sensei8

I honestly do not know what a way to long syllabus looks and/or feels like. I embrace the syllabus as it is, and never have given it a thought, for a second. Even when we discuss the syllabus, with it sitting on the table, I've never once thought and/or said..."Man, our syllabus is long!!" It's important across the board, but at the end of the day, as far as I'm concerned, it's just a thing, and it just isn't that important to loose sleep over it and/or its length. Whenever a student asks about the its length...and asks, Why? And they have asked from time to time... "The summation of 'Why' is to the summation of 'Because'!! Now please go train hard and train well!!"

In this case if a student has a limitation with using their legs. Would the focus be more on joint locking and hand techniques? I ask because soon I will be helping my instructor with teaching but I have to be careful here. Like I don't want to impose some generic skill set and saying it's either done like that or your not qualified. On the other hand you can have a person with one healthy hand and that hand can be capable of destructive power. This will compensate for their handicap. My biggest fear would be is of I give the student false confidence. This would probably haunt me for life. But at the same time a person's sincere effort as well as dedication should be acknowledge since it is a winning trait and one that is becoming rare. Adapt to what the student with a disablity can do, and not what can't be done. The remaining abilities will make-up for what the physical body can't. When someone is blind, for example, the other senses become much more heightened to a very sensitive ability. Teach THE STUDENT, and not the disability!!

Solid post!! May I ask you a question, instructor to instructor... Have you ever had a student(s) ever express their distain over the length of your syllabi?? If so, how did you explain it, its length??

Every student should be allowed the same opportunities as the other students no matter their limitations. If this saying is true, and meant to be of value, then live up to it. If not, then nothings of any significant value... "The Black Belt Mind" We, here at KF, are always saying that the belt doesn’t prove that you have skills or that you are the greater person. It is the mindset that you portray in having that belt, whatever belt it may be. White or black, having the mindset and attitude is the main reason why you deserve the belt. Most important is that those MAist with physical limitations are protected by Law in the USA, the American Disabilities Act of 1990... "The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. The ADA is divided into five titles (or sections) that relate to different areas of public life." Referenced from... https://adata.org/learn-about-ada I've been fortunate enough to have awarded a handful of disabled students to Shodan, and 2 to Nidan and 5 to Sandan. It's not what they lack, it's what they posses that counts because in my eyes they don't lack anything. Just who are we to say that those with disabilities are less worthy than we are who've no disabilities, especially in the MA?!!?! Again, the search should never be about rank, but of effective knowledge and experience. Imho!!

Often times, students express their distain feelings over the depth of the syllabus that their dojo has..."Does the syllabus have to be so long?!?", is their chief complaint. I do understand their concerns without equivocation! However, please allow me a moment to express my point of view over this concern. While the syllabus might appear to be quite involving, and oftentimes unnecessary, it's important to realize that the style of the MA, that the student's training in of owns own volition, is at its required length for a valid reason(s), whether the student likes it or not. Let's look at the overly involving syllabus in general. The syllabus is a vitally important element of said MA style. So much so, that without the syllabus, the concise whole would be lost to the students improving MA betterment. Yes, Bruce said..."Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own." May I stress that's admirable across the board, however, while the student is a student AT said dojo, the syllabus must be followed to the letter. I believe that the syllabus is that MA styles blueprint, and to deter away from it for ambiguous reason(s) drastically affects even the effectiveness of what that styles MA founder believed in wholeheartedly. "I just don't understand why our dojo's syllabus is so long!!" says the frustrated student. May I approach this from another angle; please bear with me. Remember, the student chose the MA style, and all that that includes willingly. The chosen MA style is akin to choosing a car; both have to be dependable. The syllabus is nothing more than another tool, however, an important tool that the CI utilizes with an unnerving precision to teach with and from. What the student does on their own, is the students business. So, we've the long drawn out syllabus and a car. Both are tools. One gets you hopefully a valued MA education, while the other gets you hopefully from place to place. Let's look at that car, for a moment. It's literally where the rubber meets the road as far as it's intriguing purpose; it's that very thin line from being a car driver or a pedestrian. That car, that the students driving around is a mechanical wonderment; hard to live without it in ones life. Now let's look at YOUR own car/truck. That very car/truck is composed of literally thousands of all types of parts. The more that industry improves that which takes us from place to place, the more types of parts that are being put into that vehicle masterpiece. Now, there stands before you...your pride and joy...your means of transportation...your car/truck. Whenever you need to go somewhere, it's there ready to take you wherever you need to go to in a moments notice. Thousands of parts making your car/truck operate like that fine tuned instrument. But what good is your car/truck if it experiences a mechanical breakdown?! Not much; looks good looking at it, but you bought that car/truck to drive, and not to just look at it. If the breaks go out or the transmission goes out or the fuel system goes out or if the electrical system goes out or the engine goes out or whatever else can break on your car/truck. But that's to be expected because mechanical things wear out...things break. Wait, what if you had a flat or ran out of gas, who's fault is that? Not the car/truck, but your's alone. Let's take it one more step. What use is your car/truck if YOU purposefully remove just one of the thousands of parts it takes it to run?? Take a wheel off; what good will that do?! Take the battery out; what good will that do?! Take the steering wheel off; what good will that be?! Take the brakes off; what good will that be?! Take one of the myriad of computers off; what good will that be?! Each and every part found and/or discovered in your car/truck is there for a very good reason, no matter how insignificant it might seem to be. That long drawn out syllabus is like it is because the MA styles founders and/or the CI and/or the Governing Body decided it's importance. Just like the engineers decided to put all of those thousands of parts into the car/truck that the motoring public drives around. The syllabus length is as crucial as those thousands of parts that allow your car/truck to run in tiptop shape. Take one of the legs off the chair; what are you left with?! An unstable, as well as incomplete chair. Take something out of the syllabus; what are you left with!? A possible ineffective proponent of the MA. Take just one part from your car; what are you left with?! A possible wreck waiting to happen. Each and every part that's found in your car/truck is as vitally important and critical as it is found in your syllabus!! What Bruce spoke about, is one thing, but only for when the time is favorable, if at all. Until that time, I'd rather have all of those parts [techniques], because one never knows when they might come in quite handy; better to have more than enough than to have not enough. So, before the student starts wishing for a much more deftly cropped syllabus, try to remember that what's in the syllabus is there for a good reason. After that, it's just not that important!! Did the student chose that particular MA style for effective knowledge and experience, or for rank?! Train hard and train well in the syllabus for cause!!

If you train in a style like Shotokan Pinan Shodan is Pinan Nidan and vice versa. If you train in an Okinawan style Pinan Shodan is Pinan Shodan and Pinan Nidan is Pinan Nidan. The reason... Pinan Shodan is viewed as more difficult than Nidan and thus they swapped the order. Solid post!!

TIME!! If ones not willing to put forward the necessary time, whatever that might be, required, then their MA betterment is an illusion, at best. I could list a list of criteria, but for me, time is paramount!! Time equals in achieving effective knowledge and experience. Don't chase rank!!

I haven't studied Isshin Ryu but they are not the only art to strike with the thumb to the outside of the hand. We actually strike this way as well just not vertically. Shindokan does it too!! One of my most favorite techniques!!

If you train by yourself, how will you correct your mistakes?? How will you know that you made a mistake?? How do you gain, even just the smallest fraction of improvement and recognizing it before it becomes a bad habit?? Without a qualified watchful eye over you, the trails and tribulations of going about MA training might have more than it's share of potholes on your MA journey. It can be done, going about it on your own, but extremely difficult to receive the necessary quality and effectiveness. Train hard, train well!!

Man's creative, that's for sure. We like to reinvent the wheel so that it's either improved and/or it is their version. I watched my daughter take a karate class, that wasn't Shindokan, the horror of it all, and to my amusement, as I watched them run through all of their kata's. Guess what I saw?? Every Shotokan Kata, however, with a one something or two added to each said kata's, with names like, Flying Dragon 1. Interesting!! Their founder has an extensive Kyokushin background, for what it's worth.

FLASH...ALERT...URGENT!!!!!! There are plans to remake the epic and iconic, Enter the Dragon!!!!! But who, just who, can do justice to Bruce Lee?!?!??!?!?? Here are some links about the remake... https://deadline.com/2018/07/enter-the-dragon-bruce-lee-remake-david-leitch-deadpool-2-john-wick-warner-bros-1202431792/ https://www.joe.co.uk/entertainment/enter-the-dragon-remake-reboot-bruce-lee-191676 http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a862388/enter-the-dragon-bruce-lee-remake-controversy-director/ The internet has been flooded with stories and reports one after another since the story broke wide open. I wonder what Linda and Shannon think about this?? Will the director of the remake make mockery over Enter the Dragon?? I love the Deadpool movies, but if the remake of Enter the Dragon is done in the Deadpool similar manner, I fear that'll not do the original any justice. What do you all think about this??

hey, singularity6 have you watched a film yet? pink Not yet. Eventually, though! I recommend jumping straight to Enter the Dragon. Really the best thing to do. I wholeheartedly concur...Enter The Dragon!!

I just don't see any major events occurring within the MA world, past, present, and future because we're the product of our environment to some varying degree since we've the power to choose!! Mr. Han possibly said it best... "We are unique, gentlemen, in that we create ourselves... through long years of rigorous training, sacrifice, denial, pain. We forge our bodies in the fire of our will."

I call it the "Rage of the Page"; what will it be today, that replaces what was favored yesterday?!?! I believe that the ways of yesterday were much more harsher, training wise, than they are of today. Why?? The root of all evil...Money!! Yesterday, the training was what it was, harsh or not, but solid quality, whereas, money was, and is necessary, but back in the days, the training was paramount over money. Today, the training seems to be much more lackadaisical in the fear of losing students, which translate into losing money, which translate one P&L on a down spiral to their doors closing permanently. An empty school of the MA can be a very quite somber place with no students whatsoever. So, the quality of the training suffers drastically across the board; students become the CI, and that's never ever a good thing for the betterment of the MA student. The students start to get a false security about what they're learning; the effectiveness is tossed out of the nearest window over doing whatever it takes to keep students happy: promote them whenever the student wants to, the absence of integrity becomes the new mindset, and whatever else drives their P&L. When you look at one of the most powerful video/game rental retail giants that once dotted the landscape, and you discover what else killed them...Exorbitant late-fees, not Redbox or Netflix, but exorbitant out of control late-fees. Most of the late-fees were primarily due to the product being properly and timely checked back into the system...WHAM...now a member has late fees, all because the employees weren't doing their job correctly. By the time that the quality and effective customer service was correctly, the sink was already doomed to sink below the surface of the lost trust of the consumers. I'm not suggesting that the schools of the MA need to return to the training methodologies and ideologies of yesterday...NO!! What I'm suggesting is that todays school of the MA needs to replace quantity with quality before the word Martial Arts becomes a punch line for some joke told. Imho!!

Thank you, singularity6; I enjoyed the article immensely!!

To the bold type above... Possible that the AMA in the UK might allow a transfer, with same current rank, providing that the dojo you're wanting to transfer to is already affiliated with the AMA in good standing. That would more than likely be left up to the Governing Body to decide.

What does the AMA initials stand for?? Do they have a website?? The Governing Body that I've been with for 53 years, the SKKA, and that I've been the Kiacho of for 10 years, doesn't have the minimum of desire to compare with any other Governing Bodies found all over the world. Why?? Our direct concerns are towards one thing...the betterment of our Student Body. How other Governing Bodies cross their 't's' and/or dot their 'i's' is of no concern of ours. We don't judge the how and the why of other Governing Bodies, just ours, and ours alone. This was our Soke's desire, to be separate across the board from every other Governing Bodies of the MA, and I carry on his desires. To be fair... The initials of SKKA stand for Shindokan Karate-do and Kobudo Association. We do NOT have a website, though we've tried, and failed to create one for many years; for various reasons, we've tabled that project for an undetermined time frame, and I doubt that'll ever come to fruition.

Any Governing Body, wait, scratch that, I'll get back to that in a moment, any CI worth their salt would never ever grant permission to any prospective student any other belt than a white belt IF you're not remaining with THAT AMA sanction. Why?? If you're a new prospective student seeking to join another style of the MA, as well as a new dojo, then by all facts, you're a beginner, thus, a white belt under their brand/flag. IF you're switching dojo's yet remaining with the AMA Governing Body, then that shouldn't be an elephant in the room type of decision for the CI to make, or for the AMA Governing Body to accept. Same this and that!! Moreover, rank is totally immaterial across the board. It [MA] shouldn't ever be about rank whatsoever; knowledge and experience through the betterment of the MA. If you were to come to my dojo as a prospective student, with absolutely no Shindokan tenure, and even if you're have an earned Ikkyu from the AMA, I'd welcome you with open arms without any reservation. However, I'd present you a white belt. And if after I present you with a white belt, and you hem and hawed about the white belt, I'd ask you to leave, and to not return until rank means absolutely nothing to you. As you being an Ikkyu in AMA, you should already realize that within the MA world, ranks mean nothing outside ones current Governing Body AND ones current dojo. A BB in one style is a Green Belt, for example, in another dojo and/or Governing Body. Even if I was in the AMA Governing Body, and I was a CI of my dojo, and you wanted to join my AMA dojo from another AMA dojo, I'd, more than likely, present you with a white belt, until you meet my strict expectations. Why?? My dojo is my dojo, and the AMA Governing Body has absolute no authority over the comings and goings of my AMA affiliated dojo. If the AMA Governing Body insisted that I accept your approved rank of Ikkyu in my dojo, I'd seriously contemplate leaving the AMA because no one dictates how I operate my AMA dojo. This, what I've posted, I believe you already know that per your opening post. Transferable?!?!? I'd make a call to the AMA Governing Body AND your current CI AND the AMA dojo you're wanting to transfer to...in that order. Transferring should be an easy enough process, but that's where the politics make the tangible into the intangible because one wants to dictate, the Governing Body, while one wants to rule, the current AMA dojo's CI, while one wants to possess; it's hard for them all to see eye to eye because they demonstrate just how important they are, and just how unimportant the student is. Imho!!

I say that I've been blessed with total control over my toes. I can move them into the desired position for whatever's necessary. I've blessed toes!!

Great topic, Himokiri Karate!! For the life of me, I can't think if one, sorry. But, I'd not be surprised if there are more than a few. I play games like SOCUM, Metal Gear Solid, Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Halo, which I don't believe have any forgotten MA.

Excellent OP; thanks for starting this thread/topic, OneKickWonder!! Absolutely!! The other tragedy is when we don't take the necessary steps to educate our students, and our own family, just in case the unforeseen occurs. Kids of all ages and backgrounds can be educated, but the play has to be both practical and serious just enough to get the kids to pay attention while learning, as well as understand the severity of it all. It all depends on how the CI approaches it!! That'll make a world of difference!!

More influence by the Soke may have worked in a more conformist culture, but, the US is not very conformist. He was wise enough to realize a change needed to be made and humble enough to realize he needed to change. While Soke has never read, "Who Moved My Cheese", he slowly learned that change was inevitable...change or die...he choose to live.

What you do seems ideal. You provide a basic structure to ensure the integrity of the overall training, but provide enough freedom for a business owner to operate according to their needs and conscience. Thank you!! It wasn't an easy road to pave, but Soke and Dai-Soke were sensitive to those boundaries. But it wasn't always that way!! The SKKA had to not just teach lessons, but they had to learn how to learn lessons as well.

Either my students are or my students aren't!! I don't dwell on it, even though it's my longest desire, and that's for others to determine, if that's their thing to do. I never set out 53 years ago to be better than my Dai-Soke, either I am or I'm not. But to be honest, I don't care one way or another if I am or if I'm not. As Dai-Soke's student, I do truly think, like many of you here do when you think about your Sensei, that my Sensei is beyond contestation with his amazing MA abilities; untouchable and above me in every way. Like I do with my own children, I want my students to be better than me across the board. I give my students the same love and guidance that I've given to my own children with an unlimited resolve. I give me students, and my children, all of the tools I believe that they'll need to be that successful MAist, and that beacon of hopes and desires and dreams; attainable and reachable goals to touch the stars and beyond. If either, my children and my students, aren't better than me, than I've failed them!!

We, at the SKKA, under Soke and Dai-Soke was a measured lesson of how a Governing Body needs to get out of it's own way, and they did get out of the way, and out of that dojo's way within the SKKA's network. Under my leadership, the SKKA has ramped up it's own accountability towards the Student Body to ensure that we TEACH, and that we never put the SKKA/Hombu above anyone who's part of the SKKA. Student Body first, SKKA LAST!! Showing that sincere appreciation that's tangible as well as paramount to the Student Body has been a vital ingredient for the Student Body to exceed all expectations. If the horse doesn't want any dumb water, after I've led it to the waters edge, then the horse won't drink any dumb water until its thirsty!! The SKKA can meddle all it wants in dojo internal politics if it wanted to once again, however, if the Student Body wanted the SKKA's dumb forced opinion, they'd ask for our dumb forced opinion. Seeing that they've not asked for our dumb forced opinion, then the SKKA will not force our dumb opinions upon them. If we meddle, then we might as well pay their bills too. But seeing that we don't own any networked dojos within the SKKA, whatsoever, then the SKKA are obedient from a respected distance. The SKKA has an open door policy, and whenever any dojo want's our advice, they'll ask because we're that support function for them whenever they value our advice. Nonetheless, they must want to ask for our dumb opinions in the first place; we're masters of keeping our opinions to ourselves as well as keeping our mouths closed...no matter how bad we might want to express our opinions. I don't like the taste of my own foot in my mouth!!