Master Dennis Guila on The Importance of Character “Search The Truth Not From The Surface But From Within”

On June 2nd, 2007, Master Dennis Guila was inducted in the U.S.A. Martial Arts Hall of Fame. This institution has been overseen by Dr. Jim Thomas since 1992; it evolved from a karate-specific honor roll under Thomas and the late Great Grandmaster Robert Trias that goes back to the 70’s.   Following a “silent” recognition process in which a previous Hall of Fame inductee anonymously nominated Guila, the June 2, 2007 ceremony took place in Los Angeles, California.  Guila’s induction came after his thirty-plus member competition team captured 304 wins in 2005 and 2006, including 43 grand champion titles, 165 gold medals, 67 silvers and 29 bronzes. “Competing is a big thing for us,” admits Guila. “We do a lot of competitions - full contact and traditional martial arts - on the national and international level.” However, the honors and victories are just part of the picture for Guila. “Its about putting to test each individual’s skill. Whether they win, lose or draw is not most important, its what they learned or gained to improve themselves. This is a crucial area where the character building process takes place in ones life and in martial arts.”

Master Guila started his warrior’s journey at age nine in San Francisco under Lenny Beliso then in Hawaii, under Grandmaster George Iversen, a dojo brother of Grandmaster’s Albert Dacascos and Alfred Dela Cruz, both under the Adriano Emperado’s Kajukenbo lineage. “They grew up in the martial arts together and always shared creative ideas”, recalls Guila. “Grandmaster Iversen would have Grandmaster Dacascos over to help his students. Where my experience comes from is such individuals like these.” Guila started teaching professionally at age twenty. As an assistant to Grandmaster Edmund Louis (also student of late GM George Iversen) of Leeward Kenpo Karate in Hawaii from approximately 1985-1995, Guila came to the mainland in 1996 with aspirations to open his own school. “I took in a handful of individuals who would be my core instructors,” remembers Guila. “Alex Guila, my son, is the backbone to our dojo and competition team, Team G Force. My wife of 28 years Roberta Guila has continuously supported my passion in life for the martial arts and has become a significant partner in our business. In addition, Fos Fiame another staff member, have been my support team. They too deserve a lot of the credit as well.”

With over thirty years of experience as a professional, Guila questions some of the current trends in professional martial arts today. “Growing up in the martial arts world in Hawaii and here, I had the opportunity of observing the evolution of many changes that have taken place in the martial arts community” says Guila emphatically. “I found that a lot of instructors out there in the newer generations have forgotten about the traditional purpose of martial arts. I guess that comes with commercialization of the business. My desire as a professional martial artist is that I like to make sure that what I offer as a service to my students, whether young or old, is that they get the type of training that covers not only the physical aspect of martial arts but also the philosophies - the moral value of the training, the character building - from the ancient times of martial arts, back when the monks from centuries past had started creating and developing ideas of martial arts through philosophy. In other words, know how to avoid confrontation by wisdom first.”

Character building is the hallmark of traditional training. Guila hopes that his legacy is more than just trophies and honors, but a reputation for carrying on the tradition of martial arts the way the ancient masters had originally intended. Guila stresses this in his approach to training in what he calls “a no-nonsense intent of giving what’s most important ” the character building process that martial arts offers ” to students young or old. Character building includes respect, honesty, integrity, loyalty, self control, focus, confidence and, of course, humility just to name a few.”

Coming from Hawaii half of his life, Guila was brought up surrounded by what Hawaiians call “ohana,” an ideal that stresses the importance of family. This is reflected in his approach to teaching. “What I strive to really do is to try and support parents that don’t have the time to raise their kids with certain discipline. The way society is today whereby parents are both working and kids come home to no supervision - We are faced with a lot of bad influences there on the television and the radio - children nowadays have it really hard. Many children are being pushed under severe peer pressure which gets them involved with things that are not suitable for any child ” sometimes drugs, sometimes gangs, alcoholism etc. My thing is that I enjoy the challenge of trying to instill good character in these students that don’t know otherwise, because they lack the guidance at home or at school to provide them with that. This all goes back to self control, discipline, focus, respect ” the ancient masters’ philosophies ” part of what they set out to develop in the martial arts. We train our students from the inside out ” spiritually, mentally and then physically. We talk about internal training and spiritual training; we talk about motivational, inspirational type, oral representations and to lead by example. To show physically a student how to execute is one aspect, but along with verbal communication to actually speak and communicate adds to the balance of spirit, mind and body.”

With the rise of mixed martial arts, it’s important for Master Guila to see positive character building maintained through teaching. Nevertheless Guila’s takes full advantage of his tradition and his personal winning record. “Our specialty is Muay Thai and Kickboxing. Our foundation is Kajukenbo. Kajukenbo is the first original mixed martial art ever born in the United States, particularly in Hawaii before becoming a state in 1947. Today, more than ever now that mixed martial arts are becoming a very popular entity for fight enthusiasts, we as Kajukenboists are proud to share we are the original mixed martial arts system/organization with the name of Kajukenbo. “Ka” for Tang Soo Do Karate, “ju” for judo and jujitsu, “ken” for kenpo and “bo” for Chinese and western boxing. We specialize here in kickboxing because I had personally fought in the ring. I retired as a reigning WKA full contact heavyweight champion out of Hawaii.”

So what’s the secret to getting into a hall of fame? Perhaps it lies in Master Guila’s personal objectives. “Perfect practice is my goal. When I teach, I teach with high caliber instructions. Training and practicing is one thing. That’s what we all set up and intend to do. But the difference in what separates champions and winners, I take it a step above that. This not only includes my more advanced students, but it also includes my beginner level that are all part of my team and my school. I’m not perfect (laughs). Nobody’s perfect. However, The better we can give our students from a teacher’s standpoint, the more perfect practice we can give our students, the more perfect they can be. It’s all about being the best we can be as a martial artist inside and outside of the dojo.”