Over the years I have have been involved with some martial arts forums. The one I was most involved with was Christoper Caile's Fightingarts.com. By far the greatest benefit of being involved with the site was ultimately meeting many of the members of the online community in person. Among those many folks that I have visited with is Brad Burkund. Brad is and an Ashihara Karate practioner living and teaching in Californina. The first time I met Brad was on a trip to visit my teacher's, teacher for his 84th birhday.
Brad and I had interacted on the forum and when I told him I would be in his neck of the woods he offered to meet me at the hotel where I was staying. I had limited time and other obligations on that trip so we really did not get to train together. We talked for a couple of hours and plowed through a pizza. At the end of the night as we walked to his car he introduced me to Ashihara's approach to the thigh kick. That my friends, was an eye opener. He sent some video of their training to me when I returned home. After I viewed the video I realized that I got off lucky with just the thigh kick.
Since that first brief encounter we have had additional opportunities to visit and train together. He has family in Kansas and has been kind enough to fit us in when he has come through town. My time with him has may me reconsider my approach and include aspects of his training that have benefited my students and myself. Brad is a very technical martial artist and teacher. The most impressive quality as I look back on the visits was his impectable timing that is impossble to explain. It must be experienced. One of the other high points of his visits is that he does not come by himself. His lovely wife has been our guest too. She is a seemingly demure lady whose timing with her words is a as subtle a masterfully placed as her husbands kicks.
Recently they celebrated the birth of their first child. Because of our time online and time together my wife and I have something to celebrate too, extended "family" in California.
How about you? Have any you had friendships on line that turned into flesh and blood friendships or training partners?
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2 comments:
Brad is a cool dude and an awesome friend.
-Joel
Honestly, I would have told you 5 years ago that friendship found in cyberspace could not be as "real" as found around the corner. My experience has proven me wrong. One, I was best man for my old roommate who just had twins and who has been married for 7 years to a gal he met on-line.
Also, my conversations with Joel and a few others over time, including you Mark and Matt, have reconciled me to the fact that regardless of the origins of association, these friendships remain as honest and as good and as real any made other ways. Besides this inception point and the proximity, I can't find anything to differentiate friendship. It is or it isn't and takes as much effort to maintain.
The only real difference, I suppose, is one of expediency, since I can still communicate faster and better at work when e-mailing others, and that would include people I have become friends with locally as well as on-line, but not be able to set up a dinner for the weekend with those half-way across the States.
I have been lucky enough to train with, I think, six people I have met on-line. And better yet, these have been good people. Mileage, as they say, can vary; and maybe I am just happily at the top of this particular bell curve.
-Brad
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