likeke34

i know it's not the gi's you listed, but i've owned tokaido's and tokon... in fact, me and 6 other people from our dojo just placed an order for tokaido gi's... one of my students just received their gi and i forgot how nice a brand new tokaido is lol... he had his gi hanging next to my tokon and it basically made my gi look brown lol... it's bright white with a bluish tint and looks REALLY nice... has a really solid snap to it my tokon (sovereign also just ordered a europa), is probably the most comfortable gi i've ever owned... it's baggier than tokaido's and when you lift your leg to kick, there's absolutely no need to adjust or lift your pants... it also has decent snap for being a lightweight/middleweight (not too sure what weight)... again, the downside is in the looks department in that it's not as bright of a white as tokaido's (even my 6yr old tokaido is still whiter)... but the comfort is unbelievable... well, that's my gi reviews lol

i agree with sensei, that was a solid performance. i was also wondering what the other competitors looked like for you to take 4th. must've been a big tournament

Yes that's me! I have to say, you guys have amazing customer service!

I think it's great that you want to show what you do. Was that a pic of Tina I saw? Are you a student of hers? I haven't spoken with her in years! If you see her, tell her John from ASE Martial Arts Supply says "Hello." You're IKF? Our ties to the IKF run deep. We've dealt with a number of IKF schools for many years. It's thanks to George's father, Chuzo Kotaka, head of the IKF, that we carry the Champ Video line. We happened to be in Tokyo at the same time, and he accompanied my father and me to Champ's offices. Because of his introduction, they put their trust us, and we established a business relationship with them that we value highly. We are very grateful to him. lol what a small world... well i guess this is a karate forum, but i'm an instructor who just opened up an account with you guys last week... i ordered 2 gi's last week and will probably order 4 more tomorrow! i was just talking to margie on the phone today... i doubt you remember sending me the emails last week but just in case, i kind of want to keep my identity anonymous but i just thought it was funny i should run into a post from you

yah his technique is unreal and he really generates power in his punches. i've been on the other end of them in competition and it's surprising how much power he can generate. his students are very good too, you're part of a VERY good school!

thanks! in the clips with headgear i'm the one moving around like a jackrabbit lol... shorthair in the clips without headgear and i'm in the white gi in the 12yr old clips (although i was actually 10 my friend made a mistake)... funny masterpain brought up low stance, i just got back from teaching and i was trying to explain why i fight from a low kamae to the class... my long time teacher was actually Kevin Funakoshi (Kenneth Funakoshi's eldest son) and he always emphasized low kamae's... A lot of how i fought back then was based off of sensei kevin and wkf world champ george kotaka since he won all the tournaments here when i was growing up... in fact, i'm training with george next week

interesting, i watched the videos on the youtube channels posted and we perform the same kata's really different lol (i don't mean that in a negative way whatsoever, just found it interesting). a friend put this together for me many years ago, but the clips are really old. the footage came from a lot of VHS tapes from over 10yrs ago when I was young haha so the quality isn't that great (especially the clips from when i was only 10yrs old)... unfortunately i've never really filmed my matches so all my clips are from others who filmed it I kumite a lot different now (also you can hit the mute button if you don't like the song lol)

unless you practice A LOT, i also wouldn't suggest hitting with the balls of your feet on mawashi geri in sparring... our dojo requires it for basics and my original sensei can actually throw it that way sparring and it hurts really bad, but it is dangerous if you're not REALLY good at it... i can hit a heavy bag that way or throw it during a demonstration on someone, but when i was younger i have sprained my toe trying it sparring and now only do it for basics and never during a match...

I'll help out Gender: Male Age: 30 City: Honolulu Hawaii Monthly Cost of School: Free (instructor) Style: Shotokan Current or Last Organization: FSKA Rank: Sandan Favorite Kata: Unsu Favorite Move: Gyaku zuki Starting Age: 8 Black Belt Age: 16 Straight Step or Moon Step: Not too sure what this means but just in case, I teach all movements to go feet together/in then out when moving forward Primary Gi Top Color: White Primary Gi Bottom Color: White List of Katas you teach/consider part of your style: Taikyoku shodan, Heian shodan all the way to godan, tekki shodan all the way to sandan, Jion, Bassaidai and Bassai sho, Kanku dai and sho, Empi, Chinte, Jiin, Jitte, Meikyo, Gankaku, Gojushiho sho and dai, Wankan, Nijushiho, Unsu,

i think Aghayev is good... i have his training dvd... i seen some clips where it looks like he's faking excessive contact when an opponent lands a jodan so that made me lose a little respect for him... i wasn't sure at first so i freeze framed the clip bit by bit and it was clear as day his opponent missed a jodan zuki but Aghayev went down screaming... other than that though, he is good wayne otto is awesome too... another ippon fighter i love watching is frank brennan... he has some awesome mawashigeri's and ashi barais... on top of that he's a kata champion as well and i really respect that... biamonti is good too but i don't like his boasting after points... another guy who is in his weight class that if i had to choose a best, would be george kotaka... i may be biased though since i had the chance to fight him and also talked to and received tips from him as well... he's so damn fast... here's a clip of him fighting one of the US national champs (brandis miyazaki) and he just runs through him like nothing... i have another angle of the fight and in the other angle, you can clearly see brandis missing the 1 point he got as george sidestepped him... i talked to brandis recently and he's dead set that he will surpass george one day so i told him good luck... he's a very humble kid

btw, if anyone is curious, the sensei and another black belt who was there told me what happened... apparently he went all out on the sensei (back when sensei was a student), so the sensei reacted w/a mae geri that sent him back into the ground... when he came back up the sensei just attacked him w/pretty hard leg kicks... he ended up missing practice for a few days and when he came back they had a talk... anyways, thanks for all the replies

But what about the person that DOES have to line up with him? Idk. This seems more like something that the sensei should talk to the guy about and have him stop as opposed to just telling people not to line up with him. Someone is going to have to line up with him, which means someone's going to get abused. he was talked to before and he said he understood... but like i said, he does have an ego problem... he only does it to certain people who outrank him from what i was told and what i've seen... it seems like his way of trying to gain recognition/status over others but it has backfired so far and that's where the real issues comes because he acts bitter after... I've watched him against others and he hasn't attacked them all out... it's only happened to me and the sensei and we are the only 2 who outrank him... it is an issue that sticks in the back of my head though because there are others who may rank up that aren't there to prove they are the best in the class at kumite... the sensei is well aware of the issue though and has talked to him in the past so for now, all i can do is take it as that

thanks for the replies! it actually blew over and when i talked to the sensei about it, he said he had some issues with him as well and that he used to try and avoid lining up w/him when he was in the class training a few yrs ago... apparently he was talked to in the past and he said he understood but he still has some ego issues so rather than getting into it, i just avoid lining up w/him... it's all good now though here's some info if it's confusing when i say the sensei was in the class training... the sensei is actually my sempai who started training a few months before i started (over 20yrs ago)... our sensei handed down the dojo to us and he was the highest rank = sensei, i'm next highest

if not countering you will have to set it up somehow... if it's for tournaments you can use footwork/movements like in this vid at 44sec... he does this a lot in actual competition and catches a lot of people with it

I'm assuming it's either ippon kumite or wkf style, and you could get a bunch of different replies and possibly some conflicting views, but I tell this to all my students who kumite for the 1st time. When something happens, throw that gyakuzuki! even if you're caught by surprise just throw it! Don't get caught doing nothing/not reacting. Otherwise, try your best and learn from your experience!