skullsplitter

Ours is female. She's had this school for almost 30 years.

My son is competing in a tournament in Pittsburgh, PA in a few weeks. From there we are heading to Niagara Falls for a short vacation so we'll have his gear and weapons with us. Do any of you have any experience with taking weapons across the border from the US? It will be 2 creative bo and 1 hardwood traditional bo. I've searched some and haven't seen anything definitive yet.

This probably isn't news to anyone here, but this past weekend reminded of how much our karate experience has provided us with more family. My teenage son's team trials for the USA team for our org were this past weekend. We had some family drama going on and unfortunately it came to a head during the trials. I had to leave to attend to it and my son was shaken and in tears. My wife stayed behind to watch him. One of the girls went to the locker room and tried to console him. His first division was a disaster. He told mom that he just wanted to go home. Then sensei got involved. She put his hands on his face and talked to him. His friends from his school and others schools surrounded him with support while sensei talked. He ended up making the team in his next 2 divisions. I just wanted to put this here to remind us all that martial arts can go beyond self defense, competition, and what is "real" karate. It can provide a wonderful support system. This isn't the first time our dojo has had to do something like this.

My son has done 2 seminars with a couple of stars in the creative weapons and forms realm. Each time they preach that their students must have a traditional foundation before they can do the creative type stuff. They spoke of other connections to traditional forms too (here's a traditional reverse punch, but now angle your body and add some speed to make it look flashy, etc). And while they don't have bunkai, their creative forms are built with adversaries in mind. I found it interesting how much traditional base they spoke of.

I ended up buying the Mugen black label. Very nice quality and fits him nicely. Thanks for all of the feedback.

I'm in the market for a new gi for my son. It's for tournament purposes. He's wearing a 12oz Centruy now, but wants something with a longer jacket. My price range is 100-125 USD so that leaves out Addidas, Punok, Tokaido, Toyo, Tokon, Shuriedo, and Seishin. I've found a few that fit our price range and are the 12oz that he likes. Do any of you have any recommendations on these? KI, Ronin, Kwon, Mugen (black or yellow label). Are there any others in my range? I've seen many good reivews on the Ronin and Ki/Mugen. I can't find much on the Kwon, but he's been happy with the Kwon sparring gear.

You could look for a school in your area that serves low income areas and donate your stuff

I passed! I was actually pleased with myself on 4 of the 5 katas. I had a little issue with bassai sho due to a lot of nerves.

I'm testing for my ni-dan tonight. Our test is strictly kata so it's not as hard core of a test as I've seen others discuss. I'm still a nervous wreck though. I'll have to ace tekki sandan, bassai sho, jion, jitte, and sochin. That's more than enough for this old guy!

from my knowledge a very small lineage of Ryuei-Ryu practice this kata, or a shito-ryu usage. As far as i am aware the WKF only permit kata that come from recognised styles (mainly Goju, Shito, Shotokan and Wado). Wayneshin may be able to assist with this, as he is a state and national coach in Australia. This is what I thought too, but there is so little out there about it. It is on the WKF list too. Thank you both for the reply.

I'm on a search for video of bunkai for Anan Dai. I've found a couple for Anan, but nothing on the Dai kata. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

wow! That was long. I'm sorry. One other thing...there's a trend for independent tournaments too. This year NBL lost 2 of their big ones, SMAC and Kumite Classic. Both went independent. There have been others too. The Kumite Classic did have kumite in addition to point sparring. It also had a national qualifier for USA National Karate-Do Federation so I heard there was a more traditional flavor there.

I'll give my thoughts on this as best I can. My son does a couple of NASKA/NBL events a year. Typically he does NASKA events AKA Grand Nationals in Chicago and Battle of Atlanta. This year we traded Battle for NBL's Grand Slam Open. Also most of the regional types we go to use NASKA type rules. He's never been to a WKF or JKA type event, but watches a lot of those on youtube and Facebook. For NASKA tournaments, the "traditional" forms and weapons are no where close to what you see in WKF. It's merely a difference from their extreme/creative in that there can be no gymnastics and weapon releases. Forms can be modified and usually are. There is a Traditional Challenge division where things are much tighter. Forms are not to be modified, limited amount of kiah, etc. This division seems to be getting larger each year. Our on NBL experience was much more positive as far as what's acceptable in their traditional divisions. Strict rules for uniforms, unmodified forms, and a limit on kiah. Sparring/kumite, I fall in the camp where I prefer to watch and compete in the NASKA/NBL style of point sparring. It's fast paced and hard hitting. I've heard the term tickle tag thrown around. From what I've seen that's not a regular occurrence. The techniques are not as clean as kumite, but I much prefer the quick pace. My son started getting into kumite a couple of years ago and I also like it. I like the cleanness of it, but not the slower pace. Finding WKF nearby is nearly impossible. A tournament with kumite is few and far between. It's something my son wants to do, but finding it in the Midwest is tough. We did stumble across a traditional tourney with kumite just an hour south of us. Hope to check that out next year. One big con to NASKA is that rules seem to change from tournament to tournament. There is a lot of frustration amongst competitors on this front. Interprations of the rules seem to change each week. At the one NBL event we did, my favorite part as a paying dad, was to see rules enforced on the spot. We saw one of the top girls DQd on the spot for a uniform infraction. I prefer that over flimsy rules.

I've been learning Jitte the last several months. I'm really liking it and the various applications for it.

He's going to the Grand Slam Open NBL in Richmond, VA tourney next weekend. He has a regional in early May then tryouts for the WKU National team in mid May. Best of luck to him sounds like he has a busy schedule ahead of him. I saw in the article he does musical weapon forms, will be be trying out for other divisions too like empty hand or traditional kata? Yes. Traditional weapons and kata and kumite in addition to the creative/musical stuff.

Thank you all for the kind words! Martial arts has been a major blessing.

He's going to the Grand Slam Open NBL in Richmond, VA tourney next weekend. He has a regional in early May then tryouts for the WKU National team in mid May.

Forum-mates, I want to share the story below that Century did on my son. I've mentioned a few times that he's had to deal with a muscle disease and this tells a little bit about that. We had no goals of achieving belts or trophies when he started so many years ago. It was just a means to helping our boy. http://www.centurymartialarts.com/journeys/brown#nav

This was a NASKA event. A 6-A event so one of their big ones. Their website says no stomps or kicks to the head on a downed opponent. I have yet to see the full fight, but piecing together through various forums it seems medical staff did check her out, but not for several minutes after this and cleared her. I also read that she has a hairline fracture to her jaw. At the very least the incident appears to be causing the point fighter community to call for tighter judging and better access to on site medical staff.

What's your opinion of this? This happened last weekend at a large tournament. There was also a late hit earlier in the match from the player in white that downed the other lady in black. With all the of the attention lately on concussions I find it hard to believe that promoters and paramedics allowed this lady to continue.

This one is not my son, but proud nonetheless.

Yes. Shriners Hospital in Greenville, SC does something like this. http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2015/08/18/karate-powerful-therapy-disabled-kids/31905341/ My son goes to Shriners Hospital in St. Louis and while they don't have a program like this yet, his doctor was the one who suggested martial arts to help with his muscle problems.

Our school had a graduation ceremony this past weekend. Our instructor does award black belts to kids and it normally takes about 4 year to earn that. On this night an 11 year old youngster received his. What made this so special and moving is his story. He was born with only half of his heart. He's had strokes. Multiple surgeries. And who knows what else. His hands and feet are far from "normal" due to the strokes and such so no his stances aren't perfect and his blocks aren't perfect. But he's pressed on and learned all of the stances, kicks, punches, blocks, and katas the best way he could for his body. He even learned kamas. He's not allowed to spar, but he still puts on his gear and does what little he's allowed to do (the jr instructors move around and let him get some shots in on them). He's been great to watch and is really an inspiring little guy. His excitement that night and the looks of both pride and relief on his parent's face were fun to watch.

Another vote for here for Top 10. Kwon also has some good gear. I'd put it better than Century, but a little below Top 10.

Glad I could help. For better or for worse, my son is into sport karate for now so I try to have some info on the tournament scene.