“Ronin“: in feudal Japan, a masterless samurai. (Modern day Ronin: martial artists who lack a full-time or formal instructor.)
“Protocol“: plan, procedure, or method for carrying out a scientific study, or a patient’s treatment, or a training regimen.
Like you, my love for martial arts started when I was a young kid. My sisters and I loved watching old kung fu movies and as I got older, I read any and every martial arts book or magazine that I could get my hands on. There were just two martial arts schools in my hometown, but at the time, they were too expensive to even consider, so I continued reading books, watching movies, and “sparring” with friends whenever the spirit moved us.
It wasn’t until a couple of months into my college freshman year that I got the opportunity to finally begin training with a real instructor. I was fortunate, in fact, to have three very skilled instructors in my newly formed university club. I trained in that club for two years and achieved green belt at the end of my pre-engineering program.The university I was planning to transfer to had a strong Tae Kwon Do club and so my original plan was to study Shotokan for a couple of years and then, once I transferred, switch to TKD. Well, my instructors made such a strong impression on me, on my life, that I got hooked on this art and I knew that I wanted to continue training in it. Of course the problem was, how to do so without a club or instructor…
Long, winding story made short, I not only found a way to keep training, but I discovered how to keep learning and growing in an art without a full-time instructor. And that’s what I want to share with you, the means and methods that I’ve learned, and the things to avoid along the solo path. It’s a jagged, unkempt path that is not for the weak-willed, easily discouraged, or the undisciplined, but believe me when I say, it is worth the effort.
Whether you are a new martial artists and suddenly find yourself without an instructor, or you’re traveling with nowhere to train, or you’ve been training on your own for years, my hope is that you will find methods and studies within the Ronin Protocol lessons that will aid you in your solo-training journey and help you to become the instructor you need.
