Last Updated on October 7, 2013.
Self-Discipline Leads To Feasterville Instructor’s Success
By: Thad Campbell TSMMA Feasterville
For Joshu Craig Alexander the talks he gives to his young students at Tiger Schulmann’s Mixed Martial Arts in Feasterville come from the heart. That’s because Martial Arts has truly been life changing for him.
The title Joshu is bestowed by Tiger Schulmann on those members of the organization he feels capable of instructing other students. It is a coveted title going back to the traditional Karate roots of Shihan (Japanese for Master) Tiger Schulmann. There are less than 200 people who carry the title, in an organization with close to 10,000 students.
Alexander earned the title by spending six days a week for three years assisting his instructor, Sensei Thad Campbell, at Tiger Schulmann’s in Feasterville. He would be on the mat for four hours of classes for kids and children helping his instructor teach the importance of traditional values and Self-Discipline they had learned from the early days when Tiger Schulmann’s was still teaching Karate.
Structure Leads to Change
For Alexander his days helping at the MMA School would start at four o’clock, fresh out of Conwell-Egan High School. They would end shortly after ten o’clock with him dripping sweat from his own two hours of training. By the time he graduated High School and became a full time instructor the Discipline of a traditional Karate student was part of who he was.
His Self-Discipline in class stood out. Training for two hours six days a week is hard enough, but to be the hardest working student in each and every class makes it even more incredible.
His incredible hard worked turned him into one of the most successful competitors in all of Tiger Schulmann’s. He boasts championships in all competitive aspects of our discipline; Grappling, Kickboxing and MMA.
More importantly it has turned him in to a phenomenal instructor. Students from the age of three to 70 come to train with him every single day and are motivated by his classes as well as his journey. While he teaches them the styles of kickboxing and submission grappling, he imparts the values that have existed in Karate for 500 years.
Setting Correct Example
Alexanders own competitive career is a great example for his students. For his adult students looking to get in shape or lose weight, Joshu’s fight career serves as a testament to the hard work and Self-Discipline required to succeed.
When he competes, Alexander must make a specific weight, yet still have the strength and endurance to perform at a very high level. This takes a combination of nutrition and training that has become a lifestyle for him.
Thus when he asks his adult students at TSMMA Feasterville to make healthy changes to their workout and nutritional routines, they know he is not selling a bill of goods! He has done it himself for years.
Likewise, when he asks his younger Feasterville students to focus for 3 or 4 hours during their weekly lessons, they know he is doing the same during the 12 to 15 hours a week he is training himself. When he asks them to be tough and train even on the days they aren’t feeling their best, they know he has the same Self-Discipline to do it.
At 25 years old, Joshu Alexander has a very promising career in front of him. He will make his professional Mixed Martial Arts debut this winter and at the same time is a full time instructor at Tiger Schulmann’s Mixed Martial Arts in Feasterville. He attributes his success to the Self-Discipline passed down from his instructor, who in turn learned it under Tiger Schulmann, himself a student of Kyokushin Karate since the age of 8!
Could Have Been Different
Alexander is extremely thankful his life has gone in the direction it has. Many of the kids he grew up with are struggling to find their way at 25. Some have fallen victim to drugs and alcohol while a few never made it to their 25th birthday. The negative influences that existed in his hometown of Croydon are a constant reminder that his journey into Martial Arts has been a life changer.
Now it’s his passion to help others find that same strength in themselves to make positive changes in their own lives. While he teaches a more contemporary style of Self-Defense, Mixed Martial Arts, Alexander never forgets to impart on his students the traditional values and Self-Discipline that have been passed down from Karate.
