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!

This could be a number of issues, from bursitis (which i had), to something as simple as not tilting your pelvis forward... If your technique is proper and the pain is still there, it's also possible you may have some hip impingement which you'll need a doctor to verify... Also, test your inward/internal hip rotation... in the picture below, the very bottom image show inward hip rotation and hers is at 45 degrees... average is supposedly around 30 degrees... I have bad hip pains with motions like the side-kick and I literally have 2 degrees of inward hip rotation lol... btw, you'll need someone to check it for you because when you lay prone and do that test, you'll feel like your leg is twisting inward a lot more than it actually is... http://www.netterimages.com/images/vpv/000/000/008/8130-0550x0475.jpg Another thing that may help is to stretch the IT band... here's some sample exercises (pretty much the area where the pain is)... http://www.the-fitness-motivator.com/images/IT_stretch.jpg http://www.pamf.org/sports/king/iliotibial/image002.jpg even using a roller might help http://runningtimes.com/rt/images/200405/IT%20Band%20photos%20foam%20roller%202.jpg hope that helps!

thanks, i will talk to him about it and see what he has to say... one thing that gets me is that he never mentioned it before until i did it to him... but like your post states, i should talk to him and see what he thinks so i can understand where he's coming from... and personally, i'd be salty too if a girl was beating me haha, j/k... sorta as for the yahara video lol... that guy is rough, i remember seeing an old JKA clip where he fell off balance and was in a weird handstand position, but as he was falling he threw an upside down mawashigeri that whacked his opponent really hard (i think it was mori sensei, my senseis dads first teacher but i'm not sure lol)... thanks for all the advice... i just never experienced something like this because we usually just train, talk, then leave... the only complaints i've heard was when parents tell me they think a sempai is too strict on their kids lol... so it's a bit new to me

words to live by IMO... I agree, for rules of common courtesy inside and outside the dojo this is a perfect rule of thumb. Although I find it a little worrisome to think of using that as general "words to live by." After all, in history isn't that kind of thinking how witch trials, racism, religious persecution and other forms of mass hysteria were perpetuated? ...not to dampen the mood or anything. I'm just saying that as nice as it would be to turn off our brains and follow each other's actions all the time, I believe there is some merit to thinking about the ultimate meaning and consequences of what we do, especially if we are conforming our actions to others'. if taken out of context then it would be... but the quote itself is used for situations where one finds him/herself in a situation where the customs is not of their own... not to shut off our brains and blindly follow others lol

thanks for the replies... i should've explained more but i already knew 2 classes ago that he was going to be gone for work for the week so that's why he took off... he just repeated it to me when he was leaving... also, i know there's no way to be 100% sure, but as sure as i could possibly be, i don't see how he got hurt on the sweeps because i pretty much carried him down in slow motion... and he went on through practice doing basics after totally fine... then he sat down and talked story after class too... he even told me thank you for not letting him hit the ground hard lol... and we have WKF mats in the dojo that's another reason i was surprised he came just to talk to me before class... another big issue is, I'm still pretty young (relatively), however I'm the 2nd highest rank in the dojo... only our sensei outranks me... so i should basically be able to handle these situations but being young and outranking sempais who are a bit older than me, makes it hard sometimes... i just want to make sure i handle the situation correctly and in the most responsible way i probably wont be sweeping him anymore, but i wont stop sweeping the other students because IMO that's how they learn... in fact, there's one student who i have trouble sweeping now because he ended up catching on to how i was catching him (and he used to always ask me how i caught him) i probably should tell him that if he goes hard, then i'll go hard, if he goes light, then i'll go light... i guess i'm just confused because i thought it would be common sense that if you attack someone hard and punch them hard then expect the same back... and the sweep was really soft and slow, maybe the little tap to his head and small kiai was unnecessary but i meant no harm, it was just to show him that he's going 100% and i could hit him back so to speak

Sorry, kind of a long read lol... so a few days ago i told the class that i could only go about 50% that day and it went fine sparring really lightly (at about 50%) w/2 students before the 3rd student i was about to spar w/had to take a break because of a blister on his foot... So i was standing on the side and so was another sempai (let's call him sempai A), when he came up to me and said I'll spar w/you... Well, he came at me full blast, punching fast and hard (we sparred once before and he didn't come at me that hard lol)... so I swept him but I held onto his gi so that he didn't go crashing into the ground, rather he fell on his back very gently... So i let him up, then he came at me again, full blast AGAIN, so i did the exact same sweep, and let him down gently, this time tapping him really softly in the head and letting out a soft kiai... A brown belt kid sparring next to us was like, "how did you do that!" which i'm sure didn't help the situation, and then we heard, "yame," and that ended the sparring session... The next class, I come early (i always do because i teach the first class), no other black belts come that early except me, but this time, sempai A pulls up really early in regular clothes... I'm like, "Hey, you're here early," and he tells me he wanted to talk to me about the sweeps I did on him... I'm thinking he was going to ask me to show him how i caught him which is usually what i get from the sempais when i sweep them... but instead he tells me that maybe i should stop sweeping because it's dangerous and others don't know how to breakfall as good as he does... Keep in mind he didn't breakfall, because I let him down really slowly... and I've swept others right next to him many times and I've let them down slowly as well... This is something our dojo teaches and has been doing forever, we sweep and teach sweeps... now i really don't want to spar w/this guy because i don't want him to complain and be salty that i swept him or maybe say that i hit him too hard... another sempai said he built up an image when he teaches that he's some incredible fighter and now he probably hates me because i embarrassed him... also, after he told me about the sweeps, he just left and said he'd be back next week because he has to work this week so he basically came just to talk about me sweeping him so idk what to make of something like this lol... i kind of feel weirded out that he came extra early to "talk," to me about something that happens all the time in karate training... i really just want to avoid sparring w/this guy because our dojo goes rough when we spar and he got used to sparring w/kids since me and the other adults weren't sparring in this dojo for the past 2yrs but recently started sparring w/them again... and the thing is, he comes full blast so idk what he expects? I go easy on the ones who go easy... if they go hard, i go hard back and i'd expect the same

words to live by IMO...

good job! 2 of my nephews are gonna be competing in their 1st tournament in 2 weeks, hopefully they'll have a good experience as well... CONGRATS!

lol i don't recommend telling the sensei he's wrong... and like i said, i'm not 100% sure on what's accurate or not... i was just saying what i was told recent studies has shown... our dojo still does it the old way too, we stretch and do the splits before our actual practice... i've been to a highly competitive dojo on the island (which has produced world champions actually), and they do their static stretching at the end of class... i'm sure it's a debated topic (the studies), but i'm too lazy to search and read through those things, that's why i'm hoping someone who's more knowledgeable can chime in and clear things up lol

maybe someone else can confirm because i'm about to reiterate what i was taught (which i'm not sure how accurate it is lol)... but growing up in karate, i was told we did it all wrong according to more current studies... supposedly, it's better to warm your body up first, then do dynamic stretching... static stretching (ie: splits) is supposed to be done at the end of your workouts, never before... supposedly you lose power when you stretch statically before you workout... again, i'm not sure how true that is, just what i was told by someone who reads all kinds of scientific journals and stuff lol also, my sensei and his cousin both can kick to the head and past no problem... they barely have to rotate their upper body back to throw a mawashigeri to the head but the funny thing is... they can't even come close to doing the splits! lol... they pretty much only do dynamic stretching, leg raises etc... one of my sempais does leg raises upon waking and before bed and he seems real flexible w/his kicks... but he can't do a split for crap either lol... idk though... this is something i am no expert on... just posting what i was told and some thing's i've noticed

when i was younger unsu was my favorite kata, because of the jump and it was a good tournament kata... now, my 2 favorite kata's to perform are nijushiho and gojushiho-dai (the one using neko ashi dachi in place of kokutsu dachi since sho and dai varies depending on the school)... i really like the movements in nijushiho and it would be my tournament kata if it was a little longer, so in it's place i usually do gojushiho-dai... I took 2nd place in the fska world tournament doing gojushiho-dai, and the person who won 1st was from france, he did unsu lol... the very last tournament i entered was a local tournament and i performed gojushiho-dai and tied for 1st, so i did nijushiho for my 2nd kata/tie-breaker and ended up winning 1st... i still like unsu, but i performed that kata sooo many times, especially that jump lol my sensei had me do it so much that i had nightmares about it haha... also, back when i competed, almost everyone performed unsu in tournaments or gojushiho-sho, so dai was my way of standing out