Darren Gilbert's martial arts interest began at age 15, attending a class in Uechi-ryu karate run by a student of Frank Gorman in nearby Adams, Massachusetts.
In 1979, he enlisted for a 4-year period in the U.S. Army. In 1982, while stationed with the 1/17 Infantry at Camp Casey in South Korea, he studied Tae Kwon Do with the battalion’s instructor. He left South Korea with the rank of senior red belt (equivalent to brown belt in the Japanese ranking system).
Returning to the United States in 1983, he began the study of Isshin-ryu karate with Allen Wheeler at Wheeler's School of Karate in Powell, Tennessee. In 1993, Darren opened his own dojo in nearby Clinton, Tennessee.
Growing increasingly disillusioned with the “sport karate” scene and the generally poor quality of karate instruction to be found in the U.S., Darren began to look for something else. In 1994, he attended a karate seminar being given an instructor named Sherman Harrill. During the seminar, Sensei Harrill demonstrated a level of karate mastery far beyond anything Sensei Gilbert had seen in over fifteen years of training with many well-known instructors. The relaxed ease with which Sensei Harrill handled any and all seminar participants (regardless of rank or style) was simply astounding.
Traveling around the United States to attend additional seminars, Sensei Gilbert began adapting his training to incorporate what he learned from Sensei Harrill and began hosting an annual seminar in Clinton. Sensei Gilbert was formally accepted as a student by Sherman Harrill in March of 2000.
In March of 2002, Sensei Sherman Harrill issued Darren Gilbert a certificate for Sho-Dan (4th Degree Black Belt).
Darren Gilbert’s personal training and instruction focuses on solid mastery of the basics, understanding and applying techniques from the Okinawan kata adapted into the Isshin-ryu system, and the development of the body’s natural weapons through conditioning and makiwara training. Darren Gilbert is also a graduate of Executive Security International's Advanced Executive Protection Program. As a Certified Protection Specialist, Darren has over 600 hours of training in areas including Principles of Protection, Profiles of Terrorism and Violence, Human Intelligence Collection, Stalking and Dangerous Human Behavior, Bomb Search and Identification, Protective Detail Operations, Defensive Shooting Tactics, Unarmed Defensive Tactics, Operational Intelligence, and Electronic Security.
Darren Gilbert has over twenty-five years of martial arts training and experience with a broad range of martial sciences. This, combined with his executive protection training, has given him a unique perspective in his approach to the study of karate. He has conducted karate striking skills seminars for groups and school from many different martial arts systems and styles, including grappling systems. |
