What does it take to be a sifu?

What does it take to be a good sifu?

I have been going through several martial art sites/forums and have seen many clips of people calling themselves a sifu. I know of some that call themselves a sifu but yet their sloppy in their teachings/techniques or just the way they do things. I will refrain from giving my opinion to start with as I want this to be a discussion on the questions and not my thoughts.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.


kent

Hi Kent
I've noticed the same things too. It seems there are people out there with the title "Sifu" who seem like they would be closer to an amateur student. I think in order to be a Sifu you have to spend years dedicated to your art. To be a good sifu you should have spent years training but also be able to teach very well.
Just my thoughts
Tom

Hello Kent!

What does it take to be a sifu?

You should have a very thorough, in-depth knowledge of the art that you are claiming to teach! Not only should you be able to teach others, but you should be able to lead by example. In other words, not just be able to show others how to do something, but be able to perform at a high level yourself!

What does it take to be a good sifu?

There are basically three kinds of Sifus:
1. Those that can teach but can't fight that well.
2. Those that can fight but can't teach that well.
3. Those who can teach and fight (has experience using what he teaches). In other words, not only can the Sifu teach you how to do something, but he has the skill level to effectively apply it himself!

Of course, in my opinion, the best type is number three. That is what I have always strived for! I know that Jeet Kune Do works, because I have applied it time and time again! Practical experience is easily one of the best teachers!

Keep Blasting!
Sifu Lamar M. Davis II
Senior Instructor
Hardcore Jeet Kune Do
Sifu@HardcoreJKD.com
JKD@windstream.net
http://www.HardcoreJKD.com
Phone (205) 296-7070 (Incoming Only)

"Hit Hard, Hit Fast, Hit First - ALWAYS!"

"The REAL future of Jeet Kune Do belongs to US, the few, the proud, the HARDCORE! Now, what are we going to do with it?" _ Sifu Lamar M. Davis II

To Teach or Pointing to Enlighten?

"The good teacher discovers the natural gifts of their pupils and liberates them by the stimulating influence of the inspiration that they can impart, never imposing laws of containment or stigma on them"

For All Teachers




Lamar.....I would have to agree about the three different kinds of Teacher that you have talked about.....I have seen very few that are both a fighter & a teacher

I have heard from elders that you are both, keep up the great work! I've been told by these people that I am both as well. I think it comes down to passion at what we do and God in the heart of things...That makes the bid difference... :-)



Keep "IT" Real,
John McNabney

That's a good question Kent. I guess Sifu is a term used by many chinese martial arts sytems. But if I wanted to (and I'm not) couldn't I make up some fanciful "martial arts" system and call myself a Sifu? I'm sure theres no "Sifu Regulatory" system out there. You can always check the credentials of an accredited Sifu, like Sifu Davis, but couldn't some kung-fu huckster sucker people who don't know better, or worse still, make up a bunch of phoney credentials that can neither be proved or disproved? I've had to wonder that myself when see these ads in magazines with people calling themselves Sifu, like in Black Belt magazine. They have people awarding black belts based on videos and the "honor sytem". I'm sure someones doing it with the title "Sifu".

Hello Eric!

The sad thing is, I have seen certification in Jeet Kune Do (concepts of course) for sale on eBay for $140.00. Pay $240.00 and you can also be a certified instructor of Filipino kali and Indonesian penjak silat! These certificates mean that you are certified AS SOON AS YOU PAY THE MONEY!!!!!

The thing is, the certifying instructor backs you up if someone calls him asking about your credentials! But here is the kicker ... they will tell someone that yes, you are certified under them, but they leave the details up to you! In other words, you are free to make up any story or stories that you want to supposedly backup your training and experience! Can you imagine if you had been a student, paying this person money for a year or more, then findout that he bought his certificate for $140.00?

Talk about something making me sick! I have worked my butt of and trained for forty years to be where I am today, then some turd comes along and buys a certificated for $140.00! Pathetic!

Keep Blasting!
Sifu Lamar M. Davis II
Senior Instructor
Hardcore Jeet Kune Do
Sifu@HardcoreJKD.com
JKD@windstream.net
http://www.HardcoreJKD.com
http://www.DragonBlastMA.com
Phone (205) 296-7070 (Incoming Only)

"Hit Hard, Hit Fast, Hit First - ALWAYS!"

"The REAL future of Jeet Kune Do belongs to US, the few, the proud, the HARDCORE! Now, what are we going to do with it?" _ Sifu Lamar M. Davis II

Well, Brother Kent has presented us with yet another thought provoking topic. I feel particularly blessed to have worked with four great men, leaders, friends, fathers, brothers in my relatively short time in Martial Arts(3 yrs). Along with having an undying appreciation,love and historical knowledge of the art in question, I feel these qualities are important for those considered great Sifu's.

Of course a great lineage, and level of technical skill are important as well, but another thing I think is important is someone that practices what they preach! A great Sifu is finely tuned, physically fit and is someone you want to emulate and not someone whose class you loathe going to. Props to the men that bathed me with their passion for Wing Chun,Jun Fan/JKD and JKD:

Sifu Ed Berger-Wing Chun
Sifu Francis Fong-Wing Chun
Sifu-Luigi Cuellar-Jun Fan/JKD
Sifu-Lamar Davis-JKD

A common thread is that I am scared of all these guys(smile). In the sense that I have never had a flimmering moment, where I would think I could take any of them, so a good degree of awe is helpful too!

Jeff

This is going to be a long and multi-paged entry from me, so bear with it. Great question, Kent. You have opened one of the few gates that I feel extremely passionate about, and enough to expound my inner thoughts on the subject.

I take the teaching of the martial arts very seriously. I have a belief system in place in regards to my martial arts life and teaching/being taught is one I have put a lot of thought into.

I was once asked "Why do you teach" and I couldn't quite answer that question with anything other than "well, because I just love to do it and I know that is what I was meant to do". But, I didn't think that answer was enough or did me justice.

Then one day I was reading one of my "Rogue Warrior" books and I found a statement made by the author that truly stood out in my mind. He said that in order to be a good leader, you have to believe in something that is greater than yourself. And in my opinion, being a teacher is the same thing as being a leader.

I thought that was quite profound. So, what do I believe in that is greater than myself. Well, not to sound egotistical, but I know I was born to teach the martial arts. I am no master or anything like that, but I have always had a knack for getting through to my students. Anyway, I believe that I was given this as a gift and it is my responsibility to pass it on to others. There are people out there that NEED self defense, and NEED to be able to use martial arts as a vehicle for some facet of their lives. If I SERVE my students and give them the best that I can at all times and put their needs before mine, it will come through in my teaching.

That is what I look for in instructors that I seek out for myself.

You see, I believe that learning is chemical and we have to match how we learn to who we learn it from. for instance, suppose that you had three JKD instructors to choose from in your area. They were all reasonably priced and equally qualified. You go to the first instructor's school and find out that he has never fought a soul, but was super nice and easy to get along with. Then you go to the second instructor's school and see that he is very serious, dedicated, and has real-world experience....but is an A-hole. However, the students all seem to be really really good. Then you check out instructor three who teaches out of a garage, doesn't charge much money, they only train on the weekends, and they take a more casual approach to training and everybody seems decent at it, but they get along.

Given that dynamic, who do you pick?

Sensie Kreese from the Cobra Kai or Mister Miyagi? LOL

I once went to a grappling school right across the street from my apartment. the price was no problem and all the students were really good...but the instructor was a punk and walked around like he was the king of the streets. I left after the first week. Then I found a grappling instructor who didn't charge me a penny and was not as good as the first guy and they trained in his living room. I learned more in a day there than I did in a week at the other place, and the instructor became my close friend.

to be continued....

Sifu Davis. In my opinion, the best Jeet Kune Do Instructor in the world, bar none! Although, if he decided to give up teaching JKD, he could be just as good at teaching, say....auto mechanics, yoga, or house painting. LOL The reason being, is he is extremely thorough and probably does more research on what he teaches than anyone in his realm! Plus, you would know that he was the best at actually applying the things that he teaches. I mean, how many college professors in their field of expertise, have actually experienced what they teach about. A good example is the movie "Back to School" with Rodney Dangerfield. There was a scene where he was in business class, and the professor came up with a project. But, Rodney's character found holes and flaws and had the class taking notes from him! LOL All because of his real world experience.

But, beyond all of that, to me what makes him a great Sifu is his love for teaching and his generous nature. He gets a lot of undue attention from around the JKD world, and I have personally been involved in more than enough battles with people over him and my relationship with him. What usually wins those battles is when I express to his nay-sayers that the reason I train with him is that he is my friend and treats me like a brother. He always listens when I have a real problem and has shared some of his with me. Not many instructors in the world are willing to do that. they just demand their pay and usher you out the door when class is over.

Here is a list of other intructors I have peronally trained with, either through seminars, privately, or on a continuing basis, in no particular order.

Sifu John Lewis -- Kung Fu
Sensei Phil Thrash -- StreetWise
Grandmaster Robert Parham -- Kickboxing/Comba-Tai
Professor Manuel Arcos -- Kajukenbo
Sifu Jerry Smith -- Jeet Kune Do/BJJ
Kru Phet Phongsavane -- Muay Thai
Guro Freddy Reyes -- Pekiti Tirsia
Carlos Machado -- BJJ
Rigan Machado -- BJJ
Xande Ribeiro -- BJJ
Raphael Lovato Sr & Jr -- BJJ
Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller -- BJJ
Sifu Larry Hartsell (RIP)
Sifu Leo Fong -- JKD
Klay Pittman -- BJJ
Robert DeFranco -- BJJ
Frank Cucci
Tony Blauer
Richard Ryan

I may be leaving some out that I can't recall right off the bat, but out of those, the ones that have made the most impact on me have been;

Sensei Phil Thrash, Sifu John Lewis, Carlos Machado, Tony Blauer, Jerry Smith, and GrandMaster Parham. Not that the others aren't amazing, but these men have helped me tremendously throughout my training. And as I posted before, Sifu Davis goes at the top of any list I could come up with.

As others have said before, there are a ton of wannabe's in the world, especially when it comes to $$. The only thing that turns me off to instructors is professing to teach people how to defend themselves and yet never actually broach the subject. Teaching people 'gun disarms' or knife defense with no base in reality is something that drives me up the wall. To me, that is an instructor that has no integrity and only cares about the $$, not their students well-being.

My best friend and student, Brandon Bryant, started off training when he was 9 years old under a guy that I like to call...well, KarateTurd seems fitting. Brandon won basically every single tournament he ever entered in every category, forms, weapons, and fighting. He was a nice poster child for the school, and continued his winning streak for years to come. Brandon was extremely dedicated to his training, and highly loyal to his teacher. There was a time when Brandon didn't have any money to pay, so he worked at the school doing everything the teacher didn't want to do. He swept, cleaned the bathrooms, took out garbage, handed out flyers, taught the kids classes, assisted with Demo's...basically anything he could to pay for his training.

He let me see the video of his Black Belt test. There were about 10 other guys, most of them adults, testing with Brandon. By far, Brandon was far superior to any of the people in the test.

Then one day his brother-in-law (also a black belt under KarateTurd) opened his own school, about 30 miles out of town. He asked Brandon to help him get it started, and help teach some of the new students. So, being family, Brandon did just that. Meanwhile, he was still a student under KarateTurd. Well, when KT found out, he called Brandon all kinds of names, and jumped his ass up one side and down another. Called him disloyal and all sorts of stuff. Keep in mind, Brandon was only 15 at the time!

So, KT has a nice school, all the bells and whistles...typical Karate Dojo you see everywhere. He has a lot of students and makes a good bit of $$ doing so, even though he treats his students like crap. Not a champion among them. That ended when Brandon left.

Brandon on the other hand teaches out of a Gymnastics school and barely has 10 students at a time, yet, they are all good guys and one or two are very proficient at what they do, and all of them love Brandon.

I believe that the BEST Sifu is the one that is a friend, mentor, and leader. I think it's great that people can achieve individual success, but my proudest moments aren't beating others or showing off what I can do, rather when my students do.

I would say that the greatest compliment I have ever heard from Sifu Davis, is when he told me how good a job I did with Brandon. I recieved the same compliment from other instructors, but Sifu Davis' meant the most to me, and it just goes to prove that Sifu Davis knows what he is talking about. Before I introduced Brandon to Sifu Davis, I introduced him to Carlos Machado, and even though it's a completely different art, we are talking about a legendary martial artist. He said that Brandon was really awesome and actually took him aside to talk to him one on one. He told me that I did a great job for such a short period of time. Then to have Sifu Davis say that and more, was the icing on the cake for me!

Now, to have the students that Brandon teaches become successful and pour it on to those that they spar with goes to show that the gift of teaching and being a good "Sifu" has been properly passed down.

when you said long you really meant it. Good replys so far still waiting for more till I post mine.

Kent

All have made good points on what a good sifu should be or should do. But just as the term/word sifu implies he should be a good father. The sifu is in fact your martial arts father. So he should treat you as a martial arts child. Bad sifus more or less make bad children. If the sifu is teaching (useless)junk then junk will be taught farther down the future lineage as in the pay so much and become instantly certified family. If the sifu is any good they will know that the way they teach will be reflected in the students. Bad kids bad upbringing. Now if the kid becomes a wayward kid after he has been taught the correct way then that kid is just stupid and should not reflect on the teacher/sifu.

If you want a good example look at sifu Lamar. If any of his students regardless of rank/experience he will stop the whole calsss make a point of telling everyone what is being done wrong without singling anyone out unless it takes it. Then if that is the case he will tell that person in a non embarrasing way. He wants us to be successful in all that we do especially in JKD. He will take the time to explain and show you something till you get it. We don't have to just figure it out. He is a mentor, a friend and an example of what a good teacher should be.

Kent

"What does it take to be a good sifu?

There are basically three kinds of Sifus:
1. Those that can teach but can't fight that well.
2. Those that can fight but can't teach that well.
3. Those who can teach and fight (has experience using what he teaches). In other words, not only can the Sifu teach you how to do something, but he has the skill level to effectively apply it himself!"

Okay, then.

Ignoring the fact that I refuse to be called sifu, am I a good sifu and if so, which type am I? If not, remember, I know where you live. :-)

I think I would only want to have an instructor like #3 (like Sifu Davis) or #2. Teaching is definitely a skill, but if you can't fight you're only teaching theory. And if you can't fight, then the theory you are teaching obviously sucks. I'm lucky enough to train under a Sifu who can both fight AND teach, but barring that, I'd want to learn from someone who may not teach too well, but can fight. If you are attentive like a good student, you still should be able to pick something up. And you'd know what you did learn was obviously effective and had been applied in a real world setting. For the guy who can't fight, but can teach, well obviously whatever he teaches well isn't very effective. That's why I wouldn't dream of being a Sifu (in JKD) unless I had proven myself many times on the street. Not sparring, not simulated drills, but actual real-world combat in a street setting. Of course thats why I have no plans to be a Sifu, but if I did I would be a bouncer for a while before hand. Sometimes I am tempted to test my skills for good or bad... Not starting anything of course, but not walking away from confrontations or disputes as I have many times. Am I wrong for this? Does this go against the martial way? How else can one honestly test himself?

Hello Steve! From all accounts I'd say you would have to be a 3! I have never met you, however I have been taught things by you over the Internet. And Lamar told me you were a bad ass and if he thinks you're a bad ass you must be!!!! So there you are! 3! Respectfully, Lance Webb

Steve is definitely a 3 - no doubts.

Everything he has ever shown me or others (that I witnessed) he has immediately put into pactice (against some poor soul - or me).

There are basically three kinds of Sifus:
1. Those that can teach but can't fight that well.
2. Those that can fight but can't teach that well.
3. Those who can teach and fight (has experience using what he teaches). In other words, not only can the Sifu teach you how to do something, but he has the skill level to effectively apply it himself!"

Hmmm? I'm a type 3? Well, here's the problem: Since I never fight, I don't know and you don't know if I can fight. I'll do all in my power to never find out. I really do believe that fighting has no winners. It's enough that I teach, at least for me. Each person has to decide if they want to learn from someone who refuses to find out if he can fight. I place people who care about others high above people who fight with others.

A martial artist who will not fight. What next?

Hello Steve!

It is great to see you posting on the forum! I hope you will visit and post more often! I admire your attitude about fighting. I try to do the same, only my past work outside of teaching has caused me to fight quite often! It would be nice to think that I could go the rest of my life without ever getting into another fight! In fact, I'm going to work towards that goal!

Keep Blasting!
Sifu Lamar M. Davis II
Senior Instructor
Hardcore Jeet Kune Do
Sifu@HardcoreJKD.com
JKD@windstream.net
http://www.HardcoreJKD.com
http://www.DragonBlastMA.com
Phone (205) 296-7070 (Incoming Only)

"Hit Hard, Hit Fast, Hit First - ALWAYS!"

"The REAL future of Jeet Kune Do belongs to US, the few, the proud, the HARDCORE! Now, what are we going to do with it?" _ Sifu Lamar M. Davis II

Sometimes you have to fight for those you care about! Lance