Creating a Vision. An interview with Joe Lewis. Martial Arts Professional: 2/04

Transcription

1 Creating a Vision An interview with Joe Lewis Martial Arts Professional: 2/04 Martial Arts Professional: You have been an icon in the martial arts for four decades. Why have you waited so long to form a Joe Lewis organization? Joe Lewis: Originally I became involved in the martial arts for the same reasons most of us did. Not only was it fun and exciting, but the training appealed to my need to develop and mature as a person. Also, the camaraderie I enjoyed while working out with my fellow black belts was unmatched. Later, when I found myself being questioned by most of the top fighters about strategies, tactics, fighting attitudes, and training tips, I realized that it was time for me to become an instructor. During the next decade, many of my top black belts insisted that there was a need to form a Joe Lewis organization, and they asked me to be the head of it. Like Bruce Lee, I never wanted to give my fighting style a name or to start an organization or to write a book until I felt comfortable with the completed evolution of my research. MAPro: Some years you do nearly 100 seminars a year. Why add forming an organization to your plate? Lewis: I have always wanted to have all of my seminars recorded or to put my research into a permanent format where it could forever remain available to any interested martial artist. Seminars are very limited. My new book and website create the perfect forum to provide me with total access to the martial arts community. And, more importantly, it provides them with total access to me. MAPro: What do you hope to accomplish with a Joe Lewis organization? Lewis: To dignify the student s efforts and to pursue a common vision based on courageous leadership. While most blackbelt instructors spend up to 80 percent of their time teaching the beginning material over and over again, mostly to white belts, I have spent more than 80 percent of my time developing ways to advance the teaching skills of the black belt instructors, as well as to enhance the training methods and combat skills of black belts and world- class fighters. A good organization should embody a vision shared by all its members, and it should demonstrate a sense of leadership in its most basic form. For example, I will not ask you if you can accomplish something. But rather I will show you how to accomplish it. A teacher who represents cutting-edge concepts should never have a student ask can he make black belt, can he be fast, can he ever double his power? Our organization will teach you to have students who will instead ask how to become a black belt, how to increase their speed, how they can double their power.

2 MAPro: Who can join? Lewis: The doors to this organization are open to anyone. You do not even have to be a martial artist to join. This association is first and foremost an alliance of people. At the end of my book about training with Bruce Lee, I applauded how his vision made him a leading icon in martial arts history. Unlike any other martial artist, he was able to bring together millions of people of diverse backgrounds, enabling them to share the same future. He made all of them proud and excited to be martial artists. We want to do the same. MAPro: You are well-known for saying the only rank that matters is only rank that matters is black belt. Do you still feel that way? Lewis: I said a lot of things when I was young and arrogant. To me, pursuing mar tial arts was similar to going on a diet. I didn t understand why people would quit before reaching black belt. That attitude was out-dated and did not take into account the high cost of years of expensive tuition or the ongoing aggravation of sacrifices that many endure. Nor does it take into account that many black belt instructors lack combat skills or the ability to motivate students, not to mention not understanding the science of improving selfconfidence. I now believe that the majority of those who discontinue their pursuit of earning a black belt do it because of disappointments unrelated to a personal lack of genuine effort or honest intentions. When a student s instructor falls short as a motivator or instructor, or if his material is below the student s expectations, I would never blame him if he dropped out. MAPro: You are well-known for saying that there are two kinds of black belts: good ones and bad ones. How do you define a good black belt? Lewis: This subject would make a great book itself. But, briefly, if you have passed a battery of tests for your black belt promotion and you were conferred rank by a legitimate board or instructor, then in my opinion you are a black belt. One of my first schools gave out two types of black belts. One was rank earned by sparring, and another was rank earned by knowledge of a certain number of katas and wazas. The handful of those who received a sparring promotion also got a special seal attached to the diploma by the head instructor. Although I could beat some of these specially promoted black belts in a sparring match, I never received one of the fighting certificates. I also failed my first green belt test. During my old days as a Marine back in Okinawa, the Okinawan instructors put great emphasis on katas. I and a few others put our emphasis on fighting skills. Today, my opinion of what constitutes a good black belt has greatly changed from those days. Most people who love and participate in martial arts do not engage in combative sparring, nor do they place a high value on sparring skills. Instructors, though, want to know how to teach sparring and how to teach their students to better themselves when engaged in any form of combat. The idea of learning tactical combat skills, strategic mindsets, and teaching others to confront different opponent types appeals greatly to the skilled, modern-day black belt teacher.

3 In today s world, little emphasis is placed on who is the toughest. Most instructors strongly advocate the value of having the courage, will, and commitment to deal physically with a situation when they are forced, but not necessarily proving it in a sparring session or some type of king of the hill. Instructors today teach their students, especially children, to solve problems by communication, not by force. Otherwise, our kids grow up believing that adults condone violence and that problems get solved through force. The rank system is important for personal development. Each rank level gives a student a physical goal that symbolizes an accomplishment. Self-esteem leads to self-confidence. Martial arts training is a great self-confidence builder. Of course, I still believe that a good black belt must understand and demonstrate the warrior s spirit. Every student deserves an instructor who possesses cutting-edge combat tactics; the ability to see the hidden strengths within each student; and, finally, the ability to create inner courage and a sense of self-confidence in each student. MAPro: That said, then what makes a good organization? Lewis: First, make sure that it is set up on the premise of benefiting its members and not on magnifying an individual. Always place moral conscience above economic gain. A successful association has an administrative structure whose planning and efforts focus on the good of its members. Most associations collect dues until the end of the year, when they pass out a pile of meaningless awards at an over-priced banquet. This is why I have always shied away from organizations. I believe that good associations continually upgrade their services. They maintain easy access among the leadership staff and all members. They have mastered the secret of making membership more important than the association itself. MAPro: How can someone earn a black belt with you? Lewis: First, let me state with pride that our black belt certificate is the best looking diploma in martial arts. The outside border is pressed gold foil, and dead center of the certificate are three big words Black Belt Certificate. I ve always put more emphasis on the person s rank than the name of the association. We have a black belt manual, which is easy for any instructor to read and follow. On a black belt level, our manual lists 100 sparring combinations, which can be done either by a fighter or in a cardio class by any non-combat-oriented martial artist. Our glossary lists over 50 martial arts terms, such as broken rhythm, implicit timing, and so forth. We require each student to spend time developing his skills against various targets, bags, mitts, and so on, because without contact against a target, speed, power, and timing have no meaning. Whether a student is strictly a cardio fitness trainee or is pursuing higher rank as a martial artist, target skills are a must. Not only are they fun drills to learn and execute, but they are the quickest route to self-confidence. Our forms are called combination sequences. Each form is designed to teach the student how to confront and engage a different type of fighter. The forms can be executed in a shadow-fighting context or against a coach holding mitts or with the heavy bag or

4 double-end bag. Real fighting or combat combinations, which we call modules, are extrapolated from each of these various sequences. Our programs teach the student how to double his speed or power. Ninety percent of all mistakes in combat are mental, not physical. We teach instructors to show students step by step how to deal with the classic mistakes. All of this can be easily learned without ever engaging in actual sparring. For the everyday cardio fitness student, one advantage of exploring our manuals is seeing how easy it is to advance their skills step by step and acquire combat confidence without ever getting hit or engaging in sparring drills. MAPro: How old do you have to be to earn a Joe Lewis black belt? Lewis: With rare exceptions, our bylaws mandate that an individual must be 18 years old and have achieved either a brown belt or a black belt in another martial art system before they can test for a black belt in our system. Our board of directors recently promoted a 13-year-old multi-champion young man to the rank of junior black belt. We have, therefore, opened up rank qualifications to black belt for those under the age of 18 so that they can qualify as a junior black belt until such time that they can convert to an adult ranking. Our standards and requirements from first-degree black belt and above may be a little stricter than other associations. However, once you put that black belt on, the sense of personal pride is unmatched by anything else. I have won world titles; I ve starred in movies; I ve been on covers of all the major martial art publications; I m in over 15 halls of fame. But the thing that means the most to me is earning my first black belt. MAPro: How will this organization differ from the many other martial arts organizations? Lewis: In my 40 years of martial arts, I ve seen more attempts at creating organizations than I ever want to remember. But one organization has stood the test of time, and that is NAPMA. No other cross-style organization has done as much good for as many schools for as long. I want the same for my members. NAPMA s creator, John Graden, who is a seventh-degree in my system, will be working very closely with me to make sure that we give our members a huge return on their tuition. John knows how to build value in an organization. That s what I want. The organization is built around an exclusive website for our members. There they can ask me training questions, have personalized training programs developed for them, earn discounts on our events and products, have access to my personal training library, interact with other members, and even get a video private lesson delivered to their home each month to advance towards black belt. We will also have special members-only events where we can all get together and train. Our membership runs from the casual fan who just wants access to this amazing website, to the school owner who would like to open a Joe Lewis training center. MAPro: There is also some industry buzz about your book, The World s Greatest Fighter Teaches You: How to Master Bruce Lee s Fighting System. Is this your first?

5 Lewis: This is the first book have written. It s about my earlier training years with one of my instructors, Bruce Lee. Many martial artists have told me they are not interested in Bruce Lee, that they are only interested in me and my personal fighting system. For anyone to fully understand my system, however, they must first grasp both the essence and the attitude of my fighting psychology. Any smart martial artist or instructor will get his hands on this book. Without this book, you will not be able to answer one of the two most important questions that confront all martial artists: What is the most dominant psychological principle that motivates a person to want to fight or to engage in combat? Another interesting question that the book will answer is, what was Bruce Lee s vision that propelled him into super stardom and made him historically martial arts most famous icon? MAPro: What kind of support have you received for the book? Lewis: I have nine contributing writers who each provided a personal chapter about his relationship with Bruce Lee. This is a first in martial arts history: Ten notable martial artists, each contributing his experiences with the late Bruce Lee. Each of these contributors worked with Bruce Lee and also knew me. They are Joe Hyams, Danny Inosanto, John Korab, Gene LeBell, Jhoon Rhee, Mike Stone, Bob Wall, Ted Wong, and Chuck Norris. Many books have been published about Bruce Lee or about the two of us. Most were written by people who never met Bruce Lee or me or even watched us train or fight. This is history s first. MAPro: You ve always been on the leading edge of martial arts training. Now you ve become an author and teacher. Do you have plans for any other books or projects? Lewis: Presently, I am focused on my website, and training programs for our new subscribers and members. Eventually, I will do a multi volume encyclopedic training manual for all martial arts and fitness enthusiasts.