sensei8

1> There's only 24 hours in a day and I have to sleep. 2> Advertising/marketing

First of all...Welcome to KF!! Treat the girls and the boys and the men and the women THE SAME...they're karatekas...nothing more and nothing less!! Delve out your discipline accordingly and consistent. Don't favor the girls over the boys concerning anything. The girls giggle...don't excuse them from doing it because they're just girls. No! If you don't want the girls, or anyone for that matter of fact, giggling and the like, inform them but do it in a professional manner. As far as the boy in your second problem, delve out consistent discipline to him as well. If the things he does aren't suppose to be done, i.e. playing with his belt or with his feet, then address it but remember to be professional. Don't shout when you're disciplining. Shouting is for cadence and the like, or for cheering one on during kumite. Shouting as a discipline tool isn't how instructors are suppose to be because we influence our students and we don't want to provide negative anything. There's a right way and a wrong way, and we instructor had better know the difference before we want to teach. Him being a different person while he's in private lessons is more than likely because you've got his undivided attention, it's just you and him, and he's no reason to "act" up.

I'm 55, and if 33 is over the hill, sheech, I've both feet in my grave already. Only thing I need now is to just lie down. I wish I was 33 again...ah, what a time that was!!

I concur with mal103, and in addition, I might take notice of how the competitors gi and belt are; but that's only to see if it's clean and wrinkle-free and to see if the gi top was put on correctly and that the belt is tied. Only get one chance to make that first impression across the board.

Congrats to you Alex!! I've always enjoyed your posts across the board. You're knowledge is well received from the KF members without any reservation. You've earned my respect, and that's for sure!!

Never assume anything, especially when it comes to rank, bring the white belt and go from there. The sensei will see within mere moments what he/she needs to see, and then, you'll find out what belt's appropriate. Good luck...hang in there!!

Yes...very cool stuff, and I too thank you for sharing it. Question: How do you think it would do against BJJ/MMA and the like?

Excuse me for asking this...have you asked your Sensei? I ask because the different viewpoints of any said Bunkai of any said Kata run a very wide gambit of its possibilities. I could say it's an escape release or I could say that it's a block [but I don't teach it that it is] or I could say that it's a way to do this or that. Ask your Sensei!!

Forward is bad enough, but backwards is nearly, at first, a nightmare, but quite invaluable to a karateka because it ensures that the karateka KNOWS the kata inside and outside, and that alone is a great teaching tool. I love it!! When I do it for the students right from their first glance at said kata, they're thinking..."OMG...I've got to do that?" Well...Yes you do, and you'll love it too.

Possibly "Practical" is nothing more than a "brand" to attract the consumer...possibly. After all, there are many, many ways to attract the consumer to take at least a peek.

Good luck with your Shodan, and the old saying says...Anything that good is worth waiting for!! 27 years for Shodan might shock a many MAists but I think that, with what you've posted, you've not allowed the breaks to break your spirit.

What I see is what it's like for Greg, our Kancho, and I when we're engaged with each other during sparring and the like; greatly intense. No, we're not even like this with anyone else on the floor, just with each other. We've both known each other for 50 years, and we've trained together for almost 49 years. We've always been this intense with each other and we wouldn't want it any other way.

The Unsu technique in the beginning was EXCELLENT...thanks for sharing the video...SUPREME!!

Way to go...3rd place is quite a respectful way to finish in Kumite/Kata. Be as proud of yourself as I'm sure your instructor is of you...AWESOME and CONGRATS!!

I thank each one of you...your words and expressions are heart felt!!

English/Japanese

For what it's worth... Karate is like a iron chain and it goes "wang". Gung-Fu is like a iron chain with a bar attached to it and it goes "wang"...and it hurts.~Bruce Lee I don't agree with this totally because, first, I'm a karateka, and I believe that karate goes "wang"...and it hurts...too! I'm sure that Gung-Fu hurts too, and I'm sure that many other styles of the MA goes "wang"...and they hurt too.

For what it's worth... Karate is like a iron chain and it goes "wang". Gung-Fu is like a iron chain with a bar attached to it and it goes "wang"...and it hurts.~Bruce Lee I don't agree with this totally because, first, I'm a karateka, and I believe that karate goes "wang"...and it hurts...too! I'm sure that Gung-Fu hurts too, and I'm sure that many other styles of the MA goes "wang"...and they hurt too.

By being himself...not acting as though he was better than anybody on and off the floor. Yes, he was beyond amazing in each and every way one could imagine and more than one could ever ask for in a Sensei. He was a taskmaster extraordinary, but not just with his students, but with himself, and then some. He had a unique way, that I still lack, in helping us to discover our most hidden "Aha" moments. In the 48 years that I knew him, he never once lied to me...he became a "dad" to me when my own dad, for some reason or another. He didn't "handle" us...he inspired and drove us to understand ourselves as human beings first, and MAists second, and in that we all learned that while karate-do was important, it was secondary to us becoming complete as human beings. I'd say that the very first time that I truly noticed it was when I was able to understand that while he was my Sensei, he was a nurturing soul not "AT" me, but "TO" me without any ambiguity whatsoever. This topic was both hard for me, yet it was easy for me. I miss him...I love him...I need him...I respect him...I always knew that he truly loved me first for who I am, and while my own mom molested me when I was 16 years old, and my dad just wasn't always there for me, and when he was, I felt that he tolerated me, BUT my Sensei, my Dai-Soke, my bestest friend...he truly showed me that his love for me was deeper than student and Sensei, it was what I needed and what I wanted. Please forgive me for lacking the vocabulary to properly convey to you that very moment, but know this, it meant the world to me as both a human being and as a MAist. Yes, he taught me Shindokan, but he taught me how to be a man...a father...a husband...a human being on and off the floor. I LOVE YOU DAI-SOKE...MY BEST FRIEND...MY SENSEI!!

Very nice article...very informative...I enjoyed it quite a lot!!

Yeah, it does feel a little "showy" but if their doing it in Okinawa/Japan, then it mustn't be "showy" after all.

Couldn't the power that be, whomever that was/is, have just added 'it' to "Karate", for example, instead of creating a different style by name?? Funakoshi Sensei could've just added his methodologies/ideologies to the existing "Karate" of his days. Then, as the years have passed, my Soke could've added his instead of creating Shindokan. Maybe, it's possible, isn't it?!? Then possibly the distance between one "Karate" style towards another "Karate" style wouldn't be so tilted, as it seems to be nowadays. Methodologies/ideologies/ranks/titles and the like could be "honored" across the board, and so on and so forth.

Happy Easter to everyone...be safe and have fun!!

There's still quite a lot of support for Nathan. As seen here... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151370472237543&set=t.100004627084323&type=1&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151370472132543&set=t.100004627084323&type=1&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151370472122543&set=t.100004627084323&type=1&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151370471917543&set=at.10151370434937543.1073741842.750537542.100004627084323&type=1&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151370472077543&set=t.100004627084323&type=1&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=156329107864658&set=a.117469425083960.24803.100004627084323&type=1&theater The ball in Nathan's right hand was signed by every player on the Owasso Rams Basketball team. The ball in Nathan's left hand says... "O Rams" Logo at the top "Nathan Mitcham" just under the logo "#4 Owasso 75 Sand Springs 55" Just under that "February 12, 2013" Just under that "#25" the jersey number he wore that night He's now beeen immortalized in a case that's located in the main lobby of the High School.

I'm playing the entire MGS series. Loved them when I first played them, and I still find that I remember why. Started my love of SOCOM and the like!!