In our final in-depth interview with Jamie Clubb, all round martial artist, writer and Martial Edge’s latest contributor, Lesley Jackson talks to him about setting up his own school of martial arts and the lasting effects some of his friendships have left him.
We last left Jamie as he was about to start on his teaching career and set up his martial arts school, ‘Clubb Chimera.’ After his brush with the seedy side of kickboxing, he sought out and gained a much more in-depth and rounded education in the martial arts, meeting and making friends with some of Britain’s foremost martial artists. Jamie pays tribute to some of these people:
“Geoff Thompson is undoubtedly my main influence in the world of martial arts. He, along with a bloody nose that I received sparring with my circus colleagues, helped change my direction and he continues to inspire me today with fresh ideas and insights. He was to me in the ‘90s what Bruce Lee was to a lot of martial artists who trained in the ‘70s. His impact on the British scene was and still is incredible. Today he is very much into the philosophical side of things, which seems to be the natural progress of all the memorable masters in martial arts history. He is a great mentor to me and I am inspired every time I speak with him. His instructors are also good friends of mine that have helped me to develop in many different ways, from Matty Evans ever-questioning approach to Tony Somers inspiration and motivational methods.
Life is a real learning process and if you don’t learn something then you have wasted your time. I refuse to waste my time. In fact, everything I do regarding martial arts is time managed.” - Jamie Clubb
Iain Abernethy and Chris Rowen are true friends of mine. Iain is a real model for my martial arts ambitions and Chris Rowen is always there giving me sage advice. Strangely enough, both are martial arts traditionalists, which many would see as being poles apart from what I teach and train. However, my view is that they are the rare exceptions in the world of martial arts that in their own very different ways actually seek what the masters sought rather than follow exactly what they did.”
Circus Lessons
From the many different characters that Jamie has met over the years, combined with his colourful upbringing in the circus, he has learnt, “more about people than anything else. I have different ways to coach and teach, and I began to learn how to weed out those people who create a negative influence on your life. This really is the key. There are so many great teachers out there, all supplying really good content, but at the same they are often radically different in their opinions and, whether they will admit it or not, shockingly similar in other ways. I further investigated methods outside the martial arts world, which really helped shape my thought process. I kept looking for a convergence of honest and efficient knowledge.”
From this, Jamie started to look closer to home for some of the most interesting lessons about martial arts and instruction. From his family and their involvement with the circus and training dangerous animals, one of the skills he learnt was awareness and the pre-emptive strike. From his father, grandfather and uncle, Jamie was witness to some incredible sights as time and again, they used these skills to sometimes literally, save their skin. However, from his mother, Jamie learnt some ideas about teaching:
“My mother’s self-teaching methodology is also something that has only begun to come into mainstream consciousness in the 1990s and today it is still rare in the world of martial arts and self-defence. I am a complete believer in this approach to coaching. She got the skill from training dogs. Rather than trying to make an animal do something or bribe them, she would simply set up restrictive activities, where they taught themselves certain behaviours. This is something that I would carry over to my students.
In the world of martial arts I have been influenced by just about everyone I have come into contact with, including my students. I have even learnt things from the ‘bad’ instructors. Life is a real learning process and if you don’t learn something then you have wasted your time. I refuse to waste my time. In fact, everything I do regarding martial arts is time managed.”
Clubb Chimera
From here, Jamie set up his own business in martial arts via his school, ‘Clubb Chimera.’ This started as promoting a series of seminars with prominent martial artists to gain a reputation as a sound and upright martial artist with then going onto setting up his own school of martial arts, specialising in teaching children the realities of self defence and introducing a more independent learning method for his students. Jamie describes in more detail the beginnings of his project:
“Okay, the name Clubb is obviously my surname. The Chimera bit is symbolic of the chaos that we regularly go into in order to gain knowledge and experience as well as the many different sides to fighting we explore. The Chimera was a monster in Greek mythology that was part lion, part snake and part goat. I have always enjoyed mythology (I guess that might be why I like debunking martial arts myths), so the relevance was immediately apparent to me when I was looking around for a symbol.
Years after I stopped teaching Kickboxing I still liked the idea of coaching others. I had so much to say and I could see so much that could be improved. I wanted to teach a class that was completely unrestricted in its approach. I wanted to be able to teach everything I knew. Up until that point whenever I taught a class it was always under the strict instructions not to teach outside the syllabus – so I made a syllabus with no techniques. We simply state stages of a conflict from pre-fight to aftermath and assess how an individual best copes with these areas. On from that we assess how that individual can grow as a human being, achieving their ambitions and bettering society.
Jamie Clubb the Ealy Years
Lesley Jackson speaks in depth to Martial Edge’s latest contributor Jamie Clubb. Jamie has years of experience in the world of martial arts and has cross trained in a variety of styles. He has also been raised within the colourful world of the circus. In a series of interviews, we will discover more about Jamie’s interesting background and some of the characters he has met on the way.
Clubb Chimera Martial Arts is a platform for individualistic development through the martial arts. It is a process, not a style, for cross-training methods. We begin by truly looking into the nature of civilian conflict and assault. This means that the soft skills, such as mindset, awareness and attitude, underlie every area of our training. Everything is continually reviewed, evaluated, updated, improved, assessed and tested. This is why we cannot list techniques, only the organic stages of a process – Common Sense (obvious data/intuition), Principles (non-physical tenets such as Respect, Awareness, Courage, Discipline and Open Mind), and physical principles like applied science, Strategies (Strategy One is to create and maintain distance, and Strategy Two is to close distance) and Tactics (from Strategy One, the fence, pushing, striking, use of the voice and Strategy Two tactics like covering and grappling).”
From here, we see that Jamie has conceived an idea based not around the traditional and often abstract forms that traditional martial arts rely on but a physical and mental system based around the machinations of a fight broken down into a series of structured chunks. As well as his writing and successful foray into martial arts DVD presentations , Jamie has immersed himself into his world of martial arts teaching both from the experiences he has learnt from his vibrant background in the circus and lively characters he has met on the way. As well as his ‘Clubb Chimera’ project, Jamie is also currently cross-training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with the esteemed coach, Braulio Estima since 2004, who regularly turns out international champions from his club.
Welcome to Martial Edge Jamie, we can’t wait to hear more from you!
Interviews 
In our final in-depth interview with Jamie Clubb, all round 
in their opinions and, whether they will admit it or not, shockingly similar in other ways. I further investigated methods outside the martial arts world, which really helped shape my thought process. I kept looking for a convergence of honest and efficient knowledge.”
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