WHITE — Guy English began learning martial arts in 2003 in his hometown of Detroit. Now, almost 21 years later, he’s been teaching martial arts out of his basement in White while also competing in tournaments.

On Saturday, English competed in the Sioux Falls Open Martial Arts Tournament and came in third place in the black belt weapons division. There were 280 competitors from South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota at the annual tournament in Sioux Falls.

The events in the tournament included forms, point fighting, grappling, sport jiu-jitsu and self defense. English competed in the weapons forms event against 10-12 other martial artists. The forms are performed in front of judges who look for control, balance, good foundation and flowing into the next move.

“I’m an older guy and a little beat up and brittle,” English said. “So I go to these things and I compete in [forms] and that’s been my thing for over a decade now. … There were 10-12 people in my division and man, it was tough. … It was a nice array of different styles and different weapons.”

English, who is 46 years old, used a sai as his weapon on Saturday. He got his start in Martial Arts in Detroit at the Southfield Martial Arts Institute. It was the same institute that hall of fame Grand Master Willie Adams trained at and Adams is one of the prominent and respected martial artists of all time.

“I did karate for a few years [as a teenager] and I kind of fell out of it, and as the years went by I realized it was something I regretted dropping out of because I was a brown belt and was so close to a black belt test,” English said. “To make a long story short, I didn’t have the greatest home life and I fell out of it.

“I got to where I was in my mid-20’s and the two things that I regretted quitting was, not finishing college and not seeing my martial arts through to see a black belt. So, in my mid-20’s that’s what I did. I went and checked out about 10 different schools in the Detroit area and there was one particular school that I walked into and I felt like I was at home. … I’ve been training in it now for 21 years.”

After a couple years of training, English went back to college and earned his electronics degree after earning his black belt in 200. He then was recruited to move to South Dakota in 2008 for work and remained affiliated with Southfield. After a few years of living in Brookings he became a martial arts teacher.

“I got the OK from my sensei to teach as part of the organization and have been teaching officially [in the Brookings area] since 2010. I’ve never had a brick and mortar school location of my own. I’ve taught at a couple gyms. I taught at the [SDSU] wellness center for a little while and then there was a location at a gym that I taught for awhile. But I could never really build it, so a few years ago, I told my wife that I was just going to bring it all in house and in my basement I built a small dojo and that’s where I run my classes,” English said.

English’s youngest student at the White Karate Club is seven-years-old and he also has some students in their 30’s. He teaches a form of karate called Isshin-Ryu, but has also trained in other forms of Martial Arts.

“As I continue to train in karate, it’s called Isshin-Ryu Karate that I’ve been doing all these years and it’s a style of Okinawan Martial Arts. But [in South Dakota] I’ve also trained in TaeKwonDo. I earned a second-degree black belt in that. I’ve trained in Japanese Jiu-Jitsu on the side for a while. Recently I started training with a gentleman who teaches Tang Soo Do and I currently have an orange belt in that,” English said.

The training he has received over the past 21 years has not only helped with his fighting skills, but also his mentality about life.

“I always tell people, I’ve learned more about living life through Martial Arts training than I have learned how to fight. Because the fight is really inside ourselves. We’re all fighting. We learn to win the fight in ourselves and learn to find balance,” English said.

That’s something that he’s tried to pass down to his students as well.

“I try to take everything I can from [Southfield] because I want to pass on all the principles that I’ve learned to my students. Learning how to move with principles. If you do that physically then you’re doing it mentally. And if you can do those things in one thing, I find that they transcend into everything that you do and you live your life by it. … So teaching people how to move and engage in the martial arts and not techniques, that’s the biggest thing that I’ve learned and tried to pass on. … Don’t focus on belts and ranks, those come with time.

English will be hosting his first ever tournament on May 11 at the Deubrook Junior High School. In June he will be competing in the Grand National Tournament in Detroit.