sensei8

I'd not use this technique because it's more of a fantasy rather than anything else, imho. Imho this technique success ratio against an active opponent is akin to swatting a fly with a chopstick. Sure, I can see possibilities with it, but not more than a punch, which imho has a much higher success ratio. Imho!

Respectfully, I have to disagree. Effectiveness exists but I think it's also fair to say that ineffectiveness also exists. Though I guess we have to define what exactly we mean by effectiveness; are we talking combat effectiveness? Effectiveness for self defense? Effectiveness for health and fitness? I don't think we can categorically say a style is the best (at least not without defining "best at what") but we can definitely say some styles are poorer than others. A practitioner can have good athletic ability but without proper tools (techniques) and instruction for using them (methodology), they may as well take up dancing or gymnastics. Again sorry but I disagree. The style can contain all sorts of training methodologies and tools for testing ability and competition can be one of them. If your Soke or Dai Soke stipulated that you had to stand on top of a mountain and train kata every 3rd Tuesday of the month, that would be a part of Shindokan would it not? Disagreements are fine, and needed from time to time. Effectiveness is effectiveness without applying one label after another...until it's molded into what one needs and/or wants...combat or self-defense or health or all or whatever the label might be. Either way, the practitioner is at fault if they can't execute that which their MA styles methodology/ideology...either one can or can't!! However one slices up the watermelon, it's still a watermelon. I don't believe in the word "best", to me, that's an illusion. An illusion that one creates out of necessity and belonging. No style of the MA, imho, is "best" at anything. Practitioners might have the proper tools, but if they don't know how to properly execute them, then, you're right, all of the athletic abilities are for not!! I'm a MAist, and I'm not an athlete, nor do I strive to be one. I'll save that for those who want to strive for that; that was never my desire when I began my MA journey. No...I believe you're misunderstanding what I'm saying about competition. I was highly involved in competitions of the MA types for the most of my MA journey. My Sensei and my TKD instructor weren't the most understanding when it came to their students competing, but they allowed it, with guarded intent. The practitioner, as my experience has been, decides to compete, and only the practitioner!! Seeing that Shindokan is it's own governing body, the student body isn't under any rule that said that we had to compete or that competition was required or that competition is highly recommended. NO!! As a student, it was up to me if I wanted to compete or not, and I choose to do so, against the desires of my Sensei as well as my TKD instructor. And no... While it might've been part of Shindokan, I surely wouldn't have followed them because I would've thought that they lost their minds. And while I was under 18 years of age, my mom would've thought the same and pulled me out faster that a speeding bullet. The only thing I HAVE TO DO, is be born, then die, between that, MA wise, I decide and not the SKKA or Soke or Dai-Soke or GM Suh or anyone. I will admit, however, I did get a big laugh out of it and tried to visualize it, and laughed even harder. I'm glad that neither of them tried to stipulate anything as foolish as that.

While it's true that each MA style is its own stand alone across the board; effectiveness exists. The style is innocent, and it's the practitioner that's not. Without the style, the practitioner is nothing. Alas, the style can be said that it's nothing without its practitioner. Both need each other, nonetheless, the style needs qualified as well as effective practitioners to breath vibrant life, and not that stale dead air, into it. Otherwise, no fruit can be produced of any benefit. Competition or not!? That decision is left to the practitioner to make at their own discretion, and not the style. The style doesn't decide that. No! The governing body decides that, and the style begs difference for the betterment of its own. The TKD I've known was taught by GM Young Ik Suh, and it was a no-nonsense type of TKD, similar to Danielle's second link, but even more so. GM Young Ik Suh once was the bodyguard for the Korean President, which tells me, he was quite effective. The things I witnessed myself were astonishing, to say the least; every standing flying side kick, his head would graze the ceiling tiles. His black belts were in a class way above black belts from any other TKD faction; explosive techniques. He didn't encourage, nor discourage competition in his students; he was nondescript towards competition. Him and his students made their style of TKD come alive and vise versa; two peas in a pod.

The doors of the MA freely open to and fro in ones MA journeyed search for that perfect fit. Doors bring memories, no matter if they're good or bad to that MAist, well, that's to be said by that practitioner alone. Often times, a style of the MA is dragged in the mire and muck of another's opinion without any thought and/or consideration. To be served a heap of observations, no matter if they're true or false, yet, quite absent of validity. It's easier to ridicule, than to teach/help a fellow MAist. To some MAists, it's much more easier to tear down, than it is to build up!! "[fill in the style] is superior to [fill in the style]; no questions!!" It's fine to be a devoted practitioner to a style, but is it ok to be so a devoted practitioner that that practitioner is blinded by its own press?!? Again, as I've stated over the many years here, it's not the styles fault, but rather, it's the practitioner that's at fault. If, for example, I was a practitioner of BJJ, and I've failed to be that proponent of BJJ, does the blame rest on the style or the practitioner?? It's my fault that I've not honorably represented Shindokan! Blame ME, but not Shindokan! Blame ME, but not the founder! Blame ME, but not the student body! When one does that, false securities are birthed about the style in general that ineffectiveness has risen in that style. Don't blame BJJ...Shotokan...TKD...Aikido...etc....blame the practitioner and not the proven styles!! That's a dangerous assumption to blame the style without looking at the practitioner as well!! Just when one has masked a style as it being ineffective in general, that's when that assumption bites them right in ones own backside with a practitioner of that pronounced ineffective style that has effective reckoning that's hard to ignore. Or better said..."Don't be surprised when you're wrong in your accusations!" Every style has a flaw in their armor; it's called...the practitioner!! Let's speak of them with respect and practice some tolerance for those who disagree with us. Your thoughts, please!!

Every MA instructor has the right to decide whom they want to teach. This is so true whenever one's thinking about teaching kids. Not every MA instructor wants to teach kids for whatever their reason(s) might or might not be; kids can be a handful. So are adults, for that fact!! Some MA instructors only want to teach kids!! Maybe that's because kids bring out the best out of them. Maybe that's because kids are those unique sponges. Maybe that's because kids come to the MA without any preconceived notions about the MA. Some MA instructors only want to teach adults!! Maybe that's because they don't want to babysit a bunch of bratty kids. Maybe that's because they interact much more better with adults. Maybe that's because it's easier to patty cake adults than it is with kids; one wrong movement, and the kids breaks in half. Maybe it's because they don't want to have a billion conferences with parents/guardians about a plethora of subjects because of who knows what. It is also true that a quality MA instructor is that diamond-in-the-ruff that mustn't be overlooked and/or taken granted of. Teaching kids takes special gifts, and I'm thankful that I've those gifts. I enjoy teaching my students, no matter their ages; I see a student before me, and their ages mean nothing to me. Yes, I'm aware of their differences, and I'm quite aware of my responsibilities within their age groups. The instructor in this video exercises patience throughout, and never gets rocked into frustration. This isn't always true with EVERY MA instructor. Kids are the future of the MA, and if they're not, then the MA, imho, is doomed to drift away into the abyss. Patience isn't a commonality amongst MA instructor, imho. And if someone does believe that that commonality IS in EVERY MA instructor, I sincerely think that they're both terribly misguided, and without any morale compass. The boy in the video is hinged in being that 3 year old...acting with determination in what he understands to be true for each and every movement he executes in the hopes to break that board. Most MA instructors that tolerate kids in their school might've ended the opportunity out of the MA instructors own frustration due to ill placed embarrassment they felt in the failure of the break, when the true is the failure would've been with the MA instructor, and that instructor alone. I smiled throughout the entire video because the boy was bathed in cuteness as well as in determination; stayed with the task at hand, and the total absence of having no preconceived notions about anything, especially the MA. When a MA instructor opens their doors to teach kids, I believe that they must also open the doors of their heart, as well. This too applies to students that aren't kids.

To the bold type above... As do I!!

Sounds great, Patrick. Please count me in in any way that I can help. I, too, look forward to the 2016 LiveStream; they're always so much fun, as you've mentioned. Love to interact with KF members in any available venue!! See you all there!!

Welcome back, jaymac; glad that you're back!! What have you been up to? Still training?

No comments yet as to either the topic and/or the video. I'm patient to the overflowing in the hopes of a productive conversation amongst us all.

Congrats, ashworth; well deserved!!

While the below link is cute, and it is, I also wanted to make a comment about the patience that this instructor exemplified on the floor. Teaching kids can be difficult for many MA instructors across the board, and even more so when the student ages range from 3-5 years old. An instructor, no matter the age of the students, has to demonstrate maturity and the like, and equally important is patience. It's easy to lose patience, yet, it's unacceptable to do so because we instructors have to show that given professionalism at all times, in and out of the school. You want your students to love the MA...to love going to the school...to improve across the board...but if an instructor has no patience, imho, that instructor isn't qualified to teach anybody anything. Patience of an instructor gives the student confidence in themselves! That confidence is one of the selling points of the MA, no matter the age. Might be even more important with kids, and especially with the 3-5 year olds. No instructor is a babysitter, but without patience, that instructor isn't qualified to be a babysitter. Kids are very impressionable, and we instructors have been entrusted with a great honor to mentor them with love and tender care. Parents depend on our level-headed abilities to engage and teach their children the MA virtues that have been the staples for as long as the MA has been around. Watch, and enjoy, the below video, and please watch how this instructor interacts with this 3 year old student beyond the cuteness. https://www.jukinmedia.com/licensing/view/907620 Comments and conversation welcomed...thank you, in advance!!

Welcome to KF, MattTaylor; glad that your here!! I'll run the dojo; and the software won't and/or can't!! The software can only act against the information that I provide it, and that isn't enough because parameters of a dojo change outside of the given software parameters. And no software is going to tell me that I've got to start a new class and set up times. That matrix, and it's a good thing, is not set in stone!! That means that I can override the program as I feel fit and necessary. Therefore, the software can only suggest, and that leaves me to either accept the suggestion or ignore the suggestion. I've no software to suggest to you because I don't use any software outside of bookkeeping and various Microsoft programs. So, I use the simple turn up and pay; seems to have worked for me for a very long time!!

Solid post!!

Do any of your students react poorly when they haven't been invited to the testing cycle? Or is it well explained to the student + Parent (if student is under 18) when they enroll? Poorly? No! Every student has had this explained to them quite clearly!! Therefore, there are no misconceptions and/or misunderstandings about that at all. Thankyou for the clarification. That is good there are no poor reactions None of our Student Body is under any preconceived notions that they'll receive ANYTHING, because nothing is guaranteed, nor is anything given to them: Earn everything!!

I mean, after all, the possibility of ending up on the ground is always there, and if so, best to be prepared should it occur!!

Do any of your students react poorly when they haven't been invited to the testing cycle? Or is it well explained to the student + Parent (if student is under 18) when they enroll? Poorly? No! Every student has had this explained to them quite clearly!! Therefore, there are no misconceptions and/or misunderstandings about that at all.

Thank you, lowereastside!!

My students; now and forever!!

Welcome to KF, northstar; glad that you're here!! All students of the SKKA have to be invited to any Testing Cycle; no exceptions. So, no, we've no make-up days and the like because if one's invited to any Testing Cycle, which are held once per quarter and annually, then they've obviously not missed any days. If they've not received an invitation to any Testing Cycle, then missing days, might be part of the reason for not being invited, but the missing days parameter is at the very bottom of the list of qualifying factors, if at all, to be invited in the first place.

Whenever Greg, our Kancho, and I spar, we go all out with full speed and full power...that's MY favorite sparring drill!!

Yes. Yes, he was 24, just a few months shy of his 25th birthday. Impressive? That might be true, depending on whom one asks. Yes. He was 8 years old. Born: 1932 Started training with Soke: 1940 Shodan: 1946 [16 years of age] Godan: 1956 [24 years of age] JBB wasn't established until Soke wrote the By-Laws in 1957. Soke only had one student his entire life in Takahashi Sensei until they both moved to the USA, and the only child that Soke ever taught to was Takahashi Sensei at the tender age of 8 years old. I, too, always thought, even now, that Takahashi Sensei's Shodan was quite earned at quite a young age...but...I never questioned Soke and/or Dai-Soke as to that because that would've been rude and crude and would've not received by either quite well...to say the least. Shoot, I was at the tender age of 27 when I earned my Godan from Takahashi Sensei. Earned my Hachidan at 44, just 3 months shy of my 45th birthday in 2002. I started when I was 7 years old; having been born in 1957. Soke didn't bow to what other styles have decided as acceptable tenures, not even the slightest. Soke made the rules, and that's the bottom line!! Does our youthfulness as Hachidan's seem wrong and ineffective? One would have to decide for themselves, but not until one's stepped on the floor to see for themselves. Nothing wrong with it. Proof. Is on the floor. Now you said your Dai Soke's son got promoted to Judan from Nanadan. If he was an 18 year old shodan would they have skipped him to 10th or no? NO!!

If one didn't engage in Kumite until 4th Dan, then, I believe that a 4th Kyu could best a 4th Dan. Imho!!

Welcome to KF, schleeb; glad that you're here!! Sure, why not?!! I believe that anything learnt from a qualified instructor is beneficial to the student! Wrestling, generally, means that ground skills will be learnt, and in the world of stand-up Karate styles, it would improve ones MA betterment across the board. A waste of time? That's up to the individual alone to determine, but only in time. Like any competitor...that student will have the same chances as any other competitor...any other student...depending on the politics of the tournament. Rules are to be followed, and seeing that it's wrestling, one might not be able to throw a roundhouse kick, but only techniques allowed by the tournament. Chances? That's to be determined, as well!! Karate skills that would translate into this type of wrestling, or any wrestling for that fact, might be more with Tai Sabaki and the like, basic blocks/deflects, and things like that. However, a Karateka with some experience can adapt quite well because body mechanics are just that, and not some mystery that's either allowed or not allowed. Basic Karate techniques fit quite well with wrestling, but the Karate attacks of punching, strikes, and kicks well be quite limited in many wrestling competitions. But far and away from competition...well...all levels of Karate fit quite well with wrestling because, nothing ventured is nothing gained. So, do whatever one believes will work!! Good luck, keep us updated, and have fun.

Yes. Yes, he was 24, just a few months shy of his 25th birthday. Impressive? That might be true, depending on whom one asks. Yes. He was 8 years old. Born: 1932 Started training with Soke: 1940 Shodan: 1946 [16 years of age] Godan: 1956 [24 years of age] JBB wasn't established until Soke wrote the By-Laws in 1957. Soke only had one student his entire life in Takahashi Sensei until they both moved to the USA, and the only child that Soke ever taught to was Takahashi Sensei at the tender age of 8 years old. I, too, always thought, even now, that Takahashi Sensei's Shodan was quite earned at quite a young age...but...I never questioned Soke and/or Dai-Soke as to that because that would've been rude and crude and would've not received by either quite well...to say the least. Shoot, I was at the tender age of 27 when I earned my Godan from Takahashi Sensei. Earned my Hachidan at 44, just 3 months shy of my 45th birthday in 2002. I started when I was 7 years old; having been born in 1957. Soke didn't bow to what other styles have decided as acceptable tenures, not even the slightest. Soke made the rules, and that's the bottom line!! Does our youthfulness as Hachidan's seem wrong and ineffective? One would have to decide for themselves, but not until one's stepped on the floor to see for themselves.

There are varied ways that failing to take advantage of safe avenue of retreat can undermine your legal defense of self-defense. Of course, in one of the 16 duty to retreat states you would lose self-defense as a matter of law. Poof, it's gone. Even in most stand-your-ground states, where you do not have a legal duty to retreat, the prosecution can still argue to the jury that your failure to do so was not the conduct of a reasonable and prudent person, and so you lose self-defense because you lose on the required element of reasonableness. There are a handful of "hard" stand-your-ground states that prohibit the jury from even considering whether the defender could have retreated, which sounds good, but even here you can get tangled up by failing to take advantage of a safe avenue of retreat. This can happen if the prosecution can convince the jury that you were the initial aggressor (doesn't need to be TRUE, just needs to be CONVINCING). If he does that successfully you lose self-defense on the required element of innocence. UNLESS it turns out that YOU can show that even if you WERE the initial aggressor, you legally recovered your innocence by withdrawing from the fight in good faith. Of course, if you can be made to look like the aggressor and CANNOT show you withdrew in good faith then you will NOT have recovered your innocence, you lose self-defense, and off to the party you go. In terms of "automatic defensive reactions," I understand the rationale from a tactical perspective, especially when we're most likely to be subject to an ambush attack, but that kind of terminology is very dangerous for a legal claim of self-defense. Self-defense, from a legal perspective, must be a deliberate, reasoned act--NOT an automatic reflex. If your automatic reflex turns out to put you outside the bounds of self-defense law (e.g., your "automatic" use of force was disproportional to the attack) the fact that it was an "automatic" response not only won't save your self-defense claim, characterizing it as "automatic" will only further undermine that claim. An "automatic" defensive response that's unlikely to cause much damage--e.g., a block or a shove to create distance--also is unlikely to cause too much legal liability. On the other hand, an "automatic" defense response that maims your "attacker"--especially if it turns out you were wrong about the nature or intensity of the "attack" is going to be a huge problem, legally speaking. That's all I have time for right now, sorry about that, but clients need their cases handled. But I write about this stuff all the time in my professional capacity as an attorney specializing in use-of-force law. Google is your friend. Fair enough, Andrew, thanks!! Google, huh, everything is true on the internet, huh?! LOL