sensei8

Solid post!!

Some great video's...thanks for sharing them with us!!

How did the tourney go Brian?? I'm sure Kendall did GREAT...as always!!

Royce Gracie

WOW WOW WOW!! Congrats and very well deserved!! Feels great huh?

SOLID post!!

Yes...and a few boo boo's to learn from him will be worth it, imho, and the boo boo's won't hurt...for long!!

Hey, there are a couple of good Judo schools where you live as well! But yes, there is an absolutely OVERWHELMING amount of TKD here. And I'm sorry to say, most of it I have experienced is drivel. You're absolutely right...I sometime forget about that. Sorry!!

Great topic!! I learned TKD for about 1 year back in the early 1970's when I was a JBB in Shindokan. I was a very active weekend warrior back then and I was tired of having the TKD practitioners at these open tourneys handing me my own rear-end with their fancy and effective kicks. Shindokan only kicks waist down!! So, what better way for me to learn how to counter these kicks was to learn the methodology of these TKD kicks. My only criteria was to learn the kicks of TKD; to add the effectiveness of TKD into Shindokan for my own useages. Adding the TKD kicks into my arsenal added quite a lot at tourneys as well as in the "streets"; not many Shindokanists use TKD kicks. I did Shindokan under Dai-Soke Yoshinobu Takahashi AND TKD under Grandmaster Young Ik Suh at the same time. The learning of the two at the same time had no ill-effects on me in either of the arts. After that one year with TKD, I've devoted my entire MA life in Shindokan, however, I've cross-trained unofficially for well over 3 decades exchanging with many, many MA styles and not for rank; pure knowledge was sought for.

Very interesting stuff there Justice...thanks for sharing it!!

Solid post!! Welcome to KarateForums!!

Congrats and well deserved!!

Wankan for me. Unsu use to be side by side with Wankan until my age/right knee finally caught up to me.

What does letting go mean exactly? I think I'll always go to my instructor for guidance even when I'm not seeing him day-to-day. Letting go here means about the same thing as when a parent(s) lets their child/children go; leaving the house on their own. Life must be experienced because life is an experience.

As an elementary school teacher last year, we were actually told that posting grades for the entire class to see was illegal and considered bullying on the part of the teacher. I think that description is a bit overboard (too many things are considered bullying nowerdays), but needless to say I took down my "progress charts" where kids could earn stickers when they got a certain score on tests so kids couldn't see how many stickers the others had. It makes sense. As an adult, I would be devastated if it was displayed in front of all my peers that I failed in some endeavor (but I'll still go home and post about it on Facebook...). Sharing your successes and failures with others should be at your own discretion. That said, there's no point in giving a test if it's impossible to fail and so if a student shows up on test day and doesn't put in the effort and doesn't live up to what he or she has been doing in class, I'd fail them. But that should really be the only occasion someone should fail-- if they're not ready, don't let them test, and if they just have a bad day on test day but have shown they're ready and gave it their all, promote them provisionally and after a few good classes, take away the provision informally with a handshake after class or something. We don't do tests at my karate school except for Shodan-- people are given a new rank when the instructors feel they're ready for it and it's just announced at the closing of class and everyone claps for them and they come up and shake hands. So you can't really fail, although when people are kept at one rank while all their peers are progressing ahead of them, it can have the same effect as failing a test. Solid post!!

Tennis ball drill...It's an game of dodge ball, but with tennis balls. It's an awareness drill. I've been doing this drill with kids and adults for over 30 years.

I've a bum right knee. You can read a bit about it here... http://www.karateforums.com/knees-soon-to-be-fixed-vt44400.html I pray that you don't have to endure any knee surgeries because you'll be laid up for a little bit, which can't be ignored because rehab and the like take time and patience. You've received some pretty good advice here. I just want to express the importance of seeking out a doctor for proper evaluation, plan, and recovery. Good luck!!

Yes...it's funny now, but then, it wasn't...I practically wet myself out of fear; that day is etched in my brain. Now I can look back at it and laugh. But anyway...I agree...

Welcome to KF!!!!!!!!

Welcome to KF!!!!!!!!

Welcome to KF!!!!!!!!

Welcome to KF!!!!!!!!

Solid post!! A mouthpiece is just as, if not even more, important than any kumite gear one might/must wear. I had a student once who couldn't wear a mouthpiece because it caused him to gag. After all we tried, he dropped out; by his own choice.

Our Hombu has, and will summarily suspend rank if proven actions are warranted. The suspension, however summarily, will occur only and after the Hombu has committed its judgement via official entries in the appropriate documents and the like. Once the PIP (Personal Improvement Plan) is successfully completed, usually 9 months with reviews every 3 months, said previous rank will be reinstated immediately. The PIP consists of three stages and one must successfully pass phase 1 before one can enter into phase 2 and so on. Failure of any PIP phase constitutes permanent demotion, to be determined by the Hombu, usually to the rank just below. Strip me of my rank and title, guess what? Knowledge can't be erased...ever!! In the dark history of our Hombu, we've stripped title and authority of our San Dai-Soke for his many deplorable actions. So much so that he was expunged. Even as I type this, he's attempting to rejoin the Hombu and back to his "rightful" position(s); an attempt that will not be granted, I assure you of that. My most senior student was suspended and demoted by the Hombu for lying on an official document. I was suspended once by Dai-Soke when I was a JBB for being in his office without permission and for wearing his ceremonial obi.

Ours is intent; we practice hojo undo before, during, and after class. Everything is dependent on ones conditioning across the board, and in that, hojo undo in deeply intertwined with our every coming and going. Because we do hojo undo so much, I'd say it's 50%.