West Wind Schools Stole My Childhood

**new2bjj** · Posted On: 6/05/2007 5:22pm

Originally Posted by Grashnak

Interesting approach. Apparently I too am a Westwind Black Belt because I also know 50 ways to fail to hurt someone in a fight! :icon_tong

The idea that everyone is supposed to come up with original material for their BB test is beyond stupid. If people were capable of making up **** that is better than the existing ****, then they wouldn't need the BB in the first place. In fact, all those people should just go start their own styles and set up web pages to peddle their "top secret d34dly" skillz. Oh. Wait. Nevermind.

you weren't supposed to invent new kicks and punches, just your own combinations of strikes to ward off an attack. Usually it was a variation on an already developed technique.
I won't say proven, because a major part of the techniques assumed people were made of straw and silly putty. In this manner, you were supposed to show your understanding of the systems priciples. They way they put it, there blue belts were as good as other schools black belts- whoops, that sounds familiar....Anyway, we did a whole lot of air swatting and body slapping, because, if we did our techniques on an opponent/partner, we might kill them. Oh, and if you choked at sparring, it was ok, because when **** really hit the fan, you would just explode on your attacker, with all the deadly Jeff Speakman "Perfect Weapon" ****, and he'd never know what hit him. Do you how sad it is to have realized how much time I wasted, of my really fun years, doing that crap? Thank god they had some intermurual sports classes at my City College, so I got a glimpse of what real athletes do.

**undrcovrbrothr** · Posted On: 6/05/2007 8:57pm

Originally Posted by new2bjj

you weren't supposed to invent new kicks and punches, just your own combinations of strikes to ward off an attack. Usually it was a variation on an already developed technique.
I won't say proven, because a major part of the techniques assumed people were made of straw and silly putty. In this manner, you were supposed to show your understanding of the systems priciples.

yes, that was the rationale behind the original material portion. I'll have to get to the rest of the questions later, because i'm off for the evening, but i'll be back tomorrow to tell more stories :icon_bigg

**undrcovrbrothr** · Posted On: 6/06/2007 10:48pm

Originally Posted by ironlurker

undrcovrbrothr, I'd be interested in hearing more about the special "pre-black belt" diet, the rationale for it, and the qualifications of anyone who designed it. I've never heard of anything like that before. I'd also like to know if you could give any more insight into the "Order of the Cobra", and why your female friend was favored.

I can't remember who they said came up with the diet. But the rationale behind it was to test your commitment and ability to perform despite the fact that a part of your life off the mat is being disrupted in the process. On the nutrional side, all the protein was supposed to build muscle and whatnot, and to allow you to get a burst of carbs after being deprived of them for so long, inducing a weird sort of high. It was actually pretty neat.

The other student was favored because her father was someone high ranking in the instructor hierarchy. Don't get me wrong, I really respected the man, he was truly a brilliant instructor, one of the few who stayed true throughout the system's tranformation (he's referenced in a lot of other WW threads on here), but I though it shouldn't affect her as a student.

As to the Order of the Cobra, it was intended to be a sort of lifelong family of MA's. Hence, the ring, Chalice and potion. I'll share some more about this if I can remember. The concept sort of faded as the years went on and as BB's started to leave to pursue other things, so it's hard to recall details.

**HRMERoar** · Posted On: 6/08/2007 9:55pm

More power to you undrcovrbrothr for getting out. I do remember you and yes, you were the greatest thing next to sliced bread..;) Glad to see you didn't let them exploit you any longer. It's a shame to see that great students were treated this way. Good luck to you in the future!

**mrradley** · Posted On: 6/11/2007 8:18pm

Originally Posted by Kato_1

I think you have misplaced your anger.

Where the hell were your PARENTS in all this "cult-like" behaviour?

THEY are the ones charged with ensuring you receive a proper upbringing.
THEY are the ones who drove you to all of these classes.
THEY were the ones paying for all of these lessons you attended.
THEY were the ones taking you to all these special events.

No one forced your parents to take you there. If anyone stole your childhood it was your parents, not West Wind.

I know this is kinda old sorta, but Undercover needs this defense... from a former full time "Senior" instructor of West Wind.

Simple answer to your mini rant against the parents: They're a really good cult. Plain and simple. They break you down just to build you up... to their needs and desires. The people in charge are gifted at brainwashing even the parents. Hell, I was apart of it for a time... until I called up Rey Rey at 1 in the morning and told him the system was bullshit. A threat on my life, and night sitting in my car with a loaded 12 gauge later, I was FREE! I'm going to write my own story, but I came across this post and wanted to defend Undercover, who I probably taught a couple times because his teachers were too busy doing a whole lot of nothing. He has it right. It wasn't our parents fault. It wasn't our friend's fault. It was THEIR FAULT. I'm not trying to pass the buck here. I don't even totally mean the unholy trinity's fault either (all of you who were there will know what I mean). IT was WEST WIND's Fault as a whole society. Every student who knew and stayed. Every instructor who stayed and made excuses for why it was the way it was, and how it would be better one day soon. As a whole West Wind is to blame.

**mrradley** · Posted On: 6/11/2007 8:58pm

UCB, I don't even know where to begin. So many memories. So many laughs... and only so many black belts at that system who got it at your age, and you tested with one who you already mentioned...

Yeah, I know who you are. And yeah, your a black belt through and through. But I'm going to argue you didn't get it when you tested. More on that later.

After reading those six pages, I'm sitting here totally in a daze. No, I don't smoke the cash crop, but right now may be the right time to start. That place has so many issues that I don't even know what to touch on first. Do we touch on the exploitation of the kids? Because they were used as the bait to keep mommy and daddy paying vast amounts of money so the "high ranking" instructors could teach them. Only problem was the HRI's would pawn those students off the the newer instructors because the HRI had something more important to do. Something more important included, but not limited to the following: Going to Starbucks, dealing with their cell phone bill, driving to the dealership to pick up their instructor's car from service, being tired, "teaching a lesson of respect", and going out to lunch.

What about the ungodly amounts of energy, time and devotion that was expected to be given to get anywhere in the system?! I don't mean your usual time practicing either. I'm all for a hard work out. I'm all for bringing yourself to new levels, if I can get all metaphysical. No I'm talking about the **** I got for RESCHEDULING my TWO STUDENTS so I could go to my Senior Ball! I re-arranged 1 hour's worth of teaching and felt like I pissed on my Mother's grave. I'm talking about the the labor laws that I'm sure HAD to be broken if you did teach. We were paid X an hour for teaching... but you didn't teach the full 8 hours you were there. You did other things like clean, take payments, answer phones, you know.. the norm. Only you didn't get paid for it. It wasn't allowed on the time card. Only your teaching hours. What about the 60+ hours a week full time instructors worked, not including any "extra" time that had to be made up because you were doing something for someone, but one of your responsibilities didn't get done and there would be HELL to pay if it wasn't done by Monday... Usually I worked 70 hour weeks, not including my hour round-trip commute time. Notice I didn't even touch on what students did. Why? UCB and others have covered that pretty well. Now take what I just said and add it to their experiences, because you were STILL A STUDENT WHEN YOU WERE A TEACHER! THAT'S RIGHT! YOU DID NOT HAVE A BLACK BELT!

I"m going to end my story here for now. I want to gather all my thoughts on that place a little more. That and I have so many things UCB and I could sit down and talk about... I really want to prioritize what I want to say first. I will leave with this. UCB you got your black belt alright, but it wasn't when you tested for it. You earned your black belt from West Wind Schools the day that you quit, and moved on with your life. Because it really does take someone with the "black belt spirit" they so preached to stand up to every last one of them and say "**** you, but have a nice day!" Congrats DUBYA for moving on. It sounds like your doing really well for yourself! Congrats too on graduating and good luck in college.

~TMR

**HRMERoar** · Posted On: 6/12/2007 6:40pm

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/lss/347779186.html

Hunting for fresh blood through Craigslist this time. They also have a myspace page..enough said..

**Allsport916** · Posted On: 6/22/2007 2:53am

mrradley,
Alot

**Allsport916** · Posted On: 6/22/2007 2:54am

mrradley,

**Allsport916** · Posted On: 6/22/2007 3:04am

mrradley,
Alot of people will not understand it because you have to go through it and be affected by it to really marvel at how they were able to break a human being down without them being aware of it. On the other thread I mentioned that I am a former instructor from the early to mid 90's. After leaving WW I went to college and then eventually joined the military. In the community I was apart of in the military we learned to recognize the techniques involved with getting inside someones head. And honestly WW could show our gov a thing or two I'm sure. Some were straight out of VC psychological torture tactics but elegantly wrapped in the guise of learning martial arts.

I am actually really glad I found this site. It's helping me close alot of chapters that were left open. I hope its having the same affect for others because in alot of ways like mrradley said, the students at WW are exploited into thinking that they are accomplishing a greater good. They are conditioned to believe they are combat ready, able to take another's life if the situation needed, but coming from someone who has seen combat the reality can be harsh for those people. Thanks for lettin me rant a bit. But honestly from the sounds of it, WW is an entity that cannot be stopped as long as there are people out there who are willing to pay for a false sense of security.