andym

Hello and welcome to the forum Amanda. Andy

BRIAN WAITES : GOJU KAI. From Andy Moorhouse Hello , I am currently doing research for an article on the introduction of Goju Ryu to Great Britain. I am trying to contact Brian Waites, to interview him if possible . For those who don’t know, he , along with Steve Morris and Gary Spiers, were responsible for its original introduction. Can anyone either let him know that I wish to contact him, or pass his contact details (with permission) too me - via P.M. Thanks Andy Moorhouse

welcome to the forum ,sri_mersing81, hopefully you wont fall off the two wheels! andy

Hello and welcome to the forum. Andy

IMHO karate was seen to lose it value, after too many within it lost sight of the values of karate. Chasing quantity over quality, undermining these values for money. Selling the art short and undermining it, too make it easy to teach lots of kids. The end result of all this, has resulted in this 'product' , being seen as all there is to karate. That it is not fit for purpose and has lost its value. Andy

Welcome to the forum abo, and here's hoping you have a quick exit from GKR Andy

Below is the tried and trusted , some would say old fashioned, grading time table. It was excepted by ALL Karate styles and organisations. We still use it, if you are studying Karate and your Dojo is no longer following it - ask yourself, why? To my understanding, it has never been repealed nor superseded. I firmly believe had this system by enforced, at all levels, local, national and internationally, Karate would not have most of the problems that currently afflict it. In 1971 the Federation of All Japan Karate-Do Organisations (F.A.J.K.O.) came up with an agreed formula for the minimum length of training time and minimum ages for all grades with-in Karate. It stated that Kyu (coloured belt) grades should be a MINIMUM of 3 months apart and that there must be an at least 6 month gap between the final 1st kyu gradings and the first Dan, black belt, grading. With 9 kyu grades and this 6 month gap, the minimum time anyone could receive their black belt would be after 30 months, two and a half years training. That’s a minimum, a bare minimum at that, not a recommended time scale, because F.A.J.K.O. also stated that a student had to have trained for a minuim of 4 years prior to a Dan grading ! F.A.J.K.O RANKING SYSTEM 1971 ON ENTERING THE DOJO YOU BECOME A 9 KYU ; WHITE BELT. A MINIMUM OF 3 MONTHS TRAINING BETWEEN GRADINGS GRADE 9th KYU 3months to 8th KYU 3months to 7th KYU 3months to 6th KYU 3months to 5th KYU 4th KYU 3months to 3rd KYU 3months to 2nd KYU 6months to 1st KYU MINIMUM OF 12 MONTHS GAP FROM FIRST KYU TO FIRSY DAN GRADING A CANDADATE FOR FIRST DAN MUST HAVE TRAINED FOR A MINIMUM OF FOUR YEARS BEFORE GRADING MINIMUM NUMBER OF YEARS BETWEEN DAN GRADES AND MINIMUM AGE FOR THAT GRADE FIRST 16 2 SECOUND 18 3 THIRD 21 4 FOURTH NONE 5 FIFTH NONE 6 SIXTH 35 7 SEVENTH 42 8 EIGHTH 50 9 NINETH 60 10 TENTH 70

Hello, my name is Andy and I’ve been hanging around for a short time with out introducing myself, so here goes. I’m the wrong side of 50 years old, married with 2 grown up kids. I work for a major food manufacture, were I seem to spend too much time undoing the mistakes of managers - from all levels ! I live in Wigan, in the north west of England. I’ve been involved with the martial arts since I was 13 years old (1973). For the last 30 years I’ve been a student of Sensei Tony Christian, studying Goju Ryu Karate-Do. I all study Kobudo. Outside of the Martial arts I’m a massive fan of ’60’s soul music , especially northern soul. I’m also a fledgling writer, had a couple of articles on the martial arts published over recent years.

An excellent sentiment and totally agree with it. It looks like another book I'll have to add to my 'too buy' list. (and annoy the wife with).