If you ever get the chance to train with Sensei Norm Bettencourt from British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, consider yourself one of the luckiest people in the world because you will have found one of the best reality based street fighting instructors in the world. The game system is real-world intensive in the sense that the game is made to resemble real street environments. You are not wearing any chalk or exotic and ancient oriental clothing. You are not required to go barefoot. You train there with your shoes and/or boots. Their training environment is stairs, alleyways, small, cramped rooms with furniture, and areas that look like street curbs. This is the real deal here! You get the look and feel of real life, where all the violence takes place, not the romantic musings of learning endless katas and forms, and having to memorize every move and strike, even having to learn them in the original Chinese or Japanese. (I guess when you say “punch” or “kick” in Chinese or Japanese instead of English, you do better.)
Sensei Bettencourt can train almost anyone, male or female, to be combat ready in just two 8 hour days each day of intensive reality based situations and encounters.
Norm Bettencourt doesn’t believe in seat belts. As he likes to quip with a laugh: “A belt is only good for holding up your pants or for strangling someone who has taken a gun from you.”
But Norm Bettencourt’s story began like most of us do with the romance of becoming a “martial artist.”usually right after seeing the latest Jackie Chan or Jet Li movie.
Norm Bettencourt’s turning point occurred on a cold night in Vancouver, BC, Canada. At that time he had already obtained his black belt and had learned many moves, techniques, and counters. He was waiting for a bus at a stop. An individual approaches you and punches you on the shoulder in a rude and intentional manner.
“Do you have some kind of problem, friend?” Norm responds when this guy pushes him, knowing that he was a black belt and that he could take him out with all the techniques he knew.
“Hey dude, sorry I pushed you…” Pow! The guy tilts and viciously punches Norm in the jaw. Norm tries to fight back, but this madman continues to punch and punch, causing Norm to fall back onto a hard concrete bus seat. Norm loses his balance completely. The attacker approaches to kill. He begins to brutally kick Norm in the head knocking him unconscious.
When Norm also arrives, he notices that a bus driver had gotten off a bus to help him on.
As Sensei Bettencourt told me, “This was a blessing in disguise and a turning point for me as I wondered what had happened to make a guy from the street get the best of himself.” me–a black belt–and knock me out! Then the answer hits me like a bolt of lightning. This guy was street savvy when it came to fighting. He knew how to “punch”. He only knew a few moves, but he knew how to execute them well and wasn’t afraid to keep hitting until I was completely knocked out. He had the mentality of a street fighter while I had the mentality of a martial artist.” This was the birth of Norm Bettencourt…street fighter!
We can lift 3 little-recognized facts from this story of Sensei Bettecourt.
Fact #1 – A martial artist is like a good painter or an elegant dancer – The martial artist is too often preoccupied with style, form, grace, and beauty that do not work well on the streets.
Fact #2 – The Street Fighter is like the guy who cleans up after painting or dancing – The street fighter has a serious job to do and is not concerned with looking pretty, but simply doing the dirty work as quickly and efficiently as possible, so that Hey is youThe last man standing.
Fact #3 – There is no such thing as a dirty wrestler, only an educated one – The guy who attacked Sensei Bettencourt knew how to “punch” and wasn’t afraid or cared about causing serious damage by continuing the attack until Sensei was knocked unconscious. As a street fighter you must be an educated fighter, that is, you must fight down and dirty until you are the last man standing and you You’re the one who walks through that door to kiss your daughter goodnight.
