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Aperson with passion is absolutely taking the path to success. ManuelTaningco, founder ofTamaFamily Martial Arts Center, wasa great fan and believer of Bruce Lee. His passion and belief on theideals of the late renowned martial artist, Bruce Lee, has lead himto making his ultimate dream come true.
Wayback in his high school days, he was once called by his friends as“Bruce Lee.” He used to spend most of his time watching BruceLee’s martial art movies such as BigBoss, Chinese Connection, and Enter the Dragon wherein the last beingmentioned he had even watched for six times in less than a month. Atruly dedicated fan indeed!
Dueto lack of language proficiency, he was an introvert at his young agewho used to express his talent in painting but was luckily awarded afull-ride scholarship to study Fine Arts at New Mexico StateUniversity. At school, he was active in sports like basketball andcross country running. His insufficient language skills have been patched with skills he possessed in sports and even inmartial arts. His being hooked on martial arts in those days gave hisclassmates and friends the idea of calling him “Bruce.” This sobriquetimprinted an image in his mind of who he wanted to become which hasalso encouraged him to further his martial arts training.Unfortunately Bruce Lee’s death made a traumatic impact on themartial arts world including himself as a martial artist. Though hewas not Bruce Lee’s student yet his death had affected him in someways which has also pushed his limit to not only learn the artist’s ideals and teachings but to also be his apostle in pursuing what he has started in the world of martial arts.
In1979, he met Guru Dan Inosanto and Guru Richard Bustillo during amartial arts workshop where they offered Jeet Kune Do (JKD) and theFilipino Martial Art of Kali (FMA). The former displayed suchhumility that he allowed Mr. Taningco and his partner, Erwin Ballartato demostrate their style of Filipino Kali in front of the workshopattendees. The following year, Mr. Taningco then committed to learning more fromGuru Dan.
Recently,he received a present from one of his private students, Scott Thomae,a framed photo of the late Bruce Lee taken during the filming of hismovie Enter the Dragon. This picture has been hung on his wall nextto other images of Bruce Lee which he had kept for years. In thisway, his devotion and admiration to this great man was shown on hiswall which also serves as a reminder of the late martial artist’steachings which were passed unto him through Guru Dan and which he wanted to hand down to more martial artists enthusiasts.
Up to the present,his teachings and ideals are made alive in the classses and trainingsoffered in TAMA Martial Arts center which include Filipino Kali,Kempo Karate, Jiujitsu, Muay Thai, BJJ, Aikido and Tien Shan Pai KungFu.
Asto what else do they offer visit http://tamamartialarts.com/
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