My uncle told me about you, and welcome! Now as far as full sparring vs. sports, that can go either way. My instructor stresses realism, as he still trains with grapplers (small circle jiu jitsu), stick/sword fighters/ killers (difference in mentality) and internal stylists (chi gung, tai chi). And as a result, he passes this down to us, unwatered. If you’re thinking my teacher is unique, you’re right. Because he trained with Bruce, and James (a rare treat), he saw JKD from it’s conception. And it’s a fact that the Oakland JKD students (Gary Dill, Felix Macias, Al Novack, Robert Baker, etc…) never get thier due. James Lee was a taskmaster, and as non- traditional as he was, was as traditional as he could be. Because James died in 1972(a year before Bruce), the world never got o see what the Oakland guys are made of.

We use protective gear, and spar all out, otherwise we would be “dry land swimming”. And as far as real fighting, sport fighting has a mentality that there are rules, and so those fighters(most, of of course not all)tend to fight within those rules. As a former boxer, I can attest to that(you can’t keep attacking a man once you’ve knocked him down, no kicks, no low blows, etc…). Now I know that there are exceptions (the UFC, The Octagon, The Kumite, etc..)but the reality is that it comes down to each fighters mentality. You can try to teach a killer mentality (as they did when I was in the USMC), but it all comes down to each person’s personality. 3 kids, same parents, same household, different personalities.

One more thing, in the past, condemed prisoners were used as live dummies, but now we have life sized dummies. True they’re not alive and resistant, but if you train hard enough, you shouldn’t have to resort to such measures, and at least you know where these points are…if you need them.

Write me back, I’d love 2 hear from you! brian m.

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