My Teachers

I have been extremely lucky both in Karate and in Jiu-Jitsu.

Having a good instructor is incredibly important. I have had such people arise at critical points during my journey.

I started out with a Karate instructor who skipped town over the Christmas vacation. I’d only been training for a few months, and it could have meant the end of the road.

Luckily, the local college found us a replacement in the neighbouring town. He drove for an hour to get to us in our little town of Fort Saint John, and an hour getting home again. He did this for years; never once complaining. He taught us well, in a caring fashion, and with infectious enthusiasm. He was my first great teacher. His name is Perry Foster.

The big instructor for our province back then was Yasuo Sakurai. We hosted him up north many times. After Helen and I moved south to Sechelt, I continued to train with Sakurai Sensei as much as possible. He was the second of my great teachers. His depth of knowledge is remarkable, and he is always striving to be a better and more flexible instructor. He is perhaps the most courteous person I have ever known.

After many years, my knees told me that continuing in Karate would not be a good idea, and I hung up my belt. I tried Jiu-Jitsu. Remarkably, my body liked it just fine.

The man who teaches at our local Jiu-Jitsu school became my third great instructor. He teaches in a very step-by-step manner, and is always thinking about his students’ welfare.

An example is how he handles my promotions. He knows I feel the pressure of time, being as old as I am. He accepts that I keep honest tallies of the attendance required for promotion. I don’t get kept waiting around once the minimum time requirement is satisfied. Many instructors insist on delaying so that their students never know when their next level will arrive. I suppose this feeds their ego somehow. Shawn Phillips seems happy to have the requirements clearly set out, and lets us fulfill them with hard work, which really should be the goal.

The latest of my great instructors, is a man I’ve only been working with for about a year and a half. Compared to my time as a student of Perry Foster (about ten years), Yasuo Sakurai (thirty years), and of Shawn Phillips (seven years), our association has been very brief. Marc Marins is a quiet and inspiring teacher. As I travel all day to attend his classes, he has refused to let me pay, which in turn has me  showing up in time to help out with the beginners class to pay him back somehow. He paid me forward, so that I pay him back. I say “pay him back,” but Marc gets nothing from me helping out. Rather, his other students do, with an extra tutor.

None of this is meant to indicate displeasure at many other excellent teachers I have knows. Rener Gracie, Chris Davis, Ryron Gracie, Andy Holmes, and Alex Stewart all spring to mind. The difference is, they have not become “my” instructors. It is fortunate to ever find one person to fill this role. More is a huge plus.

I seem to have four.

So far.