For over 30 years, Shihan Rusty McMains has been bringing to the US and Canada the very best in martial arts instruction. Shihan McMains, holding the rank of Godan (5th Degree), is a senior black belt and instructor with SeiWaKai Canada. He was bestowed the prestigious Master's title of Renshi from SeiWaKai Honbu Dojo in Japan. He is a direct student of Shihan Isao Yabunaka, Sichidan (7th Degree), director of SeiWaKai North America as appointed by Hanshi Shuji Tasaki, founder of SeiWaKai. Shihan McMains is a member of the JKF (Japan Karate Federation), JKF GojuKai and USANKF.
Presently, Shihan McMains oversees the instruction and progression of several schools in the southern Ontario, Canada region. He visits the area several times a year to conduct seminars and classes in Goju-Ryu and Kyushojutsu, an Okinawan style based art utilizing the application of the sciences of both "old and new world sciences".
In addition to Goju-Ryu, Shihan McMains holds black belt rankings and/or teaching tiles in Okinawan Kempo (Godan), Toritejutsu (Godan), Chungdokwan (Sandan), Jujutsu (Shodan) and WuYiJieHe (Apprentice Instructor), as well as extensive training in other Okinawan/Japanese Karate styles, Filipino Arnis, Hapkido/Kuksool, Judo, Okinawan Kobudo and Taiji/Qigong.
Shihan McMains began his martial arts training in April 1975 at the age of 15 under former US (PKA/WKA) and World (KICK) Welterweight Full-Contact Champion Ishmael Robles. Within 6 months of training, he began formally assisting with teaching the children's classes. At that time, competition was very much a part of his martial arts training and Shihan McMains succeeded in this area as well. He continually placed in tournament competitions in Texas, Louisiana and Mexico. He was the top brown belt competitor in Texas for two consecutive years. His successful tournament and full-contact competitions won him literally hundreds of trophies and awards including state and regional rankings from 1978-1994. He is a former physical fitness/self-defense instructor for a local college's Texas Department of Corrections and TCLOES law enforcement cadet training programs.
In the three plus decades Shihan McMains has been practicing the martial arts he has had the distinct honor and privilege of training directly under some of the world's leading martial artists. Because of his close and personal relationship with his instructors, some of the most prized "classes" were held in the hallways, poolside or tennis courts of hotels late at night, backyards, restaurant parking lots waiting for their table as well as hours upon hours of discussions on planes, in cars, and just "hanging out at the house". With this privilege comes the responsibility of maintaining a very high level of knowledge, expertise, integrity and trust.
His studies have also required him to seek knowledge and information from other sources outside the martial arts. His research has brough him to NASA research scientists, doctor, /health and wellness professionals, historians and other qualified sources including an ever expanding library on different styles of martial arts, geography, history, culture and sciences (physical and medical).
Though a majority of his early training heavily emphasized competition, he was always fascinated with the self-defense and philosophical aspects of the martial arts. He would read and research anything that he could find on the histories and cultures of the martial arts, regardless of style. As his understanding of the martial arts grew, so did his realization that what he was studying was, in fact, largely a sport with limited benefit otherwise.
In the mid 1980's, Shihan McMains began studying the classical Okinawan and Chinese martial arts in an attempt to discover the missing pieces of what his previous instructors and training had offered. Shihan McMains was exposed to and trained deeply in several martial arts in his search for the best the martial arts world had to offer. He is himself a full-time student of the martial arts and regularly attends classes and various training workshops, not only in karate, but in other arts as well. Shihan McMains acknowledges and is tremendously thankful to his original instructors and their strict training which established what he considers his "martial arts work ethic", which has greatly affected all aspects of his life.
1988 brought about the most significant point in Shihan McMains' martial arts studies and continued development by meeting Professors Rick Moneymaker and Tom Muncy. These gentlemen offered explanations to so many of the questions that many martial artists ask. Presented through straight-forward, no nonsense examples based on scientific and medical facts, the proverbial lights began to come on finally offering Shihan McMains the ability to sort through all the mysteries and fantasies that commonly align with the study of the martial arts.
With the collective studies of Professors Moneymaker and Muncy along with a select group of their students including Shihan McMains, lead to the formation of Dragon Society International (DSI). The DSI is a multi-stylistic group of martial artists and field experts, including Western and Eastern science based doctors and specialists, devoted to the research and analysis of the true origins of the ancient martial arts of the East. Shihan McMains was one of the first of five of the DSI's founding members to receive rank (Cert# 001) and only one of three to be awarded instructor certification (Cert# 001).
Because of his in-depth knowledge and understanding of the martial arts and his level of expertise, Shihan McMains travels throughout the US and Canada conducting seminars on all aspects of the martial arts. He is a co-author of the internationally distributed book "Torite-jutsu Quick Reference Manual" and is a featured instructor on 14 martial arts training videos distributed world-wide by Dragon Society International.
Shihan McMains goal is to provide his students with relevant information and training practices that few martial arts seem to offer. In addition he wants his students to have the same enthusiasm in their training that Shihan McMains still has after 35 years of training.
The "black belt" is part of a process not the end result. Too many so-called martial arts' "masters" have taken the black belt and turned it into a "selling tool" as a way to market and promote themselves in an attempt to feed their own egos and pockets. Many of their students now study and train under Shihan McMains for the very fact that he teaches with the benefit of the student in mind. His success comes from seeing his students succeed not only in the dojo, but also in life.
