Matthew Sylvester
Iain abernethy
Humility and the humble bow
Every martial art has at least some tenets or ideals that promote ‘goodness’. By goodness, I mean that they require the student to follow a set of morals and ethics, which would generally be viewed by the majority as good. These usually include humility, the ability to keep going no matter what (indomitable spirit), honesty/ … Continue reading
The Burgar Rating System
I recently put up a picture on showing an application for a move from one of the ITF patterns. The application is, to be honest, awful. It’s one that I use to indicate what is an awful application, and why is it awful. Aside from the obvious “that looks awful, it would never work”, I … Continue reading
Beyond the obvious in search of excellence
Bill Burgar is not someone most Tae Kwon Do practitioners will have heard of. This is mainly because he’s a Karate guy. Bill has done what very few people in modern martial arts do today. He spent 5 years looking at one pattern and seeing how he could apply the moves in a street self-defence … Continue reading
Open-mindedness is vital to success in the martial arts
As a former technical consultant and features editor for what were the four leading martial arts magazines in the U.K. I had the opportunity to meet a lot of great martial artists with an open-minded approach to training and evolution. I also et a lot of their students and, interestingly, a lt of these students … Continue reading
Matthew Sylvester 