sensei8

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.

For many days I've struggled within myself as to if I should or if I shouldn't post this here at KF. After some considerations, I've decided that I must. After all, and it's of no great secret, the members here at KF are the source of great importance to myself outside of the Shindokan circle. July 11, 2016. That's the date that will haunt us within the Shindokan Karate-do and Kobudo Association (SKKA) forever, and that's quite understandable, to say the least. Death comes to everyone, at some time and at some place. Not every passing is expected, as it is in our case, while some are, but even when it does occur, no matter the reason(s) that surround it, it can hit someone especially hard. When our Soke passed away from natural causes at 91, and while it saddened us, it was to be expected. When our Dai-Soke passed away after suffering two strokes at 78, and while it saddened us, it was to be expected. When the events of July 11, 2016 occurred, and while it saddened us, it wasn't expected. Killed by a drunk driver that was traveling at a "high rate of speed", were 6 members of the SKKA's Higher Hierarchy as they crested the top of a hill; a head-on collision occurred when the drunk driver was heading south on the north bound side, after spending Sunday in Mexico. Greg Forsythe and I formed the Executive Team. Thomas Stillwater, Jonathan Plouge, Ben Stevenson, Giichi Tanaka, and Yoshikazu Tanaka formed the Administrative Team. These two teams formed the Higher Hierarchy of the SKKA!! I was spared because I opted to return home to my family in Houston, TX, and to not join them, a decision that forces me to deal with the many "what if's" on a daily basis. A decision I'll have to deal with for the rest of my life. http://www.karateforums.com/tragedy-envelopes-the-skka-vt49781.html This is the introduction, or the preamble of what this topic/thread is all about!! This horrific tragedy has ultimately CLOSED the SKKA for an undetermined time!! The SKKA has only known the model of what our Soke had created. How it's SOP is conducted...how the redundancy protects both the SKKA as well as its Student Body...how every 't' is crossed and how every 'i' is dotted...how everything that's within the SKKA keeps the SKKA machine and engine operating...EVERYTHING!! Soke's model has proven itself to be solid ever since he founded it in 1950, as well as in the various improvements made over time, to what it was up to that terrible morning in July of 2016. The Legal Team and myself, as well as a few key individuals ever since then has looked into many avenues to keep the SKKA intact, and in operations, to the best of our abilities. Everything that we've looked into as to its validity to keep the SKKA viable has fallen short of our expectations. Our last opportunity fizzled out as we had hired an outside source to entertain the possibility of Restructuring the SKKA, and that included hiring a CEO to bring every department and the like under the umbrella of that CEO. A Restructuring Company would address everything in the hopes of keeping the sinking ship afloat. Every qualified member of the SKKA, with a Dan rank of Godan and above, were approached in the hopes that they'd step forward, and if elected, assume those now vacated positions within the SKKA's Higher Hierarchy, but all that have been considered has declined. Why would they decline the opportunity, if only for a short time?? In short, their schedules, both personal as well as professional, wouldn't permit them the luxury of accepting said positions within the SKKA. In short.... All classes at the Hombu, as well as all Executive and Administrative business is suspended for an undetermined time. All In-House students of the Hombu, have been shifted to nearby dojo's within the SKKA Network for an undetermined time. All Testing Cycles are suspended within the Network for an undetermined time, as well. The Hombu's daily operations have been ceased for an undetermined time. All SKKA/Hombu SOP's have been suspended for an undetermined time. Anything and everything that made the SKKA/Hombu what created and formed it has been ended for an undetermined time. For 30 days, and only 30 days, all dojo's as well as the entire Student Body within the SKKA Network can either contact the Legal Team or the Executive Secretary or myself for immediate closure as to any affairs and/or ties that they might want to pursue, as well as any questions and/or concerns that they might have. In conclusion, and it gives me no pleasure at all to officially announce that the SKKA/Hombu is dissolved for an undetermined time!! I pray that no MA school and/or no student body and/or no governing body has to ever endure what we've endured...ever!!

The undeniable advantage of being young; that leaves me out!! Tricking is a speciality that I've never tried, expect with weapons, because I felt that I was more geared towards the traditional genre. I tried gymnastics when I was in high school, and I about killed myself, and I never returned to it. Hats off to those who can!!

Solid OP, Danielle, solid post!! I'll give it up WHEN I DIE, and not before that. I don't walk in the acceptance of my fellow MAist, nor do I walk in their turbulence, nor do I walk in their expectations!! Not now, and not tomorrow!! I've not the time nor the inclination or the tolerance to meet anyone's expectations EXCEPT that of my Sensei, and he's passed away.However, when he was alive, his opinion was the only opinion that I sought after with a fever. The only opinions I truly value outside of the MA, are that of my wife, Linda, and our two beautiful children, Nathan and Krystal. Outside of that, I don't solicit for any opinions whenever it comes to my MA journey; as a MAist, I'm complete in my MA totality. This is MY JOURNEY, and it's not theirs, and I don't remember having to have asked for their approvals, as they've not asked for mine, nor should they have to.

My understanding as to the reason for all of the screaming is to gain the attention of the judges...you only get one chance to make an impression. For example, at the ISKA tournaments in the Freestyle divisions, the rage of the page is to scream and scream and scream and........., all for the benefits of the judges. Yes, techniques, or at least the core of the techniques aren't overlooked by the judges, however, in those Freestyle divisions, some of the "tricks" that they execute are mind boggling, at least for me because I can't do those "tricks"...no...I'd look like a big clumsy ox...and then I'd break me somehow and someway. All of the screams and all of the acrobatics aren't my cup of tea, because, I prefer to go traditional, aka, old school in which at least I don't make a total dork out of myself trying to do things that aren't within my comfort zone. It takes all of my strength to watch the Freestyle divisions, but I do because of the beauty of the core of the techniques and their amazing abilities. In short, if I can take my head out of the sand, I might learn something, and not grimace whenever I watch divisions other than the traditional one.

Be safe, Brian, and learn as much as you can. Don't forget to PRACTICE.......... Oh yeah, NO PAIN...NO GAIN....enjoy the training!!