Today we’d like to introduce you to David Beck.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Since the last interview 8 years ago, there have been a number of changes with Beck Martial Arts. I’m in a different location, in Plano rather than Richardson, now teaching from inside Elite Performance Academy, a volleyball gym in a dedicated room with a fully matted floor. This is substantially better than where I was 8 years ago inside a fitness gym with all its background noise, distractions, and equipment challenges. This current location has also made it easier to put on martial arts seminars such as the Garimot Arnis Training seminar with the founder of that art I hosted a few weeks ago.
I have also been promoted to higher rank in two of the three arts I teach; I am now 7th Dan in Hapkido, 4th Dan in Taekwondo, and 2nd Degree (Lakan Dalawa) in Arnis. I continue to believe that although these three arts mix well, each is an excellent standalone martial art and best taught separately with respect for its cultural flavor, tradition, and history. I continue to stress self-defense and self-development as what martial arts are about.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have been some challenges in the past few years:
– I had a 90% rotator cuff tear, had surgery just before Christmas some years back, and was able to be back on the mat teaching a month later wearing a sling and doing limited activity.
– Covid hurt a lot; I lost most of my students, but was able to keep going with private lessons masks keeping distancing, a reduced schedule, and some remote video lessons. That was very challenging however; for kicking and punching stuff you can do that through video, but to really learn joint locks it takes hands on feeling what’s happening.
– I was caught in a reduction in force at the company I had been at for my day job for 19 years. While searching for a new position, with the unknowns of possibly having to relocate, I stopped my group glasses and just taught private lessons and seminars. Fortunately I found a new day job right as severance was running out, and was then able to resume teaching group classes. Unfortunately this was a long enough stretch of time that again as with covid I lost many of my group students. So I’ve kind of had to start over a number of times.
We’ve been impressed with Beck Martial Arts, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Beck Martial Arts is a part-time business; not my day job, which means that I don’t have to make the compromises that many martial arts schools do to keep the doors open: contracts, birthday parties, high cost equipment, holding ‘karate kids’ promotions, etc. There’s nothing wrong with being kid-focused or competition focused; those schools have their place, but true martial arts should focus on self-defense and self-development. That’s what I do. I teach three arts:
Hapkido, a comprehensive Korean self-defense system involving joint locks, pressure points, throws, kicks, strikes, and a few weapons
Taekwondo, a Korean martial art of kicking, blocking, and striking that has also become a full-fledged Olympic sport. It is the world’s most popular martial art,
Arnis, a Filipino stick and knife fighting martial art developed by Professor Remy A. Presas variously known as kali or escrima or eskrima that also includes empty hand strikes, kicks, joint locks, grappling, throws, empty hand forms, and weapons forms
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.beckmartialarts.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Beck-Martial-Arts/100057260426011/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ1_DrGYJSJT2NfR5D9G5Xw
- Yelp: https://biz.yelp.com/biz_info/Z-MhfKVsKn2KcWxV9NYVfQ
