sensei8

ROFL Enjoyed in quite a lot...thank you for sharing it!! I'd love to see his exactness outside of the Sumo costume!!

Learning how to be late is just not what students are paying for!! Please, make your Sensei accountable. Just because there's no other choice where you live, doesn't give your Sensei the right to treat his student body as though they're unimportant!!

Dallas?!

Cool...thanks!!

I know what that's like Sensei8. I still struggle to make sense of what my instructor says even though I have learned all the terminology in Japanese as well as a functional fluency in that language. There is always the need to compensate with more practical demonstration. It was what is was, and yes, functional fluency was a relief, to say the least!!

Welcome to KF; glad you're here!!

I wholeheartedly concur!!

Congrats to the Patriots win over the Seahawks....a well fought battle on both sides of the ball. Until next season... GO COWBOYS!!

Congrats...well done!!

I wish I had more!! I responded well. So well, that I was able to sleep in my bed and not on my recliner, for a change. Thank you, Patrick, for the question.

Much, much, much earlier we students had no choice!! Soke and Dai-Soke barely spoke English, and I mean barely. I spent many classes doing push-ups because I was laughing at them...I was 7 years old. Broken English is all we got for many, many, many years, so, we learned to speak Japanese terms more out of necessity than anything else. Their English got better, but, not much, imho!! Pointing...grunting...moving us to where they wanted us..."You here not here!!" Miyagi from "Karate Kid" was an English speaking professor compared to them. I agree, it's up to the CI, and NOT up to the governing body if students are going to learn the Japanese terms or not!! I love it, because, for me, it brings me close to Shindokan roots. It's a choice!! But if the CI says you will...then you will, vise versa!! So, imho, you were right on the money!!

Unsu and Wankan. Unsu because, for me, it's a dynamic kata; utilizes every principle known!! Wankan, because, while it's a short kata, it's not how many steps but how well each step is executed.

Great answer!! Take it apart...put it back together...but only in a way that the new student can understand. Taking the transition out, then adding it later, when appropriate, is solving many obstacles before their frustration gets the best of them. Thank, Alex!! I love it!!

My doctor, bless her, believes that one should only do what they can tolerate; this includes pushing oneself. Judo will push you to the depths of your body!!

Wastelander has surely given you some great advice. You've got a very important decision to make, one that will question yourself over and over. You're either going to stick it out with your current Sensei, or you're going to find another dojo. If it was me, I'd sit down with him and have a heart to heart talk; either he'll be accountable to ALL of his students or he won't. But I believe you deserve an answer, and not excuses. Good luck!!

Congrats...well done...well deserved!!

To the bold type above.... The difference will vary from style to style, inasmuch, from governing body to governing body. But, I'm sure that that's not what you're asking. Time!! Time on the floor!! Not all practitioners are the same, no matter the rank, and no matter the style!! If you wondering curriculum/syllabus differences, then that question is for your Sensei, more than for us because your Sensei knows, and we're just supposing, at best!! What's the difference from a Shindokan Yondan and a Shindokan Godan? TIME ON THE FLOOR!!

I wholeheartedly concur!!

Great tutorial, Alex!! Loved it, especially because it involved a choke. This choke was difficult for me when I first learnt it because I kept getting tied up in my own arms...and it was like trying to figure out a boy scout knot....unnatural, to say the least. How do you address the new student who's confused with proper arm placements as you transition into the choke?

Thanks for sharing it, Noah! I use to follow Sumo quite often, but I've not followed it in over 8 years.

Solid post and solid tutorial!! Your amazing, Alex!! I respect your teaching methodology quite a lot!!

Many SWAT teams are formed to either do Kata and/or Kumite competitions, mostly in open tournaments. When Soke was alive, we had NO SWAT or anything like it; that type was quite offensive to him. And of course, Dai-Soke was the same. So, I've never tried to create those types, like SWAT, in my dojo because of how I was raised in our Hombu. I'm neither for or against them!!

Ditto!!

Nobody?! Hhhmmmm!!

LOVED IT...thanks for sharing it!!