about me

My name is Cecil Burch, I am 41 years old, and I live in Glendale, Arizona. I am an independent health insurance broker (though soon there will be some changes / additions to that resume) and I have been involved in the martial arts since I was 16. I have the world's greatest wife and the two greatest children in the world. I have a lot of different interests such as music, movies, food, and reading, but my most intense passion, outside of my wife and kids are the martial arts. So, this blog will mostly be my vehicle to comment on that aspect of my life. However, I reserve the right to occasionally post on other topics.

So, basically, when I was 16 I started doing an American Karate style. I enjoyed it until I realized that the techniques I was using in the sparring class had almost no relation to the stuff I was learning, so I left that school. I then learned mostly by book and magazines, since this was pre-video era (early 80's). When I went to Arizona State U. I temporarily shifted my focus to Rugby. Then I got the chance to go to a seminar by Paul Vunak, who at the time was an unknown newly teaching Jeet Kune Do. I was hooked. I became a regular student of his by travelling once a month to his place in Long Beach. Eventually I was promoted to Full Instructor. During this time I was also training at a local boxing gym called Top Level run by a great guy named Paavo Ketonnen. I also started extensive training in Savate under Salem Assli, where I made it to yellow glove, which is the rough equivalent to brown belt. About 1998, I severed my relationship to Vunak for my own reasons.

But, fortunately, I had the chance to begin training in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu under a fantastic coach, Wellington "Megaton" Dias. I am currently a purple belt under him, but even better, I can call him and his wife Luka (also a black belt) my good friends. Another good friend and mentor is Rodney King of South Africa, who has developed a great boxing based striking system. I am honored to be a coach under him as well. I also run the local affiliated training group (ATG) of the Straight Blast Gym, run by another friend and coach Matt Thornton. My other mentor/ coach is an even closer buddy, Adam Singer of the Hard Core Gym in Athens, GA. In addition to being an all around great guy, he is also one of the finest all around coaches on the planet. If you want to learn MMA (mixed martial arts), he is the man.

I am currently coaching a small group here in town, so if you want to work out, just drop me a line!