Mac Tíre Bán Martial Arts – Blog 001

Introductions

Hello everyone. I just wanted to start off by saying thank you for all the support and well wishes I’ve received during my recovery. For all those waiting on an update,I’ve been healing up pretty well. That being said, with the lack of mobility and the limitations on what I can and cannot do, I’ve had a lot of time on my hands.

So I figured, since I’m lacking my usual outlet of talking too much and making classes run into overtime, I’d entertain you all with a blog every now and then.

Now please…..please let’s get something straight here: I am in no way considered a proficient writer. As our staff and volunteers can attest, this becomes very clear whenever I try to type curriculum at 11:30 at night on a Sunday because I remembered about twenty minutes earlier. All that being said… well, let’s do it anyway. And just like that, our martial arts school has a blog.

Every now and then I want to share my thoughts on things I see—or have seen—in the martial arts community, or even in life in general. The original reason I wanted to start this was simply as another way to share with my students. Then I thought, what the heck, let’s share it with everyone who wants to have a civilized discussion.

So before we begin, I want to make a small introduction as to who I am.

My name is Justin, and I co-own a small dojo in a small city called Barrie, Ontario. North enough that we get our fair share of cold and snow, but not north enough for real Canadians to consider it “the real north.” Sensei Nicole and I opened the dojo in 2018, providing instruction in Kenpo Karate, Grappling/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and various weapons.

I’ve been a martial arts enthusiast for as long as I can remember, probably because Dragon Ball Z was my favorite show growing up (tied with Pokémon). As a kid, I loved to play-fight. Every chance we got, my friends and I were wrestling around or playing king of the hill in the winter.

Finally, when I was seven, my mom said, “Well, if you wanna fight so bad, you might as well do it right,” and she enrolled me in Kenpo Karate. From there, I spent years training and eventually earned the rank of Sandan, while volunteering and teaching along the way.

My areas of knowledge and interest have always leaned toward Kenpo Karate and weapons; whether that’s Eskrima, various staffs, archery, or my latest hobby: learning European longsword at Barrie’s local HEMA club, D.W.A.R.F. This earned me the nickname “the weapons guy.” Not because I was the next great samurai, far from it, but because I always seemed to have some weapon in my hand.

Sensei Nicole, however, is pretty much the opposite. She loves Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, performance martial arts, and heavy bag work. Quite often the things I find the most monotonous. There really is a yin and yang aspect to our partnership, and our community is stronger because of it.

She started her martial arts journey similarly to me, but through cardio kickboxing. From there, her interest grew and she joined the Kenpo program shortly after. After (I believe) earning her Nidan in Kenpo, she gravitated toward Jiu-Jitsu. She now holds the rank of Sandan in Kenpo and was on the verge of earning her brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Together, we’ve been able to offer our students a complex and well-rounded martial arts program. While its foundation is Kenpo Karate, it incorporates ideas and techniques from other styles to help create more capable and adaptable martial artists.

In my opinion, and something I believe MMA has shown very effectively, is that no martial art is perfect. Every martial artist should strive to be well-rounded. To be prepared for the kinds of modern scenarios someone might face today, a martial artist should not only be proficient in different styles of fighting but also open-minded in their approach to training.

Since this is being written primarily for our students, I want to elaborate a bit more. To be prepared for self-defense in today’s world, there are four stages of a fight that someone needs to be ready for:

1. Striking

This is where you can hit someone, but you haven’t grabbed hold of them yet. Punches, kicks.This is generally where a fight begins. Learning how to defend against strikes, even if you’re a grappler,is extremely important because strikes can happen during all the following stages as well.

2. Close Range / Grappling

Anyone who has experienced the “gentle hug” of a BJJ practitioner, a wrestler, or a judoka knows what’s about to happen: they’re about to take you on the nastiest roller coaster ride imaginable. Yes, you can strike from this range, but you’re usually limited to things like elbows. Personally, most of my time spent here is trying to avoid having my head hit the ground.

3. Ground Game

Almost every fight starts standing, but many end up on the ground. Knowing how to get back to your feet is the minimum for anyone serious about self-defense. From breakfalls to controlling positions to escaping, the ground game is a powerful skillset.

I do want to caution students: when there could be multiple attackers, situational awareness becomes incredibly important. On the ground, sometimes the priority isn’t to submit someone it’s to escape and stand up.

4. Weapons Training

And no, I’m not being biased.

In Canada, we don’t see nearly as much gun violence as some places (though it is rising in the GTA and larger cities). But we do see some stick and edged weapon violence. Any martial artist will tell you that fighting a weapon unarmed is a gamble at best,a dangerous one. If a weapon is involved at all, your situation has instantly become: “How do I get away from this?”

This brings me to the last part of this article: the art of avoidance.

Now don’t mistake this for passivity. That’s not what I’m saying. As many people who seriously train martial arts eventually come to understand, self-defense isn’t about proving yourself,it’s about protecting what matters most.

As the saying goes:

“It is far better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener at war.”

Avoiding a fight, while still being capable of responding if needed, is a sign of wisdom not weakness. Fighting is chaos. Anything can happen. Do not confuse training with fighting. They aren’t the same, and assuming they are can get you hurt or worse.

We emphasize staying out of fights, whether that means fleeing or minimizing the chance of an altercation. But I’ll also stress that sometimes fighting is unavoidable. And when that happens, every person deserves the skills to protect themselves, their families, and their property.

So there we have it.Now you all know a little bit more about us—and at least my views on why we do what we do. I look forward to writing more about topics within the martial arts world.

If you, as the readers, have any topics you’d like to discuss or any constructive criticism, feel free to reach out. 

Let’s keep the discussion going.