NewEnglands_KyoSa

Good for you. Good things come in small packages

Why isn't the HEAD instructor around, isn't it his school?!?! and who's been teaching for him, the aforementioned sempai?

I would have handled it the same way. but depending on how fearful i was i might have even put my cell phone in my hand and under the table and made it ring and answered it like it was an emergency, apologized and go. but from the sounds of it you are very knowledgable and you handled it very well.

Yea me too. MT all the way.

Im currently training my kids for a tournament but with my kids i just go over rules and very basic things like making sure they circle when they spar not to go north and south. But as far as me, i have a few sets of weighted vests that make me about 35 lbs heavier and i wear that and do my forms and then on top of it i do just the stances of my form with my hands staying in loads, i do my form facing different directions, blind folded, and backwards. I figure, if you havent mastered it by then...give up. I also use wrist waits while i do my forms to give my hands killer precision. For sparring i work on my combos, pounding in my punches, i do some bag work. and the best thing is just to get in the ring with someone and do it. I also do slow slow kicks against a ballet rail with my vest on and ankle weights on. While im doing this i also wear my vest to run, do pushups, slow kicks, etc.

Im interested to hear, after all of this how did it turn out? has this black belt given you any more trouble?

Well, as i see what you're saying...some people have a natural athletic ability and the smarts to retain information and learn things quickly. This doesn't mean, hey just come to one class a week, because you're so advanced you deserve it. Everyone has to come to the same amount of classes and i know that most schools try to accomodate the number of classes rule to how advanced the people are, how busy they are, and how many days a week their school operates. It also makes it easier for instructors. when it comes time to test kids its easier to say...hey look you didnt meet the requirement but you'll be more ready for next time as opposed to...you just suck, i can't test you. Time requirements are a necessary evil or else everyone would be a 10th dan grandmaster.

yea, it was kinda cool actually. except for the fact that sparring was next. at the end my master instructor asked if there was any questions and of course all the kids raise their hands excitedly and he picks one of them and he pay my instructor no mind, looks right at me and goes DID THAT HURT!?!?!?!? haha, love kids...

yikes. if you can't get it back you absolutely have to tell him and apologize. you can't go on not letting him know. he might hold it against you if you don't explain and someday he might even ask you! you'll find a way to tell him...just reherse really well...thats what i do

you know, this may sound like crap but every since i was a kid i've always had a very good sense of what's around me all on my own...chi or no chi. for example., one time a friend of mine decided to come up behing my in a half jog fashion but i couldnt hear her feet on the ground...none of my friends i was with told me because they wanted to see what was to unfold...well sure enough i knew somehow, someway that she was coming and without turning i timed it and flipped her over my back and on to a bench! she's never forgiven me since but i said hey! you're the one who ran up behind me smarty pants!

wow that's terrible man. im very sorry to hear about that. stay hopeful!

that's unfortunate

ah, i remember one of my own stories now. i do a seven board downward elbow break...so i need cinder blocks to hold the seven boards up. i was doing a demo at a local ymca camp. well my break is last because it was kind of the hi light break of that particular demo. i get up, line up, practice, and throw it...it was beautiful...went through like butter but as i bent down in my stance following through to the floor well i bent over too much and my chin knicked the corner of the cinder block on the way down. so my break was beautiful and flawless mean while i've never bled from the chin so much in my life. i have a scar to this day. funny thing is...i didn't even notice it until i was standing there and i saw people starring at me and i was like hmmm....ok.... and then my face felt oddly wet so of course what do i do? put my white dobahk sleeve to my chin...yea, really smart.

I have the new version of the Chocolate. It's black and i like it very much. It's a verizon wireless phone. I feel like a need a Blackberry though...that will be next!

We officially have 7 stances: Choong Bee Ja Seh.............Ready Stance(typically seen in starting and ending forms or drills) Chong Gul Ja Seh...........Leaning Stance/Training Stance(just a basic front stance) Hu Gul Ja Seh..............Fighting Stance(also known as a 'cat' stance) Ke Mah Ja Seh..............Horse Stance Sa Ko Rip Ja Seh................Open Horse stance(front foot points toward target) Choi Ha Dan Ja Seh...................Low Stance(knee almost deadened to floor) Bahl Cha Gi Choong Bee Ja Seh................Ready for kick stance(used only for drills) and i personally insist that we have an 8th stance...a crane stance which is seen in many of our forms including our Crane Form. so i think it just makes sense that we'd have that too.

Well, i didn't do it but a friend of mine and a fellow black belt did. Somehow she just forgot, i suppose, to hit ONLY with her heel on an ax kick and her whole foot slapped the board...almost breaking it(no...not the board, her foot). She now openly admits how dumb that was but i will never forget leaning over her as she was crying and asking her how in God's name she managed to do such a thing(i was also giggling...yes, im a great friend...i know). all this not to mention she was testing for BB two weeks later!

I think it is important to remember that block is not just a movement that impedes a strike with just that of a hand or a shin or whatever you're blocking with. It must be followed by or with the body so that you don't break anything and don't suffer all the ramifications of making a block as such. The body must block in the form of an evasion as well. This making physically blocking with just an arm or a leg much easier and when trained properly it makes your defense create open windows for an easy offense.

It really depends on how many people are participating. when i was gup testing i had a three hour test. now, our gup testing takes an hour to and hour and a half because our schools numbers have gone down greatly over the years. our black belt testing has consistently been a two to three hour affair. we don't go all day. we could make it all day long but we prefer to keep testers in constant motion for the duration now downtime whatsoever.

I have a full life right now, and I am only 22!! but, we are starting to settle down.. we plan on having a kid in about one year, I really hope its a boy!! so I can teach him everything I know.. hopefully he will like martial arts? Every daddy wants a boy. But remember, you can also teach a girl everything you know But whatever you have, best of luck, and hopefully he or she will love the MAs as much as you do. I could only hope my children will enjoy MAs. If not...there's always my students, my other pride and joy. [/i]

Well, from what I understand the instructor's course itself is $150 or so. Since I'd take my wife, I'd estimate $5-6000 for the whole trip. That's my guess. I'm hoping my guess is on the high side. 6000 not too bad. i hope you have a great time. let us know how it goes. how long do you want to go for?

ugh i wish i could have been eating olive garden all my life. they only recently starting coming into massachusetts a few years ago.

I've always wanted to go to australia! Welcome aboard!

Big fan...such a big fan! Yep. those breadsticks get me every time! Yea i think i eat my weight in breadsticks every time! I have gone there for four years and i have eaten the Chicken Scampi with Zuppa Toscana all four years...haven't changed yet!

Well mine is New Englands which is where im from. and then Kyo Sa which is my teaching title like 'sensei' because my students and my ability to teach my students is the most important and prized thing to me.

That's rough man, i wish i could help you out. Things will shape up though. any hope of your busy life getting any less busier?