Chris, “The Beast” Hall, is no stranger to fighting. His professional record of 69-6-0 earned him both a highly contested heavyweight championship fight and, in 2009, an induction into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
After retiring from fighting in 1995, The Beast turned his attention to promoting martial arts online. “In 1995, there were no great sources for kung fu online. Moreover, anything good was very difficult to find. So I decided to start my own kung fu website, The Dragon’s List® (https://www.dragonslist.com), and promote kung fu as a whole, not any particular style or brand kung fu.
“I contacted a website development company and worked with them on the site for a few months and did not like how it was going, so I went with another company and was not satisfied with their work either. So after firing two of the top web development companies, I decided to begin doing this on my own.”
Starting on his own, Hall started learning web development and founded The Dragon’s List®. The Dragon’s List® eventually grew to a subscription base of over 640,000 subscribers.
“I began to enjoy the work that I did, and I loved bringing others together to share thoughts and opinions about kung fu. Too often, we martial artists get in a quagmire of which style is best or who can beat who when we should be asking am I progressing and learning and does my style meet my wants and needs. There have been a few mini-battles on the site, but we do our best to squash these as soon as possible.”
Most assume that after a very successful career in fighting, the next logical step would be training. However, this was not at all the case for The Beast. “I was not very good at training. I tried it for many years, but I found it difficult to teach what came naturally to me. I did very well with the students that were interested and wanted to be there. But not so great with the ones that did not practice or make an attempt to learn.
All things considered, I was much more suited to the task of bringing people together to promote kung fu and provide a community for kung fu enthusiasts, so it worked out for the best.”
Hall’s site does more than bring martial artists together to share a common interest. It also has an extensive list of kung fu schools so people interested in learning can find the schools near them and try them out. “I believe it is important to try several different kung fu schools and styles to understand which may be better for the individual. For example, a person that enjoys Wing Chun may not enjoy Tai Chi, but either style may be perfect for the individual.”
Today, The Dragon’s List® continues to grow and helps other martial artists find places to train, help martial arts schools find students, and allow everyone to discuss martial arts in a positive and non-judgemental place. In addition, The Dragon’s List® provides kung fu school information worldwide.
For more information on Chris “The Beast” Hall or The Dragon’s List® visit the links below:
Chris “The Beast” Hall on Social Media:
The Dragon’s List® Official Website
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