sensei8

It would appear to me that we're on the same line concerning this topic, we're not exact, which is absolutely as it should be. It's just that that TKD instructor I mentioned in my OP has a very different method but... 10 minutes inside of a room no bigger than a closet ISN'T a free trial lesson by our definitions..... Yes or No?

The differernt divisions, like age, are needed I suppose. But, when I get my old and decrepit self away from the tournament, I'd better hope that my attacker is as old and decrepit as I am. So much for knowledge and experience and the like.

Please check out this video.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEUZg_YaM5o After having viewed this video, what are your opinions as to its effectiveness against a knife? Imho, I see nothing of effectiveness value. Why? Several things that I noted while watching said video. 1) The attacker just stands there doing nothing after the intial attack. 2) The defender is just slapping as fast as he can, but, there's no substance to it. Super sloppy! 3) While the defender is using a knife himself, his head is wide open for counterattack from the attacker. While the attacker might be receiving some damage from the defender, the attacker might still be able to deal out his own fatal damage to the defenders head. DANGEROUS! 4) Defenders footwork doesn't provide any smooth transitions to the inside or the outside. Your thoughts?

I've done both group and private. My position within the Shindokan Hombu afforded me more special private lessons with my Dai-Soke, but, those special private lessons are now no longer available to me. Speaking in general terms alone. In the group setting; life long friends are made and the comradery between fellow students/instructor(s) can be awesome. Also, mistakes made during a group setting are either highlighted or well hidden in the sea of students. Group settings can make the class seem so impersonal, sometimes cold, where a student might feel ignored or at loss because the instructor might or might not see a mistake to correct or a solid performance to reward. A hand full of sand can be lonely because that one grain of sand is important to the whole, but, it can be overlooked. Please don't misunderstand me. There's, imho, more pros than cons in the group setting. In the private setting; the 1:1 ratio is excellent. Nothing escapes the watchful eye of an instructor because it's just ONE student and ONE instructor during class. This individual attention is paramount to the growth of the student, no matter the rank. Key to both setting, imho, is the instructor(s). If the instructor(s) is/are solid across the board, then both settings are great. But, if an instructor is better in the private setting, then don't take group lessons with that instructor, and vice versa. Of course, money is the driving force in which setting to join, and in that, private lessons can cost an arm and a leg. Some schools only offer group classes for that reason alone.

For me the greatest fighter of all time isn't Bruce Lee. No. Vespasian (17 November 9AD – 23 June 79AD), was the ninth Roman Emperor, who reigned from 69 AD until his death in 79 AD. His military might was to be reckoned with!

Lineage! It's important within its proper context, otherwise, it's subjective, imho.

Ask your instructor!!!!!!! I could give you a very general list of yellow belt requirements, but, I could be either way off or dead on or kind of close. Practice what it is that you've been taught thus far and practice it endlessly. My Dai-Soke never told/gave us the syllabus in any shape, way, and/or form. His way was that when he decided to invite you to a testing cycle; you had better know it; whatever the it was asked of you. Are we suppose to only learn and then prepare for what's on the next test?

I was wondering the very same thing, but, in today's commercial dojo's, I'm not surprised at all. Beside the red gi's, I wasn't too keen about the instructor showing/telling the students what move was next in the kata with this being a testing grade.

white owl and ps1, I'm about to ask you both a really dumb question. Well, here goes... Are tournaments, PKC and the like, held frequently where you both live during the winter months considering the amouts of snow/ice that falls in those two states? See...I told you it was a dumb question.

Congrats!

In re-thinking about the possible legalities concerning ones rank, should that be brought up by the prosecution/court, rank just might play a bigger part in the whole scheme of things in a court of law. Here's what I'm thinking. Hypothetical. Let's say, for example, Kanazawa Sensei was in a court of law for some reason or another along the lines of this thread. The court/prosecution just might determine that someone with Kanazawa's rank must be admissible evidence within the scope of permissible discovery. The main thing to remember is that the scope of permissible discovery is very broad. "Reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence" means that you are allowed to probe into areas that may themselves not be admissible, if doing so would shed light on other evidence that is admissible. Admissible evidence, in a court of law, is any testimonial, documentary, or tangible evidence that may be introduced to a factfinder—usually a judge or jury—in order to establish or to bolster a point put forth by a party to the proceeding. In order for evidence to be admissible, it must be relevant, without being prejudicial, and it must have some indicia of reliability. Would it be relevant that Kanazawa Sensei is a 10th Dan in Karate? Would it be relevant that Kanazawa Sensei has been involved in karate for over 50 years? Would it be relevant that the International Martial Arts Federation promoted Kanazawa to 8th dan in 1978, 9th dan in 1988, and 10th dan in 2002. Within the SKIF, he holds the rank of 8th dan, attained in 1998? Would it be relevant that Kanazawa Sensei is the founder, Kancho, and Chief Instructor of SKIF? Would it be relevant that Kanazawa Sensei has written several books on karate? Would it be relevent that Kanazawa Sensei was a kumite champion? Would it be relevent that Kanazawa Sensei is one of the world most renowned and respected karate masters alive? Would it be relevant that Kanazawa Sensei posseses extreme, if not extraordinary, knowledge of karate? Would it be relevant that Kanazawa Sensei should've known better than the chosen course of his actions, considering both his character and background? Or would a judge prohibit the facts to be admissible in his/her court of law? While the judge might allow it or not is far better for scholars of law to debate its possibilities. Yet, these type of facts would be hard to ignore, even if directed to do so by a judge. After all the dust has settled...Is someone's rank going to be a mute point? Or would the prosecutor have a field day with it once a judge allows the admission? Facts are facts! A defense attorney might object that these facts call for an opinion as well as that personal feelings have no business in the court of law.

Good posts thus far...thanks! WHEN? Isn't subjective at all. In Shindokan, our wrists, per the tsuki, don't rotate until just before the target, and no sooner. By that, I mean, we don't rotate our wrists until the very last moment, kind of like a deliberate delay. Please keep the posts coming!

I wholeheartedly agree. Kanazawa Sensei is about as solid as one can get and/or hope for, including Kihon and Kumite as well!

Nope....sounding like a very solid yellow belt!!!!

I don't know if any court of law would truly take "rank" into consideration. Why? The rage of the page is that "rank" in the martial arts is suggestive and this is because of the many "false/fake" black belts that are around. Again, I'm not a lawyer and I've no idea what any court of law would say about "rank". I'm sure that some judges might take it into consideration, while other judges might not. Is it permissable or not? That's up to that judge, imho.

I don't have a problem with the DQ, it happens from time to time. One of the most important responsibilities of the judges is to make sure that the competitors are safe irregardless of what anyone else might or might not say. I too, would've possibly DQ'd you as well from what you've described. BUT, judges have to assume that every competitor has read and understands the rules of that tournament, that's the responsibility of every competitor. What I have a problem with is that you received a public lecture from the judges. The judges, or at least the arbitrator, should've spoke to you on the side after that ring was completed, but not in front of everyone...very uncalled for imho! You being new to point sparring and without having any proper preperation as to what you could expect, I'm not surprised as to the outcome. More importantly, reviewing the rules before would've made all of the difference. Listen, you're a beginner and things like contact are to be expected, especially with nerves as well as adreniline and what-have-you, yet, the only one that should have anything to say to you is YOUR INSTRUCTOR, that's his/her job, not the judges for public display. How can a beginner be in total control? They can't. The apprearance that the competitor is truly making every attempt to control their techniques must be paramount to the judges. Experienced judges can tell if someone is truly trying to control their techniques or not. Some judges are more relaxed in enforcing the rules and in that, judges want to see some contact, as long as a measured control can be detected by the judges. It's like a strike zone in baseball. Some umpires have a bigger strike zone, while some umpires have a smaller strike zone. The key here is consistency from the umpires. Martial arts tournament judges are no different when contact is or isn't allowed and how much is too much. I'm sorry that your first tournament wasn't as you had hoped for. But, keep attending and don't allow this experience to taint your drive and desires in the martial arts. I'm on your side and you've my support!

How close? There's so close, I'd say they're one and the same!

Welcome back!!!!!!!!!

Very interesting ways to slice up pizza, but, just slice the thing because I'M HUNGRY!!!

Bad dog owner....BAD!

Solid...congrats!

Mainly, I expect/require from any guest, whether their a parent or not, is to not disturb any class in session. This includes, but not limited to, not shouting out instructions to students in class---this is inappropriate and not their place!

Tony brings up some very important technical aspects of stance work that should be noted; very solid. When I say that a stance is just a stance, it shouldn't be taken literal. A stance is critical and a solid stance is very important to the whole make up of the practitioner. Without practicing and understanding the technical aspects of every stance, then a stance is NO longer a stance. I approached this topic in very simplistic terms while Tony hit the topic in very technical terms, both critical to one beginning to understand stances and the like. Just relax and let the stance become natural, as natural as possible.

Not looking at your feet while transitioning from one stance to another is very important because your eyes should be focused on your opponent(s). Practicing is the key to everything because practice makes perfect. Not looking at your feet while practicing is akin to someone learning how to type without looking at the keys. One of the drills used by type teachers is to cover the keys with a sheet of paper so that one can learn just where the individual keys are touch. Hence, we've got the mirror to act as our piece of paper, we "feel by touch" where our feet should be in each particular stance. Pretty soon, one would remove that piece of paper because one would know proper foot placement in any said stance. One of the drills that I have my beginner students do is just that---transitioning from one stance to another, and I'm not referring to kata, while that does work as well, but, to move/transition from one stance to another without looking down, making sure that their posture and balance is positive. And doing this drill while facing a mirror helps in doing just that. Always remember the instructions of your instructor while practicing at home, and this is why it's critical for students of any level to keep a log of what the "key points" are. Just as soon as the class ends, jot down every "key point" while it's fresh in your mind. After that, don't make a mountain out of a mole-hill because after-all, their just stances and their nothing to get worked up about. Yeah, at first it appears impossible until muscle memory kicks in, and it will kick in, but it's just a stance. One more thing, just get into whatever stance you want to without even thinking about it at all....just assume the stance. Now, don't move, admire it and look at it, but don't look now...you went right into the stance. Now, adjust it, fix it, and analysis it. Keep doing this and before you know it, WHAM, you're getting into every stance without thought and you will just know it WITHOUT looking, that you stance is correct and solid across the board!

Ouch! Disrespected for the whole world to see...or sing! Ouch!