sensei8

You win some and you lose some!! That's hard for adults to grasp at times, and Kendall will, in time, settle down and understand the who, where, why, what, when, and how about the whole thing. Imho, he's spot on solid across the board!! The great news is that he wants to keep learning and improving...therefore, he's NOT A QUITTER. That's rare, especially for a young man who's highly competitive in a sport that's highly competitive. I believe that he'll get a thrill out of the Freestyle/Greco club, and that it'll spice up his juices for the next wrestling seasons!! What's good for the goose, is good for the gander, and all of that stuff!! GO KENDALL!!

While the stats dates back to 2011, I think that it gives us an idea just how many practice the MA. Enjoy... http://mainemartialarts.com/martial-arts/martial-arts-statistics-demographics-people-practice/

It's APRIL...that means...OPENING DAY...this week!! GO YANKEES!!

Even those who don't practice Karate seriously are STILL Karateka!! Intentions don't define a Karateka!! Join, then quit, after one day, that person is, for that one day, a Karateka!! Therefore, degrees do vary!! Imho!!

Ok...Ok...Ok..................Got me hook line and sinker...and I watched THE WHOLE THING!!

Solid post!!

Yeah, so much for my meager skills!!

Thank you, Bob! I probably won't sharpen it, with the boys running around and all. But I will enjoy it immensely! An understandable point about the boys. CAN the sword be sharpened, I wonder? Look forward to see its resting place of honor, and hopefully, you'll post the pic!!

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

Some great advice from all. One thing that I'd add is that both shouldn't carry themselves like victims. The twosomes should have a serious conversation to decide the who, what, where, when, why, and how about everything. Who will be the defender What will the other do immediately Where are you two going that night/day When, if you get separated, will you meet up Why the two of you are going "there" How will you communicate These concerns and much more need to be understood between the twosomes, and above all things, be serious. Your attacker(s) will be!!

The attention span of a 3 year old is suppose to match the age; 3 minutes in this case, but at times, it's more like 3 seconds. Any MA in my opinion for those 3-5 is like playing, and any instructor has to keep constantly all of the time everyday....whew...challenge them or lose them to sheer and utter boredom!! I, too, am not saying that a 3 year old can't do the MA, but I believe that the parent(s) better find an instructor who CAN teach students 3-5 years old. It's a different class than it will be for a 6 year old!! Parents, instructors, imho, shouldn't expect much as far as long term because they might decide to quit before it begins, and that leads us back to the attention span.

Kendall's young; he'll learn as he gets older! Besides, he's a very lucky young man...he's got Vicky and you...great parents!! Thank you, Bob. Kendall had a bit of a setback this week at the District Championships. He had a decent day, and he got 2nd, which I will never complain about. But he was argumentative with the coaches during matches, which isn't a good thing at all, and he just can't do. He also let his temper get the better of him, and long story short, he ended up costing his team a point. He was very upset, and although I wanted to be supportive of him in his loss, I really couldn't, because I had to address the attitude issue, which we did, and he apologized to his coaches before we left that day. After all was said and done, though, he is advancing to the state tournament for a second year in a row, which is a great deal.Now, with the first practice of State week coming on Monday, I had spoke with him throughout the weekend about the incident at Districts, and I told him that he needed to approach the team as a whole before practice got started, and apologize for his actions, and for not representing the club appropriately. I discussed this with him, and was supportive about it, and told him that although it might not feel good to do it, he would feel better about it afterwards, and the main thing was taking responsibility for his actions, and basically "manning up" and owning the incident. So Monday rolls around, and he goes and tells coach he wanted to address the team before they got started. Coach got the team together, and led them over to the other side of the mat room, away from the parents, where he could address the team on his own. At this point, I didn't follow him over to listen in or make sure he said what he needed to say; I let him do this on his own. I watched from a distance, and after he said his peace, his team mates lined up, slapped on handshakes and gave him a hug, and then they did a team breakdown, and warm-up began. I was very proud of Kendall. I asked coach what he said, and coach said he spoke very well, didn't stammer his words and was pretty articulate, and he thought he would tear up and break down a little, but he didn't, and coach said he did a very good job. I told Kendall on the way home from practice that I was very proud of him for doing that. I told him I wasn't proud that he had to do it because of what happened to lead up to it, but I was proud of him for how he handled it, and it showed accountability and responsibility. And now from here on, he knows he needs to work to do better. With all said and done, it was a good learning experience for him. The bold type above spells it all out! For a young man, he's expressing himself on and off the mat quite well. And if I may say, a chip of the old block!! Whenever you mention or whenever I see him getting upset, I just tell myself that he's young, and in time, like everything, he'll mature into the young man that both Vicky and you are raising. Both Kendall and Kenneth are my hero's!!

I, too, worry about spreading my responsibilities too thin; one school or another will suffer in the long run. Or at least that's what I'm afraid of, and that's why I've not ever tried to open up multiple locations. Scares me to death; the unknown!! What was the deciding factor that allowed you and your wife to open multiple schools?

Solid OP!! Your style, Shorin-ryu, and mine, Shindokan are both birthed on Okinawa, therefore, related. Therefore, what you've described in your OP is extremely similar to Shindokan across the board; Shindokan kicks are considered just as you've described. The hand, the te, always leads any kicks because kicks are always secondary.

A CONTROLLED run away train!! Nice, thanks for sharing it. Close range goose pimples...got them all over!!

The receiving is, imho, the core of Okinawa Karate-do!! This is Shindokan!!

Alex, Thank you so much for this post. Many unanswered question I've had, have been answered in this post. Knowing the steps that you've taken, the trials and the errors, have opened my eyes considerable. Remember, I'm as dumb as a stick whenever it comes to anything remote like this: computers, video recording, editing, and the like...totally alien to me. For example...What's a flip camera?? However, with your post, I can NOW see some light at the end of the tunnel. Now, that I'm in Houston, I've got to find someone willing to partner with me so that I can begin to video tape Shindokan Saitou-ryu!! Thank you again, Alex!! Meant everything to me!!

You're more than welcome, cathal!! Everything spoke right to my heart; the seemingly abruptness of the Sensei's can be alarming to many Westerners and the those not use to the way it is in a Okinawa dojo. Again, I'd never have it any other way!!

The kick that you're describing can be challenging for a lot of student. Balance must be maintained at all times with the kick, for obvious reasons. Are you... *Lifting the heel of the supporting leg off the ground?? *Not lifting the leg or bending the knees adequately?? *Leaning the body too far in the opposite direction from the kick?? *Kicking diagonally in front of the body, instead of directly to the side towards the target?? *Are you pointing the toes of the kicking foot upwards, and away from the target?? In Shindokan, we emphasize a four-count to all kicks: Up Out Back Down This four-count must be executed one at a time, albeit, each of the counts must be completed before the next count can begin. If not, the kicks sloppy, rushed, and ineffective. We also emphasize that the supporting foot should be turned away from the kick; otherwise, balance and transmission of power are sacrificed. Drill it slow, keeping everything in check as you've been taught, then slowly increase speed and power, but never ever sacrifice balance and the like for speed and power. As you do increase speed and power keep sure that everything is happening as it should. Don't shortcut everything that must happen because you're only shortcutting yourself in the long run. Good luck...train hard!!

All of the time that I ran a school, I only had to contend with one school, and not two or more. Yes, I'm the current Kaicho [President] of the Shindokan Hombu (SKKA), but, in my mind, that's not the same thing. What I do at the Hombu is strictly Administrative/Executive!! I've looked into it in quite depth over the many past years, but never took the plunge to actually do it. It doesn't worry me to think about what's involved in it, but I'd be afraid that one would suffer if I didn't share my floor time with each school and not just the first school. So... Does anyone here at KF have experience with running two or more schools concurrently?? I was wondering what some of the challenges instructors have faced running multiple schools at the same time??

I want a video camera so bad...I can taste it!! Word of mouth and fliers still works, but it's so archaic that it's alarming to the senses. I admire Alex for many, many things, and what he's doing with his camera is spellbinding. Alpha is new, but already getting favorable nods in the MA world.

I suppose that's that..."Part of the beauty of BJJ!" Counters to counter to counters and so on and so forth; the game of chess is at hand...always, to be sure!! We talk occasionally about beginning student options, I only ask because their frustration level is well noted in all forms of the MA. So, in this tutorial, what counters would you train a beginning student to shed off the "fear factor" seen often, albeit, their frustrations are mounting up??

Accidents do happen, as many here have said. Especially during MA training, and with every single possible action by the CI/School/Governing Body to prevent/lessen said incidents to occur. Sure, you could've faced some legal actions, but, imho, I don't believe your actions were deliberate or of malice intent. While you two are comfortable with each other, and controlled techniques are a must in training, accidents happen. She might of came up higher at the last second and/or simultaneously as your hammer fist was approaching her head. The main thing, imho, is that she'll be fine, and back on the floor before she knows it. Doctor's are being cautious, of course, because concussions are not taken lightly. Adults and teens engage in Kumite quite often, but, precautions are very important due to many possibilities and always under the strict guidance of the CI. Even then, nothing is guaranteed that an accident won't happen again. Having said all of that, when she comes back, don't lighten up on her because that's not conducive with learning. Albeit, safety is foremost to all things!! Don't beat up yourself, that won't change what's already happened. Learn from it, both of you, and continue to train together!! Btw, I engage in Kumite with ALL of my students, no matter the age, and no matter the level of experience!

Good luck in your search! Wish I could help, but, I live in the USA!! Sorry! Hopefully someone here can shed better light on your search!

I have to disagree with this Bob. Sure it is more difficult for some students to pick up on the language aspect but you're not asking them to learn a whole language with grammatical rules and tenses. At most it is maybe a list of 100 words to identify what they're doing and IMHO that's not unfair. You yourself travelled to train in Okinawa, whilst you did not have a grasp on conversational Japanese / Okinawan, surely it must have been of benefit to at least understand what was meant by mawashi geri or by chudan zuki. Would you fail a student if they couldn't pronounce any Korean techniques? If so, why? If not, why? It's one thing to understand what command and/or technique is being uttered than having to pronounce it!! Two different worlds, imho. None are the same, imho. So, when I went to Okinawa with Soke and Dai-Soke, yes, I understood what the command and/or technique was having already been exposed to it at the Hombu. I was fluent in the COMMANDS and the TECHNIQUES but not in the conversation language; that was under construction. Key here, imho, is "I" was. And I am, but to require a student of mine, directly and/or indirectly, to be fluent in Okinawa/Japanese commands and techniques, imho, is unfair. Not all can, therefore, I don't require!! I didn't say pronunciation had to be spot on. I doubt very much most Western instructors truly pronounce it right. 99% of the world can't even pronounce "Tae Kwon Do" properly. But as you have already stated, the understanding of what is meant by the term has to be there. I assist on our grading panel and usually am given control over the theory part of the exam so for our students I directly get to decide if they pass or fail on terminology. And I have failed students on their theory if they have no clue when it comes to the Korean (my instructor then takes this into account when deciding pass / fail overall). I'm not asking much, even if they don't get the pronunciation right they should at least demonstrate they know the difference between makgi and jirugi, tulgi and chagi, and attempt to communicate this. There are levels of course and I take into account age and education level. For an adult I would ask "What is the 1st move in Do San in Korean?" and expect the full answer, with a child or less able adult I might ask them to show me the move then describe the components i.e. stance, section, type of block. Easier still I might ask those that have real difficulty to show me the move and ask "Is this kaunde or nopunde? an-palmok makgi or sonkal makgi?" and so on. So I don't think it's unfair to make students attempt to at least learn part of the language. It sets them up for opportunities to train with other people who might not speak the same language (but know the relevant terminology) or for the student to travel as you did to the homeland of the style and broaden their experience. Solid post!! I agree that it's not... "...unfair to make students attempt to at least learn part of the language." No harm and no foul! Within the Shindokan circle, however, we don't intentionally or unintentionally make testing students speak the Japanese/Okinawa terms/techs and the like during a testing cycle. Those on the testing panel will instruct the testing student as to what they're to do. Yes, we on the testing panel will use the proper terms/techs and the like, and if the testing student has no idea what we're asking, then we'll instruct them in English. Yes, the longer one's been in Shindokan, the more the student should UNDERSTAND what's being asked of them. I, personally, don't give one bent pin care if my students can or can't say terms/techs and the like because I'm not there to teach them Japanese/Okinawa. Sure, for historical/traditional purposes it's important, and some might argue that you're not teaching traditional anything if you're not speaking the terms/techs and the like in Japanese/Okinawa. But, it's not a testing cycle requirement within the Shindokan circle!!