Just a random comparison for the stagnant guest book.

Video games, fighting games in particular, and Kung fu are very similar. I will explain. When a student of the art walks into the dojo for the first time, that student is just starting the game, picking up the controller, and getting familiar with the control scheme for the first time. The kung fu practitioner, like the gamer, will fail at times, even if that particular practitioner had prior experience with another art, or a similar fighting game. Some fighters, and some gamers, have the natural ability, and will thrive, if that person is well taught, or well practiced. Others may have a hard time, and will have to work harder to grasp the concepts thrown at them. Ultimately, though, it seems that the mastery of any art, or video game, comes with experience. One can fail and fail, but in each failure there will be a chance to evaluate one self, and rise above those small obstacles. Of course, sometimes the only thing one learns from failure is that that one has fail! ed. Also, there are those, in the fighting game, who will choose one fighter, then memorize that fighter's entire list of moves. I know one of those people. There are also those who will probably never truly learn every move a particular fighter has to offer. Rather, that person will play the game with their experience as their strength, knowing what to expect from the other gamers, successfuly counter-attacking their moves, and executing their fatal blows before they have their chance to press their sequence of buttons which will initiate a 564 hit combo. Of these two, there is no better. One will usually find that when these extremes battle, they come out even. While the memory master has the upper hand of being able to perform very brutal attacks, the master of experience has the upper hand of knowing what's coming and being able to counter it. Of course it really comes down to how fast the player can think, or how fast they can press buttons. Obviously, there i! s a grey area in which there may be infinite combinations of the two e xamples.
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... I think that's it. There might be more somewhere in there, but oh well.

When you get your new studio will that mean there will be more people in 1 class.

Greate site. Thank you :)

Thanks for the feedback - and as always, if you have any more questions, just email me at dave@fightingdragons.net or call me at 472-1884 (cell), or feel free to just stop in and say "hi."

-Dave

Finally, I was smart enough to flip through the yellow pages. Kudos on your site. I found it quite informative & it covers every basic question that a person of interest would have...If I'm not too busy this weekend, I will try to watch your demos at the fair =)

I miss the fighting dragons more than i miss anything!! Dave and Mark are the coolest instructors i have ever met, and thats the truth!

The relatively easy answer is private lessons. I have had many students start as private students until they felt comfortable; then they joined the regular class.

The other answer is this; it is ok to be shy... you will still learn! Many students come in shy, but the atmosphere at Fighting Dragons is one of respect and kindness. Everyone (current students) remembers when they first started, and so are very friendly and willing to help with newcomers. Furthermore, I usually work one-on-one with newcomers to help them feel comfortable and, obviously, to learn the first basic moves. You won't feel lost when you start. There is a lot of stuff to learn on the first night, but you don't have to learn it all at once. You will learn at your own pace and an instructor will always be there to help you! :)

Finally, if you have doubts or fears, just call me! You can also come in and talk to me or another instructor any time.

I am really interested in the martial arts but don't know if I would feel embarassed getting into it since I have not done it before. Is there a way I could just take one class to try it out?

Dude, that was deep...  My personal answer to your thoughts is that we all make choices.  If someone chooses to attack me, they choose to accept the consequences of their actions, which may include not only their own physical injury or death, but also other problems with other people, including family, friends, the law, etc.  For that reason, when I have fought, I feel only a little bad about hurting that person; I don't feel bad for what I have done, but rather that the person may not have considered all of the possible outcomes of his/her decision.  In other words, I am sad that people are ignorant and think physical violence can help solve a problem, yet it usually breeds more problems.  That is why I love teaching Kung Fu; because you guys learn the reality of it all....  Fighting is only an act of weakness / ignorance.

-Dave

So it seems that most people, if given the chance to execute a very debilitating technique, would be hesitant. This is understandable, but sometimes a person will not stop, and just keep coming, out of stubborness, anger, lust, or just about any emotion be it induced by that person, or by drugs, or whatever. In this case, that person must be taken out, if not killed, then pacified. This person will probably not learn to control his or her emotions any time soon.

When the thought of whether or not I would be willing to cope with hurting someone very badly, or even killing someone entered my thoughts, I thought: "Well, first I have to think about what makes me feel apprehensive about this. I would feel guilty afterwards. But this is only the result of my upbringing, which says that killing or hurting someone is bad. I would feel guilty if I did this because it is so imprinted in my mind that this is verily that. Well, one must understand that martial arts are not inherently good or evil, but only considered or made so by the practitioner. When the practitioner does away with his own distinction between good and evil, the moral implications of his or her actions becomes no more. He is free, and no longer bound by his mind. But then that brings up the question of why he is protecting himself or others. There is one simple answer: Just for fun...

whens the next DODGEBALL!!! tournament i really wanna do DODGEBALL!!! DODGEBALL!!! is really fun. o, have u guys seen the new movie Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior. theres no Wires, no stunt doubles, and no digital effects

[see trailer]

Eric,

That is very true.  A real Kung Fu Master would always say that he is not the best - there's always someone better.  For us, the most we can do to prepare ourselves is train in a semi-realistic way.  Unfortunately, some people take the training less seriously than they should which is why many martial artists are dissappointed in their inability to defend themselves in real life situations.  However, regardless of one's lack of enthusiasm, training (in anything) is still better than no training.  Learning to fight on the street is the most realistic way to learn, but not the most efficient, and obviously way too painful and immoral.  This is a subject we could discuss forever, so I'll stop here.  Thanks for your comment!  :)