Grand Master Anthony Southard
Grand Master Anthony Southard is a worldly renowned combat expert. He holds high black belt degrees in several martial art styles. He is the founder of the Southard Combat System, the best reality-based self defense system in the world.
I, Patrick Asay, would like to add my own personal testimonial of Grand Master Southard.
Not only do I know firsthand that his system is effective, but I am downright amazed at how his mind works in terms of creating new ways of combat in perfect sync with the ever-so-changing world around us.
Every time he graciously travels here to train us, he comes with new, refined, and (astoundingly and increasingly) more effective material. His system changes and gets better the more he is awake. He lives, thinks, eats, drinks, and breathes combat. He taught us that the styles that teach the same curriculum-oriented things over and over again only learn those few particular things and wouldn't know what to do if someone attacked them differently than the way in which they were trained. I personally gather that they would eventually become not only ignorant but brain-washed that somehow time stops and the world stops spinning in the world of violence, as if everything stays the same. His system is not that way. It changes as does the world and is five steps ahead of the new trends in violence that occur every second of every day.
I know exactly what it's like to have an open mind about martial art styles. I know exactly what it's like to have once sworn by the philosophy of "there is no superior martial art style."...UNTIL I met Grand Master Anthony Southard. I am grateful that my mind was as open as it was or I never would have stepped foot in his seminars. I'm not sure what I ever did to deserve the honor of becoming his student, but somebody up there really must like me because I truly, honestly, and sincerely have found the greatest combat system in the world. For those who may find what I just said ignorant, think again. Read over my website. I am leaving most of my old articles on there just so you can see that I really was searching, seeking, and embracing all styles, counting them as equal in their own realm. But now I am a changed man. Thanks to Grand Master Southard, I have absolutely no reason to seek out a black belt in ANY other style. Pointless. I hate to hit a personal tone here, but I know I have a lot of growth potential, and I could waste many years in training different styles, trying to figure out what works best when, where, and how. The thing is...Grand Master Southard has already done that. It would be a damned shame if I was to go through all that then one day stumble across what really works and suffer the knowledge that I could have spent my time learning the most effective ways of combat. I am probably one of the youngest that attends the classes, and after hearing the seasoned martial artists explain that it wasn't until after so many years of training in traditional styes did they find Southard Combat...it got me thinking.
Grand Master has taught us that the worst thing a person (or anything) can steal from you is TIME. Money, you can always get back. Possessions, you can repossess. But time is impossible to resurrect. On Thursday, on the 20th of May I took a very personal oath that I will never waste my TIME on any other martial art because I have found what is truly the best there is in the entire world...and I thirst after Grand Master's knowledge so badly, like a man stranded in the middle of the Sahara Desert for two days without water would thirst.
I realize I am now fully immersed in one style. If you were to understand the power of Grand Master Southard's teachings you would laugh at other styles. Don't believe me? Come open minded and learn!
I'll put it this way: If Brazilian JiuJitsu was a man, I would stand in front of him and boldly say, "Sorry pal, you'll just teach me bad habits that will get me killed in real-life violence." As Grand Master taught me, if you end up fighting on the ground you screwed up somehow. If by chance you find yourself on the ground, Southard Combat System still has an answer for it. Its groundfighting techniques and philosophy kicks the ever living sh#$ out of BJJ. We won't look for "sporty" positions and useless BJJ submissions . We WILL end it much quicker than that by using the reality-based methods taught by the one and only Grand Master Anthony Southard.
My decision to merge Applied Martial Arts with Southard Combat and to exclude all other styles will probably make some people mad, I won't lie. That's a sacrifice I can handle. I know in my heart that this is the right thing to do because I cannot deny that Southard Combat is the best and I will personally see to it that it will revolutionize how "self defense" and "combat" will be perceived worldwide. I don't care what it takes...it will be worth it. It really is THAT important, and I feel an urgency in doing it.
Meet Grand Master Anthony Southard and you will feel like a better person. Train under him and you will become a warrior. I would rather have a Southard Combat student black belt by my side in a battle than any military soldier.
Applied Martial Arts honors Grand Master Anthony Southard and declares its loyalty to him.