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Paul Vunak “State of the Union” Interview,
Part Two (November 8, 2001)
UncleVoo
I’m glad to see my post stirred up such a healthy debate – it appears by the
sheer numbers (It is 2326 views as of 1/7/2002. – ockjd webmaster) of
people that this is clearly a subject on the forefront of people’s minds.
However, when this thread is finished, I can assure all of you that it will
be OFF my mind. Hopefully, the points contained within were simple, clear,
and concise. As Dan would say, if you got them, they’re yours; if you
didn’t, they’re still mine. At the ripe old age of 41, I would like to think
that I’m a little bit wiser than when I was 31. When I say or write
something nowadays, I try to weigh my words as carefully as possible. The
purpose of this final thread is to help clarify some final points that I
feel were missed, to show people that the majority of what they’re arguing
about is apples and oranges, and to put this subject to bed once and for
all…
POINT 1: Loyalty, humility, and respect are real big in my book. When
I said it would be disrespectful to place Matt, Burt, and Erik in with those
other folks, I meant it. And I think perhaps that myself and many of my
seniors feel that WE have been unceremoniously lumped in with many of the
other JKD guys who do not understand aliveness (or combat, for that matter).
POINT 2: My friend Steve Boyd makes the point that the
self-perfection drills done at the SBG are more functional, because those
drills more resemble the actual motions that one would do within the
confines of NHB. The concept that Steve is referring to is called
“sport-specific training.” Steve is absolutely correct – the notion that
lop-sao drill, chi sao, or hubbud is somehow better (for NHB) than doing a
sport-specific drill such as pummeling is absurd. Lop sao drill, chi sao,
and hubbud were made to fight a wing chun man who occupies centerline. These
drills are highly sport-specific for that. Whether or not anyone is
interested in developing their trapping hands to such a level that they
could defeat a wing chun man (at his own) game is academic. Please let’s not
regress back into the argument, “Does trapping work?”
But the simple fact is, because these drills relate to so many “other”
things, they are the three most popular drills worldwide. The development of
dexterity, coordination and sensitivity that those drills promote is
unparalleled. Allow me to share some of my clients/students worldwide that
consider these drills their bread and butter: The DEA, FBI, INS, Delta
Forces, police departments, counter-intelligence teams, and the Dallas
Cowboys. These individuals have absolutely no desire or need for NHB
sport-specific drills such as pummeling. Once again, any person, team,
agency, organization, company, etc. that would have any need to improve
their dexterity, coordination, and sensitivity eat these up. The simple fact
is most of the free world is not interested in training NHB sport fighting
stuff. (Those who are, I would refer to specialists such as Matt.)
POINT 3: Weapons self-perfection drills. (Sumbrada, serrada, numerada)
Please understand that, in order to make these drills “alive,” they must be
done by someone who knows what he’s doing. Of course these drills appear
dead when performed at their rudimentary levels. I can assure all of you
that when numerada, sumbrada, or cerrada are done at their very highest
level, with proper gear on, throwing in fakes, counter-attacks, half-beats,
HKE, etc. they are very sport-specific and very alive. Picture two guys
flowing, doing sumbrada, and they break off for anywhere from 2 seconds to
two minutes sparring each other full contact, all elements, and then find
their way back to sumbrada!
Why do we return back to the specific drill? Simple, folks, it’s a teaching
device. It blends self-preservation with self-perfection. It makes the game
more interesting…different structures, different drills – like the song
goes, different strokes for different folks! I know this is difficult for
many of you to understand because you simply haven’t put in the flight time
teaching the myriad of types of students I have worldwide. But I can assure
you, for example, when I’m in Italy or Germany teaching a seminar of 250
people, if we didn’t return back to these drills, it would be absolute
pandemonium – it would look like a Chinese fire drill!
As far as the notion of these
self-perfection drills not helping body mechanics for kickboxing, I beg to
differ. I have taught numerada and sumbrada to boxers, kickboxers, Thai
boxers, shoot fighters, etc. These are guys who do sport-specific training
all day, yet when I put a stick in their hand I’ve been able to double their
body mechanics in a matter of weeks. Nobody’s pissing down anyone’s back,
these are just simple facts.
In closing, I would like to sum up my
original thread by articulating to everyone my final feelings on this
matter. When I’m done with this I will no loner be addressing this subject.
Undoubtedly it will still rave on, so I ask you to please refer people to my
web site if any of these subjects are brought up again anywhere. I must put
this debate behind me and move on, as I have more important things to do. I
will leave you with these final thoughts…I believe I am the best at what I
do, and I believe Matt is the best at what he does. To compare PFS with SBG
is apples and oranges. If anybody were to come to me to train them in NHB,
it would be my duty to refer them to Matt. I pass the baton to someone who
specializes in that field. To Burt Richardson, and Erik Paulson, Matt and
all the Straight Blast Gym folks: You have my respect and friendship.
Peace,
Paul |
