My journey thus far

I guess I should start this blog with who I am..

I am a 42 year old man working for a small start up. I can say that life right now is pretty amazing. I have been remarried now for almost 2 years, and we just found out we are pregnant. I live in a beautiful home in Calgary, Alberta Canada.

Life wasn't always so great. I had my share of windy roads..peaks and valleys, and obstacles.

I overcame a divorce in 2012, had to leave friendships of 20 years, and unfortunately buried my beloved father in April of 2016.

 I am proud to say that most of the obstacles have been dealt with through self help and self evaluation. My loves are Martial arts, comedy and traveling. My pet peeves are arrogance, greed and disrespect.

Martial art is probably the only thing that has not prevented me from going crazy in this world. It has taught me to both love myself, and keep the fire inside me stoked and kindled. Sometimes it has been a roaring blaze, sometimes a quiet slow burning hearth.

I have been in love with training since I was 17, I first walked into the U of A Tae Kwon Do club to get my mind more focused, and off of whichever the usual distractions that a high energy teenage boy had.

 Little did I know that the journey I would embark on when I first signed up at the club would take me. I still remember my first day of training. I wore Grey sweats and a white T shirt. I was a lean 115 pounds with 2 of those pounds being hair spray (do they even make hair spray anymore?).

 It was September of 1993, and all the new 1st year university students were trying out the club to see if they liked it. The classes quickly dwindled, but my October there was a solid 30 or 40 people training hard. Keep in mind, I was still in high school at the time and was pretty intimidated by the older fighters, but I could not get enough of it. Our instructors were quite traditional and the cardio vascular workout was like nothing I have ever experienced at that time. I was hooked the moment I saw it!

Styles I have trained : (Some Simultaneously)

Tae Kwon do - Master James Lo (Chuns Tae Kwon do) WTF - 8 years
BJJ - Arashi do/MMA University 3 years
Jeet Kune Do - JKAA(under Sifu Jay Cooper and Sara Jade Folk under the directorship of Harinder Saberwahl) - 3 years
Boxing - Darryl Duke/Ken Lakusta - Panther gym/Jay Cooper -Havoc / 10 years
Muay Thai- Mike Miles/Trevor Smandych - 4 years.




When I started training Tae Kwon Do in 1993, Tae Kwon Do was hands down the most popular Martial art in the world. There were literally 5-6 major full time Dojangs with Tae Kwon do Masters in Edmonton with branch schools all over Alberta.

I trained religiously every Monday/Wednesday/Friday at 7:00 pm.I would read books on Tae Kwon do and back ordered issues of TKD Times. I can truly say training and improving consumed my late teen years (I could have had a lot worse obsessions that TKD!) Tae Kwon Do made me a more disciplined person and definitely helped me concentrate on something that was productive. (thank God I never got into a fight back then as I would have had my organs turned into animal balloons!)

Around 1995/96, I started kickboxing on my off nights at Panther Gym in Edmonton (see pic below)

I was introduced to boxing by Chris Ring who was a regular at Panther gym as both a senior karate teacher as well as boxer. A young athletic layed back coworker of mine who to this day, has no idea what a positive effect he had on me at that time. Sometimes teachers appear when you least expect them.

I met Chris when I worked my first job ever at Sport Chek in 1993. I was a hyper 17 years old comedian of a kid who loved Tae Kwon Do and making people laugh. Chris was athletic, down to earth, and yet stoic in his responses. I found out he boxed and did Karate, and I picked his brain instantly. Upon asking him if I could train boxing and learn at his gym, he told me that anyone could join and invited me to the famed Panther Gym in Downtown Edmonton! My older brother had boxed in his younger days growing up in the UK, and I as a result grew up watching boxing, but stepping into a boxing gym (like Panther) and training was something else! 

 I had no car as a young broke 17 year old. I took two buses to get to my first day at the Panther gym (and proceeded to take two buses to that gym for 2 solid years!). I will never forget the first time I walked into a boxing gym. I could smell the meat from the deli upstairs, the ointment of A5-35 and the sound of people hitting the bag. My first thought was "I am home". It felt comfortable right away, as if I had gone back to a happy place.

The first person I met at the front counter was the legendary (and now deceased) Daryl Duke. Daryl owned the gym and took me through the paces of fighting stance and the jab and cross. He asked me if I had trained before, and when I told him that I wanted to start boxing, his face lit up a little and told me that I would "Love it".  Duke was soft spoken and incredibly kind.  Chris Ring spoke of Daryl Duke like a great friend and mentor, and after meeting Daryl , I can understand why Duke was held in such high regard. Daryl personified what a gentleman really was and he was as humble as he was down to earth. Duke's Boxing knowledge was old school, and very technical. Duke had no qualms about putting on gloves and sparring with anyone...and believe me...Duke could move at his mature age. More importantly, there was almost no where to train kickboxing back in those days. Any accomplished kickboxers had cross over from the traditional arts and had some boxing training to supplement. Darryl was essentially self trained, but was a force to be reckoned with in the ring.

Daryl was humble and approachable. He passed of blood complications in June of 2015 and the world is a sadder place without him here.
 Below on the left is Duke with the great Muhammed Ali. To the right is Duke in his hayday!

I boxed/kick-boxed (non competitively) at Panther Gym for about 2 years and then moved from Edmonton to Calgary to pursue a degree (which I never finished) and a fresh start on life.

 I started training at Mike Miles Muay Thai in 1998 I and I was HOOKED. National Kickboxing gym was amazing and Muay Thai was the transition I was looking for.  Though Mike Miles was a workaholic, and could be brash at times, Miles is still an incredible teacher, and I can say I learned more there than I ever did anywhere at that time in my life.

 I learned that my kicks did not mean anything if I could not put it together with punches and footwork. Kickboxing taught me grit that the sport of Tae Kwon do simply could not. I trained at the National Kickboxing gym until 1999, when I decided to move back to Edmonton to finish Computer school.
















At the age of 24, I had the sense of humor of a professional comedian, the energy of a race car and natural good looks. In the 3 years it took me to get a 2 year Diploma, I did not train Martial arts at all. I worked a part time job at a bookstore (Chapters South side Edmonton) and lifted weights at the now non existent "Club Fit". I took my skinny 125 pound body to 140 pounds. A solid 15 pounds of muscle that my 5'8 frame appreciated.

In retrospect, a part time job at Chapters became an influential decision that I never thought it would! It allowed me to be introduced to and be influenced by a couple of fantastic self help books. The two key books being "Maximum Achievement" and "Focal Point" (Both written by amazing self help author Brian Tracy). The principles from those two books helped me achieve almost every goal I set out after that, I still use Tracy's list principle when things in my head start to get foggy.

At that time in my life, I had tunnel vision and all I wanted to do was graduate. In retrospect, I wish I would have enjoyed the little things more. Sometimes life and real world pressures and obligations can really get the better of a person. My parents really put a lot of pressure on me to graduate, in that 3 year period, I felt like I was just making up for lost time by studying and being disciplined. I managed to graduate (with surprisingly high marks) from CDI college with a Networking Diploma. What at the time I thought was a half ass education,  actually ended up helping me get my first job in a call center, which opened up doors that most people would never think a call center job would!


 I still can't believe that the year 2000 - 2002 was 15 years ago! Just think that cell phones were just becoming popular, E-mail and pagers were still widely used. My 11 year old 2006 truck would have been a futuristic truck back then! Time sure is flying!

After a few too many hours on the internet after my divorce, I found myself constantly YouTubing about Wing Chun and JKD. I looked up JKD in Calgary and found myself at a garage gym in NW Calgary. My martial journey found me at Jeet Kune do and BJJ. I can honestly say that this is where it will stay. JKD is an ever growing model and will never cease to captivate my attention.

 Jay Cooper is hands down the best teacher I have ever had, I am proud to call him a friend of mine to boot. He is knowledgeable in both technique and history, and can break it down from a technical level to a street level, to a historical level (while still swearing and making us all laugh!). Below is Jay Cooper on the left with Harinder Singh Saberwahl on the right. Sifu Singh is an absolute phenom to watch, and Sifu Jay Cooper is as technical as he is sadistic to watch!

Sifu Cooper's technical ability is VERY impressive to say the least. He can break things down to a detail I have never seen. More importantly, Sifu Cooper COMES ALIVE when he teaches! Check out the below video for a taste of what this man can do (just a sip!!)

When I thought I had met the best martial teacher I could get my hands on, I met his teacher Sifu Harinder Singh, and Singh redefined what a Martial Artist was to me. Singh moves like a panther and his movement flows effortlessly.  Yet to speak to, Singh is as approachable as Sifu Cooper (only Sifu Cooper gives you a bigger hug when he meets you and swears way more)!

 I can not wait to see what the future holds for this chapter of training!