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Yes!! How easy it is to see about the many things we do as MAists, things that are natural, and yes, falling is a natural thing, without thinking about it...not even for a second...and how it relates back to our MA training. I can see you, Shizentai, when I close my eyes, how your experience unfolded, in slow motion. Through your muscle memory, you knew exactly how to fall/roll to alleviate any significant injury. Yeah, you had soreness, but nothing else. I consider the surface that you had to fall on, and it was no picnic for you. It wasn't the mat at the dojo...it wasn't inside the safety of the dojo...no...it was on an unforgiving surface. We take many things for granted, and the MA is no exception. Training DOES pay off in the strangest ways, and at the most unexpected time and place. Not always in a life and death situation or in an attack, but in our daily life's, doing everyday things. And yes, we owe it to our Instructor(s)!! Had we not been under their guidance along the way, that trip over the handlebars might've resulted in something much more unpleasant. Thanks for sharing the story, Shizentai!!

Welcome to KF, PhilC; glad that you're here!!

If grappling isn't a norm for a WC practitioner, than I believe that grappling needs to be added to the curriculum. Not all fights end up on the ground, and not all stand up practitioners always remain standing. Therefore, I believe that adding grappling to WC would greatly benefit them. I suppose, better to have learned grappling, then to have not learned grappling when it's needed.

Welcome back, twistkick kid; glad that you're back, and that things have improved for you!!

Through having a Grand Opening at my dojo, including a Re-Grand Opening once I ironed out all of the major issues. However, the key for that to be of any success is to plan early, and get the word out, early and continuously!! Through flyers and yard signs, as any other low cost methods. Then, make sure the Grand Opening has you teaching your ultimately best on the floor, as well as being that consummate host; nothing ruins the GO more than being a terrible host...that master of ceremony. Don't give away the entire store, just be the best in your customer service...and be honest in everything. You can't do it...then say so!! You can do it...then follow through!! Say what you mean, and mean what you say!! Welcome back to KF, Kenpo4life; glad that you're back!!

Good news that you're tending this now, instead of later; you're in my thoughts. Yes, it's frustrating when not even a doctor's office practices good customer service, because of all the places that it's paramount, it's at the doctors office. Don't rush me through the examination as though you're rushing cattle!! I've been chronic with my right arm, elbow to fingertips, and with my right leg, knee to toes. Oftentimes, the pains more than I care to endure, but I push through. Yet, what's lessen the pain is when I stay on track with stretching everyday, twice a day, as well as doing yoga, twice a day. Also, going to the gym as often as I can helps me. What doesn't help me is when I don't get out of my recliner for any length of time. That gives my body time to take 3 steps backwards, instead of forwards. My motivation comes from my students, first and foremost. Then there's Shugyo!! Basically, it means "suck it up"!! I push through the pain to teach, do yoga, go to the gym, stretch, swim because the alternative is to just sit, and sitting down for any lengthened time, only makes it more difficult to move whenever I do. I don't do anything that's against my doctor's advice!! I tell them, in a very sweet and nice way, to SHUT UP!! Everyone that knows me and/or trains with me knows about my chronic situations, and they are quite affable towards me. Whenever I train with someone who's not aware of my chronic situations, I bring them up to speed before we walk onto the floor. I'm no longer young, however, rank does come with its privileges...I'll explain it twice, if need be, but there will be no third!! If your training partners exhibit an unwillingness to be mindful of your health situations, then refuse to train with that training partner(s). When I'M HURTING AND IN PAIN ALL OF THE TIME...that's when I know when to ask. However, I'll show the proof to the proper individual in a discreet manner. When I'M HURTING AND IN PAIN, and nothing I put into practice seems to help. I won't push myself so hard that I'm going to cause myself more harm than good. Sometimes, Shugyo, can take a back seat to common sense, with I'm guilty of. If there's a way, I'm not aware of it. Besides, a crutch in the dojo can be dangerous to the other students. Also, insurance companies wouldn't like that at all....not even close. That would be a fast way to have the dojo's insurance cancelled...QUICKLY!! Please let us know how the doctor visit goes tomorrow!!

Speak first with your doctor!! Then, speak with your Sensei about what your doctor said, without providing private things, if you can. Your health before anything else, or you won't be able to do anything else...at all!! Forgive me my short answer, but I'm no doctor, and I believe that you need to consult with your doctor, and you both can come up with a plan for your long term health. I know you're hurting, and for that reason alone, the sooner you visit with your doctor, the sooner you'll have medical answers to your questions, and not the uneducated answer that I'd try to give you. SEE YOUR DOCTOR...FIRST...then visit with your Sensei. Don't execute anything that causes you discomfort and/or pain!! The pain is there to inform you that something's wrong, and don't try to ignore it for any reasons. If fellow class mates are pressing you to do things you don't want to do because of the pain, I'd bow out for the moment. Hang in there!!

Are we speaking about a club or a dojo?? To me, there separate in totality!! To me, a club is where ideas are exchanged, and a dojo is where someone is being taught. Both are important, yet to me, one's more informal than the other.

Congrats, catlike!!

Solid post!!

Partnership!! Before that, the SKKA/Hombu was a Sole Proprietorship!! Soke to Dai-Soke to San Dai-Soke [before San Dai-Soke was abolished. After that, the term Soke was abolished.]

What would the ultimate purpose of the club be?? Training?? Exchanging of ideas?? However, it's none of my business!! Again, imho, a person of any rank or no rank at all could start a club!! I'd never refuse any of my students if they wanted to start a club; it's their given right to do so. For me to refuse them, if they even asked, is me trying to control them outside of the dojo, and I've no right to do so. It's also, imho, not cool to try to monopolize commercial trade of any type, for any reason(s) whether it's for profit or non-profit. I do, however, understand why a Sensei and/or governing body might have objections about a student, especially one of 2nd Kyu. Aside from the competition aspects, there's the proprietary concerns, as well as Brand protection. One bad apple can destroy the whole bunch, but on the other hand, one good apple can enhance the whole bunch!! It's a risk I'd be willing to take because I've no right to stand in the way of ones opportunities as well as their right to pursue free enterprise. In short, GO FOR IT!!

No, you're not the only one. I, too, wish that Kata would have its proper place in the IOC, but I suppose that Kumite is what the IOC wants to concentrate on because it's that fighting aspect that the gladiators partook of. After all, the WKF, imho, provides a great forum for its competitors in the area of Kata. One area that I've always been impressed with with the WKF in the manner of which they've governed it on a consistent basis. TKD competitors, in the IOC, just spar, and do no Kata. Imho, the layperson doesn't understand Kata, and in that, they find Kata boring. Boring, compared to fighting, doesn't sell tickets!! To you, Shizentai, and myself, as well as those MAist that love Kata, we'll just have to get our Kata fix from somewhere else...and I'm cool with that. To me, Kata isn't boring!! BTW, I'd love to see Sumo in the IOC, but that's me.

Sounds quite a learning experience all around, Brian!! Good luck on your test, which I'm sure you'll pass with flying colors!! Look forward to more updates!!

That's one very respectful looking award there Brian...absolutely breathtaking!!

Congrats, RJCKarate; well deserved!!

Happy Birthday, Danielle; and many more!!

Roundhouse is only useless if the practitioner can't be effective with it!! If the practitioner can use it effectively, then it isn't useless!! Imho!!

Thank you for your kind words, Liam!! That too, is my hopes and dreams as well. The model that Soke founded, and the necessary changes made since then have created for us an unprecedented as well as an unimaginable situation. Everything in the SKKA is built to include the Executive and Administrative Team, as well as the Legal Team; the three departments are needed; they're a must!! I can't do those first two Teams alone. The Legal Team is an outside source; separate in interest from the SKKA/Hombu. Imagine a three legged chair...now take two legs away...what do you have?...an unsupported chair that will crash to the ground. This is what we have! When we had the Legal Team write up the By-Laws with us, we wrote it so that the SKKA/Hombu was protected for future generations; in short, the SKKA/Hombu would never close. This came in effect when the San Dai-Soke closed the SKKA/Hombu after his father, our Dai-Soke passed away. However, we didn't even think for a second that a tragedy of this magnitude would ever occur. Sure, we wrote in the By-Laws how we might address situations like someone being terminated or quitting or retiring or demotion or expulsion or passing away, but nothing was written to protect the SKKA/Hombu from this grand scale. That was our shortcomings, in which the entire Student Body has been let down!! The Legal Team and I will entertain every possible avenue that will breath new life back into the SKKA/Hombu. This might mean that the restructuring might put both the Executive and Administrative Team on one persons shoulder until such time that newly elected officers are named. What about the Testing Cycles? What about the Student Body? We're working diligently right now to continue the SOP, to a very small degree, so that the Student Body as well as the Networked dojo's have some semblance of continuity in authority of a governing body. In short, if what we're working on at this very moment, Testing Cycles and the like will continue at the Networked dojo's but the "Hombu" will still approve all Testing Cycle applications. However, the Annual Testing Cycle at the "Hombu" has been shelved for an undetermined time. The culture that made the SKKA/Hombu is still intact at its core; that can't be stopped, nor should it be. We've got to figure how the SKKA/Hombu engine can still run with 2 cylinders instead of 8 cylinders: Executive = 2 cylinder...Administrative = 5 cylinders...Legal = 1 cylinder for a total of 8 cylinders. All's we've ever known is the original SOP, with a few amendments along the way! It's hard, no, it's difficult to imagine anything else that's far and away from the SOP that we've come so familiar with these many years. I'm a fighter...no...WE'RE FIGHTERS, and we're going to fight for the survival of the SKKA/Hombu for the Student Body. I DO NOT HAVE TO BE KIACHO; that's not that important to me, but the survivability of the SKKA/Hombu for the Student Body is paramount, no, tantamount for a future to exist, and to continue way after I've passed away. We've no desire to replace those lost, that's not possible, but only to elect those most qualified to those positions, if that model is to continue. And if the model isn't to continue, then that which we've known for so long, will have to step aside for a newer and effective model. Will this fog ever leave my head?

Great posts, all...thank you!! I'll have an amendment to add soon, kind of like an exclamation point to my OP.

My Sensei, when asked this very same question answered it by saying... "Because Shindokan can't teach itself; I'm the vessel that pours it out!!"

Solid post!! I once read about a Nidan that remained that rank forever, and is STILL a Nidan, but his experience and knowledge is of a High Dan Rank. Why still a Nidan? That's the last rank her earned from his Sensei before his Sensei passed away; respect for his Sensei.

Hopefully it'll be worth the gamble in the long run. Sport MA is here to say, and I suppose that I need to accept the inevitable change whether I like it or not; change or perish!!

Good news there, Brian. Please provide us a recap whenever you can after it's all finished.

I've never been a great fan of one learning any MA on their own. Why? I believe an instructor is paramount in the learning process because of mistakes people make when they're interpreting how something should be executed. That's just me! If one can learn the MA on their own, and what they execute is effective, then I can overlook my concerns. We all learn different ways, and as the old saying goes... Necessity is the mother of all invention...being self taught can be a necessity that will require the invention of such.