under Steve Grody. This training on Sundays went on until school resumed in the fall, then I was training twice a week again (thursdays and sundays). Around November during a tournament, I was talking to his instructor, that Mike guy, and asked him about the whole Vunak thing. He told me he never was certified by him, but trained with him. He taught katas and forms to the few students he had, but it seemed he took the JKD he learned from Vunak to augment his own style of karate he was teaching, but he was passing it off as JKD. I confronted my instructor about it and he got upset because he told me that Mike said he was certified. Regardless, he told me he was still certified under Grody, and said he would show me the certificatebut he didnt feel like digging it up, but me being the trusting person I am, said I believed him so it was uneccessary.

I should also mention that 1) He wanted to start his own martial arts school, with me as his assistant because he told me I was his best student and wanted me to get certified. He also told me I would never have to pay him because I would be helping to teach. It is also around this time that I stopped learning new things and started teaching new people every other week. These people wouldnt come back (mainly because I dont think they could handle the JKD to be honest) not because of teaching, but because they couldnt handle the trapping and all the phyical contact that it involves. Choice people eh?

Anyways, fast forward to February, when he started telling the few people that showed up to his sunday instruction about the 20 dollars a month. In about march i asked him if he wanted me to start paying and he said yes. I was floored. He told me it wasnt for profit, but just to pay for training supplies. I remember his promise to me about never having to pay so I was pretty offended. Besides, why should I PAY HIM to teach HIS students when my own training gets neglected. I realize you pay for what you get, but I didnt learn ANYTHING new since November because I would have to start from scratch with the new people in the class. I became so frustrated, i was beginning to reach my boiling point.

So at the last rec class for spring in april, i asked him about getting certified and what steps i need to take. He told me he talked to steve grody and that he wasnt coming to the area anytime soon, so I had to figure out another way because he told me he cant certify in JKD. This made me suspicious, so I contacted Steve Grody myself, and I can say that !) Steve Grody never heard of my instructor, and 2) Steve Grody has never certified ANY of his students to teach JKD, nor would any of his students pass of what they were teaching as "Steve Grody" JKD. I was really good friends with my instructor, but this absolutely crushed me. I wasnt worried about what I was learning, from reading your book and view tapes from Chris Kent and Jerry Poteet and Paul Vunak, I know what I was learning was JKD, it just was from someone not certified to teach it. I know I got something out of his teachings, but I want to be able to carry on the teachings of JKD, not HIS martial arts style. What hurt the most was the fact he DIRECTLY lied to my face about it, NUMEROUS times. That is why I dont train with him anymore, not because he isnt certified, but because he lied to me about it all, and a good student instructor relationship is built on trust and friendship, and in my eyes he betrayed all that when he lied to me about it.

sorry for such a long story, but thats the truth.

[Tim Tackett]

Steve Grody's a good guy and very legit. It's too bad this happened to you. I wish I could say that your experience was unusual, but unfortunately it's not as there's a lot of guys who claim to be teaching JKD who aren't. I'm sure if you go on legit JKD teacher's websites you can find someone near you. If you are ever around any of our guys, or out this way drop by.
Tim

[Jared Davis]

yea i hope so, i keep trying to look. i cant wait to move after I am done with college so maybe I have a better chance of finding something. I have a talked one of Jerry Poteet's instructors who has a long distance training program in Michigan,, but that could cost a pretty penny too. Back when you first started out taking JKD, were you charged, and do u remember how much if you were? just curious on that.....

[Jared Davis]

o i forgot, not that it matters really but despite the deceit of my instructor, i won the sparring championship at that tournament back in november, against an opponent much larger and stronger than i was. they had to combine the weight classes, if anyone is interested i have photos. it was a mismatch by far haahahaha. interception is a beautiful thing :D :D :D