sensei8

I'm a large proponent on the three K's...not anything less. Any missing component from the three K's is not Karate, imho. A three legged chair/table that's missing one of its legs, just can't stand; it's unstable. Imho!!

I've placed this topic/thread here because politics within the Shindokan Hombu have tried to vacate me across the board and dojo politics have reached an all time crescendo of an unimaginable proportions. Saturday, January 28, 2012: I received the most disturbing letter from the Shindokan Hombu...I was EXPELLED from the Shindokan Hombu “effective immediately”. Why? It appears that "...you’re abated disruptions have been interpreted by the Shindokan Hombu as a viable threat to the Shindokan Hombu’s future existence and potential progress unyieldingly so." How? Why? Yes, I've repeatedly fought, and I will continue to do so, these past few months against the Hombu’s unswervingly attempts to elect a new Soke type, which I've refused to subscribe to. Our San Dai-Soke, at the supposed request of his father, our Dai-Soke, closed the original Hombu, and then moved it [Hombu] back to Okinawa, and he hasn’t been seen and/or heard from since...like a poof in the wind!! For that, I was condemned to an everlasting exile from the Hombu, and stripped of my Kaicho (President) title by the Hombu’s hierarchy. The current Hombu’s administration, and how the Legal Team had re-constructed the By-Laws, works just fine without a Soke type. Apparently, the Hombu’s hierarchy feels differently, but I believe that they’re quite misguided in their walk down a sinister path of self-aggrandizement. In a mutual desire to rebuild a much more secure future for each and every member of our student body, the newly re-established Hombu quickly went to work in revamping a considerable amount of our By-Laws from top to bottom, specifically within the Executive Team, Administration Team, and General Affairs Team. Much of the credit deservingly goes out to our Legal Team in managing the creation of the new and specific language that allows growth and strength in the Hombu, while at the same time, prohibits a servitude attitude to arise; in short, certain factions within the Hombu’s hierarchy are quite addle pated. I'm a firm believer that if the Hombu continued/s down its wretched path of electing a Soke type, the Shindokan Hombu will be doomed, and this is not what Soke wanted, and this is not what Dai-Soke wanted, and this is not what the student body wants...but to survive for all eternity and to be rid of damaging politics forever!! Those whom I trusted, those whom I bleed with, those whom I trained with, those whom I’ve trained, those whom I cried with, those whom I celebrated with, and some of those same individuals have shunned me as quickly as the wind silently blows from here to there. But…whom? They can try to take the Hombu away from me, but they can never take Shindokan away from me. It's who I am and it’s all I know!! No matter what they say and/or do, I'm still the most senior student of Dai-Soke Yoshinobu Takahashi; I'm still the highest ranking Shindokan practitioner across the board. I'm still the most knowledgeable practitioner of Shindokan, its history, and the like. Shindokan flows in my blood, and Shindokan is my undying heartbeat. I had to fight against this unwarranted attack! And fighting is exactly what I did! But, I wasn't in the fight alone. The following Monday, January 30, 2012, I called into the Shindokan Hombu’s crack Legal Team sharply at 0900, pacific standard time, to appeal any and all actions levied at me. Hugh Beckworth, Attorney, Shindokan Hombu’s Legal Team Director/Lead Counsel, was already expecting my call. At the very onslaught of this ordeal landing on his desk, he and his staff, at the request of the Hombu, were in a fervor pitch to find any and all legal support and precedence of my expulsion; however, the Legal Team found NONE!! I’m no attorney, and what very little I claim to know about these sorts of things, I intently listened with nervous and bated breath as I heard Hugh spout off things of legalese that literally perked up my ears. Words like, “absence of a vote of no-confidence”, “without proper cause”, “illegal removal from office/position”, “failure to comply with mitigation measures as indicated in By-Law Enforcement Order”, “without reason(s)of substance and/or validity”, “failure to comply with general or special conditions contained in By-Law Order of Conditions”, “violations of By-Law protocol”, and my favorite, “disagreement(s) and/or opinions are unfounded reasons/causes for removal and/or expulsion”. In short, the hierarchy failed at their coup against the Shindokan Hombu and me. Next, Hugh and his team meet with the Hombu’s hierarchy to report their findings. According to Hugh, just right after he concluded his findings to the Hombu, you could’ve heard a pin drop, an audibly shocked pause from many of the hierarchy. Then, and because Hugh is not of the hierarchy, he then dropped the hammer blow of their own demise. The Hombu was informed that if they didn’t comply with the Legal Team’s recommendations, and findings, he was more than prepared to take the necessary steps to ensure that a court of law would intervene with no ambiguity. Recommendations to the Hombu: 1) Terminate/Lift the expulsion of Robert Mitcham; effective immediately. 2) Reinstate Robert Mitcham as Kaicho [President]; effective immediately. 3) Cease and/or desist any and all actions against Robert Mitcham, aforementioned, Kaicho. 4) Rewrite and/or reconstruct the Shindokan Hombu By-Laws; pertaining specifically to the Executive Team and the Administration Team. 5) To execute without prejudice the removal from the Counsel of Regents; those indentified person(s) of as found within our report(s). All of the aforementioned had happened over a 5 day period. I was out on a Saturday and then I was back on a Friday, and yes, it feels great to be back as Kaicho, and even more so, to have been vindicated. At the recommendation of our Legal Team, the most derailing away from the norm for the Hombu is the limiting of and the drawing in of the reigns much closer to the chest of the Counsel of Regents under the By-Law regulations. Even to the point that it’s being seriously considered to lessen the Counsel of Regents from 12 members to 5 members, or to eliminate the Counsel of Regents all together. I sincerely would like to thank those of the Hombu that stayed faithful to the visions of Soke and Dai-Soke, and who put the student body before anyone and/or anything. I sincerely would like to thank those who’ve stayed faithful to myself and stood side by side with me as we fought against this thing that tried to destroy what we’ve all worked so hard to sustain. Lastly, I would like to thank Hugh and the Legal Team for quickly interceding on my behalf, and for all that they've done for the Hombu, the student body, and myself. The Legal Team is a dedicated group of individuals who constantly demonstrate their capability across the board and I truly see why Soke and Dai-Soke had an unquestionable reason for keeping the Legal Team separated completely away from the martial arts of Shindokan in its training and the like; integrity!! Enough’s said…let the training continue!

Quite intensive Clay. I loved your statement in the bold above.

Both my Shindokan Karate-do and Kobudo Hachidan tests took several days each to complete. My formal testing days are behind me....forever.

Very solid post Jeffery!!

Welcome to KF!!!!!!!!

This is how I mean with my point. Tournament experience is going to be different than self-defence experience. Tournament experience can be easy to get, and is easily defined by a win/loss record. The idea of winning in self-defence has a different connotation, and the experience can be tougher to come by. So for me it would.come down more to what kind of tactics the instructor is using, and the methods used to teach in the classes. Solid posts...both of them!!

That was so, so, so long ago, but what I learned help me to ensure a future for my family and I, but for my students as well. Hopefully, what I learned will help you during your first year. The three most important things I learned in my first year my dojo was opened, might help those here who are in their first year and/or those who are thinking about opening a martial arts school (Dojo/Dojang/Etc) As most MA school owners will tell you, the lessons come quick and hard when you go into business for yourself. The sheer number of things that you do not know will astound you, and the sheer amount of work that is required to get things started will exhaust you. One positive thing that can be said is that it does get easier as time goes on. You don’t know it all, but, man oh man, you don’t really need to: Many people open up a martial arts school do so based on a hobby or some other passion they have for the martial arts, and think they know all they need to about it. Worse still, they think they know all about how to run a business, and yes, whether it's a full time or a part-time endeavor, it's still a business; in reality most people have no clue about accounting and record keeping in general, or how to price their lessons and/or products. Those things, of course, can mean the success or failure of a business. One important thing I learned in my first year was that I could ask for help and that there are so many wonderful people willing to help. Another thing I learned is that most of what I did not know, I could find out by asking help from credible friends and/or associates who've been there once themselves. So, you don’t need to know it all because there are always ways to find out what you don’t know and get help if needed. Don't become a workaholic, although it's hard to not to: You will find so many things to be done that you can quickly turn into that dull boy that always works and never plays. I found myself doing this, and finally decided that I had to set specific class times that will be fair to my students as well as to my family and myself. The pitfall with that being the case is that I sometimes caught myself working around the clock, and neglecting family and friends in the process. Why? Because your school can't run itself; it can't take out its own trash, it can't manage itself, and it can't tend to the most basic needs for its success; your school needs you! It needs you to execute each and every aspect of it from the most mundane chores to managing your schools brand. Only you can decide what will work best for your school and your situation. For me, splitting my time up between early mornings and late evenings worked well and gave me time during the remainder of the day for normal school chores, yes, spending time with my family, and friends outside and away from my school. I had to learn quickly that my school wasn't more important than my family, and friends time. I needed to walk away when the classes are over; that's when one walks away from the school and go home!! One can spend every waking moment at ones school, way before opening to way after closing because we "think" that we need to do it all and we need to do it by ourselves only. Believe it or not, but the second year is easier than the first: No, it really is! Once I made it that far, to my second year, I found that running my school is easier. I mean, I've already worked out and through a mess of the kinks that could've prevented me from having a successful school, and I've found out how to handle situations that inevitably come up on a daily basis. I became a great fire fighter; putting out one business fire after another. Working through all these things gave me the confidence I needed to make decisions that are needed to keep my school floating and not sinking. Good luck in your first year and please keep us informed on how it went and that you're looking forward to your second year and so on and so on. [/u]

I placed this topic/thread in the "Karate" forum here at KF, and not in the "General Martial Arts" forum because I'm speaking mainly from being a karateka my entire martial arts career. Empi Uchi: Elbow strikes are quite a vital technique in the arsenal of the martial arts, not just Karate, but practically every style of the martial arts benefits from its variety across the board. MMA has brought this devastating weapon back into the forefront with some very effective KO's inside the octagon. I find it very difficult to find anyone who'd deny the amount of inflicted damage a well placed elbow strike can do to a downed opponent. Having said that, an elbow by its nature can inflict an undeniable amount of force and damage to any target while standing. Many properties are incorporated in a well executed elbow strike from a standing position. Here are some of the Empi Uchi [Elbow Strike] techniques that are part of the Shindokan curriculum: >Age Empi: Rising elbow strike >Empi Uchi: Elbow strike >Mae Mawashi Empi Uchi: Augmented side elbow strike >Mawashi Empi: Hook elbow strike >Sokumen Empi Uchi: Augmented elbow strike >Ushiro Empi: Back elbow strike >Yoko Empi: Side elbow strike >Oroshi Hiji Ate: Downwards elbow strike In Shindokan, spinning techniques can be initiated in many of our elbow strikes to compliment our Tuite, and other close range techniques, not only to strike offensive targets, but defensive targets as well to arrest, deflect, and/or to intercept advancing techniques of our opponent(s). Using each and every one of these Elbow strikes requires arm muscles to effectively execute. Weight training plays a major part of a Shindokan's training to build up ones arm muscles. Push ups, pull ups, and cable pulls are some of the training regimes a Shindokan practitioner would be involved in, both at the dojo as well as at home. And let us not forget, beating the dickens out of ones heavy hanging bag is a crucial tool for developing arm muscles and the like to bring to fruition one powerful elbow strike that can't be argued nor denied. Let's also not forget the importance of leg muscles and back muscles lending their help to generate a powerful elbow strike. Then, having a strong stance as well as a solid posture aides into generating a powerful elbow strike. It's the feet connected to the knee bone and the knee bone connected to the leg bone and the leg bone connected to the hip bone and the hip bone connected to the back bone and the back bone connected to the shoulder bone and the shoulder bone connected to the arm bond and the arm bone connected to the elbow bone and the elbow bone connected to the target, or something like that...and smash...smash....smash!! However, while arm muscles are important, they aren't enough to get the job done on its own. No...HIPS are, imho, the most critical element/component to having a crushing elbow strike...all arm and no hip means that ones pushing more than penetrating, and one must penetrate with every single human weapon. Relax the arms, let them swing naturally from the hips...POW...POW...POW!! Let our discussions begin....

Thanks thus far for some very great and solid posts...THANK YOU!! Please keep them coming.

Thanks to all who've contributed to the thread...some very great points!!

Why do you teach? Let's list some pro's and con's... Pro's: > I love the Martial Arts > I love my students > My students love me > It's fun > It's rewarding > It keeps me in shape > Etc All of these are admirable, but, what's the real sole basis of why you teach? First, before we answer this, let's list some con's... Con's: > Mundane drills > Unchallenged classes > Rank; theirs and/or mine > Because I have to > Because it defines me > For nobility/"Look at me"/the air of "I'm important"/Pomp and circumstances > For awards/platitudes > Etc Yes, I've heard each and everyone of these reasons, both pro's and con's, over the many, many years. Why do I teach? I teach not for my student(s) next testing cycle, but for when my student(s) discovers their effectiveness through the martial arts and in themselves. I teach my student(s) not for their next testing cycle but for the next attack. Why do you teach?

Hot milk before bedtime seems to work for me. Thanks grandma!

Imho, no, it's not okay to learn the martial arts from someone that you've described. Values that you hold dear are so important across the board. While skills are important for an instructor to have, the negative mentoring can run askew and possibly infest the student body as the student body tries to emulate the instructor...it does happen more than one might realize. Good Morals and good reputations should be paramount for any instructor of the martial arts, above all and any skill set. Ask yourself this...would you want your children to learn anything from someone with questionable values/morals, regardless the skill set of the instructor? Your answer just might be the answer to your question. Good luck, please keep us informed.

Ditto.

Welcome to KF!!!!!!!!

ROFL... Thanks Ev....I loved it!!

Solid post!!

Nothings wrong with disengaging. But, in free movement you're already disengaged until someone makes the first move.

To me, it's quite apparent that this Nidan FORGOT that this is "OPEN SPARRING", and from what you've said here, formality takes a back seat, which this Nidan forgot about as well. Ranks a privilege and honor, not a right. I don't see that you did anything wrong here Ev, especially since everyone in attendance was explained to about what "OPEN SPARRING" means at your dojo. More importantly, everyone who's not a student/instructor at your dojo is a guest and guests are required to act professional and the like. Ranks can cloud up everything, and many believe their own press more than they should. A Nidan challenging a Blue belt is inappropriate, imho, because when a Nidan challenges a Blue belt, it's like me challenging the paper boy. Hang in there Ev...it's all good!!

I'll work many, many hand techniques with cable pulls, and many other hand techniques with dumb-bells. I'll also use the bottom cable pulls connected to either foot to work on sweeping movements.

It's still, imho, a matter of choice to engage or not during free movement, while in the clinch/grappling, it's either engage or suffer.

Free movement is the only "phase" that requires intentional thought. One has to have the "Wants/Needs" within oneself to move effectively within free movement because when ones in the "clinch" or "grappling", one must choose an effective solution before ones opponent does. Outside of the "clinch" and "grappling" one can choose to either fight or flight. Thoughts on not only how to close the distance, when required/necessary, but how to increase/open the distance as well. Inasmuch, free movement needs to understand and appreciate the many different angle transitions as well, and in that, each aspect of free movement, for the good of the cause; the defense/offense, needs to remain in concert.

However, respect always remains and respect is always paramount.

Sorry Heidi...I did it again...HAPPY BELATED Birthday!!