May 2008 Newsletter

Tell us a little about your life outside of PAMA and what you do for a living.

I try to live an active lifestyle playing soccer at least once every week, biking with my fiancé, skiing whenever possible and enjoying the outdoors. I am also trying to be healthy and nutritional and take care of the body I have. As far as what I do for a living… I work for a pharmaceutical company in the engineering department and deal with project controls and compliance, mostly documentation. I have worked on a number of construction projects and currently I am involved in a large biologics manufacturing facility the company is constructing in Massachusetts which is where I travel to every other week. When I am home I spend as much time as I can with my fiancé as well as the planning of our wedding which is less than 2 months away.

What year did you originally start training at PAMA and how did you hear about the Academy?

I originally heard about PAMA advertising Bruce Lee's art of Jeet Kune Do on a cable channel in the early 1990's, 1994 I think. At the time I was not playing soccer and was not nearly as active as I have become. I had always been interested in martial arts, especially Bruce Lee and now had the means to take classes. I started taking Jeet Kune Do classes and some Muay Thai at first. It was tough and helped me to build up my cardio. As I continued to take classes, about 4 a week at the time, I found Kali and Silat. After that I was hooked! I'll always remember my first seminar and it was with Pendekar Herman Suwanda. The first thing we did was pair up and one person sat on their own hands and parried punches with their feet. I've been loving it ever since.

As a returning student to PAMA, what did you miss most during your time off?

During the many years away from PAMA I trained on and off with the knowledge I had gained, some notes and some friends that knew other arts and one that was a prior PAMA student. I think what I missed the most was the organization. The program at PAMA I feel is very conducive to learning by building on knowledge gained from prior classes. Then a few months from now, maybe a year from now, Sifu will through a drill at you that you have only done once before, but with all the other aspects one learns, you get a new appreciation and understanding from past experience and carry that into this drill finding a comfort with it when it was so foreign the first time.

How do you feel about the Academy today and your perspective on training?

I feel the Academy today is still as much a wealth of knowledge as from when I first started at PAMA. Though the layout of the school has changed a bit the blue room and green room still bring back wonderfully fond memories and experiences. As I have gotten older and have found different priorities in life from my beginning days at PAMA training now has allowed me another outlet for life's stresses. It also has helped in my confidence since I am still comfortable doing what I had done a decade ago. I wanted to get back into training so that I could keep it fresh in my mind and maintain my body throughout the rest of my life. Continually learning new drills and flavors of old ones has been quite enjoyable.

If you could say some words of encouragement to someone who has taken some time off from training what would they be?

The hardest part was just the fact of making the decision to go back; taking the first step. But once I went back and took that "first" class, it was just like old times. It felt great doing drills that I had not done in more than 10 years and the feeling was wonderful. Yes there a bit of a learning curve. It took a little bit to get back in the rhythm but I found it extremely satisfying and rewarding.

What are your favorite arts and what do you enjoy most about your training?

Kali and Silat are definitely my favorite arts. I very much enjoy the weaponry of Kali. I feel that training with a weapon is very beneficial and gets me thinking differently. In Silat as well thinking is paramount. The constant analysis of ones opponent and positioning is so critical and I like the fact that my mind is getting a workout along with my body. The uniqueness of the two arts and the thought processes that come from the cultures that created those arts are very different from my life growing up in the United States. I find the mixing of the cultures within martial arts to be quite fascinating and what can be learned from another part of the world through the martial arts is incredible.