(from Stephen K. Hayes' Facebook page December 11th, 2018)
Back in the 1980s, I had very few actual students studying the ninja martial arts with me. Instead of running a dojo, I ran seminars around the world. Into the 1990s, I had 13 actual challenges. Guys figured that if I was on the cover of Black Belt Magazine, and they beat me, THEY would then be on the cover of Black Belt. They were sneaky. I was in "teaching mode", and the challengers were in "put it all on the line mode". It took me a moment to realize that a challenge was happening, that the "student" was testing me and not asking me to teach him. I was successful in all challenges, but it was quite unnerving. What about liability laws? Could I have been sued after beating another person? I have not had any real challenges in recent years, discounting of course the internet offers, where I am expected to get on a plane and go to where the challenger is and attempt to defeat him there. I do not take those as serious challenges. And now I'm 70 years old, to boot! Ah, an interesting life I have lived.
