Brisbane, Australia: Masashi's Bar and Grill MA Club - Issue needs to be addressed!

**Scrapper** · Posted On: 8/13/2007 9:57am

I'm not sure about the qualifications to teach question. What are you looking for? Mine?

Uhhhmmm...shodan in Judo, verifiable fight record, and endorsement form Steve Crawford? What would make me feel good about your qualifications? I would settle for verifiable experience in the field you wish to instruct. Right now all we have on you is a vampire fetish, neo-goth swordsmanship, and backyard wrasslin'.

With all due respect...I just don't buy it.

I really didn't want to rip you up that bad, because I don't think you are completely wrong in what you are doing.

But...

You sound like every other LARPer that we find here. here is the top three list of excuses LARPers give when bad fighting is displayed:

1. Those students are very inexperienced.

2. I wasn't going all out.

3. That's not all of what we do.

Seriously, we had a Krotty guy in Oklahoma, and a kung fu/MMA guy in Cali pull the exact same silliness on us just in the last year. All we need now is for you to claim an injury is responsible for bad fighting and you will have the top 4 excuses. Throw in hippie chi-silliness (art of not-fighting anyone?) and you've completed the top five.

You even tossed out the long-distance e-challenge. You know damn well that none of us are gonna fly out there to spar with you. If we have local guy, you might get your wish, but otherwise you are pretty safe.

Here si another big question? What do you charge your students?

Let me change tactics:

If you were stuck in a cage with an amateur competitive fighter, in your weight class, how do you think you would do? I am not talking about the local hero, I'm talking about a guy who is just competing for the fun of it, trains a couple of times a week, keeps in shape and has 2-4 years experience.

Can you beat that guy?

How would you know?

**djrand** · Posted On: 8/13/2007 1:50pm

scybermonk, I have tried on two seperate occasions to visit the class to get a first hand assessment of your style and on both occasions no one has been there. In fact this thread seems to be mainly a rehash of one that I posted on the topic of your style several days ago. I am interested to know when and if the class in bowling green is still meeting as I would like to get a first hand look at this in the interest of giving you the benefit of a doubt (I must be honest those videos, 8 months of experience or not, make me not want to lend anymore time to the situation then I already have).

**djrand** · Posted On: 8/13/2007 2:02pm

My apologies to all for the double post however I just re-read something that made me curious.

What you consider to be sloppy is simply because he knows he is fighting an opponent he has already gotten most of the measure of. He can take the riskier hits, as he knows the opponent isn';t going to be able to get aroound them. Nothing fancy is required. Therefore, the swinging his arms like clubs, while it doesn't look too terribly pretty, certaintly gets the job done. Also, I have known him to take several shots to the face, chest, legs, whathaveyou, and shrug them off. If you are certain enough that your opponent is going to do lasting damage, why bother with the 'correct' block?

What kind of example is that setting for your students? If someone is smaller than you or you know they are of less talent just throw all correct stance and technique to the wind? I apologize for being blunt but this just strikes me as being a cop out for the poor technique you exhibited in the video. There is no excuse for it other than lack of proper training, or general psychological disorder.

**krazy kaju** · Posted On: 8/13/2007 4:13pm

Monk, so what are your qualifications to teach a martial art?

Any black belts or high ranks in any martial art?

Any certification stating that you can instruct in a certain system?

**Feryk** · Posted On: 8/13/2007 4:24pm

Monk;

Why do YOU think you have something to teach? I'm not interested in what your students think (yet). If you are not self taught, then what have you studied? If you are self taught, then how are you trying to get better (other than sparring with smaller/less experienced students?)

Also, as a personal observation, I have sparred with many people with much more experience than I had. NONE of them were sloppy in the execution of their techniques. That doesn't mean they beat the living hell out of me (much), but they executed their blocks/strikes as cleanly as always. Perhaps they didn't move as fast as they otherwise could have, but they were never sloppy.

Know why? Because to practice 'sloppy' will mess up the technique you have worked hard to develop. I would think this is self-evident.

I appreciate you coming on Bullshido and being open to our questions. Your approach raises a number of concerns, however.

**ScyberMonk** · Posted On: 8/13/2007 4:26pm

Originally Posted by Scrapper

I'm not sure about the qualifications to teach question. What are you looking for? Mine?

Uhhhmmm...shodan in Judo, verifiable fight record, and endorsement form Steve Crawford? What would make me feel good about your qualifications? I would settle for verifiable experience in the field you wish to instruct. Right now all we have on you is a vampire fetish, neo-goth swordsmanship, and backyard wrasslin'.

With all due respect...I just don't buy it.

I really didn't want to rip you up that bad, because I don't think you are completely wrong in what you are doing.

But...

You sound like every other LARPer that we find here. here is the top three list of excuses LARPers give when bad fighting is displayed:

1. Those students are very inexperienced.

2. I wasn't going all out.

3. That's not all of what we do.

Seriously, we had a Krotty guy in Oklahoma, and a kung fu/MMA guy in Cali pull the exact same silliness on us just in the last year. All we need now is for you to claim an injury is responsible for bad fighting and you will have the top 4 excuses. Throw in hippie chi-silliness (art of not-fighting anyone?) and you've completed the top five.

You even tossed out the long-distance e-challenge. You know damn well that none of us are gonna fly out there to spar with you. If we have local guy, you might get your wish, but otherwise you are pretty safe.

Here si another big question? What do you charge your students?

Let me change tactics:

If you were stuck in a cage with an amateur competitive fighter, in your weight class, how do you think you would do? I am not talking about the local hero, I'm talking about a guy who is just competing for the fun of it, trains a couple of times a week, keeps in shape and has 2-4 years experience.

Can you beat that guy?

How would you know?

Ok, gonna try and and answer this as coherently as I can. What you have mentioned are good ways to show your capabilities to fight...not your capabilties to teach. What you ask for in me are ways to show my capabilities to fight...not my capability to teach. While you definately need to know how to fight in order to teach it....being able to fight doesn't mean you CAN teach it.

1. They are absolutely inexperienced. I think we've been over this a few times.

2. You've seen them. I've seen them. The whole point of Firsty Spar is to show them why they are learning from me(they are learning to fight. If I cannot beat them in combat...well, you see where I am going with this.)...and to show me what they need to work on. As for my end of class spar....the point of what I teach is to show people that your technique shouldn't be a rigid set of movements, but that you should do exactly what needs to be done in order to achieve victory. Which, as I see it, I did.

3. Er...unlike the LARPERS...I have a website delineating everything we do. Hell, there's a class schedule on the website. Sure, I don't have every video for everything we do. I don't have time to get every video up, and I want to make sure at least the technique video's are fairly clean. As I have said, make sure you read everything to get a better idea.

I didn't toss out a long distance e-challenge. I know for a fact that there are Bullshidoers here in Brisbane. And, if you check my posting records, you will note that I even offered the space I rent for a throw-down. I'm not exactly in some backwoods town here.

Again, more info available on the site. However, for sake of ease...50 for four lessons. That gets you four five hour lessons, once a week, on sunday. You can also pay fifteen dollars a lesson if you wanna pay as you go, but paying 50 saves you 2.50. I charge just to help defray costs of renting the hall, and getting more equipment, and even then, most of it comes out of my pocket. I'm not doing this to make money. I would teach more often, but I simply don't have the money or the time.

As for the theoretical cage match? Well, I hope I do better than the other guy. But to be a bit less flip...I know I'm a skilled individual. You guys feel differently, and that's fine by me, as I have said, if we can arrange a meetup, I will be more than happy to demonstrate. Hell, I am planning on being in the States around Octoberish, in the Michigan/Ohio area, so there ya go. Do I think I could beat him? Haven't the foggiest, haven't fought him. No such thing as a foregone conclusion in a fight. Something ELSE I tell my students..."Always assume your opponent is as good, if not better than, you." So really, until I cross knuckles with the fellah, I can't answer that.

OH, and as for the injury thing. Look on the website, under firsty spars. The first three? Done with a big toe so massively infected, they had to first freeze it, then numb it, then remove 4 centimeters total of ingrown nail on either side. So unless I have broken a bone, injuries don't keep me from training, or fighting. You simply don't know when someone is going to try to hurt you, so you have to be prepared, irregardless of physical state.

Last but not least....I don't have a vampire fetish, but the attempted derogatory comment was cute. Not sure where yer gettin' neo-goth swordsmanship, but again, cute. And as I said before...yesssss, backyard wrasslin. We've been over this.

Some points to consider:

1. Larpers don't generally have advertising permission, or a school discount, at places like http://martialartssupplies.com.au.

2. I haven't made anything even remotely close to derogatory or offtopic comments. Lets keep the discussion to the Void stuff, mm?

3. I had a third one, but I can't recall it.

Now, for the next two posts I see!

DJRAND: You mention correct stance and technique. Question, then...what criteria do you use to determine correct stance, and correct technique? Do you do the same thing, every time, for every opponent? I do what is required to assure victory. I do not expect or want or teach that my students should do exactly as I do. The Way of the Void is about adapting what you learn to fit you, not falling into the same mold everyone in class follows. And can you link me to your posts? I have no idea where they are, as I recieved no notifier. And the person to speak to about the US classes is Kuma. His email is Kuma@musashisbarandgrill.com. There havn't been any classes for a long while, mostly because of Kuma's current life rigmarole.

**ScyberMonk** · Posted On: 8/13/2007 4:39pm

KRAZY KAJU: Already answered this. As for certificates in what I teach....er...the website is about all yer gonna get on that one.

FERYK: I joined this site because I like what it does. I had no illusions that I would somehow not eventually come under scrutiny. Frankly, I am enjoying this, it's an intriguing experience to be on the recieving end...and hell, my website gets some traffic, which is always a good thing. No publicity is bad publicity, and all that. Now, granted, unlike Sifu Wallace, I don't get paid for every video you watch....[/sarcasm]..but it's good to see nonetheless. As I said before, what I have learned is not something I will go into. I know how bad it makes me look, but I don't say anything differently to you to what I say to anyone else. If you want to know the measure of a martial artist, you fight him, you don't ask for his pedigree.

And that is how they chose to do it, and that's fine. My technique is considered sloppy primarily because my technique doesn't make sense to alot of people. I'm goofy when I fight. I have my hands low, and my weight looks off balance. Hell, I even have a spare tire. But you have to remember....for me, fighting isn't about your technique, it's getting the job done. Which I do. If I get away with bringing a punch from the nothern hemisphere after giving the student a days warning advance notice? I'm gonna. Teaches them to watch their opponent better. Plus, it's funny as hell to watch. When I practice, by myself, or when I teach, I make sure the technique is pretty damn crisp. But when I fight, I do what I feel I need to do to win. I'm not too hung up on how it looks.

And of course I would come on here. Hell, I've been here for ages, damn near a year! I can't very well participate in slamming others and not be prepared when my own inevitable slamming comes to the table, now can I? And I know it does. I am absolutely aware of this. It's not what a lot of people call proper, correct, and in some cases, safe. But I will try my best to give you all the answers I can.

**Feryk** · Posted On: 8/13/2007 4:42pm

So we've established that you practice by yourself and you teach...so how do you get better?

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 8/13/2007 4:55pm

Please move a way from the inexperienced. Your longest student doesn't have basic defense skills learned in the worse McDojo's I have seen.

I've seen better defense in tippy tap point sparring.

You are right Scrapper may not be able to teach. Yet, he is endorsed by established teachers.

You are endorsed by your own words. Just because people say you are nice and you "teach" well doesn't mean you have anything to teach.

**djrand** · Posted On: 8/13/2007 5:00pm

DJRAND: You mention correct stance and technique. Question, then...what criteria do you use to determine correct stance, and correct technique? Do you do the same thing, every time, for every opponent? I do what is required to assure victory. I do not expect or want or teach that my students should do exactly as I do. The Way of the Void is about adapting what you learn to fit you, not falling into the same mold everyone in class follows. And can you link me to your posts? I have no idea where they are, as I recieved no notifier. And the person to speak to about the US classes is Kuma. His email is [Only Registered Users Can See Links.Click Here to Register for free]. There havn't been any classes for a long while, mostly because of Kuma's current life rigmarole

In fact I do use the same thing every time as far as technique and stance, what changes in my game as far as dealing with different fighters is my strategy in the fight. Your strategy doesnt have much effect on your stance or technique. If your normal stance doesnt allow you to sprawl properly, its inferior. If it doesnt allow you to defend a punch its inferior.

You can play this game about different things working for different fighters all you want, and to a degree its true. However the one thing all good fighters have in common are the basics. Good stance with both the feet and the hands. There are a few fighters who are competent using unorthodox stances but NO fighters who are competent leaning chin first into their opponents as you did, and also NO fighters that are competent with their hands hanging at their sides. And as far as finding what works for you and not following molds the molds that are common in mma are there because they havec been proven to be the most effective techniques and stances for the majority of human beings using them.