R.M. Phillips

I began martial arts training as a teenager, with Wing chun Kung-fu. Soon afterward, I went to university on a tennis scholarship. While playing mixed doubles with the dance instructor playing as my partner, she suggested I take up ballet. Her idea was that the training would be excellent for my tennis game. She was correct. After 9 months of ballet, I had moved to 2nd singles from 4th singles. That was a very large improvement. Then, it was suggested that all of us on the team learn fencing in our offseason. Along with 2 others, we took up fencing. We all discovered that training with a foil improved our hand eye coordination, our footwork, and our cardio. So, fencing turned out to have significant benefits for our team. Not to mention I had a great time fencing. Fencing was the catalyst that moved me in the direction of singlestick. I discovered singlestick, while reading Sherlock Holmes. He has led me to many different thoughts, and ideas. I will say that Holmes has truly, gently, nudged me into fascinating arenas.