Kevin O'Hagan | Articles

Fitness

Old values, new horizons

Combat recently caught up with veteran reality based Martial Artist Kevin O’ Hagan who was recently been awarded his 7th Dan black belt full masters level grade in combat jujutsu.

An extremely high level of achievement.

It shows the time and dedication Kevin has devoted to the Martial Arts. He is still an active figure on the scene, on the mats and training hard. ‘Still seeking the perfect technique’, he will tell you. We asked him talk about old school Martial Arts values and training and how they stack up in comparison to the modern day methods, and if they work together or not. Here is what Kevin said from his 35 plus years involvement in the Martial Arts world.

I remember the first time I walked into a Martial Arts class. It was in the year of 1975. The class was a Kung Fu taster session. A dozen or so of us lined up in this dusty and sparse church hall to face a scary looking gentleman decked out in a black gi with the ‘coveted; black belt around his waist.

I was nervous but also excited. As a fourteen year old lad, I was living the dream of following my then idol Bruce Lee’s footsteps to Martial Arts fame. That first episode didn’t last long as within the first two weeks of training, the instructor buggered off with the membership fees!

Undeterred by this minor problem, I found another class in another dusty church hall teaching “Pak Mei” Kung Fu. I was off on my journey properly this time.

Little did I know that Martial Arts would have such a huge influence on my life and shape my very being forever? 35 years down the line and I am still actively training and teaching and have seen many, many changes along the way. I have also achieved every goal I set myself on my journey.

I have lived and trained through the kung fu/karate era of the 70, s.The taekwondo and kickboxing craze of the 80’s.Mauy Thai, Grappling, BJJ and reality combat of the 90,s and the massive rise in popularity of MMA and cage fighting of the 2000’s.It’s been a long career which has seen me re-event myself more times than Madonna. But one thing I learnt is you must sink or swim. For longevity in any career you have to be prepared to change and grow. You can’t rise on your laurels, you will be left behind.

For example I read about the Gracie family and the no holds barred arena back in 1995.I was already playing around with and teaching what was to eventually become MMA way back in 1993.I first experienced Brazilian jujutsu in 1996 on a seminar in London with Franco Vacirea, a BJJ black belt based in Switzerland realised right back then how huge this art was going to be and the massive change it would have on the Martial arts world. I have also been lucky to get the opportunity to talk and train with BJJ legends such as Royce and Renzo Gracie, John Machado, Mario Sperry and Antonio Rodrigo Noguira. Either you get aboard the boat or you miss it. I knew I had to be aboard. Many buried their heads in the sand and paid the price. I first trained in Japanese jujutsu in 1984 competed in the jujutsu kumite and BJJ in 1998 and last fought in the pro MMA cage at 43 years old in 2005.That is a massive time span.

So you need to grow and this has all been good but other things have slipped a little, which is a shame. In this day and age, everybody and their dog has got a black belt. Every second person you speak to has practised some kind of Martial Art at one time or the other. Back in 1975 when I started out Martial Arts was still very secretive. You had a job in my hometown of Bristol to hunt down a club. The black belt was a thing to revere. It was like the Holy Grail. I passed my 1st Dan black belt in 1986 and gained my 7th Dan in 2009.

Somewhere in the eighties and nineties, the black belt lost its mystique due mainly to large associations and organisations given them out like Smarties to everyone and anyone. The standards dropped for the glint of money. People were picking up 2nd Dans less than a year after their 1st Dan. I was always told you wait the equivalent time in years between Dan grades. This to me is the right way.

Back in the day, the black belt was hard earned. The practitioner went through some very harsh and cruel training under incredibly tough task masters. I trained under many top Japanese instructors and no quarter was given or asked for. Yes I admit it was a little bit of blind faith but you just didn’t question the Sensei.

Martial Arts taught me discipline. Through the harsh training, I developed a strong mind and body. Plus a work ethic that translated into other areas of my life too.

At fifteen years old, I was a small, slightly built youth (not the incredibly fit specimen you see today, haha). I trained with full grown men and they didn’t make any allowances for that fact: young, old, male or female, you were all expected to do the same thing: thousands of knuckle push-ups, sit-ups, squats, smashing forearm against forearm for blocking practise, being kicked in the guts to condition your abs, a partner pulling or kicking away your legs to stretch you. Smashing your fists to they bleed on the Makiwara boards. It was all done with no mercy. If you drunk water back then in a class or on a seminar, you were regarded as a ‘poof’. I have trained on six hour seminars and the only time you could drink was in the 15 minute lunch break.

I underwent one of my instructors, Sensei Mickey Upham’s infamous ‘in the woods’ sessions, where a total beasting was giving in isolation so nobody heard the screams (I kid you not). I have seen grown men broken in these sessions. The work was immense, the pressure at boiling point. A lot of people in this day and age would baulk at this sort of training.

I’m not debating whether this type of training is good or bad. I am just pointing out the fact that it disciplined you to get through discomfort. It was character building and there were some monster Martial Artists in this era, as there were in the 50s and 60s.I am pleased and privileged to say I have got to train with some of the very best and they all have greatly influenced and inspired me in different ways.

The list is massive; so long I couldn’t list them all. But maybe some of these names will illustrate the length of time and varied training I have received. Wally Jay, Brian Jacks, Neil Adams, Terry O’Neil, Gary Spiers, Chiba Sensei, Kanetsuka Sensei ,Brian Dossett ,Bryan Cheek, Richard Morris, Larry Tatum, DaveTurton, Geoff Thompson, Peter Consterdine, Bob Breen, John Machado, Erik Paulson, Bas Rutten, Quinton Jackson it goes on and on......

Without all the aforementioned, we wouldn’t have the generation upon generation that train in Martial Arts today. Today as yesteryear, we have great fighters, great Martial Artists and great instructors, just as today as yesteryear we have poor fighters, poor Martial Artists and poor instructors.

For me, Martial Arts were my life, not something I did a couple of times a week. I lived and breathed it and to some extents still do. I had no time for the recreational trainer who would waltz in and out of training when the mood took him. I expected him to be giving 100% just like me. When I became an instructor, I raised the bar more and again expected people training with me to do the same.

Anybody who didn’t fell by the wayside.

The classes were brutal when I look back on them. I took a three hour class at one venue from 7 o’ clock to 10 o’ clock. The first hour was a ‘balls to the wall’ session of conditioning followed by two hours of hard core Ju Jutsu training.

As far back as the late eighties, I was mixing Ju Jutsu throws and takedowns against somebody boxing or kick boxing you. It was all very crude in nature but it was an eye opener. I was only interested in what would work in the streets and in live combat. I wasn’t into any sporting applications at that time. In later times I got to experience ‘The animal day training of Geoff Thompson, in its embryonic stages. The same goals were being explored therein a very tough manner.

To me, Martial Arts were arts of war, designed for the battlefield. That’s how they had to be trained. Yes, my classes weren’t big because of that view but I had some extremely tough guys and girls.

My thoughts are that you have got to put in the time to be good at anything. Some people’s perception of putting in time is miles apart from others. As an example, I will get a guy who wants to fight in a pro MMA cage fight. He is training three times a week and he believes he can fight pro. Rubbish. To fight professionally you need to be training, eating and resting like a pro. Training twice a day six days a week is what a real pro does. If you can’t stretch to that regime, then you shouldn’t be fighting pro.

Some guys just haven’t got the work ethic. In their minds they think they want it but in reality they can’t do it. Hell if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. There is a quote which sums up my thoughts on this excellently: “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”

It is the same with drilling techniques. When I trained under the Japanese in Aikido/ Aikijutsu, your hour and a half session was taken up practicing two or three techniques. Yes sometimes it was mind numbingly boring but by God you got good at those moves.

Now I teach a class and some individuals practise a move a dozen times and then are looking around for something else to do. ‘What shall I do now’? They ask. ‘Get your ass in gear and do it another fifty times, is usually the answer. Great and productive work ethic produces great and productive results. I love quotes; here is another of my favourites. ‘If you only do what you always do, you only get what you always get’!

Other old school values also instilled in me are respect and humbleness. The very best Martial Artists I have ever met were humble people. They didn’t have to impress on you how good they were. Just by walking into a room their very presence would do it. When they taught their stuff you knew how good they were.

I have met many Martial Artists the other way inclined and want to impress on you how deadly they are in the first five minutes of meeting them. They are legends in their own minds. As President Roosevelt once said, “Walk softly and carry a big stick.” I couldn’t agree more.

Respect is paramount for a true Martial Artist. I honestly try never to rubbish anybody else or what they are doing. The Martial Arts world is a big wide one and there is plenty of room for everybody. I do have my thoughts and feelings on what I see as the right way to train or teach but I also respect it is my opinion and not necessarily others. As long as those individuals afford me the same respect, then everything is cool.

Respect also on the mats is paramount for me. I don’t necessary want to be addressed as Master or Sensei which my grades denote. I have never been a 100% comfortable with this but in the same token I don’t want somebody strolling onto my mats calling me mate or pal. I have earned the right for my respect and I expect that. Back in the day that sort of disrespect brought you a beating from some quarter. If you didn’t bow on or off a mat you where slaughtered. I love discipline and respect. In some quarters these days that is sadly lacking. Maybe this is a sign of the times.

Also loyalty is on the slide. I don’t mean blind following for the hell of it, but attempt to train long enough with one instructor to get to know were he is coming from before bad mouthing him and going somewhere else. Some individuals think the grass is always greener elsewhere and carry on flitting from one mat to the next until they stop training all together. If you do want to train elsewhere then afford your instructor the respect once again to tell him. He may have broke his back to help you achieve your present skill s don’t just walk off without a word of thanks. There will always come that awkward moment when you bump into him in ‘Tesco’!

I still have immense respect for my past instructors, coaches and fellow colleagues. Even if we have gone our separate ways or moved in different paths, I recognise there was a time when they influenced and helped me greatly. Just because I moved on doesn’t mean they have suddenly become bad instructors or inferior to me. Nobody teaches better just differently.

I have had many great Martial arts and fighters train under me for years and then moved on. That is their choice and that’s fine. I still follow their careers with interest and I am always available to give any help or advice. My door is always open. You can’t hold grudges. Live is too short. If I have helped these people in some way and touched their lives then I have done my job as an instructor.

This is a pointless part of Martial Arts: the constant bickering about better styles, systems, instructors, and students, etc.

I think the massive reality explosion of the late 90s along with the UFC, MMA etc dispelled a lot of these arguments and got people to put up or shut up. It is as simple as that really.

I am not saying that just because you haven’t fought in the cage you are a poor Martial Artist or if you haven’t ‘worked the doors’ you can’t handle yourself. But if you really believe in your stuff being the best here is the ultimate arena to prove it. Many instructors over the years built huge reputations on very shaky foundations. I admire the men who have put those reputations on the line. I know, I have been there myself a few times myself.

I am in many ways am an old school instructor who has embraced the new and adapted and evolved with it rather than ignoring the changes. You can only bury your head in the sand for so long until somebody comes up and kicks you up the ass.

I fully believe that there are no new techniques, just different ways of doing them. Some of the best tried and tested techniques of today have been around for centuries. Everything eventually comes full circle.

Today’s Martial Artist is extremely fortunate in that they have a wealth of learning at their fingertips. The internet has opened up the door for fast track learning. There are millions of Martial Arts websites and YouTube can find you just about any technique on the planet.

Also there are millions of Martial Arts clubs. A vast worldwide network to go and train with is waiting at the click of a button. Also, just about every style common or obscure can be sought out if you wish to train in it.

Training today is also more open. Styles will integrate and share knowledge. People can go and train at other clubs or classes without being banned from their own schools which did happen back in the day. The old school rivalries have seemed to have gone mostly and that’s great for the practitioner. They can accumulate so much more knowledge. Today’s instructor can be much more knowledgeable than their old counterpart simply because they have more to work with and easier access to it

When I was training in the 70s and early 80s, I had to travel most weekends to find clubs to train at. At the time, there was no Ju Jutsu (my base art) in Bristol or the South West. Every weekend found me at a different train station and ready to spend the day or weekend on a seminar.

Also the only other source of learning was through books and there were only a handful of really good booksellers that stocked any worthwhile Martial Arts material beyond the Bruce Tegner

Karate series and’ the step by step guide to Judo’. You had to send off to the States for the good stuff and shipping back then cost a fortune plus you never knew if the book would ever arrive. In this day and age, Amazon will get you anything by the next day if you want it.

Yes training and knowledge were hard sought after in those years. How things have changed in that respect for the better. But with that said and all this information available, it is important we don’t turn into a ‘jack of all trades and a master of none.’

For me I have learnt a massive amount of technique from many sources. I have accumulated some hardcore and unusual stuff. When I stepped outside the reigns of Traditional I was fortunate to train with a lot of maverick instructor doing reality based stuff that was groundbreaking. A lot of these men no longer teach or train .Some are now well into their 60’s and 70’s. I feel that I have a duty to keep these techniques alive. The combat jujutsu, Japanese jujutsu, kodai ryu and Goshin ryu, systems I learnt will die out unless instructors like myself keep it going. I still love the fact that legendary combat jujutsu men like Trevor Roberts and Dave Turton are still on the scene. These guys are walking combat encyclopaedias.

I want to show how old and new can cross over and how combat effective moves of yesteryear can be used today and integrated in any arena. If not they will be lost to time. I am passing this knowledge on to my sons for the future and will be teaching seminars this year along these lines.

The old and new Martial Arts can certainly sit together. Many lessons can be learnt from the past and the black belt can still hold its value but somewhere along the line, you have also got to embrace the new and work together for the future. Enjoy your training.

Footnote; Kevin will be teaching his Combat Jujutsu at the ‘Martial arts show at the NEC in Birmingham in May. If you want an opportunity to train with him book your tickets for this event.

Also for other up and coming seminars this year or if you also want to host a seminar with Kevin check out kevinohagan.com and email kevinohagansas@yahoo.co.uk.

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