Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Ran in to him in the mall
I ran into my original martial arts teacher (Sensei), Dan Guilliland in the Alexandria Mall this past Saturday. At first, I thought he was there for some sort of special event at "Bulls Gym" which is a terrific martial art and mixed (mma) martial arts establishment that has been around under a few different names for awhile. Kirk Bulloch is the founder and Sensei of "Bulls Gym" and is also a terrific guy. He started in Karate under George Johnson who broke from "Grandmaster Karl Marx. He started a school (dojo) in or near Glenmora, Louisiana many years ago and as far as I know, it is still running. He has been intrumental in promoting many mma fights in the central Louisiana area and also numerous Karate tournaments over the years. Getting back to Dan Guilliland; when I saw him in the mall, he said he was just there with his girlfriend who was shopping at the time. He was headed to Bull's Gym though. My wife and I talked to him for a few minutes then off to our daily walk. As I talked about before, my kids (Sarah and Ian) started martial arts at Rapides Karate under Sensei Dan Guilliland when the kids were young. We all eventually ended up there and all became Black Belts under the system, which included Karate, Judo, and Jiujitsu. Frankly, it was one of the best times of my life. After several years of all of us being in the dojo, Dan generously treated us to free lessons. By that time, Sarah was teaching there too. I started teaching a short time after that (mostly as part of the requirements for 2nd degree black belt). I did enjoy it though! Anyway, I just wanted to point out one of the many fine qualities of a great guy and teacher, Dan Guilliland of Tioga, Louisiana. By the way, Dan is now also a promoter and includes mma as part of his teaching. He is one of the best grappling teachers I know.
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