09/04/2026
I always feel a quiet sense of privilege when I come here. To listen, to learn, and to become a student again.
After 38 years in martial arts, I’ve come to understand something about myself that might sound strange: I don’t love teaching. People often ask why I still do it. The truth is simple I teach because I need training partners, because I still want to improve, to evolve, to keep pushing forward.
But here, Here I get to return to something different.
Training in Japan, learning under Masakazu Imanari sensei, brings me back to the feeling that started it all. It reminds me of why I fell in love with martial arts in the first place, just being in the room, absorbing everything, chasing improvement with no expectation other than to get better.
I’ve been teaching martial arts since I was 12 years old. For most of my life, I’ve been the one guiding others. So to come here, to be corrected, to struggle, to grow. It means more than I can really put into words. There’s something about this place, about this country, that you feel as soon as you step into it.
To be a student again, that’s the part I value most.
Thank you, Imanari sensei, for welcoming me again.
I’ll see you all soon.
