San Da and Black Mark
In 2001 I became associated with a gym that taught San Da here in New York called NYKK. It was formerly a strictly Kung Fu school who’s instructors saw opportunity in kickboxing and made the transition to a school that specialized in training San Da fighters. A successful and well known Team resulted known as the Monkeys. While not an actual team member, I had the priviledged opportunity to train with them.
When the two NYKK gyms supporting the Monkeys had internal difficulties that led to a dissolution of the NYKK team as it was and creation of the splinter NY San Da Team, most of us went our seperate ways. Nevertheless, we still remain a tight knit group of friends, regularly socializing and training together when we can. Because of this experience, I remain dedicated to promoting San Da and created the Battle of Brooklyn in early 2005 (www.battleofbrooklyn.com) primarily for this purpose. |
The 2004 NYKK Monkeys San Da Team |
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In February of the same year I met Lin Zhang, a two time 60 kg King of San Da from Shanghai. We became fast and close friends and have been training together ever since. This has been a great opportunity for me to learn San Da as it is taught and practiced in China, which tends to be very different than here in the US.
Me and Lin Zhang in 2005 |
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In spite of the relatively short period of time I have been involved in this world, as opposed to many others who have been involved nearly their entire life, it has transformed my life in fundamental ways. It has had an enormously positive impact on nearly every aspect of my life. My work now is almost entirely focused on promoting the sport and especially the sportsmanship that go along with it. I continue to meet people from all over the world that share this common bond and camaraderie.
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Thursday November 20th, 2008
