Dave Hopkins
"Instructor of the Month"
Founding Member &
America In Defense Certified Instructor

By: Gregory Story

“Real life fights aren’t pretty or fair. You want the bad guy to get hurt.  I teach people how to do that with Kung Foo San Soo.”

                                    Fighting for a Cause

Kung Foo San Soo Master Dave Hopkins credits his health and happiness to martial arts noting the lifelong friends and myriad opportunities they’ve provided.  Long years of training have opened doors to motivational speaking, bodyguard work, instruction and world travel.

“It’s something the whole family enjoys, and it gives me the freedom to be able to coach my kids in their school sports and be with them more,” he says.

Thirteen year old Davey, eleven year old Taylor, and ten year old Daniel all began training at age four.  Dave Hopkins didn’t start quite so young.  He was in sixth grade when he took a karate class at the YMCA.  He began training in Kung Foo San Soo in 1978 at age fifteen.

“My best friend’s brother was a blackbelt and that got me interested.  When I started training with Master Al Rubin, I knew this was for me.  I practically lived at his studio,” Dave states.

Training hard every day, Hopkins progressed so quickly that Master Rubin bestowed his blackbelt upon him at eighteen, the earliest age possible.  When young and admittedly foolish, Kung Foo San Soo saved his hide many times.

“I grew up in a rough area, and like most young men, I liked to hang out at clubs late night.  I’ve been in altercations out in the parking lot where there were three, four, five of them and only two of us,” he states.

Dave relates that in such situations subterfuge, attack, and knowing how to fight down on the ground are critical to survival.

“You look at one guy then hit his partner standing next to him.  I’ve had to face baseball bats and knives and you have to get inside on the one and stay outside on the latter,” he states.

Dave became a Master in 1989 at age twenty-six, the youngest man to ever earn the title in Kung Fu San Soo.  His wife Sheila’s more into the conditioning aspects of martial arts.  Dave’s proud that a third of his students are female out of a total of one hundred children and two hundred adults.

“We teach them how to take care of themselves out in the street in real life situations.  How to avoid getting dragged into a car.  How to drop to the ground and kick someone’s knees,” he states.

Dave’s also honored by how many law enforcement officials take his classes, police officers, sheriffs, drug agents, and prison guards.

"The fifteen training officers of the Riverside Police Department all use our facilities.  With them, we concentrate on realistic means of self defense and submission holds,” he says.

His 4000 square foot facility in Riverside is the sixth location for his school that’s grown larger with each move starting with an eight hundred square foot studio opened in 1986.  Several of his students have gone on to open their own schools that he helps to supervise in such far flung locations as Bakersfield, Monterey and Texas.

“I’m thrilled that we’ve got forty students training in Kung Foo San Soo in Hungary.  I’m working to internationalize the form,” he says.
One of the means to that end is the sixth annual Gathering of Masters.  The first of these events was held in Crete then moved successively to the Canary Islands, twice in San Diego and then to France.  The three to four day series of seminars will be held this year in Bournemouth, England.  It will feature top masters from California, Hawaii, Japan, Ireland, France and England performing in a variety of martial arts styles.

Much of Dave’s time lately has been devoted to working with Bob Wall and others at WorldBlackBelt on the AID program devoted to airline safety.  AID, an acronym for both America In Defense and Aviation In Defense, was developed in response to the tragic events of 9-11.  The WorldBlackBelt facilities at Tarzana, CA contain a mockup of a jet cabin, which will soon be replicated at airline hubs across the country.  Training sessions have already been held at American Airlines headquarters in Dallas.

“We teach pilots and flight attendants how to spot terrorists and how to use the plane to their advantage.  They know where everything is, and when you know how, anything can be turned into a weapon, headphones, blankets, even a magazine,” he states.

Dave also teaches one-day seminars for companies such as Century 21 and women’s groups like the Riverside Rape Crises Center.

“Of course the more you train the more proficient you become, but we have a very fundamental program that shows people eight or nine common sense things to do in various scenarios to protect themselves,” he says.

Many of Dave’s Kung Foo San Soo techniques can be seen on the videotapes “Total Body Fighting I & II’ marketed through his website www.davehopkinskungfu.com.  Designed for anyone interested in martial arts, the action begins with demonstrations shot around the world before the camera pans out to an alleyway and street locations typical of any city.

“Like so many of my projects, I did this with my life long friend George Kosty.  It was great fun, and we hope to put out two or three a year,” he says.

Also fun are the boot camps, the pair holds in the mountains at Running Spring or at the beach at Camp Pendleton.

“We’ll get up at six and go for a run and then train from eight to one.  Then we head back to our campsites and fire up the barbecue.  The rest of the days devoted to having a good time, and do we ever," he declares.                                                                    

If you would like to contact Dave Hopkins, you can reach him at davehopkins@worldblackbelt.com.

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By: Gregory Story
gregstory@worldblackbelt.com