Tucked away in
the suburbs of Dayton, Ohio in the small town of Centerville home to nearly
24,000 people and the home of The Gi Yu
Dojo (The Martial Arts School of Courage and Justice). The Gi Yu Dojo’s roots
go back to teachings of the fighting
style of Japanese Samurai called Jissen Koryu Bujutsu or Natural Movement of Old
Military Warrior Fighting methods . For over the last three decades Kancho
(president of the Association of Gi Yu Dojos) Sukh Sandhu has been practicing,
perfecting, and instructing. He has had
the opportunity to inspire thousands of martial artist and people who want more from
their life and want to do more for their communities that they live in. And
this is his story how a simple piece of cloth (the coveted black belt), was his
segue in making difference for his life and his community.
Recently, I was
given the opportunity sit down with Sensei Sandhu at his beautiful home to
discuss his dreams, desires and wants for the present and future of his school
and community. A student of various martial arts since he was five years old,
he is self disciplined and motivated on daily proportions that people half his
age would we awe struck by.
Sensei Sandhu has
trained in, accomplished and garnered experience in many forms of combat. Starting off from a young age by studying various forms of
Kung Fu, Karate, Wrestling, Boxing,
Punjabi Wrestling, and then moving in to Combat Shooting and also attaining
Black Belts in The Bujinkan (2nd degree) organization after 8 years and then moving to his training in The Jinenkan (5th
Degree) for 12 years and becoming the senior student of The Jinenkan
Organization Head Master , Fumio Manaka. The Bujinkan is headed by Soke Maasaki
Hatsumi. Hatsumi Sensei is considered by many as the last historically traceable
Ninjutsu Grandmaster living today. Throughout Sensei Sandhu’s koryu martial art training he was supervised as a
direct senior student of Shawn Havens and Manaka Sensei (currently of the
Jinenkan) when they were both under the Bujinkan organization. Sensei Sandhu, during
this time period, was also traveling and studying with many different types of
martial arts instructors and exploring different art forms. He spent a fair amount of time with numerous
established practitioners of Jujutsu/Jiujitsu in the early 90s. His desire
to push himself and challenge what he thought he knew was trumped by more
importantly finding out what he did not.
Sitting with Mr. Sandhu you find out his passion for learning and
exploring new things is paramount to him feeling he is growing as a martial
artist and as a person. For example, in 2009 he decided to challenge himself and
started training in Judo, and then after an intense seven month study period he
earned his 1st degree black belt.
He is also a USA Judo Regional Coach. Wow! So
nearly after three decades of training, Mr. Sandhu pushed himself to try something new. He currently holds many Black Belt levels and
he was awarded by The Gi Yu Kyo Kai Dojos association an 8th degree black belt several years ago.
At his main school, The Gi Yu Dojo offers
training to students as young as 5 in their children’s C.O.R.D.S program going
up to age 13. He stated he wants to help
future generations become leaders with strong moral character along with
physical prowess, therefore he would never give a child a Black Belt because it
sends the wrong message to a child, it creates a false sense of security. However,
after a C.O.R.D.S. children’s program student gets his/her brown belt they will
be moved to the adult program as green belt.
He wants quality over quantity. The adult program is offered to those
individuals who are not only looking to learn how to fight, but also are looking to enrich their lives and
the lives of those in their community. The adult program is very demanding…
physically, mentally and spiritually…however through their program the dojo will
show you how to find your own
self-respect, self-discipline and confidence in yourself by respecting
others. Before your first class you will need to visit The Gi Yu Dojo’s website
(www.giyudojo.com) and fill out an application for training membership, you
can click here for the review. (http://www.giyudojo.com/Application.html). In the adult program, prospective
students must fill in an application to train and then set up time to come in
for an interview to see if they would be
good members of this elite group of individuals. There is no “special” experience or skills
Sensei Sandhu is looking for, rather, he wants to know if you are you willing
to put in effort to train, keep your word/commitments and most importantly
better yourself. Once you are
accepted into the school, be sure to remember
to take your training seriously, these individuals are very serious in their
training and what they foster throughout their communities outside of the dojo. For example, Sensei Sandhu also requires all
students to have a notebook and keep notes on the different techniques and
ideas of life they learn. He believes, you must see someone demonstrate a
skill, you must try to mimic the skill, you need to write down your version of
the skill, you must read what you wrote and then you try to mimic again…this
teaches the mind-body connections. Most people do not want to do the things
that breed success…the simple/ mundane things….so as with any success…. the
things others will not work on and you will.. may just make you more proficient
at the skill. You do things like this to not only push yourself physically but
mentally…find introspective understanding, or like Sensei Sandhu says,
self-discovery is the best teacher in life.
While sitting with Mr. Sandhu I learned not only how important his family is to him but his love for his
martial art and his school. His sincere
ambition to help his community with his martial art to not only help build people physically but create
productive members of society, leaders who know right from wrong and that will
stand up for others (not just
physically) when they cannot stand for themselves.
I learned of his great humility and respect that he has
for all his teachers, students and fellow martial artists. He shared stories of some specific students that
live the life that they were shown by The Gi Yu Dojo and the path of budo. Warriors that use the philosophies from there
to enrich their communities. Individuals like:
1.) Aman Brar
2.) W. S. Bumgarner Atlanta Gi Yu Dojo
3.) Doug Sunnenburg
4.) Jaye Sandhu
5.) Chuck Van Dine
6.) Sam Foster
7.) John Chrisman
8.) James Sutton
9.) Don Baker Atlanta Gi Yu Dojo
10.) Todd Engelman
These ten
individuals lead their lives in accordance of the examples they have learned in
The Gi Yu Dojos. Their character is the
same in the dojo as it is in their personal, professional, teaching and
mentorship rolls of life. I personally
learned at very early age, that the five people you spend the most time with
are who you become most like. With that being said I would agree that if you or
I spend any amount of time around these 11 men you would be off to pretty good
start in life! As we continued on in our conversation Mr. Sandhu shared with me
his dream of continually giving back to his community thru his school and
martial art. For example in 2014 alone the school donated thousands of dollars to
their hometown community for those in need and he is highly sought out to speak
and demonstrate for different community, business, military, and charitable
groups on building character and developing leadership skills through martial arts.. In addition to teaching
Japanese martial arts, the school has
something for everyone in the family. Offering,
Combat Shooting (plus CCW classes), Japanese calligraphy instruction, Classical
Indian Dancing, and Judo (in partnership with Buckeye Judo). I look forward to
sitting with Mr. Sandhu and his team from The Gi Yu Dojo and watch a training
session. A big Thank You to Mr. Sukh Sandhu for being one of the hidden Gems of
the Gem City and leaving the world a better place with his kind, caring heart
for humanity. For instilling strength and character to those around him and for being a
positive role model for our youth. What
is most impressive is his Desire to Dream to Want to be better, more
importantly to have the same for his community and country.
