Rick Tew

[WraithNinja]

I have a friend who is interested in getting into Ninjutsu, he's about to buy a Ninjutsu home study course by Rick Tew. What can you tell me about the guy?

Thanks for any help in advance.

[LimeyDog]

Isn't he an ex Frank Dux student/blackbelt?

patrick

[geves]

i thought he was just a turd in a black gi that charged people lots of money to go to scenic places so they could do cart wheels and learn techs from other styles other than taijutsu

[Peaceful Tiger]

Originally Posted by geves

i thought he was just a turd in a black gi that charged people lots of money to go to scenic places so they could do cart wheels and learn techs from other styles other than taijutsu

That doesn't sound too promising as my friend has just purchased a Home-Study Course also. She booked and paid for it in November but hasn't recieved it yet. Apparently they are overly busy at the moment and had about 400 orders for kit during the holiday period.

As for Uncle Rick teaching anything other than Taijutsu, I'm pretty sure he would teach a little since he apparently earned at least Shodan rank from the Bujinkan Dojo.

[LimeyDog]

From what I have heard and read Rick Tew trained with Frank Dux and Robert Bussey (RBWI) but hadn't heard about Bujinkan training. As far as I know he is a neo ninja...not a traditional x kan

Later
Patrick

[taimat]

Rick Tews, If you want to be flashy and stage fight thats a good fit. If you actually want to learn Ninjutsu, or be the least bit street effective avoid that man like the plague. He uses "Ninja" as a marketing tool, it's disgraceful to real practitioners, and the traditions. However, he is far from the first and won't be the last, too bad there are so many laws in place that a traditional master to "master"(faker) challenges are no longer feasible. Tews has decent skills, but needs to say something other than Ninja for his advertising, maybe stick with the martial scince thing, and drop the black gis'. But i'm also for honesty in advertising, it's a nice thought but not in my lifetime, if ever. later

[sshh]

thorough discussion on Rick Tew and his Martial Science here:



http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19191
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19028
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10852

[Peaceful Tiger]

I noticed the Martial Talk links above, I hate Martial Talk....hmm, and hate isn't too strong a word, there is something very concieted about that bunch! I believe that this is a far more friendly website and forum.

[LimeyDog]

I lwft Martial Talk because of a lot of "bashing" going on. Sadly too many people on MT think they own the place and their word is gospel...especially in the Ninjutsu section. I practice Toshindo under Stephen Hayes...the traditional people (especially one) took it upon himself to put everyone down. I complained and was told by the individual to "Stop crying and moaning like a little girly" and that "If I was in his dojo he would stop my whining".

I know what I can do in the martial arts and have no real testosterone need to prove it. So I complained to the admin at MT. They did nothing...

I love MAP. The members are real and friendly...I look forward to reading posts on MAP everyday...

Later
LimeyDog

[K_Coffin]

Good to hear LimeyDog. From your introduction, it sounds like you've got an interesting perspective to contribute, and we're glad to have you.

[xen]

just had a nose around MT and i know exactly what you mean!!

i bet i know who you are refering to, LimeyDog, (but i'll refrain from naming and shaming him behind his back, i have my standards) he posts on a few boards, and seems to think he has the divine right to be rude and conceited...

there seems to be a bit of an 'old boys network' among some of the ninjutsu community that is active on the web and they seem to take themselves too seriously

the best aspect of MAP? its fun!!!

[LimeyDog]

Sadly for some strange reason they think that because they train and live in Japan that they are the "Golden Ones". There are many great martial artists in the Western hemisphere that probably never been to Japan/Asia.

I have not posted on MT for a while, probably never will. Especially after how all my Toshindo brothers were treated and ridiculed. When I posted in their defense that's when all the trouble started, including several threatening emails telling me to leave MT, as my stupid girly comments were not appreciated. In a way I should be thankful because if it was not for the idiots on MT I would never have looked for another forum and found my true home, MAP.

You guys all rock, thank you for treating everyone as an equal regardless of their training and time in the arts.

Warmest Regards
Patrick
Toshindo-ka

[WraithNinja]

Alright, thanks for the help. I'll tell him not to buy it.

Oh well, I'll have to drab him with me to my Bujinkan.

[powerof0ne]

Originally Posted by taimat

Rick Tews, If you want to be flashy and stage fight thats a good fit. If you actually want to learn Ninjutsu, or be the least bit street effective avoid that man like the plague. He uses "Ninja" as a marketing tool, it's disgraceful to real practitioners, and the traditions. However, he is far from the first and won't be the last, too bad there are so many laws in place that a traditional master to "master"(faker) challenges are no longer feasible. Tews has decent skills, but needs to say something other than Ninja for his advertising, maybe stick with the martial scince thing, and drop the black gis'. But i'm also for honesty in advertising, it's a nice thought but not in my lifetime, if ever. later

1. Rick Tew doesn't make up his lineage/history of his art and is pretty honest with his martial art background.

2. Rick Tew is an ex Dux Ryu guy and Bussey guy as well...he's also has a black belt ranking in Tjakai(trained directly under Roy Martina in Holland) which is comprised of kyokushin, muay thai, judo, and pencak silat. I have also heard he received something along the lines of a 5th dan in Hapkido.

Not much is known about Tjakai unless you happen to know an instructor/practitioner of it, which I happen to. Tjakai is one of the more harder martial arts to earn a black belt in because basically you must roughly be black belt area in at least of the two arts that make up the Tjakai system; because of this some tjakai practitiones will be good at kickboxing/muay thai and bare knucle/knockdown style karate while others might be really good at judo and pencak silat...and vice versa, you get the idea.

Anyway seeing as the person I quoted is from WA they could perhaps look up a couple of Tjakai black belts that used to be very active in the kickboxing scene here in WA state. Jeremy McCleod won the NW Sabaki satellitte around '94 if I remember right and the Kizuki Challenge in Alaska around the same year which are bare knuckle/knockdown style tournaments(he was around 18-19 at the time)..McCleod also had something around 14-17 intl. rules(leg kicks, no knees/elbows) kickboxing fights with only a few losses and had about 3-4 muay thai fights with only one loss..that loss was to Kongnapa who is a lumpinee champion, obviously from Thailand.
Another individual that I spar with and keep in touch with is Jon Gerkin(tjakai nidan) who has fought a lot in the past; his record is something around 15 fights with only about 3-4 losses. He fought in the '00 NW Sabaki Satellitte and got 2nd place which in all unbiased(at the time I only knew of him and tjakai) honesty was the worst decision I've ever seen in a fight minus Roy Jone Jr.'s infamous Olympic decision. Basically Jon's fight for 1st was with the Oregon state branch Enshin Instructor...the Oregon guy can take a hit but all he did was just tsuki throughout the fight while Jon punched, leg kicked, body kicked, neck/head kicked throughout the whole fight...basically just throwing combo after combo. Unfortunately Jon didn't sweep/takedown the guy to at least get a point and the Oregon guy didn't sweep or takedown Jon...but shockingly the Oregon Enshin guy got the decision even though Jon obviously landed more COMBINATIONS throughout the whole fight.
One other thing I should mention about Tjakai is that Rob Kamen, the famous Muay Thai fighter from Holland...the first martial art he started out in was Tjakai under Roy Martina. In past interviews Rob doesn't mention learning kickboxing/muay thai from Roy but only pencak silat..I suspect that Rob and Roy had a falling out but I think they have reconciled over the last few years.
I'm not going to argue that Rick Tew posts some flashy crap on his site but I do know that he has better martial art ability than just about anyone posting in this forum. A Tjakai black belt is much harder to obtain than, dare I say? A Bujinkan shodan-yondan...
I used to do Muay Thai with a bujinkan nidan and yondan, and they were only about average at best in terms of fighting ability. The nidan even trained at the famous jockygym camp in Thailand but always did bad in muay thai competition...now I guess some of you could argue that maybe these two individuals not being that great at muay thai/bjj has nothing to do with bujinkan. Well the real fights I have been in and out of the ring have mostly consisted of me using muay thai/karate/judo/bjj techniques and never using some taijitsu and/or "ninja assasination" techniques! I've never had to use weapons in a fight and if I did I could easily be improsoned because the moment I take out my bo/katana/sai/tonfa/etc. and use it in a real life situation I will probably be improsoned because a trained individual wielding a weapon isn't going to be viewed as defending him/herself. So if you think using shurikens/kasura kama/caltrops/etc. is practical for defending yourself on the streets than I pray you never have to defend yourself. The reason why I bring any of this up is because I could see weapon usage being about the only area that bujinkan would be stronger in than tjakai would be.
Oh yes, I saw how that bunch of bujinkan practitioners from Japan constantly badgered this guy named sojobow on another forum..why am I not shocked?
Anyhoo to summarize...Rick Tew doesn't make false claims of his art's lineage and also has black belts in tjakai, hapkido, rbwi, besides his dux ryu black belt. I'm guessing that Tew saw what his former mentor Frank Dux went through for falsifying/exaggerating his art's lineage/history.

[taimat]

See now I did say that i thought Rick Tews was a martial artist of decent skills. His ability in this regard is not what i am questioning. I just think it is silly for him to say "hey look at my ninja training camp" (maybe a slight exaggeration, but it does say he is training modern ninjas on his website) when he is pulling from these other arts that he is accomplished in. Based on what i have seen of his material, which includes some of his videos, he is respectable as a "sensei" and has a lot of knowledge and skill. In my opinion Rick Tews needs to drop the mysterious ninja act and focus more on what he excells at, which is his dynamic blend of many styles into his martial science. Advertise ALL the styles in which he pulls from and merely include ninjutsu rather than focusing on it. All i meant was that i'm sure you can learna lot from Rick Tews, just not a ton of traditional Ninjutsu which was the original question.

As for effectiveness in the ring and in self defense. Well of course a Bujinkan practitioner is going to falter in the ring, The rules of such exclude the strength of Ninjutsu, not allowing locks, pressure points, any grabbing, or real throws, plus the use of gloves. And in self defense perhaps your training missed something, because i have very successfully employed techniques of ninjutsu to defending myself. But of course as has been said countless times on this thread, it is not the martial art but the martial artist that makes it effective. I'm sorry ninjutsu wasn't right for you, for me it comes naturally and is both effective and efficient. Of course i am a bit disappointed with some of the Bujinkan schools myself, some, not all, but some seem to seldom free spar, or practice their techniques full speed against a resisting opponent which would allow them to make these movements effective for them in an actual necessary situation. so in that respect i even agree with you. well i hope this clears some stuff up Powerof0ne, and i was far too general and organization bashing before, just see way too many McDojos claiming Ninja status thats all. And your amount of knowledge is impressive, btw are there going to be more of these tournaments in western washington in the near future that you know about?