Instructor Information
Bio
Zephen Specht’s life in the martial arts began in 1998 while attending college in DeKalb, Illinois. From 1998 to 2004 he began the study of Tai Praying Mantis and Northern Shaolin kung-fu under Sifu Arthur Berry. During that time he was very active in the local martial arts tournaments and demonstrations. Then from 2004 to 2005 he studied with Mike Popovics at a mixed martial art school in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Zephen is currently teaching kung-fu at San Diego State University, California.
Contact through e-mail at: zephenspecht@gmail.com
Guiding Principles
Gung-fu, often pronounced as Kung-fu, is a term that has been used to describe a person’s skills in the Chinese langue for hundreds of years. Here in the U.S. gung-fu is typically depicted as a rather flashy fighting art in action movies were the actors and actresses use their extremely flexible bodies to mimic different animals, perform super human feats, or fight off armies of bad guys who appear around every corner.
This stereotyping has lead many people to try and join martial arts advertised as being kung-fu schools in the hopes of being able to live that same life style that they see in the movies. However, true martial art schools, regardless of their style or origin, are more then a collection of fighting techniques that may look flashy or colored belts and trophies. While a school that teaches a set or style of martial techniques may be what draws you through the front door, you must ask yourself how that will make you any different from how you are now? Is your life really a daily struggle to survive?
The martial arts were developed from fighting techniques born out of human struggle over the centuries, but what allowed these cultures grow and flourish was the humanization of their warrior class. Fighting and killing would only lead to more death and destruction were it not for the ideas of self-introspection, social responsibility, and spiritual enlightenment that were so often incorporated into these martial arts.
The idea of these fighting skills and personal growth being related to each other is what makes a true martial art. A true martial art school should make it clear from the first class that although developing fighting skills is one of its goals, some sort of personal growth will also be encouraged through class interactions and the teacher-student bond that should develop over time.
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"With great power comes great responsibility, and no one is more powerful then one who knows them self."