Bago Guro Chris Gaukel

Assistant Instructor

Age: 32

Hometown:
Lodi, CA.

Years of Training: 14 Total

Teaching Credentials: Assistant Instructor - SEAMOK Tactical Solutions

Favorite Quote:
Speak softly and carry a big stick, you will go far. - TDR

Background:

SEAMOK Tactical Solutions - 3 Years
Collegiate Style Wrestling - 4 years (1994 SJAA League Heavyweight Champion)
Freestyle Wrestling - 2 years
Wrestling assitant coaching - 2 years
Hung Gar - 1 year
Boxing - 1 year

Working knowledge of Silat, Judo, and Muay Thai.

U.S. Navy Veteran

Goals: To continue training, always learning from and in return teaching something to anyone with the will and open mind.

Just a guy out there seeking to progress in mind, body, and soul.

Wrestled collegiate style 4 years in high school intermingled with 2 years freestyle and followed by 2 years assistant coaching. While wrestling, I dabbled in Judo to help with balance and throws. It was not traditional training, but focused towards my wrestling game. Since this was in Lodi, CA. I had the opportunity to wrestle
Frank Shamrock who taught us a few things while kicking our butts all over the mat.While in the Navy and stationed in Hawaii I attended Buck Sam Kong's Siu Lum Pai in Honolulu studying the art of Hung Gar. I also trained in boxing and a little (very little) Muay Thai while out there though never competed in
either. Both of these periods were short lived due to being young and flighty. I grasped the very basics but did not stick with them for more than a year each.
Since then I simply "tried-out" different arts, never really sticking with anything until moving to Texas. Here I found Guro Blackgrave who at the time was heading up the Western HQ for Master Yuli Romo's Bahad ZuBu Kali Ilustrisimo. Since then I have had the opportunity to sample arts such as Silat from Guru Kruk, Kuntaw from Guro Morales, and train with such people as Bakbakan's Master Topher Ricketts. Life is good.One of the things I learned from many of these people that I love the most... by studying through principles, all that dabbling I did is still valid and wasn't wasted time. A punch is a punch and no matter what "style/system" you use to block or redirect it, the end result remains constant - You still have your teeth.