People may be curious as to my martial arts background since I am co-author on this forum. Besides working in law enforcement for almost 20 years I had training in several martial arts and combat sports. In high school I wrestled. As a young man I boxed and did TaeKwonDo for a short time. Later I did Hapkido for eight years. I got out of martial arts for a long time and in my mid forties started Kajukenbo which is a very rough and tumble eclectic art.
Often I write about my last instructor, Sigung Anthony Young, of Young's Kajukenbo in upstate SC. Sigung is physically one of the toughest and strongest individuals I have ever met. Six foot, and 250 pounds of flexible muscle, he is also one of the most talented martial arts teachers I have ever had the privilege of training under. From street fighting to kata and from grappling to sparring, he was good. I have never met anyone who could pick up the technical nuances of different arts as well as he could.
These days I do little martial arts training other than some very basic moves I put together from John McSweeney's old television show, In Defense of Your Life. They are simple, effective and don't require a lot of time to practice. At this stage in life I admire the athleticism in competition grappling, sparring, and kata. However, for me I am only interested in simple and effective self-defense techniques that can go with me anywhere and don't require warmups or extensive practice to execute.
Sigung Anthony Young
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