Truth Be Told

(Dom & Rich at the grand canyon 2006)

Alright this is my first attempt at blogging so work with me folks. My name is Dominic Alexander and I am a member of the Senshido International Team in Tucson Az. I have been a Senshido Instructor since 2005 but I would say I started way before that. Like many of you I have and do study many different martial arts and self defense systems. I was a Krav Maga instructor for some time as well. No I am not here to bash but to share.

I am not a big man by any means or a super badass fighter. I am however an idealist with a tendency to live in a philosophical world. When I was in college I worked in night clubs as a door man. Not so much because I was an intimidator but more so because everyone thought of me as the nice guy, which I like to believe I am. So, the owners figured by having me standing at the door setting the tone for everyone that was coming in would help keep peace for the night. For the most part that is exactly how it went down.

On one of our slower nights it was me and one other securtiy guy that was working the club. It was usually a really slow night. Well while I was watching the door and the first floor saw this guy who was 6'4'' and weighed well over 320lbs (193cm and 145kg for my metric brothers and sisters) just give off this I am pissed off energy. So I walked up the stairs and right up to him and asked him if he was having a good time? He starts huffing and puffing about how someone in the club threw ice at him and hit him in the back of the head. Then he proceeded to tell me he was about to kick everyones ass in the club. Oh if I forgot to mention he was there with his other very big friends.

I just started talking real fast and explained to him that I am sure that it had to be an accident because no one in their right mind we dare start something with him. Now he met me at the door and I did my ususal joking around with folks as they come in so he knows I am not a tough guy. I ask him to come to the bar so we could talk for a minute and by him a drink. While we were talking about all the things that could go wrong with him smashing people like going to jail I noticed he had a big championship ring on his finger. So, I asked him about it. As it turns out he played for Georgia Tech in 1990 when they split the national championship in college football. I jumped right on that and we talked football and about Georgia Tech (I told him my sister went there and blah blah blah) games he played in etc. and his friends came over at this point and I bought them drinks and had a good time. No worries I was still watching my door like I said it was a slow night.

Anyway, I thanked them for being so cool about the misunderstanding that anytime they came on a busy night he and his friends could skip the line and come in for free on me. Everytime they came down I treated them like kings and on the nights that got a little crazy they watched my back.

This is why I will always teach Senshido on a big or small scale because I get more of a rush from changing someones mind then I do smashing their face in and I do enjoy sport fighting. I have read stories from forums about how someone beat this person down or jumped in a middle of a situation and just smashed people and I guess that is cool for them but what purpose did it really serve. I know sometimes it is necessary but I believe more often than not it isn't. Truth Be Told most insturctors and/or systems out there preach darkness (possibly unknowingly) and that is just not what Senshido is about which is pretty cool.

Dominic Alexander
Senshido International Team
Tucson, Az