Rick Tew

[L. johnson]

My 17 y/o son seriously wants to attend CMS. The sales person I talked to sounded sincere, but I want to know what others think of this program. Andrew's goal is to open his own school and seems to think that this is the type of MA he wants to be involved in. I have checked out other web sites looking for info and google searches mostly turn up Tew's promotional stuff.

Honest opinions please.

[AlexM]

I have never dealt with Rick Tew or his organization. I have only been practicing kendo for 2 years. But I can honestly say, without risk of hyperbole or error, that he's a gigantic wanker. My eyes still hurt from the last time I visited his site (damn you Phorest!).

His site presents no official recognition from any organization. He is too young to have founded a school. He can't even use basic Japanese properly (referring to himself as "sensei Tew" instead of "Tew sensei" is the first clue). Plus, he obviously lives in the 1980s.

He's a rip off artist. What he practices has nothing to do with martial arts, budo or anything else. It's a show for the viewing public.

There was a thread about him here: http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showthread.php?t=679

You can also check on e-budo.com . They have an entire section called Baffling budo or Bad budo dedicated to snake oil dealers such as Mr. Tew.

I urge thee in the name of all that is Holy to keep thine kin from that organization! (that was maybe a bit too much...)

[jmarsten]

I visited the Rick Tew site which raised several question in my mind.
Do ninja's have an arrangement with police departments to avoid arrest for killing people? You never hear of them being arrested.
How many do you think they have to kill to get a blackbelt?
Do they ever lose death matches? You would think some of them would disappear, but they don't seem to.
Don't they stand out in a crowd dressed in black pajamas with a hood? Of course they could be mistaken for some teenagers, especially with the spikes and all.
How come they don't join the Navy Seals or Army Special Forces?
If they get layed off are they eligible for unemployment compensation?
Just a few things I wonder about.

[JSchmidt]

If they get layed off are they eligible for unemployment compensation?
Just a few things I wonder about.

Most of your answers can be found here:

http://www.realultimatepower.net/

(Sorry, can't have a ninja thread without a link to this site)

Jakob

[sminki]

It's easy for young kids to be attracted to crap like this, but your son would learn just as much by renting and watching American Ninja 1, 2, 3 and 4. Renting the four videos would probably be much cheaper though.

Seriously, you should have a sit-down with your son and really talk about this one - especially if he wants to eventually open his own school, etc. Would he be interested in learning to twirl a fake "sword" and teach that to people? If he's insistent on learning nin-jitsu, I believe there are (albeit relatively very few) serious teachers out there.

[Phorest]

Yes...go have a quick look at the thread Alex posted a link to. The...for lack of a better description...utter garbage he teaches is but a shell of real Martial Arts. It is how to "twirl" a sword, as previously mentioned.

My advice (and take this with a grain of salt, cause I'm only 18 ) would be to try your hardest to get your son interested in REAL, HONEST, TRADITONAL martial arts. Find a school near you that teahces an authentic system of martial arts (be it Kendo, Aikido, or any of the various Ryu of Karate) that is historically linked and REAL. What "sensei Tew" is going to teach your son is a *cough* bastardized version of actual martial arts.

I can see this from your son's point of view though. I remember being a (younger) kid and wanting to be able to do all the flashy stuff thats in the movies...and was more worried about giant flying kicks than authentic self defense techniques. So I can see how this will be hard for you. Us old farts like to know that what we're studying is totally aunthentic and passed down from generation to generation and has retained its original teachings. Kids on the other hand don't care about that kind of stuff...and want to go for the "1 year blackbelt grandmaster sensei" program so that they can tell all their friends how they have a blackbelt...etc. Struggling through real martial arts training to actually acheive a "real" shodan ability level is something that takes dedication and devotion. 2 things a kid rushing through so they can do the twirling kicks and look like "Rick Tew" probably doesn't have. I assume that your son is younger...I could be totally off-base here. Anyways...I digress.

But...by all means...please don't let idiots like Rick tew spoil another potential martial artist.

Good luck.

[Phorest]

EDIT: Doh...it says 17 y/o son. Sorry! My mistake. Just forget all of that then.

[Anjin-san]

In my humble 18 year old, been doing Kendo for three months opinion:

You get the idea about Rick Tew Fu Manchu ninja-art-of-the-triple-breasted-death-monkey-ryu style of MA. Stay away from it like the plague, before you or your son start to take it seriously.

If it's Kendo in particular your son is interested in (I take it you live in America):

http://www.kendo-usa.org/statedojolist.htm

go there for a list of AUSKF affiliated dojo's, else in the UK:

http://www.kendo.org.uk

likewise for BKA

If your son wants to start Kendo, you can't go wrong in looking at national governing bodies and finding local training from there.

(I think) this applies for other martial arts also. I assume tew looks appealing to someone who's never done ANY martial art, and thats possibly due to the fact that he's teaching you punches kicks and 'swordfighting combat game'.

If your son wants to learn to fight other people with a sword, go to Kendo, if he wants to learn how to use a sword without fighting others, go to Iaido, a staff, go to Jodo, a Polearm, naginata, his bare hands and feet, karate/TaeKwonDo. Make sure you do plenty of research and find out about governing bodies. Another scam-artist to steer clear of is Ashida Kim or anyone else who calls himself a grandmaster maestro or anything silly like that. In fact forget ninjitsu altogether.

The only two rules are a) Thou shalt practice at a governing body affiliated dojo and b) Thou shalt not chew on tew.

It's just that people who take this kind of thing (referring to tew) look so silly to real martial artists, at e-budo they have a picture thread where they post pics and laugh at this kind of thing. I personally feel sorry for these people because if they'd applied their enthusiasm to real martial arts then they'd probably be quite good. Thats just my 0.02 pounds sterling.

Good luck to you and your son.

[Anjin-san]

P.S. his 'sword tactics' video makes me want to to do 500 suburi

[swrdply400mrela]

P.S. his 'sword tactics' video makes me want to to do 500 suburi

I just watched his sword sparring video as well. I can very much say that I am feeling the uprising of bile from well within my gut.

[aru-ma]

actually if you go to e-budo you can see a whole list of this so called martial artists it might help you or/and your son a right pick the right martial arts. There's a whole bunch of legitimate martial arts in the US, dont get sucked in to Tew type of "Martial arts". Oh and stay clear of McDojo's too, they look legitimate but they're not.

heh heh heh "chew on tew" I like that

[L. johnson]

Have gone to several of the web sites mentioned and discussed my findings with the son. His argument is that the reason Tew does not use Japanese apporpriately is that he is trying to break with stodgy tradition of how martial arts have been taught.
It sort of smacks of a cult to me. He has a new revelation of how martial arts should be. Plus he has all these excuses for why he is not recognized by traditional MA organizations.
I have visited his website and am personally very bothered by his green Ninja side business. "Relationship Marketing" would appear to be a fancier word for a pyramid scheme. He is selling liquid chlorophyll which can be purchased at any health food store probably for much less. The alkalizing diet he espouses is pretty close to macrobiotic. If you are not very, very careful about how you eat you will become malnourished and anemic. So, of course you would need the liquid chlorophyll to overcome the anemia.
There are way to many things about Tew that I am uncomfortable with, starting withhis not retruning my calls and questions. He appears more than happy to answer questions from students that are interested but not from people with serious concerns.
Thank all very much for your thoughtful answers. Unfortunately the son will soon be 18 and can make this bad decision for himself. Anyone know a good deprogrammer?

[Jearom]

Oh oh oooooooh
You´ve got to check this out, it´s Rick Tew´s gang on adventure.
Almost halfway trough there´s a second or two of swordplay and it´s a daisy.
Please endure the beginning ´cause the sword between the legs is one in a million.

http://www.winjitsu.com/adventure_2.html

[Neil Gendzwill]

His argument is that the reason Tew does not use Japanese apporpriately is that he is trying to break with stodgy tradition of how martial arts have been taught.

You'll find that quite a few of us here are stodgy traditionalists. If your son wishes to break from tradition, why is he interested in a school obviously trading on the mythical? Maybe he should check out a Brazilian Jujutsu school or a mixed martial arts school for effective non-traditional combat training. Although to be frank if his goal is to make a career of teaching martial arts, outfits like Tews' are probably the model to follow. Nobody makes much money off this stuff unless they gussy it up and sell it in through a chain store or pyramid sort of scam.

[AlexM]

Mr. Johnson,

I hate to break it to your son but there is very little chance of his "making a living" in Martial Arts in North America (not legitimately at any rate). Even if he were to move to Japan there would be little to no chance of success (even on the off-chance that he become a Japanese police officer he will not be able to gain rank or career advancement through kendo... and besides, that's my dream so he can't have it!).

If your son wants to gain prestige and a carreer through martial arts he's a bit misguided (no offense). There is NO prestige in martial arts whatsoever in the West. Those people that wish to gain any kind of status outside of the martial arts context (i.e. in the real world) are usually poor bastards that have failed lives (I'll no doubt be joining their ranks shortly). Please try to explain to him that there is nothing to be gained in devoting one's live to such a pursuit.

By the way, being stoggy doesn't mean there's no fun involved. It just means you stay with what works in terms of techniques. There is still plenty room to have a bit of fun on the side that doesn't take away from learning proper budo.

One more thing on Mr. Tew, he practices gymnastics and stage fighting, not martial arts. And yes, it does look rather cultish.