Last Updated on October 23, 2013.
Lawrenceville Instructor Teaches Most Important Martial Arts Lesson
Joshu Tony Billings is living his passion. Every day he goes to Tiger Schulmann’s in Princeton and teaches Mixed Martial Arts to his more than 200 students. For Billings, still in his early 20’s, it is the culmination of a decade of his own training. He began as a student in Tiger Schulmann’s Chalfont and immediately discovered his love for Martial Arts.
As a young student the disciplined environment, and the conversations about the importance of Self-Discipline given by his own Sensei, Michael Marchand, resonated with Billings.
From the time he was 16 years old he began helping Marchand every day. He assisted teaching classes from 4 o’clock in the afternoon right up until 10 at night. At the same time he continued his own training, sharpening skills that have seen him become an undefeated kickboxer and successful grappler on the competition scene.
Martial Arts Classes Taught Him the Path
For Billings his success has been the result of the Self-Discipline taught to him by Marchand. The idea of having a clear goal to focus on and then not giving up until it’s achieved has been a constant for Billings over the last decade.
It started with a simple desire to earn a Blue Belt (the first new color a student receives). That quickly turned into a quest to achieve Black Belt. Finally he set goal to become a certified instructor, a rigorous test overseen by Shihan (Japanese for Master) Tiger Schulmann.
Having successfully completed all these tasks, Billings set off on the next logical step. He enrolled in college and applied the same Self-Discipline to achieve very high marks. Taking out humongous student loans was not daunting to Billings, who had the Confidence he would be able to pay them back through hard work. Nevertheless after three years he realized it didn’t make sense. His true passion was teaching Martial Arts Classes, why keep accruing debt for college classes if he didn’t have to.
This led to a new goal. That of becoming Head Instructor for his own group of students instead of working under Marchand.
Martial Arts Talent Needed For Lawrenceville/Princeton Area
This choice led Billings to begin training directly under Tiger Schulmann in Elmwood Park, New Jersey. Only 21 at the time, Billings talent was apparent immediately. He was training with professional Martial Artists like Welterweight World Champion Lyman Good, and UFC veteran Nick Pace. He wasn’t overwhelmed, nor overmatched.
A few months later, Tiger Schulmann was in need of an instructor for Martial Arts Classes in the Princeton/Lawrenceville area. He tabbed Billings for the job and for the past three years, Joshu Billings has been teaching his students the same method for success Tiger Schulmann’s MMA taught him.
His passion for his students, incredible talent at Martial Arts, and ability to teach discipline both through the structure of his class and motivating talks has quickly turned him into a mentor for hundreds of students both young and old.
Looking for someone to teach your kids how to succeed, not only in Martial Arts, but in life? Sign up for a free trial class at TSMMA Princeton and see what all the hype is about!
