I have stated before in an earlier post JUDO: LOOKING BACK my interest in the martial arts began at the age of thirteen in 1978. I was inspired by movies such as "Breaking Point" starring Bo Svenson, (Breaking Point is my earliest recollection of martial arts used in a movie)
Later I would see "Enter the Dragon" starring the late Bruce Lee, after that I purchased the book "Bruce Lee's Fighting method Vol. two: Basic Training" published by Ohara Publications. I studied the book and followed the training that was described in it. I would train by myself using information garnered from Bruce Lee's book until the summer of 1979. That summer I went to work as a laborer for my father and uncle who were a block masons. I used the money I earned, to enroll myself at the Winter Haven 6th street Karate Dojo. Little did I know then what my experience with the martial arts would lead to nor did I know the doors it would open later.
I earned a 1st degree black belt on Feb. 12th 1987 then in 1989 I became an Auxiliary Law enforcement officer and certified Law enforcement Instructor thru the state of Florida. In April of 1991, I received my 2nd degree black belt and opened my first school which was located at 42 3rd st. n.w. Winter Haven, Florida. In addition to my dojo, I taught self defense classes for the Polk County Board of Commissioner's office later that same year and continued doing the classes until 1993.
1994 was an extremely busy year for me. I would hold other classes, seminars and demonstrations on crime prevention and self defense for other community groups, corporations and businesses. I had been working off and on for a company called Stunt Dynamics which was owned and ran by John Zimmerman. He had used me on a couple of things such as commercials and live stunt shows at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. John had gotten me a job on the TV series "Seaquest DSV"during it's second season run. The second season of the series was shot at Universal Studios in Orlando. (Steven Spielberg was the executive producer for season1 and 2 of the series) I worked as set and personal security for the TV series and landed parts on several of the episodes. The series started the second seaon off with a two hour television movie entitled "Daggers" in which the crew of the newly rebuilt SeaQuest must deal with a hostage crisis at a UEO prison colony, where genetically engineered soldiers have risen up against their captors. For one part I played a dagger, which was a gentically engineered super soldier with camouflaged skin.
For the part of the dagger my hair was sprayed black and my skin was painted from head to toe to make it appear like I had camoflaged colored skin. I can be seen performing a kata with a group of daggers. I also had a part as an extra in which I played a UEO security guard in the same episode. I would play a UEO soldier in other episodes such as the episode "The Fear that Follows". I also landed parts on the TV series "Fortune Hunter" that same year. I had some memorable experiences and cherish them.
