Latin Dragon Martial Arts School Main Ave Passaic Nj

MARTIALFORCE.COM

PRESENTS

AN INTERVIEW WITH

SHIHAN JUAN PEREZ

Interview by William Rivera and Eddie Morales

Martialforce.com: Permit usa start at the beginning as they say. Where were you born and where did you abound up?

JUAN PEREZ: I was built-in in Manati, Puerto Rico, came to the Us equally an baby, raised and live in Paterson, New Bailiwick of jersey. I �LIVED� in C.C.P. (Christopher Columbus Projects, affectionately dubbed �Chocolate City Projects,�

 because information technology was predominately blacks), Brook Slope Projects and the mean streets of Paterson, (mainly Madison Street A.K.A �Mad St� & Beech St).  I say �LIVED,� because not as well many of my friends made information technology out live.   My friends

 often make fun of me, because they said I�chiliad the get-go Puerto Rican they know that doesn�t speak Spanish or bear a knife.

Martialforce.com: Is there a word, quote, or maxim that you would apply to draw You?

JUAN PEREZ: �There is no one word, quote, or saying that can best describe me, because I have many roles in life that I have to adhere to accordingly.  If y'all ask me as a Karate-ka (practitioner) I would say �student,� considering I am

 offset and foremost a student of the art.  With almost 40 years of experience in the fine art I am notwithstanding learning, and the more I learn, the more than I realize how trivial I know.�

Martialforce.com: At what age did you lot tap into an interest in the martial arts, what drew y'all?

JUAN PEREZ: Equally a kid growing up on Mad St, my big cousin (Miguel �Bebe� Cortez) and I would sentry �Lucha Libre �(Spanish wrestling) then �play� wrestle afterwards for hours.  At times, he would kicking box me with gainsay boots

 on.   He was much older and bigger than me, so obviously he took it easy, but in one case he accidently kicked me in the head with those combat boots and almost knocked me out.  I ran crying to my mommy, and he defenseless a

 whopping for it past his parents.  I was only most eight years old at the time and have no shame telling this story.  Nevertheless, all those times I took it every bit we were merely rough house playing, but fiddling did I know he was actually

 training me to fight.  He began pitting me against his friend�s little cousins and they would bet coin on us.  Friday�southward became �Friday Dark Fights� in my hood.  We would fight in a concrete fenced area in front of my house with no

 gloves on.  I had a lot of success in the get-go and my ego exploded, but it was more often than not against mal-nourished, or pudgy little fat kids.  And so one day I faced a skinny black child called �Lonnie.�   Mad St. was predominately

 Hispanics, and Lonnie came from Essex Street, which a black department of boondocks.  Even though he was skinny he was much taller than me.  Lonnie toyed with me and picked me autonomously with his jab, then broke my nose with a straight

 cross.  He manifestly has had some formal training in battle.  All I retrieve was laying on the basis with blood all over me and my cousin putting a penny on my brow.  When I came to my senses I asked my cousin, �Why is

 at that place a frickin� penny on my forehead?� and he said, �To stop the bleeding.�  Needless to say, information technology didn�t work.  Weeks afterward, I had some other fight with a Puerto Rican dude called �Gringo,� he was called that because he looked like

 white boy.  He was much bigger and older than me, this time we fought with battle gloves and he promised to take it easy on me.  He hitting me with a trunk shot that knocked the air current out of me and uppercut that busted my nose

 once again.  That was the last fourth dimension I fought in these �Friday Dark� fights.    I never saw Lonnie once more and I don�t know what became of him.  Last I heard about Gringo, he and his brother got into drugs and both concluded up dying from

 AIDS.  As for my cousin Bebe, someone sideslip a pill in his drink at a house party, he began tripping and never recovered.  He�southward been hospitalized in mental institution called Grey Stone in Morristown, NJ for over xxx years now.

  Notwithstanding, after those two-memorable barrel whooping�s I really wanted to know how to fight, just I did not take the ways, finance or admission to any formal training.

Martialforce.com: At that time, as well as today, people�south immediate perception of the martial arts is ane of violence. Was this the case with you, and if so was this the appeal?

JUAN PEREZ: As a youngster, I was attracted to the martial arts for its pure brutality.  Martial artists were viewed as these invincible warriors who tin break bricks, dodged bullets and do cool tricks with their bodies, and I wanted to

 exist like that.  As I got older, I brutal in dear with its philosophical values and realized that those concrete goals have no substance.  My perception of the martial arts is that information technology is �a fashion of life� with moral and ethical principles.   Sort of

 similar a organized religion, but without the worshipping of any god, unless one chooses too.

Martialforce.com: Who was your initial instructor, influences and what system did you written report?

JUAN PEREZ: My cousin Bebe was mayhap the first person to teach me some type of unarmed gainsay.  He didn�t have any formal preparation and was only making upwardly stuff as nosotros went forth.  However, when I lived in Brook Slope Projects, a

 neighbor of mine chosen David �Heavy� Lawrence had only got out of some adolescent detention center.   There, a staff member (I believe his proper noun was Bernard) had taught Heavy and some of the detainees the martial arts as a form of

 bailiwick.  One-day Heavy saw me and a couple of my friends play fighting Karate and asked united states if nosotros wanted to learn real Karate.  Ecstatic, nosotros all exclaimed, �Hell Yeah!� Shortly thereafter, he began instructing us in something he chosen the

 �KA� organisation, which later in life I came to notice was not.  It was actually something he fabricated up and just gave it that name, because it was a well-respected system from Due north Jersey.  Heavy�s brand was more Kung-fu than Karate.  In fact, we

 all took a bus to New York one day to 42^nd St. to purchase Kung-fu uniforms to train in.   We had no gratuitous-standing building to train in, so nosotros train outside, unremarkably in the parking lot of Buckley Park�south baseball field. Training consisted mainly of

 sitting for long periods of time in Kiba dachi (equus caballus stance), knuckled button-ups on gravel, elbow form number ane, and lots of sparring.  Nosotros organized ourselves into a small gang called the �Young Dragon�s.�  The grouping didn�t last long, equally

 winter came and we had nowhere to train.  Many of its members moved, got into drugs, joined other gangs, or only lost interested.  Of the dozen or and then members information technology had, just I and Heavy�due south meridian prot�yard� Darren �Robot� Woolridge remained in

 the martial arts till this twenty-four hour period.  Heavy ended up getting incarcerated several times afterward. He�s out now and live, merely non doing and so well.

Sometime afterward I join a boxing gym in South Paterson called Lou Costello.  It was simply 5 dollar a year, so my parents could afford it.  My starting time solar day at the gym they put me to spar with a guy who joined up the same twenty-four hours I did and I put a

 whooping on him.  The next day they put me in with a more experience boxer who returned the favor.  I guess they wanted to encounter how tough I was or if I was worth training.  I must accept not made the cut, because thereafter, I pretty much

 trained myself.  I liked boxing, but I got turned off with the coaches.  They only focused on the professional or naturally gifted kids.  On a wall hung a sign telling the boxers what to do:

� Iii rounds Shadow battle

� Three rounds on the heavy bag

� Three rounds on the speed handbag

� Three rounds of Bound rope

� Calisthenics

Every 24-hour interval I would practise it, just no i would always right or passenger vehicle me.  Till this day, I do this work-out when I piece of work-out alone, except I kick box and don�t residual between rounds.  One twenty-four hours a kid I knew from when I lived on �Mad St.� came

 to the gym to spectate.  His name was Adriel Muniz and rumors had information technology he knew Karate.  Nosotros greeted each other, and talked for a bit. In the gym a Puerto Rican kid called �George� was working out.  George saw us talking and gave the states

 a look that can kill. George was an outstanding amateur with multiple titles nether his belt.  George saw usa talking and gave us a look that can kill.  I thought to myself �What was that nearly.�  Adriel asked me if I knew him and I said �Yeah,

 that�s George� and then added �He�s i of our top apprentice.� Then I told Adriel I need to go back to my work-out and I�ll talk to him after.   I was hitting the heavy pocketbook and George came backside me and taps me on the shoulder.   He asks me for

 Adriel names, which I gave and then asked if I wanted to spar.  Sensing he was upset nigh something and wanted to evidence something, I didn�t entertain the idea.  In reality, I knew I was no match for him.  George ended up taking his

 frustration out on a heavy pocketbook next to mines.  When I went to the locker room to alter, I found out from the other guys in the gym that Adriel and George had a street fight in front end of East Side High School about a calendar week ago and that Adriel

 beat him up pretty bad.  When I left the gym, Adriel was outside waiting for me. We talked some more and he wanted to see what I�ve learned in boxing, then we began slap-battle (boxing with open hands). Surprisingly, I held my ain and after

 a couple slaps each, we laughed, hug, and then went our separate ways.  Weeks later I ran into Adriel once again at the Boys order.  He wanted to slap box again and this time he humiliated me in front end of a large crowd.  Something most getting slap in

 the face is more humiliating than getting punch.   Needless to say, we did non hug afterward, as we did in our outset run across.

From Brook Slope Projects, my parents carve up and nosotros moved back to �Mad St� to go live with my mom�s parents.  The YMCA on Ward St, which was only a couple of blocks away from my house, was advertising �Free Karate� classes.  So, I signed

 up.  The instructor was Joe Jimenez.  It turned out to be Tae Kwon Do and not Karate, just I didn�t know the difference at the fourth dimension.  Training consisted of by and large kicking, sparring and knuckle button-ups.  One training sessions Adriel and another

 guy chosen Charles Jeter were spectating.  Afterward, they approached me and Charles began criticizing the style I was practicing.  Adriel stood there silently. I was a chip dislocated; because I knew Adriel did Karate, and Charles was sitting there

 bad mouthing what I thought was Karate.  Then I turned to Adriel and said, �Simply don�t yous do Karate?�  He said, �Yeah, but I exercise Shotokan and what you are doing is not fifty-fifty Karate, its Tae Kwon Do.�  I didn�t fifty-fifty know in that location was a deviation.

 The flyer advertised �Free Karate.�   So they both went on explaining and showing me the deviation.  The depression stances immediately attracted me and I told them I would like to check out their schoolhouse.  Adriel agreed to accept me, merely every

 time nosotros arranged to come across, he stood me up.  I�ve always wanted to bring together a karate school but my parents couldn�t afford it and at present that my mom was a unmarried parent those dreams were even dimmer.  Then one summer I got a chore through a

 youth programme called C.E.T.A. (don�t known what those letters stand for).  Anyway, I started working for some Latin organization called Aspira.  My task entailed running errands, cleaning and clerical work.  A month afterwards I got my kickoff check,

 cashed it and then tracked Adriel down to take me to his schoolhouse.   He finally did and with the cash in paw from my first check, I enrolled myself in a Karate Dojo (school).  The Dojo was chosen �The House of Shotokan� and it was on Principal Ave

 in Passaic, NJ.  The instructor was Seifullah Ali Shabazz.  Shabazz is a unique private.  He�due south a black soul trapped in a white body.  He�s an American born, Red-headed, Caucasian, Muslim; a devoted follower of the honorable Elijah

 Muhammad.  His strong views of the injustice of blacks and minorities effectually the globe profoundly influenced me.  His individuality, taught me �cartel to exist dissimilar,� which is a trait I�ve instilled in my own kids. Shabazz once said to me, �If

 you�re going study something you must study it deeply.�  Always since then, I�ve been researching my art.  Nevertheless, I was surprised to discover that Charles Jeter who tried to projection himself as an authoritative effigy on the martial arts was

 only a white belt who no longer attended grade.  Adriel Muniz on the other mitt was an outstanding brownish belt at the time.  Shabazz studied under Toyotari Miyazaki of Flushing Queens, N.Y. and taught  Okano-ha Shotokan-ryu.  Okano-ha

 Shotokan-ryu is the Shotokan style of Tomosaburo Okano, who was Miyazaki�s teacher.  Okano was a disciple of both Yoshitaka �Gigo� Funakoshi and Gichin Funakoshi, though he primarily trained nether Gigo.  I�ve heard his style referred

 to every bit:

� Shotokan

� Shotokai

� Gigo Karate

� Kenkojuku (Shotokan)

Nonetheless, it is Shotokan.  There is a misconception that there is but one blazon of Shotokan and that information technology is J.K.A. (Japan Karate Association) base.  My inquiry (via books and internet), led me to discover that there are fundamentally 3

 variants of Shotokan, which were developed during the following eras:

� Pre-WWII

� During WWII

� Mail service WWII

The Pre-WWII Shotokan has been described as a Japanese Shorin-ryu, or equally some has put information technology �Shorin-ryu on steroids,� and is the Karate Funakoshi starting time introduced into Japan.  WWII Shotokan was Okano�s and that of the Shotokai.  Post WWII

 was JKA Shotokan. Though all iii versions were technically cultivated through all the eras, they made their biggest touch during those eras.  Every bit a side notation, Okano�s Kenkojuku organisation pre-dated the two Major Shotokan Organizations

 (Shotokai & J.Thou.A) in Japan past several years.

Like most styles of Japanese Karate, training with Shabazz consisted of the 3 K�s:

� Kihon (basics)

� Kata (forms)

� Kumite; Ippon gumite (one step sparring), Jiyu gumite (costless sparring)  and Enshin gumite (circle fighting)

Adriel became my best of friends and we ofttimes trained together exterior the Dojo (school).  Nosotros were immature teens at time, and neither of us had a car or license.  Nosotros normally bused to the Dojo and at times fell comatose and woke upwards at the last

 stop, which was the Port Say-so in New York.  Whenever I didn�t have passenger vehicle money, I would jog to the Dojo with my knapsack; accept grade and then jog back home.   Passaic is two towns over from Paterson, so it was quite a altitude. A few

 times I got finish by the police when I jogged through Clifton, which is the boondocks betwixt Paterson and Passaic, and predominately white.  Afterward a quick interrogation and frisk I was able to continue my run.   This angered me, but I was able to

 channel this acrimony through my run, or in training.  On one such occasion, an officer stopped me and asked me where I was running to and when I told him, he asked if I knew who he was, I recognized him from the Karate scene and answered,

 �Yeah, you�re Pat Ciser from Koei-kan.�  He didn�t bother frisking me and told me to bask my run and send my instructor his regards.  From that point on, I never got stopped once again jogging through Clifton.

Every bit an affiliated Dojo of Miyazaki, we were permitted to train at his Dojo, which we did every Saturday.  We likewise had to examination under him in his Dojo in front of a board.   Shabazz began his teaching career as a bluish belt, and past the time he reached

 black belt he was a seasoned instructor.  It was axiomatic he knew what he was doing, as all his students were well achieved and did very well in test.  I tested nether Miyazaki twice and got skipped from white to blue and blue to purple.

  Aside from being nervous, I institute testing easy, every bit it was the same exact things we did in grade (The 3 Yard�due south), except nosotros got to rest in between the groups that were testing.  At times, Shabazz would be very difficult on Adriel and me, to the point we

 felt he was being picked on us or didn�t like usa.  Ane twenty-four hour period I came to the Dojo and Shabazz was inside talking to some immature ladies. As soon as I enter the Dojo, he got on my case nigh bowing wrong, without explaining what I was doing

 incorrect, he kept yelling at me to practice it once again (bow). The female visitors were laughing and Shabazz did not say anything to them.  Being young and ignorant, I took it equally Shabazz was trying to print the immature ladies or show off his authority.

  My emotions got the best of me and I challenge him to a fight.  He immediately expelled me from the Dojo.  I don�t know why he simply didn�t kick my ass.  God knows I could�ve used a proficient barrel whopping.  Nevertheless, I �ve always felt bad

 about what happen and wanted to make amends, only my ego wouldn�t allow me.  Years subsequently, when I matured in age, I wholeheartedly apologized to him.

Shabazz ran into some personal problems and close the school. Past now Adriel was a blackness chugalug and I followed him.  He began instructing a small group of street kids, which included me.  Throughout the years nosotros trained in such places as his

 basement, church basement, Broadway Bank Platform, Martin Luther King Eye Schoolhouse and P.South. # 30 gymnasiums.  Eventually, nosotros were dubbed the �Dirty Dozen,� because nosotros trained a lot and were prohibited from washing our belts.  Some

 students took it to some other level and barely washed their uniforms.  Our uniforms were ripped or patched and stained with blood and soil.   Adriel somewhen opened several schools that didn�t last.  His type of training wasn�t for everybody, as

 information technology was a bit crazy.   We would do the 3 Chiliad�southward, merely it was much more than intense. Each part lasted nigh an hr, so we would train about 3 hours a day.  I recollect doing the same �exact� basics every twenty-four hour period for six years directly.  He had a stick he used

 to hit usa with if we came upward in our stances or slacked in course.  At times, students would hide the stick, but it simply angered him more, and the whole class paid the price.  One time he really bankrupt information technology on me.  Every bit a form of penalization, we

 would have to sweep the Dojo floor with a molar brush, or hold a push up position on our knuckles, on two bricks with sand paper with a small candle lit beneath united states of america.  Fortunately, we were able to save ourselves from getting burn.  In the

 summer, he would put on the heat, to test our fortitude. Many students would pass out and we would simply grab them by their feet, elevate them outside, throw water on them, and simply leave them at that place until course was done.  If someone got

 hurt during sparring, he would put multiple people on them. I once was sparring with a royal belt educatee called Edison who had excellent kicks and he caught me on the nose with a spinning claw kick.  Adriel put two other students on me,

 and I was fighting all 3 students at the aforementioned fourth dimension, while blood was gushing out of my nose.  When we were washed information technology look like a massacre had occurred.  By no means do I encourage this type of preparation for anyone.  Nosotros were immature, impaired,

 and total of testosterone.

Adriel has always felt the demand to exist nether somebody.   So, he sought leadership under Derrick Williams, Shihan of the Bronx Shotokan Karate club.  He and then mandated we wear their patch and train at their Honbu (headquarters) every

 Saturday.  I was totally confronting it at the beginning, but in Karate and especially nether Adriel there�due south no republic.  You practice what yous�re told and that�s it.  The Honbu was not what I envision a Honbu to be.  It was literally a small storage room

 at some circuitous (projects) on 3^rd Ave in the Bronx; a concrete box if yous will, with no bathroom.   Nevertheless, grooming nether Derrick Williams, Shihan at the Honbu was a great and unlike experience.  The Dojo was and then small that basics

 were done from a stationary position and not up and down the Dojo flooring as I was accustomed to. He introduced us to unlike types of nuts and calisthenics. Some I enjoyed and some I didn�t, like wrist push up.  I was never able to grasp

 the wrist push-ups, as my wrists could not bend dorsum that far.  Their forms were likewise slightly different from ours.  That is when I realized at that place were dissimilar types of Shotokan.   Derrick�southward seem more J.K.A. based. Adriel adopted some of these

 changes and began implementing them in our preparation. What impressed me near about training there was the quality of his students. They were all uncommonly good and had Great Spirit.  I was proud to be a part of them.

I tested for my brownish under Adriel and remained a brown belt for 4 years.  Under his tutelage we were forbidden to inquire for rank, and he tested us when he saw fit.  After one very intense course, Adriel Muniz took off his worn out Black chugalug,

 unfastened my brown belt, tied his smelly belt effectually me and announced in class, he hereby awards me Shodan (ane^st degree). It couldn�t get any more informal and so that, only I was notwithstanding very honored to get his smelly, dirty, rag of belt later on

 eight years of training in Shotokan, six with him.  In Adriel�s martial art career, he just promoted three black belts: Jose DiCervo, Calvin Rodriguez and me. I was his get-go, Jose his second and Calvin his third.  Of the three, I was the only ane

 who stood with him to the stop. I got up to Sandan (3^rd degree) with Adriel, though he had offered me fourth and fifth, in which I declined, every bit he was going through some personal problems at the time and was not in the right frame of mind.

  Eventually, later 16 years of grooming in Shotokan I was presented an honorary Godan (5^th degree) by Reno Morales, Hanshi of the �Original Bronx Shotokan Karate Gild.  I was touched by his generosity, but I�grand not one who needs rank to

 testify my worth.  Still, I humbly accepted it.

Adriel instilled in his students �Tokon� (fighting spirit) and �Oshi Shinobu� (Button and endure), but his grooming was all physical and he rarely touched on the philosophical and spiritual aspect of the martial arts, because of this many of his

 students were unbalanced, and brutal victim to their environment, including Adriel and I. Though Karate did not save everybody, it saved me. If not for Karate, there�s no telling where or how I would�ve ended up.  I had my share of close calls,

 but Karate was always something I could turn to when life in the hood got also hectic.

After Adriel, I tried Judo under Tony Camal in W Paterson.  The constant throwing had me business organisation well-nigh injuring my back, so I dropped out.  Then I tried Goju-ryu under Rich Rohrman of Budo-kai in River Edge, NJ.  I wore a white chugalug to

 class and he told me to article of clothing my blackness chugalug. I told him, I rather be a white belt in a style I knew goose egg of, than a blackness chugalug, but he wasn�t having whatever of it.  I still train there from time to time, more so as a place to go to train with different

 people.   Throughout my years of training, I�ve learn the virtually from my students.  Seeing what they do and don�t do right in class taught me how to teach and how to teach it.  Under Adriel Muniz I did a lot of didactics, he frequently went through

 phases were he just wouldn�t bear witness up and I was left with the responsibleness of teaching and like my erstwhile instructor Shabazz, I was a seasoned instructor by the time I reached Shodan.

Martialforce.com: Did you participate in other sports in schoolhouse?

JUAN PEREZ: In loftier school, I tried wrestling and cantankerous country, only rapidly lost interest.

Martialforce.com: Are you a traditionalist, why do you lot remember information technology is so important to practice and teach traditionally?

JUAN PEREZ: I�m not sure if any instructor of Japanese Karate can lay claim to being a traditionalist, especially if he or she is a Shotokan stylist.   Gichin Funakoshi is widely recognized as the founder of modern-day Karate.  His manner became

 known every bit Shotokan.  Claiming to be a traditionalist of a modern mode is like Jumbo Shrimp; an oxymoron.  Even so, it�s merely my view and I�chiliad non an authoritative effigy on the martial arts.

Martialforce.com: Is it important equally a teacher to report another style of Martial Art or to concentrate on their called style?

JUAN PEREZ: The aim should be for whatsoever martial artist is to principal one style (though nosotros tin can never), just look for things in other styles to raise your styles.

Martialforce.com: Give us a snapshot of when you competed, where at what age and some of the challenges y'all may accept faced. How yous may accept overcome them?

JUAN PEREZ: I�ve competed in many tournaments, both Traditional and Open up. I was what you lot would phone call a triple treat, because I did all three events: Kata, Kumite, Kobudo. I unremarkably placed in the acme three.  I excelled in Kata, then weapons

 and last Kumite, in that order.  I won the New Jersey Semi-contact kumite title as a brown chugalug in a close lucifer over the then reigning Champ Tamir Light-green. I�ve never won any Grand Championship title as an under rank, but won some equally a

 Black chugalug.  My toughest competition was with myself, though some worthy mentions are Tamir Greenish and Jamal �Chiliad-homo� Pearson.  A knee injury forced me into retirement.  At the time, I had won over 115 awards.  I did 1 comeback subsequently

 an xviii years hiatus and competed only in Kumite at a traditional tournament in NY, in which I took first place.

Martialforce.com: You have a tremendous success at developing state, regional, and national champions, what is information technology about the way you teach that enables this success?

JUAN PEREZ: I�ve produced multiple states, regional, national and globe champions.  I don�t teach and railroad train my students for tournament. In fact, nigh of my students do not compete.  I just aim to teach skillful karate.

Shihan Juan Perez with pupil Sensei Joey Castro

Martialforce.com: What aspects practice y'all feel an instructor must have to be a good teacher?

JUAN PEREZ: An instructor must understand that not all students are going to exist champions. You�re going to accept practiced students and you�re going to take those students who yous are going question (to yourself) �why they�re even training?�

  My experience has taught me, never to give up on those students who brand teaching difficult; bated from teaching you patience, they may one day turn a leaf.  I have had some of my worse students become my best students.   Also, when

 didactics in a group settling, you�re dealing with multiple personalities.  Therefore, you can�t teach everyone the same.  You lot�re going to have to learn who y'all can push and who y'all can�t.  Non everybody is receptive to screaming and yelling.

  You�re going to have students who y'all have to be a lot gentler with.  People larn different ways.  Only through time and experience yous�ll acquire who you can push or can�t.

Martialforce.com: How do you deal with the fear of fighting someone heavier or bigger, stronger?

JUAN PEREZ: First, if you�re truthful in your training, it will give you the confidence to face up your fears.  If you�re slacking in preparation, then you begin to question yourself and not face your fears.  Also by doing the things y'all fearfulness will have away that

 fear.  So, if your fright is that one twenty-four hours y'all may take to face someone who is bigger or stronger than you, so why not spar in dojo (where it is controlled) with someone who is bigger or stronger than you. But what I actually attempt to instill in my

 students is to practice �Bu.� The Kanji (Sino-Japanese ideogram) for �Bu� is frequently translated to mean �war, combat, or martial� and advise a confrontation.  But in authenticity it ways to �Cease� or �Avoid� a confrontation and the way you

 practice Bu is by avoiding persons, places or things that may become you into a confrontation, fifty-fifty if it means you lot accept to walk 10 miles the contrary way.

Martialforce.com: How would you reply to those who say karate does not prepare y'all for the reality of the street?

JUAN PEREZ: Well, depends on why you lot are practicing Karate.  If you are practicing Karate for recreational reasons, physical fitness or just to be part of a group, information technology�s likely it won�t work in the streets. Karate has all the tools necessary for

 someone to defend themselves in the street, but if your arroyo to preparation is i of the above, it likely won�t work for you.  Also, Karate is about the element of surprise.  It works best as self-defense force and not a 1-on-one street fight. In

 other words, if you�re getting mugged by somebody in the street, y'all heart gouge or kick him in the groin equally quick and hard as you can when he least expects information technology.

Throughout the years I�ve come across practitioners that don�t place too much emphasize on basics. It becomes painfully obvious when you lot see them either perform kata or in sparring sessions. My question is, how important exercise you feel basics

 are in the practise of Karate or for that matter whatever sport? With that thought in mind, how do y'all experience the practice of Karate is in the edifice of students?

Basics are a very important attribute of training forKarate and sports in general.  When I trained under Seifullah Ali Shabazz and Adriel Muniz classes consisted of the 3 Yard�s; basics(kihon), forms,(kata) and sparring(kumite).  70% for the training

 was focused on basics, and yet we excelled in all 3 K�s.  The basics(kihon) consisted of the following:

Horse riding stance(kiba dachi)with the following punches:

• Middle level punch(chudan zuki)

• Upper level dial(jodan zuki)
• Eye level double punch(chudan ren-zuki)

Front stance (zenkutsu dachi) with a down block(gedan barai), executing the following punches:

• Middle level lunge punch(chudan oi zuki)

• Upper level lunge dial(jodan oi zuki)

Gratis fighting stance(jiyu kumite dachi) with a eye level posture(chudan gamae), executing post-obit techniques:

• Heart level reverse punch(chudan gyaku zuki)

• Middle level front end kick(chudan mae geri)
• Upper level front end kick(jodan mae geri)
• Center level roundhouse kick(chudan mawashi geri)
• Upper level roundhouse(jodan mawashi geri)

A lot of time and free energy went into these few basics.  To earn a black belt(kuro obi) under them we had to principal these basics.  It took me eight years to get my black belt and for 8 years straight I did these aforementioned exact basics every time I

 attended class.  You lot would think afterward and so many years of doing the same nuts you lot would exist performing to their satisfaction, but that was never the case.  We never got praise, it was ever, �toes in,� �knees out,� �more ability and/or focus

(kime)� and  �one more time, i more time(mo ichido!)�    At present 40 years later, I�m yet doing and teaching these same verbal basics.

There�s a misconception that you need to learn a lot of unlike basics to be a master inKarate.  If you�re into mastering and then less in best!  A skillful example is, if I have two students and I teach one pupil(deshi) one basic and the other

 student,  xx basics, then have them drill their basics for a year directly, which pupil practise you remember volition take the better basics?  This is traditional(dento)Karate. Yous take 1 bones or technique(waza) and drill over and over again, till you

 can do it at the key moments without thought(mushin).  I call information technology �sharping the saw.� In class I try to instill this principle to my students.

Kids have a short attention span, and they get bored easily.  So, I had to come up with inventive ways to teach them these same few nuts, without them getting bore.  I�ll take 1 basic, (let�southward say a front kick) and drill it all kind of different ways, for example:

• Eye level front boot(chudan mae-geri)
• Upper level front kick(jodan mae geri)
• Forepart leg front end kick(kizami mae-geri)
• Double forepart kick(japan mae geri)
• Trust forepart kick(mae kekomi)
• Snap front kicking(mae keage)
• Jumping front kick(tobi mae geri)

Then I�ll take them practise our beginnerkata (taikyoku shodan)with front kick, instead of the customary lunge punch.  We�ll practice some fighting drills with the front kick and so end class with exercises that incorporates the front end kick.  So we simply

 did one nuts, a bunch of different ways, and we�ll return to it again several times within the calendar month.

I tell my students, if you�re itching to acquire something new every time you come up to course, so you�re not into mastery.  As the old proverb goes:

 �Jack of all trades, master of none�

Its best to take a few techniques that fits your style and body type.  Report them deeply and drill them like basics, over, over again, till they become second nature and you can do them at the key moments without idea.

As students ofKarate-practice our goal should be to exist physically, spiritually and mentally balanced.  The do ofKarateis the vehicle, or the way you�ll accomplish those goals.  It is truthful that virtually people joined or get intoKaratefor its physical

 benefits.   Nonetheless, a good teacher(Sensei) volition bear witness and teach his students that there is more than toKarateso just kicking and punching.Karate-do ways �the Way of Empty Mitt(southward)�.  The ideograph(Kanji)�Do� (The Mode) implies that

 the art is a way of life(geido) with moral and upstanding principles one must adhere to.  Sort of, like a faith, but without the worshipping of a item god, unless 1 chooses to.  The hard physical training that i should encounter in a

 traditionalKarate schoolhouse(dojo), is what I�ve had stated previously, the �vehicle� to getting you counterbalanced; spiritually, mentally and physically.  It is merely through concrete exertion that the mind, body and spirit are truly challenged, and thus,

 nourished and grows.

Martialforce.com: What advice would you give someone that is thinking virtually training in Karate but isn�t sure?

JUAN PEREZ: First, I�ll ask them what brings them to Karate, and and then explain howKarate may benefit them.  Then I�ll tell them try a class, they take aught to lose, the first form is costless, with no commitment what-so-always.

It is of import to note that people get into Karate for diverse reasons.  Unfortunately, many teachers think that it should exist for 1 reason�. their reason!  I�ve discovered that, although Karate cannot cater to everyone private needs, it tin can

 broadly be practice for 3 distinct reasons:

• To stay fit and good for you (Kenko)
• Every bit a sport; recreation or competition (Kyogi)
• Every bit a fashion of life (Budo)

Fortunately, traditional Karate (Dento Karate) tin can be practise for all 3, without making whatever real changes or adjustments to the grade curriculum.   I tell my students, if you lot want to be salubrious and in shape(Kenko), a champion, or

 competitive (Kyogi), physically, spiritually and mentally counterbalanced (Budo), the fundamental is �come to course and train with a purpose!�  Whatever is the motivating factor (Hosshin) that brought them to Karate, they can attain past beingness true to

 theirKarate and theirKarate volition be true to them!  �Truthful� in the sense of dedicating oneself to their craft, by preparation diligently and with a purpose.

Martialforce.com: What is the definition of a skillful Sensei and how would you define a skilful student?

JUAN PEREZ: I think this question warrants an explanation of what the term actually ways.  If yous look up the give-and-take�Sensei�information technology will note that it is a Japanese honorific title.  The term is written with two Sino-Japanese ideographs known in

 Japanese (Nihongo) asKanji.  Each ideograph has an aboriginal Chinese reading (On�yomi) and a Japanese reading (Kun�yomi).   The outset syllable �Sen� is the Japanese reading of an ideograph that renders every bit �Before�.  The second syllable �Sei�

 is the Japanese reading of an ideograph that renders every bit �Life.�  When combined and depending on how it�s used, can roughly interpret as:

• �Ahead in life�
• �(Person) built-in before (another)�
• �He who was born before (me)�

• �One who has gone earlier (in life)�

    This does not imply to chronological historic period, merely in knowledge.  Basically, a Sensei is someone who�s �been there and washed that.�  If you lot want to add a more than flowerily pregnant to the term then a Sensei is someone who is ahead of you in the

•  journey we call �Manner of Empty Hand� (Karate-practice), or information technology is someone who points to that fashion of life.  This is why aSenseiis not just a person who instructsKarate techniques, but more and so the one who leads �the way�(Do) by example.  This

•  is the technical definition of the term.
  My estimation of aSensei is not just someone who is ahead of someone else (say, in knowledge of the art), just someone who can acknowledge he or she all the same have much to learn.  ASensei does not have all the answers, and those who

•  claim they do, are nothing more than a �mouth warriors�(Kuchi Bushi).

    Information technology is impossible to know everything nearKarate, becauseKarate parallels with life.  The more than y'all abound in life, the more you lot need to learn.  I�ve discovered that the more I acquire, the more I realized how little I know.  Therefore, aSenseito

•  me is first and foremost a pupil(Deshi) of the art(Gei).

    I have to say as aSensei, I�ve learned more from my students, than I did from whatever teacher, book or video I had.  It is through advisedly observing them that I�ve learned to teach the do�s and don�ts ofKarate.  Students are the real

•  teachers ofKarate.

    I would also like to add that hither in the Due west, in that location is a large misconception that once someone attain their black belt(Kuro obi) information technology automatically makes them aSensei.  Nothing can be further from the truth. ASensei inKarate is

•  a "instructor" of a school, who must be at to the lowest degree a 3rd caste(Sandan) level.  A black chugalug recipient is known every bit a�Yudansha�.   In Nippon, the word Due southensei is also used as a title to refer to or accost other professionals or persons of authority,

• such every bit:

• clergypersons
• accountants
• lawyers
• physicians
• politiciansEqually for what�s the definition of a good students? I would have to say someone who knows their identify and role in the school(Dojo). A good educatee to me is the following:

• A recruiter
• A Janitor
• An assistant
• A correspondent (financially and with supplies)

• Maintenance person

    A good student understands that their measly monthly tuition doesn�t pay for their lessons.  Information technology just keeps the doors open.  You cannot put a cost on knowledge.  The stuff my students learn volition stay with them for the rest of their

•  life.  Because I just don�t teachKarate, I teach life skills.Yet, I�ve heard many instructors say their worse students are their black belts. When I get-go started teaching, Yard Master Lou Ferrer once said to me, �When he promotes someone to black belt, he�ll commonly throw them out of the

school, because they�re the worst students you tin can accept.� At showtime, I thought he was kiddin' or slightly exaggerating.  But so I discovered he wasn�t playing.  Now, I�m not proverb my worse students are my black belts, but I can kinda

 sympathize where he was coming from.  At that level, they lose their �beginners mind�(Shoshin)and think they know information technology all.  Often times, you lot can�t rely on them similar you used to and many of them have inflated egos.  Fortunately for me, I

had far less than more of these types of black belts.  I think it�s because, I have and then few black belts.  Of the 40 plus years I�ve been teaching, I�ve just promoted eleven black belts.  I seldom honor a blackness chugalug.  If someone is looking to get a

 black belt from me, they�ve come to the wrong place.  I�ve had students leave and become elsewhere just to go their black belt, considering I wouldn�t give it to them.  That beingness said, tells you why I wouldn�t.  If they�re like that at present, tin can you lot

imagine how they�ll be if they got their black chugalug.

As well, champion students are more oft �not� your platonic good pupil, and although they may bring glory and pride to the school, they can be problematic. Particularly, if they're kids, then you have deal with soccer parents.  I�ve thrown many

 champion kids out of my school, considering of their parents.  These parents feel the school should revolve effectually their kids, they try to tell you lot how to exercise your chore and dictate what goes on in the school.  They forget who made their child a

 champion. They chop-chop discover out when I throw them out, and they go somewhere else, only to come across their kid deteriorating and losing in tournaments.  All of all of a sudden, the grass is not then green on the other side, as they idea.  In fact, it has

 weeds.  Most try to come back, to no avail. I permit my students know from the door, �if they're un-happy here, for any reason, feel free to endeavour somewhere else.  They're welcome to come up back, as long as they don't go out on bad terms.  If I

 have to throw you out, and then you're non welcomed back!

Martialforce.com: Regarding the competitive loonshit. What are the differences if any that you have witness in tournament whether positive or negative?

JUAN PEREZ: My schoolhouse(dojo) does both open (all styles) and traditional(dento)karatecompetitions. In the open up excursion the quality of form(kata) competitors has declined dramatically.  Their forms at all-time are poor, sloppy and have no

 substance. Information technology�south go a matter of who tin can scream the loudest and make their butt touch the flooring with their exaggerated low stances.  As for sparring(kumite), it�s go a game of tag, but I accept to say, the pes work and athleticism of

 some of these open fighters are astonishing.  In the open circuit anyone can compete at their �World Level Tournaments� as long as they�re willing to pay their own traveling and entry expenses. Also, there Earth Level Competition is mainly

 against Canada, and to a lesser extent Mexico, Guatemala and peradventure England.  I hear now, Republic of ireland and Italy accept been added to the mix.   The open circuit has more than earth champions than any other excursion in the world. I in one case saw someone

 at 1 of these events with a jacket and baseball cap boasting he was a �Globe Champion.� He took off his jacket and had on a sweat shirt printed with the same thing. He took off his sweat shirt and had on T-shirt printed with the aforementioned

 thing.  So he inverse into his uniform(gi) and on the back of his uniform was (you guess it) the same thing, he fifty-fifty had information technology embroidered on his belt(obi).  Then I looked at his belt and information technology was tied wrong.  How can one claim to be a �Globe

 Champ� and don�t fifty-fifty know how to necktie their belt?

In the traditional circuit the form competitors are much cleaner and crisper, but it has get a affair of long pauses and at times, thekata may come off a flake bland. At that place�due south no individuality, or putting one�s own season(sazon�) into a class in

 the traditional circuit, as is in the open circuit, which I don�t necessarily agree with. Now, I�k not implying changing a form, I�g totally against that - leave that to the open up competitors.  I�m only simply suggesting a little creativity in the tempo

 and execution of the class would exist overnice.  Nevertheless, at the elite level, the traditional forms are much more than explosive and dynamic.  In traditional fighting, kicks and take downs (sweep or throw) score more points. A kick to the caput is three

 points and to the body ii points. So there�southward much more boot, and so in the pass.  Sweeps and take downs are also 3 points. These days, you lot�re more likely to be score on with a hook kicking to the caput(jodan ura mawashi geri) followed by a

 hip throw (ippon seoi nage), than a eye level reserve punch(chudan gyaku zuki) with a foot sweep(ashi barai) similar in the onetime days.  The traditional fighters are much more versatile and so in the pass, but the game has gotten as well soft.  There

 are as well many rules and the competitors must wear unnecessary safety gear, like chest protector for men. Sad!

In the traditional circuit, to compete at the world level one must qualify, past get-go �winning� the states, regional, national championships of their sanctioning trunk.  And then they must attempt-out for the USA team and if they arrive, they�ll first get to

 correspond the USA at the Pan-Am games and if they practise well at that place they�re qualifying to compete at the world level.  The World Karate Federation is the cream of the crop. This league boasts 130-fellow member countries.  The World Karate

 Federation Championships are held every two years in different parts of the earth.  Information technology�s considered a swell accolade and achievement merely to be able to make it to this level.  Only the most seasoned, proven competitors from each country are

 allowed to compete at this result.  It should be noted that the Japan Karate Association (JKA) helped form this league, but somewhen pulled out, considering the Japanese were getting their butts handed to them by the Europeans. The Japanese

 felt that if they keep losing to the Europeans, no one would desire to learnkarate from them, so the JKA withdrew from this league and started their own (biases) World Championships where the Japanese are almost always guarantee to win at

 their event.  In the WKF, Europe has done well.  England, Espana, France and Italian republic were the top countries for many years.  Now, Middle Eastern countries, like Iran, Turkey and Arab republic of egypt are dominating.   Japan is as well now a strong country, even

 though the JKA don�t participate at these events. America has always been at the lesser of the butt.  I once had a European pupil who came straight off the boat from Slovakia, and she said that in her land they make fun of

 Americankarate.  That wasn�t the first or last fourth dimension I heard that.  Apparently, nosotros have the worsekarate in the world.  Tokey Hill was the first American to win a golden medal in 1980.  At the fourth dimension, the WKF was known equally WUKO, and was not as

 large equally it is today. Some merits a female had won gold for USA prior to Tokey Hill, but she got no recognition considering of her gender.  Nevertheless, it would accept 22 years for an American to win a gold medal again, which was succeeded by two

 Asian-American; George Kotaka and Elisa Au of Hawaii.

Information technology should be noted that some countries have an reward over USA, because their government pays their athletes to train and compete.  Nothing comes out of their pocket and their sole job is to train and represent their country at the highest

 level. In Japan, some jobs take an able-bodied department, where an employee works half-a-mean solar day and train for the other half.  Multiple WorldKata Champion �Atsuko Wakai� stated that she was very fortunate that her job had akarateprogram that

 allowed her to worked one-half a day and trained for the other half and she got paid full time.  She claims she wouldn�t have been able to win consecutive world kata titles, if it wasn�t for this.  Here in America, our athletes have to pay for all their

 training and traveling expenses out of their own pocket and some accept to work 2 jobs to do and so.  For an American to exist able to compete at the highest level in the traditional circuit, they must be multi-task, unless they�re wealthy.  When

 Elisa Au won her kickoff gilt medal, she did it while working a total time task, going to school, education karate and grooming for competition.  And I believe the second time she even juggled a family.  It takes a special kind type of person to be able

 to do that.

Martialforce.com: If yous could get back in time and speak to a younger version of yourself, what communication would you requite him and why?

JUAN PEREZ: Take total responsibleness for yourself.  Up until my early 30�s, I blame the authorities, my race, my up-bringing, my abusive begetter and whatever else I tin for the crap that went on in my life. When I took full responsibility for

 myself, I was able to make a 360 and change my life for the amend.  Circumstances volition ascend that we have no command over, and cannot change, merely I learned we can always change how we answer to them.  I may have non been able to cease my

 abusive alcoholic father from beating me, simply I was able to use that to teach me how �not to be� as a father.  Because of him, I became a good father to my kids.  This was something I needed to get through to teach me some valuable lessons.

  Just similar Jesus Christ died on the cantankerous for our sins. I suffered beatings, so that my kids didn�t take to, and hopefully future generations.

The mental and physical abuse I run across was a bike I was able to break when I took responsibility for my life.  I learned not to concord my father accountable for his ignorance, as he was just doing what he was taught and experienced in the

 easily of his own father.  My story is non unique, every bit many Puerto Rican families hit their kids when they human activity upwards, or to the lowest degree in my inner circle.  But when you add liquor to the mix, it doesn�t accept much for a beaten to ignite and the beaten is taken

 to a whole new level.  I recall the effects of waking up to belt lashes on my face and body.  All the same, I learned how to accept full responsibility for my life and respond to the things I cannot modify in a positive light to make me a amend

 person.  This is but one of many lessons I�ve learned by taking full responsibility for myself.

Every bit for aKarate-ka, I would tell a younger version of myself to become in the best concrete shape you lot tin and aim to become a great athlete, oppose to but aKarate-ka.  I�ve competed in hundreds of tournaments and done well.  Simply I must confess,

 I was never truly in the best shape I could�ve been in and aside fromKarate, at that place was non whatever other sport I was practiced in.  Had I been in peak operation shape, and became a great athlete, at that place would�ve been no limit in what I could�ve

 achieved and excelled in.  A bang-upKarate-ka is merely that (aKarate-ka). A great athlete tin excel in multiple sports.  The former great eye weight champion of the world Roy Jones was a great example.  He was a great athlete who

 became a great boxer, and was also an aristocracy basketball game and baseball actor.  Most smashingKaratemasters just excelled inKarate, and although in that location�s cypher wrong with that, my focus would have been to become a great athlete kickoff, and

 soKarate-ka that way my options would have been greater.

Martialforce.com: As a martial creative person, what accomplishment are you most proud of?

JUAN PEREZ: Earning my black belt(Kuro-obi) was perhaps the achievement I was nearly proud of.  It took eight long years to earn my black belt, not past choice. We were forbidden to ask for rank and information technology was up to my instructor(Sensei)

 discretion when he saw us fit to test. Withal, I never tested for my black belt, or perhaps I didn�t know information technology was a test.  He awarded me 1^st degree(Shodan) subsequently a long hard grooming session, which concluded with him taking off his dingy belt

(Obi), and tying information technology on me and then retorting to the grade, �I hereby award y'all 1^st degree!�  I was going on my fourth year equally a brownish belt(Cha-obi) when he awarded me his belt. What I recall the most about that day was how bad his chugalug

 smelled.   We were also forbidden from washing our belts, and this chugalug had years and years of sweat embedded in its very cobweb.  Nonetheless, it was great honor.

Martialforce.com: What would you similar to accomplish in this lifetime in regard to martial arts or life in general?

JUAN PEREZ: My lifelong goal has always been to exist physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally balanced. I accept not been able to attain all four at the same time.  When I�thou practiced in one expanse, I tend to slack in some other area.  This

 has been an on-going problem for me that I have not plant the solution for.  I remember it�southward the man in me that doesn�t let me to concentrate on 2 things at the same time.  Nevertheless, this is the goal I want to achieve before I die.

Martialforce.com : At this time, we here at Martialforce.com want to thank you for sharing your martial arts journeying with us. We wish you time to come success in all your endeavors.

JUAN PEREZ: Thank you for the opportunity to express my thoughts.

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