Current Release: April 28th, 2009 | Vol. XXX Iss. 10

The Karate Kids

By Katie Morris

kemorris@vwc.edu

As I attempted to keep a proper stance and deliver a powerful sidekick into the padded shield my partner was holding up, Jeet Kune Do Master Gary Dill came over to check my partner, Henna Nadeem, and myself in our technique.

 What are you doing, Red shirt? he yelled, addressing me not by my name, but by the color of my shirt.  Do you know how to do a sidekick?

Any other ideas I might have had of emulating Jet Li were literally knocked aside every time Dill would demonstrate a sidekick while I held the padding. No matter how solid I tried to make myself, I would inevitably be knocked off balance after receiving one of Dill s powerful kicks. He didn t hold back because we were students, and we wouldn t have ad it any other way.

Nadeem, Chad Nuber and I were participating in an intense five-hour training seminar with Dill, a prestigious first generation Jeet Kune Do [JKD] instructor, at Ocean Tumblers on Sept. 20. The opportunity came through our Virginia Wesleyan martial arts class, taught by Grand Master Ray Shackelford. The class consists of mainly the Korean martial art known as Tang Soo Do  meaning  Way of the China Hand or  Way of the Blade Hand  though some Tae Kwan Do and Jeet Kune Do techniques are also taught. A few bruised knuckles didn t deter our experience.

 It sure beats homework, said Nadeem.

Jeet Kune Do, the  Way of the Intercepting First, is a system of martial arts developed by legendary martial arts master Bruce Lee. The system is centered on street fighting and self defense and is a non-classical, non-traditional, combat modified American martial art, which based on three primary sources: Wing Chun Gung Fu  an aggressive martial arts forms  boxing, and fencing.

JKD does not concern itself with flowery forms as some of the other systems of martial arts do. Instead, it focuses almost completely on street-wise combat techniques and the practical applications in a realistic fighting scenario. The system is comprised of fast punches and strikes, powerful low level kicks, trapping hands, and grappling skills, as well as some practical weapons use. JKD is one of the most in depth and comprehensive combat martial art training programs that someone can learn to defend themselves.

Dill is one of the few originals students of JKD. He studied in one of Lee s three schools while Lee was still alive, and learned under Sifu James Yimm Lee, Bruce Lee s training partner and mentor.

Several students from different schools, including Shackelford s off-campus lessons and martial arts work outs, were also in attendance for the two-day seminar. Dill said that he gets a lot out of the seminars, in addition to working with JKD.

 With the nature of our society today, everybody needs to learn some sort of defensive tactics, said Dill.  Our world is not the same way it was ten years ago. People just need to know how to protect themselves. Don t be a victim.

The principles and higher ideals of martial arts are what speak to Nadeem the most, but she also finds the self-defense aspect incredibly important. Her favorite aspect of the JKD techniques is takedowns.

 I like the disciplines behind it. I like the code that they live by, said Nadeem.  It says something that you can pursue something like this and stick with it. In this day and age, no matter who you are, it s good to defend yourself. No matter who you are, even if you ll never use it, it s good to learn it, be able to do it properly and hopefully never have to execute it.

Another student, Gina Bondi, said that she likes JKD because it s a very practical system that she can use at any time, even when in clothes that don t usually lend themselves to combat scenarios.

 Normally, I m dressed pretty professionally, Bondi said, adding that for her this usually means a skirt, high heels, makeup and styled hair.  No matter what I look like, I should be able to defend myself.

Shackelford feels one reason people are drawn to the martial arts is the TV notoriety. They want to get in on the perception of a fun thing to do for conditioning and development.

However, he feels the key element of why people take martial arts is developing self-defense and self protection so that they can protect themselves and the people they re with, and teach them to do the right thing.

 We want to let people know that they have a choice, said Shackelford.