My experience with Shaolin-Do

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 10/11/2009 3:18pm

Originally Posted by DTANK

So...you know my students in Ohio...and you know who I am then. I do not know you, and you've been nothing but disrespectful to me, and GM Sin

Nope. You attributed things to me I didn't say. You then made personal attacks which, were reciprocated. We can argue this point all day.

I said nothing about The.

...but now it's sarcasm. Hmmmm, ok. I guess I didn't get the humor.

The comment about online respect was sarcasm not our entire argument.

You trained with many of the same people I did. Eric Smith went to Hawaii with me in 1986, we were close personal friends. He trained me in Tai Chi applications, and he's incredible. Bill Leonard, Bob Green, Jeff Rose, Tim Nance, Tony Gray. That's my crowd.

Not to the extent you did. I am a West Coaster. I heard interesting stories.
I didn't like what was going on so, I like to get the truth from the horses mouth. So, I met, talked, and trained with as many East people as I could to get my own "truth."

I'm not going to go into the whole back story but, I have a unique understanding of the East vs West Drama.

**DTANK** · Posted On: 10/11/2009 3:40pm

Actually, I made the comment, to someone else by the way, that if they believed since a BJJ white belt had tapped out a SD black belt, and therefore deduced that all SD was bullshit...then they were an idiot. At that time YOU attacked me in your next post saying something like...yeah yeah and you walked uphill both ways in the snow, or something to that effect.
Whatever my friend. I'm glad you met some of my old students, and I hope they proved good teachers, as I'm confident they did. I couldn't care less about the whole East/West thing. It's sad, really...but I've got no dog in that hunt.
I'm thinking of opening a school in Charleston at my daughter's request...and that prompted my internet search and so my being here. Just trying to catch up on what's been happening. Fun stuff. Peace.

**pLackR.brizzL** · Posted On: 10/11/2009 4:51pm

Good post brutha,i'm on thee same boat.I just recently joined up with a good bjj/muay tai camp,as i admire the traditional martial arts i just hate the **** outta all the dancing,the predictable multiple opponent defense drills.Me personally i'd rather be out doing some realistic sparring with a muay tai coach and doing rolling drills,bag work ect.If you love traditional martial arts,then stick with it.But these days it'd probably be pretty smart to mix it up a lil bit with some grappling,as many are today.

**DTANK** · Posted On: 10/11/2009 5:00pm

Thanks. I agree with your approach. Mix it up, learn all you can.
Learn honor and respect from the Arts. I think you've picked some fine examples to make yourself a well-rounded fighter.

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 10/11/2009 5:51pm

Originally Posted by DTANK

Whatever my friend. I'm glad you met some of my old students, and I hope they proved good teachers, as I'm confident they did. I couldn't care less about the whole East/West thing. It's sad, really...but I've got no dog in that hunt.

They actually changed my perception on the whole East vs West BS to a more positive light. I'd say that is a testament to your teaching.

I'm thinking of opening a school in Charleston at my daughter's request...and that prompted my internet search and so my being here. Just trying to catch up on what's been happening. Fun stuff. Peace.

Good luck.

**taichi64pakua** · Posted On: 10/11/2009 8:49pm

Originally Posted by DTANK

Eric Smith went to Hawaii with me in 1986, we were close personal friends. He trained me in Tai Chi applications, and he's incredible.

didnt eric smith train / learn tai chi chuan from a source outside of shaolin-do / sinthe'?

i have heard eric smith has some very good tai chi chuan but i have never met him...

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 10/11/2009 8:53pm

Originally Posted by taichi64pakua

didnt eric smith train / learn tai chi chuan from a source outside of shaolin-do / sinthe'?

i have heard eric smith has some very good tai chi chuan but i have never met him...

When I talked to him he said he had trained outside of SD.
Many are allowed to cross train. In the West it was frowned upon up to and including people being removed and having rank rescinded.

**DTANK** · Posted On: 10/12/2009 7:49am

Eric did study Tai Chi while attending Harvard. He mainly focused on practical fighting applications. He has also been very well trained in all the Tai Chi forms as taught by GM Sin. Eric is very talented and I accredit his intelligent approach to the martial arts that has made him such an excellent practitioner.
( Yes, "It is Fake"...that statement may have been Eric Smith "nutriding" as you like to say...but it wasn't obligatory!)
Many of us have been cross-trained, and nothing negative was ever said.
The people I trained with were not threatened by other schools, and did not waste time discussing other styles or schools...hell, we were too busy trying to learn all the material GM Sin had coming out!
In 1983 I set up an open invitational tournament in Hamilton, Ohio with GM Sin and Hiang to promote my school. Many different styles came and competed. It went very smoothly, and everyone had a lot of fun. At the end, GM Sin had all the BB's get on the floor and had a free for all for maybe a minute or two. I saw another post on this site downgrading and critiqueing a similar event at another SD tournament and wanted to let people know that these occurrences are meant to be nothing but pure crowd entertainment. People are laughing and cutting up during theses events, people chase each other, etc. It is not meant to be serious. The audience knows this and appreciates it, everyone laughs, including GM Sin.
Apparently there is a lot of drama surrounding SD nowadays. Some people allow themselves to get sucked into that type of thing, many times unintentionally. Maybe it is because it has grown so large that it seems more prevalent than it did in the past. Maybe when I was younger, I was more oblivious.

**DTANK** · Posted On: 10/12/2009 5:37pm

I've seen a lot of negative comments on this forum regarding Shaolin Do, and the East vs West schools of SD. Mostly, regarding the western schools. I'm not involved in that dispute, however, as a long time practitioner and teacher of SD, I felt I needed to put a little positive influence out there.
Please check out the website of my students in Ohio who have kept the school I started in 1979 going for the past 25 years. I have heard nothing but positive comments about my students Dennis and Jerome Cook, and their students Joe Harmon and so on...www.ohioshaolindo.com
I have read about the lack of a ground fighting system in SD on this forum, usually by BJJ students, ( go figure). BJJ is arguably one of the best ground systems available. They didn't have BJJ available in my day however, but there were some good alternatives.
I had the good fortune of training with Stephen Hayes in the early eighties, and cross trained my students in many of the locking and controlling ground techniques used in Tai-jutsu. I was also fortunate enough to take tai-chi combat application instruction from my good friend and mentor, EM Eric Smith...a well-reknowned badass, and all around good egg, and passed many of these principles along to my advanced students.
I also studied yoga extensively at Miami U. of Ohio, and...you guessed it, passed along the advanced stretching techniques to my students...also TKD kicking form as well. I began boxing training to fight full-contact in 1981, and my poor students reaped the benefits.
I'm simply stating that cross training was never frowned upon, and I took great pride in giving my students the benefit of anything I had pursued in my efforts to be a complete MA. They have continued this tradition and it is evident in the quality of people they've trained for the last quarter-century.
There are very good SD schools out there.

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 10/12/2009 6:54pm

Originally Posted by DTANK

. Eric is very talented and I accredit his intelligent approach to the martial arts that has made him such an excellent practitioner.
Many of us have been cross-trained, and nothing negative was ever said.
.

That is why the skill level is so different between East and West in Most cases.