sensei8

Solid post and I wholeheartedly concur!!

I'm American, and in that, I speak and write in the English language everyday of my life, both personal and professional. My Soke and Dai-Soke were born and raised in Okinawa. Their English is horrible beyond belief, but ok enough to be understood by us, their students, and with visitors as well in any professional venue before them. However, they both had translators if need be, but they tried their best to always speak English. Now, in the Hombu, Soke and Dai-Soke spoke Japanese techniques and the like, however, in private, they spoke some Okinawan dialect between themselves. I consider myself well versed to a point in the Japanese language, and in that, I will speak the techniques in both Japanese and in English, but that's out of habit, not to be cool or loyal, it's just out of habit. I'll speak in English all of the other times, especially when teaching on the floor because my students don't speak Japanese and they wouldn't have a clue about what I was explaining to them and my students must be able to understand my words or their not learning anything helpful. I'm there to teach Shindokan, not Japanese!!

Solid posts from everyone thus far!!

I've the knowledge and the everything else, therefore, against another man/woman I'm complete in my totality. BUT... Me VS a Silver Back... I'M RUNNING AS FAST AS I CAN OR I'M DEAD!! Sorry for the caps, but I was yelling as I was running for my life!!

In this topic, I'd like for all of us, no matter ones knowledge base, to chime in ones own opinion(s). Knowing that, we've different ideas about what the hips do or don't or can't do. To me, my hips are not an immobile framework. Why? I agree that the our body sits on a framework, the skeleton, and the hips are part of that framework. However, the difference from our frame and the frame of a car is that our frame is ALIVE...it moves in all directions. How can one dance and do the cha-cha or shake their booty if their hips are immovable? How can I bump my wife's booty with my own unless I move my hips? How can own put their hips into any technique(s) without their hips? How can woman walk the way they walk, and the way they walk drives men crazy, without their hips? One lacks power in the MA whenever one's a beginner...from their very first day on the floor they're being drilled and drilled to learn how to put their entire body and hips into every technique. Why? The hips are the key to generating effective power: whether it be a kick, a punch, a block, a strike, and/or a manipulation. Yes, every fiber of our body plays a key and critical part in generating power, but the hips are key. The hips are the engine of ones power. The engine of my car sits on a frame of its own, and then the engine is mated to the transmission and then to the drive train...and if everything works...my car starts up and takes me to where I want to go. But, the engine needs three things for it to start, and these three things must be there always...Spark, Compression, and Fuel. If only one thing is missing...my engine and my transmission and my drive train are just going to sit in my driveway until it's fixed. Well, my hips are connected to thigh bone and the thigh bone is connected to leg bone and the leg bone is connected to the foot bone [i hope I connected the bone together properly], and this skeleton is alive and my hips are moving because I move them at the exact moment I want them to move. I snap my hips, in that, I twist violently to one side or another; back and forth if need be. I snap my hips like one would snap a towel...Ssssnnnnnaaaappppppppp!! How can I twist my forearm if it's immovable as well? How can I twist this or that if it's immovable as well? If my skeleton is immovable, then how can I even walk, I'd be static, unable to move across the room...I'd be like a stick propped up in some corner. Haven't your instructor stood behind you with his/her hands on your hips to help you understand the mechanics of using your hips? Or has your instructor ever wrapped a belt around your hips with him/her holding both ends of said belt while helping you to understand the mechanics of your hips and the movements of said same? If so, then the hips must be very important in generating effective power, and in that, I'm pretty sure that your instructor has told you that your hips must snap and drive your desired weapon(s) to their target(s) If not...OUCH...power ignored is power unattainable! How can I put my hips into it if it's immovable? Because it's an expression at the best. Still that doesn't disqualify the resulting action(s). I don't know what's moving but I'm going to move it with a terrible resolve against my attacker. Ok....that was my introduction... Let the discussion begin!!

Then what are you doing by "snapping and driving"? Hips are an immobile framework. If the hips are to do anything, it is because they are being acted on by the legs or torso. It's a bit like saying "The thing that makes this car move is the frame," and then nodding knowingly as if this were obvious and self-explanatory. The frame is immobile. It is the engine, drivetrain, and wheels that make it move! Blindly stating the importance of the hips as self-explanatory is a bit like the Chinese martial artists who blindly accept that they are learning how to move their arms around by flexing their tendons, which are immobile connective pieces. It is either sufficiently profound as to require more explanation of what, exactly, is being pointed out in such a generally absurd statement, or it is wrong because the statement is, strictly speaking, absurd. All this topic was meant to be was for one to complete my sentence and then, with a small sentence of "your" own, make a supportive statement PER the style(s) that the person trains in. I didn't want this topic to be a big nomenclature about the "hips" and the like, that could be for another topic/thread. I assume all responsibilities for not making that more clearer...it's my fault...and one of my major downfalls. I'll start a topic called..."Are The Hips Immovable?" so that we can examine the "Hips" more closer.

Great post thus far...I thank you all...please keep them coming. Btw, I hadn't meant my little list in my OP to be meant as a Poll/List, but I do like the initiation by all that treated it as such...I LOVE IT!!

DoctorQui and madtanker... Way to go!! There's a difference from getting involved and helping out someone in dire need; I applaud you both!!

Solid post!!

Or maybe people are just scared off by the creepy typos on their website: Starting at age 3 children will be taught the precursers to killing in social settings? I know they probably meant "pre-skills," but really, if you have the time to use incorrect punctuation around a made up word, you'd think they'd have time to check that it was the right word. Solid post!!

Then what are you doing by "snapping and driving"? Hips are an immobile framework. If the hips are to do anything, it is because they are being acted on by the legs or torso. It's a bit like saying "The thing that makes this car move is the frame," and then nodding knowingly as if this were obvious and self-explanatory. The frame is immobile. It is the engine, drivetrain, and wheels that make it move! Blindly stating the importance of the hips as self-explanatory is a bit like the Chinese martial artists who blindly accept that they are learning how to move their arms around by flexing their tendons, which are immobile connective pieces. It is either sufficiently profound as to require more explanation of what, exactly, is being pointed out in such a generally absurd statement, or it is wrong because the statement is, strictly speaking, absurd. Hips are immovable? Blindly? Absurd? :::No emoticon for how I feel:::

Many people around the world can be quite closed minded about many, many things, and no matter how one might or might not define "alternate lifestyle", the close mindset still exists. No one has the right to say who can teach the MA and who can't in the regards of ones alternate lifestyle, nonetheless, it is done by indirect ways, such as, not allowing ones child/children to continue in the dojo/dojan/school. Bigotry or not, the deciding actions by a parent, student, and/or administrator is final no matter what others may or may not think. This or that can't/shouldn't be allowed/happen, but in this wide world we all live in...it certainly does each and everyday no matter how much we hate it. The Godan I speak about in my OP is a student of Dai-Soke Yoshinobu Takahasi of the Shindokan Hombu!!

What type of "Contests" would the contestants do? After all, being the Chief Instructor means more than knowing the three K's, if the Host even teaches the three K principles or in part. Would style of the winner have to match that of the Host to some degree?

I'll see this one for sure!!

How about the winner becomes the Chief Instructor for 1 year at the Hosts' MA school?

If I may ask...How did you break your toe?

I love it....nice look, nice fit...way to cool!!

Respectfully I disagree. Why? In any dojo, imho, the MA is not all that matters because the MA is just a part of what's tangible within the dojo, albeit, the MA is the primary source of why any karateka is there. Nonetheless, we're people and in that, we're so different. From the Sensei to the Sempai to the Kohai to the parents, and to the occasional visitor; we're only performing a thing, and in that as well, imho, the people performing the MA are again, are far more important than the MA. I'll briefly address the following... *Parents: Parents don't have to tolerate anything when it concerns their child/children. They've earned that right, and therefore, their the ones who allow their child/children to partake in my dojo or at our Hombu. As a parent, I'll decide what I'm going to allow my children to be exposed to, and not some Sensei or the like. While the MA is becoming important to my child/children, I'll allow it or I won't for the sake of my child/children across the board. Again, the MA is not the only thing that matters and the MA is just a thing, imho. **Student: Students occupy the inner sanctum of any dojo, and in that, they practice and learn the MA. Having said that, the student, both children and adults, are the ones who want to learn the MA; whatever it might be. However, the student doesn't have to join any given dojo if that student doesn't want to for personal as well as professional reason(s). What ever phobia a student might or might not have; it's very important to that student, therefore, I feel that it's much more important than the MA as a whole. Learning the MA is a want and not a need, and in that, understanding that the students perceptions are those of that student and not the Sensei. ***Administration: Truly, the administrator is there to drive the bottom line profitable; to stay in the black and not in the red. Administrators are fire-fighters, in that, they solve one fire [complaints, etc] at a time. Having their pulse on the heart-beat of the dojo is critical because the best fire-fighters control any said fire before it becomes out of hand. If a parent is complaining about a Sensei who leads an alternate lifestyle, the administration needs to gather the necessary and pertinent facts to come to a final ruling/decision, and then move on because any dissension unchecked takes a lot away from the training of the MA. Concentration is key to learning but how can one learn if one's not concentrating on what one's doing; training/learning the MA. Not every decision is easy for a parent, student, and/or administration, however, decisions must be made no matter how popular they may or may not be, therefore the MA suffers from time to time. I care more about the people than I do the MA, and the MA is a very, very important part of my life, but it's a want...it's just a thing.

From the Bo family...I love the Eku [boat oar]; it's both straight and tapered all at the same time.

Solid post!!

For the winner of Hell's Dojo... What would the grand prize be? With Hell's Kitchen, the winner gets to work at one of Gordan's Restaurants as the new Head Chef.

Solid post!!

Thanks for the replies thus far, please keep them coming. Thanks Patrick for your post, it was needed. I struggled in even posting this topic because I wasn't sure how it would be treated and/or received across the board. Again, thanks Patrick!! I purposefully chose the wording..."Alternate Lifestyle" because I didn't want to have a focus on one type over another for one reason(s) or another. I wanted this topic to be taken seriously because according to ones perception, it can be a very serious matter, and one that shouldn't be taken lightly imho. In the OP, I used careful wording as to not offend/upset anyone who might have read it, and therefore, might have hidden deep pain still within them for whatever reason(s). Also, I used....Parent, Student, and Administrator. I'm all three. I'm a parent, and in that, I'm a parent of MAist, namely my daughter, Krystal. I'm a student, and have been for nearly 49 years. I'm an administrator within our Hombu. I choose only those three because I could relate to each and everyone of them both personally as well as professionally. Again, please, as Patrick reminds us all, I want us all to focus around the MA, and in that, it's the MAist that practices the MA. Let the discussion within the given parameters continue...and thank you all for your understandings.

Danielle, EXCELLENT photos...I love them!! And yes, please post more...please. Post anything else you have from the Olympics. I loved your info across the board...thank you so very much. I got more from you than I did from USA TV and/or newspapers...THANKS!! I've seen and used the Axe Kick myself, and the way the Axe Kick was being used by one Olympiad...I sure did not like it's delivering substance at all. Pick up kicking foot real high...hold it up...skip forward to close distance...keep the kick up in the air longer...now...drop kick anywhere on the headgear...point! Again, if that's the "new" Axe Kick...please keep it...I don't want it. I did see one FANTASTIC jump spinning back kick...that didn't score due to a clash between both Olympiads. What was the best/worse match you saw?

Oooohhhh...I wish I was a mouse in your pocket...I would've loved to have been there...lucky you!! USA Today, it's a big newspaper in the USA, had a 7 paragraph article with photo in the LONDON 2012 section, section D, page 5, entitled..."Taekwondo replay gives U.S. Bronze". The photo was of American Terrence Jennings; who beat Brazil's Diogo Silva for the Bronze. The OBS needs to, imho, do a better job covering Judo and TKD, after all, they've both been in the Olympics for some time now...sheech. However, the OBS did cover Fencing quite well. What's one to do?