sensei8

This is advice I wish I had when starting the nunchaku! could have saved MANY bruised hands/knuckles! LOL

If a student fails...and it happens a lot. I don't explain anything to the parent/friend/whomever, I only speak with the student. Watch, but stay out of the testing cycle all together!!

I wholeheartedly concur here!! AWESOME!!

Congrats...and well deserved!! Very proud of you!!

Call the police!! I'd say something to get the bullies attention away from his/her victim. If I'm attacked by the bully, well, that would be the bullies first mistake. Something must be done, imho. Whether it's verbal intervention or if it's getting between said victim and bully. But, do something until the police arrive. What I've seen is that too many people are afraid to "get involved" and I don't call it getting involved when protecting someone from a bully. Bullies have a place, and it's called...JAIL, if warranted. Would I beat up the bully? NO!! But, I'd do something!!

I wholeheartedly concur!!

Yeah, just because your instructor is Japanese/Asian/etc surely doesn't mean that they'll be better than those who are Western. When I say that not all black belts can teach, I'm including ALL types, no matter where they were born!!

Well, I'm still of the old school that doesn't block, we deflect said attack.

Solid posts from Kusotare and DWx, I thank you for them!! Not many times have I seen and/or felt the roundhouse with the ball of the foot, as like Shotokan, for example, and I believe that's because not many practitioners believe in its orientation, and in that, they prefer to contact with the top of ones foot more often than not. A Shindokan roundhouse is delivered with the top of ones foot, and not the ball of the foot because there are solid reasons as to why the ball is used by other styles of the MA, but in Shindokan, we've, well, our Soke, had determined that the toes were more susceptible to injury and that, the top of our foot provided more contact surface.

What Danielle speaks here is solid. That's why I teach beyond my core style to my students. I teach them the Shindokan way, but in addition, I'll teach them said same technique from other styles that I've cross trained in via exchangements and such. One way is very limiting to any MAist, and to any style, imho. My learning style for quite along time was restrictive because I was learning only one style, then I started to learn TKD, and then, I started to learn from whichever style of the MA that I felt would increase my MA betterment. What I didn't like, I discarded. To this day, I'm still searching many other styles of the MA that will improve my MA betterment.

Roundhouses!?! When executing your styles taught roundhouse, what is you foots orientation of your kicking foot as it contacts said target? The area of contact might, I said might, be dictated by the necessary part of ones kicking foot for one reason or another. It could be inherent to the styles methodology and/or ideology. It could be a personal decision at very said moment. It could be to avoid and/or to go around said defenses. It could be one that's forced upon said practitioner by his/her attacker, and the way his/her attacker is forcing him/her to fight. It could be this or it could be that. Whosoever proponents the orientation of ones kicking foot as it seeks out the desired target, imho, makes little difference to me; meaningless. What, to me, matters is that your roundhouse kick, as this topic, at its core, is addressing, is what? EFFECTIVE!! As always, GO THROUGH THE TARGET!! Orientation must first protect ones foot from any possible injury, so changing said foots orientation just for the sake of being different is mute if injury possibilities are greater. Foot orientation that's incorrect can also injure ones knee by contact as well. Effectiveness shouldn't hurt!! Respect body mechanics before trying to change how said kick is delivered. Orientation!! Understand it for all that it is and what it isn't!! Please, your thoughts!!

How does an instructor of the MA conduct classes without one of the most important elements...available SPACE?? Well...they simply don't! Student need it as well as their instructors. Yes, outside is an option, but imho, it's an infavorable one for many reasons. Weather being one of the biggest reasons not to teach outside. Imho, three things are needed to conduct a frutiful lesson: 1) Space~ Must have a place to teach! 2) Training Equipment~Have to contact/hit something! 3) Advertisement~ Even it's just word of mouth! The last two can come later, but not too much later, but, space is tantamount, imho!! Not all available space is appropriate, and not all spaces are willing. Can't teach in an old car repair facility because the hoists will be in the way. Can't teach at the local dance school because they don't want karate there because it's a direct competitor for revenue. Not all churches want the MA being taught in there church because many churches think that the MA promotes violence and the like. Front window space isn't cheap, and in my town alone, three schools have closed because of rent prices. For example, one on Main Street wanted $1200 per month for just over 1000 square feet. Can YOUR school/dojo/dojang effectively compete against the YMCA prices? Not many, and I mean not many. Why? The YMCA for the most part, only charges $30-$35 per month. In that, our local ATA charges $120 or more per month, and when you weigh the difference, one might see why the YMCA has more students per square foot. What's one to do??

Welcome to KF!!!!!!!!!

Good luck...have fun!!

Within the Shindokan Kobudo syllabus, the Sai is one of our many weapons. It's a fun one, but it can pay havoc on a beginners wrists. Master the weapon and don't let the weapon master you. Have fun with it...just respect it first!!

Train hard and train well. You'll do fine, I'm sure!! Let the testing cycle take care of itself, and if you make a mistake, don't let it ruin the rest of the testing cycle. Good luck and rock and roll!!

Good luck Brian!! I'm sure that you;ll do just fine. Train hard and train well, and remember this, let the test take care of itself!! Rock and roll!!

My sentiments exactly. Honorary belts / degrees don't equate to proficiency in the subject. I will say however that from personal experience competing in Russia, it does seem that Putin and his government are very supportive of the martial arts. Agreed. With the WTF being tied up in politics like it is, like it has to be, in order to remain an Olympic sport, things like this won't likely go unoticed by the IOC. And, the idea behind Martial Arts is that it can cross cultural and political barriers, etc etc. He also does hold rank in Judo, so the guy is a Martial Artist at least. Congrats to him on this honorary title. I wholeheartedly concur!!

I don’t think that by training with a Japanese instructor I will narrowing down my field at all. I think that I will expand it! What brilliant opportunities are you talking about? The chance to train with instructors who may be able to offer you more than their Japanese counterparts. Don't automatically assume that being Japanese makes them the best instructors. Also consider the following: Is the style the Japnese instructor that you find the best for you? Just because the instructor fits your desires the art may not. Will the Japnese instructor be able to dedicate as much of his time to you (bearing in mind they can be in high demand seminar wise)? Are you happy trading off with things like frequency of training and travelling distances/times. These can often cause problems that can derail your training in the long term. K. Very solid post!!

While I'm still a Hachidan in my heart, and might always feel that way, I'm now, as of July 2013, a Kudan in Shindokan Saitou-ryu Karate-do. Still a Hachidan in Shindokan Saitou-ryu Kobudo.

My money's on Roy Jones Jr across the board. It'll be a great fight...hopefully it won't be one sided as I'm thinking it might be. If nothing else, it'll be quite interesting and maybe entertaining. But, I'll not watch it live!! PPV prices, imho, are way to high for my tastes. I've not watched a PPV fight of any genre ever since I paid $50 for a Tyson fight that lasted only ONE ROUND!! OUCHY!! Good luck to them both!! Thanks for sharing that with us Brian!!

I've always had a great amount of respect for Mr. LeBell and what he's given and added to the MA, and not just MMA. He's a lot to pass on to everyone who's will to drop their pride and willing to learn. Congrats on your 50 years in the MA!!

I agree. There are those who learn better visually, and those who learn better by being read to and then answering questions, and I'm sure there are a lot of layers in between. I think part of being an instructor is being able to learn to read yours students, and figuring out how they best learn, and adapting your curriculum to them so that they can learn. That said, with so many styles of learning, its important to be exposed to so many styles of teaching, which can be difficult. If you take the flip side of the coin here, that people can learn in different ways, and have trouble adjusting to different modalities of learning, then teachers that teach a certain way may have trouble adjusting their teaching style to accomodate certain students. This isn't a bad thing, and it shouldn't be viewed as a "its better or worse" thing. Its different. And the exposure to different ideas and ways of doing things is how we learn what our preferences are and how we choose to approach things. Great share, Alex. Thank you. Both posts here at very solid posts across the board!!

Good points here. Effectiveness and the ability to execute become better as we apply them through our experiences. Therefore, the more experience we have, the more effective our execution can become. Solid post!!

We, the MAist, impune the limits intently and/or unintently, upon the said MA. We do it from the beginning of our MA journey, and as time goes on, some lose the fact that change, and what's better and what's suppose to be better isn't for ones betterment. While we follow our Sensei's and the like, we must, imho, be captains of our ships as it moves through the said waters of their MA. Following isn't the same thing as learning from and acquiring along the way. While I've competed in the past for many years, my karate-do ISN'T for competition, and in that, I kept my karate-do as pure as I could while competing, and I did this not for others or my Dai-Soke, but for myself, whenever it was appropriate to do so!! Imho!!