chiliphil1

Welcome!

You have a valid point. My kids were nearly impossible to teach, they took it as "play time with daddy" and I couldn't get anywhere with them. My wife however is doing really well. There isn't any awkwardness which I thought there would be. We are very close so neither of us get frustrated with the other, she's trying hard and I am taking it easy on her! I am able to work on things slowly with her since we have lots of time, what would normally happen in a 40 minute class we do over about 3 hours.

Indeed it is tough to find other sites to post on. I also find myself posting nowhere but here. I have tried various other sites, chat rooms, etc but I would always find that it was a huge measuring contest about which branch of MMA was better than the other. I have no ill feeling toward MMA but I prefer to study a more traditional art, not many these days seem to want to do that. I try to learn on what I call the "practical way" If something is beneficial for the situation I use it, if it is detrimental, I do not use it. Simple. I like kata, they are enjoyable and keep me in practice. I am not interested in fighting, I am interested in self betterment.

You can look here http://www.okinawadirect.com/shopcontent.asp?type=DogiSizing I don't know if I have ever gotten a dogi that fit right out of the box, generally it goes to the tailor as soon as I get it.

No, I have not ordered from them. I do not know if there would be duties or not though I would think that they wouldn't be much considering the price isn't very high, I know if you order a guitar from Japan you generally will not pay anything as far as imports go, as long as it is shipped with Japan post EMS it comes right to your door. The only reason I would recommend them would be for the mis matched sizes, no where else offers that with Shuriedo. If you don't need the different sizes I would say stick with discount mas, they are a bit more BUT they are in the USA.

Thank you for the well wishes, so far it is awesome! She is dedicated to doing it and really putting in the effort. I have been super patient with her and she has not had the slightest inclination to quit. It's a great experience.

This site has the K-10 for $164 http://www.okinawadirect.com/products/70-K-10-Heavyweight-Dogi/19-Shureido-K-10-Heavyweight-Dogi/default.asp Here is the WAZA gi for $137.50 http://www.amazon.com/Shureido-KUMITE-Approved-Karate-Uniform/dp/B00GZRUTMG You can also buy the full line here http://www.okinawadirect.com/products/17-shureido-uniforms/ they offer split sizes as well which is hard to find. This site will ship it straight from Okinawa so it will take a couple of weeks to get, just be sure to convert the curency over, all their prices are in yen. I cannot speak to the difference between the various models in terms of fit, I have no experience with them. Good luck to you!

I cannot speak from personal experience BUT I have never heard a single bad word about Tokon. I am really not sure on the cut of them but they offer several different flavors, Europa, America, etc.. If you check on https://www.discountmas.com the Shuriedo k-10 is only $75 more than the Europa, and they also have the TKW-11 middle weight for about $15 more. I am not sure what you are looking to spend but they site I referenced has the Token for $150 so I am going off of that for comparison. If you are going to spend $150 I would really just save up a bit longer and spring for the Shuriedo. I have kids too so I understand not having the money, but you're so close, it would be worth it to wait. Or you could just go with the Shuriedo middle weight.. Your choice. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

I am so excited that I wanted to post about it. We have been married for 12 years now and I have mentioned over and over again how much I would love if she would allow me to teach her some MA. Today I was working on some of my older curriculum and asked her to read the steps of the kata as I did them so that I didn't have to hold the book while doing the moves. She did that and then I said, "ya know I could teach you some stuff if you want" and she actually said, sure! I went over the absolute basics with her, we worked on a couple of strikes, stances, and foot positions. Afterwords she said it was pretty fun and not as hard as she thought! I am super happy, it took me a long time to get her here. I guess she is my first official student!

Congrats!

I saw a case of this just the other day. There was a black belt test and the students were sparring. There was this one guy who had very quick hands and he would just light up the other students. There were even a couple of times where the guy had to stop and ask his opponent if he was OK. I think that at the level this guy was control should be as easy as standing there but he just didn't have it. Granted the other BB candidates should have either been able to block or to keep him away but he just kept on getting them. I was surprised that he kept getting in though, no one used a kick to stop him.. It was like boxing.. Off topic.. I know.. When I was coming up I had someone like this in my class, he was a lower rank than me but super fast and super intense. He could get in on just about anyone, including me. I got socked a few times from this guy but I never asked him to back off, I figured it just kinda came with it and if you could match him you were doing something! We were kicking hand targets one night and this same guy was kicking as hard as he possibly could and kept missing by an inch or two to the back and of course that's where my arm was. I walked away with a many a welt that day.

This is a great question! I am eager to hear the answer myself as I am on the cusp of opening one myself. I just haven't yet looked into all of it.. Sorry I cannot offer any help.

Thank you, I also truly hope it works for you as well, there is nothing I like seeing more than someone who puts in hard work having success.

Agreed 100% This is why I am going to press as hard as I can to get my old school on board with me. To let me have a "franchise" so to speak. I am willing as I said before to even hire a higher rank to run the training if needed, anything I can do to make it happen. I think it would be good for everyone if I could have a veteran instructor/school owner behind me on this.

This is what I am thinking, my hang up on rank is because I want to be able to promote under the organization in which I hold my BB, if they won't sign off on me running a school then I have no authority to grant rank.

I voted yes, I have seen one, I am one.. or was. I got my BB 1 month before I turned 11. This is going to sound like bragging, but it is not. I was always a very mature child, well above others my age. I trained in my dojo 6 days a week and was homeschooled by the CI's wife, so I would go to the school with her daily after school and train one on one with the CI for about 2 hours a day and then take the juniors class and the adult class. I earned my Asst. instructor patch at 8 with a brown belt. I am the youngest and lowest ranked person to ever receive it. By the time I got the BB I had been in the adult classes for over 2 years and when tested I was side by side with them and had no special privileges or slack requirements. I did everything they did including sparring with them, throws, board breaking with the same 1" thick boards they used, etc.. I am not trying to say I am special but I completed every adult requirement for the rank and I feel that I personally was of sound mind to hold the rank. I have certainly seen some who did not deserve it, some a little older and some much older. I think my old organization has changed it up a bit these days though. I sat on a testing board last week and saw a kid who was probably around 11 or 12 promoted to junior BB, I don't know if they just skipped junior for me or if the didn't have it back then. In my opinion he should not have gotten the rank based on his technique but they passed him in one of those " we will pass him but he needs to work on this" kind of things.. Honestly though the candidate whom I felt the strongest about not passing was a guy who was in his mid 30's going for 2nd dan.. If he were my student he would be wearing a blue belt.. I felt he was not anywhere near the rank he had much less going up another level.. My point here is that it goes both ways.

Thank you for the reply. I agree with you on the experience. If I had not been self studying for years I would not be confident in doing this. My rank could be 3rd or 4th dan IF I had stayed with the school I was with before but I branched out on my own and thus gave up advancement. The main reason that I want to open a subsidiary is because it would give me a few things, one I would be able to attend and have my students attend functions with the parent school, such as testing and tournaments. Two, I would have a very experienced and knowledgeable instructor to oversee things and bounce ideas off of and also he would be willing to help me in any way possible when I needed it. Plus there is an umbrella that I would be under and could use his resources, such as vendors, other instructors, etc.. I am not afraid of going it alone but I need the sanctioning body otherwise any rank which I award would be useless.. I do not want to start my own style or organization. Having the subsidiary is a good idea because you can at least have that assistance with teaching and training to feel ready. What if you had your own dojo but it was in partnership with your old dojo (if you and your old sensei are on good terms) so you could allow the student to train at both and potentially be graded at the other dojo if you felt like you weren't happy on running your gradings yourself? I can understand that you would require state or national accreditation with the governing body to aid in support, insurance and opportunities to become available for you and students. What is your current rank if i may ask? I just looked up the Australian Karate Federation website in regards to membership and they request that you hold a 3rd Dan in your style and that all your instructors hold a Dan Grading. Although many clubs that I have spoken to have opted to only go for the state membership until they reach such a grading. This is exactly what I was hoping for. I think it would benefit everyone if I could do this. I really want to be able to have my old CI in my loop, I think that it would only help my success and my students.. I am hoping this will work out. I am a black belt.. In my system you get black belt, then 1st dan, and onward.. I think the highest person in my entire organization is a 7th dan. This is why I was thinking in the beginning that I could get one of the 3rd or 4th dans which I am still on good terms with to come in and be my CI. I would still own and operate the school but I would have them to oversee things while I work up to the appropriate rank. The main reason I am looking to do this now is because I am going to have the money to do it.. Down the road I may not.. If I could be the owner and an instructor I would be fine with that.. I don't mind a higher rank in my school, I am not looking to be "in charge" in all aspects I just want to teach MA. I know about 3-4 3rd and ups who I am sure I could get in at least a couple of days a week.. As far as the certification goes, I don't have to have anything on the state or federal level, again my organization is small so I would just need the blessing of the founder who I know fairly well, I spoke with him last week when we both sat on a testing board. Unfortunately I did not get the time to speak with him in regard to the school idea, it was a fairly hectic day. The bold type is the same at my school as it was the same at my old dojo. If you can get assistance from then that will be great as you can look to them for that guidance. I may not be that much of a higher up in the organisation but still a senior instructor. But when you mentioned that you didn't want to be 'in charge' of all aspects, i feel like you need to be that person to be in charge. Because I think if you aren't in charge of everything then you go and have a tiff with the instructor then there will be some in fighting (not in the kumite sense). Let me clarify, because to me a CI has the final say on curriculum and whether people pass/fail tests + gradings. Whilst the Owner primarily is behind the scenes. So that is why i see many people who run schools are both the CI + Owner. But if you want them as the CI you should put into place what roles said person can have in charge of but the owner has the final say. Yes, that's what I am hinting towards. I would hire a "teacher" so to speak and I would be the "principal" if you looked at it that way. I will say this, I do plan to be "in charge" but I don't mind handing the oversight of teaching to someone else, all of the people that I know have the utmost of my respect so I would not be in any competition with them if they told me "you should teach this way" These people are either those who taught me when I was coming up or they came up with me but stayed with the same organization. I am doing this to both meet requirements of the organization (if they don't allow me on my own) and to provide the best instruction for my students. I don't feel that I would be lacking BUT these other people have more experience than me and one of the people I have in mind is a former school owner/chief instructor himself. I want to say again, thank you for all the input it is really helping me piece all of this together.. Oh, I think I mentioned this before but once I am back in the organization I could be a 2nd dan in 2-3 years, I am eligible to test for 1st as soon as I walk in the door, if I can get myself prepared I could probably do that at the next test in 6 months.. I think 1st to 2nd is 2 years, so I could own the school with a CI in place, once I make the rank he could either stay on or step away, it would be up to him. I just want to go ahead and get the ball rolling now, even if that means letting someone else drive the training part.. It would be like having a store manager and an owner, same principal.. In the beginning though I am going to follow advice given here and train on my own at local venues until I have a student base and then move into the school, that's when I would have to be concerned with the CI issue.

Thank you for the reply. I agree with you on the experience. If I had not been self studying for years I would not be confident in doing this. My rank could be 3rd or 4th dan IF I had stayed with the school I was with before but I branched out on my own and thus gave up advancement. The main reason that I want to open a subsidiary is because it would give me a few things, one I would be able to attend and have my students attend functions with the parent school, such as testing and tournaments. Two, I would have a very experienced and knowledgeable instructor to oversee things and bounce ideas off of and also he would be willing to help me in any way possible when I needed it. Plus there is an umbrella that I would be under and could use his resources, such as vendors, other instructors, etc.. I am not afraid of going it alone but I need the sanctioning body otherwise any rank which I award would be useless.. I do not want to start my own style or organization. Having the subsidiary is a good idea because you can at least have that assistance with teaching and training to feel ready. What if you had your own dojo but it was in partnership with your old dojo (if you and your old sensei are on good terms) so you could allow the student to train at both and potentially be graded at the other dojo if you felt like you weren't happy on running your gradings yourself? I can understand that you would require state or national accreditation with the governing body to aid in support, insurance and opportunities to become available for you and students. What is your current rank if i may ask? I just looked up the Australian Karate Federation website in regards to membership and they request that you hold a 3rd Dan in your style and that all your instructors hold a Dan Grading. Although many clubs that I have spoken to have opted to only go for the state membership until they reach such a grading. This is exactly what I was hoping for. I think it would benefit everyone if I could do this. I really want to be able to have my old CI in my loop, I think that it would only help my success and my students.. I am hoping this will work out. I am a black belt.. In my system you get black belt, then 1st dan, and onward.. I think the highest person in my entire organization is a 7th dan. This is why I was thinking in the beginning that I could get one of the 3rd or 4th dans which I am still on good terms with to come in and be my CI. I would still own and operate the school but I would have them to oversee things while I work up to the appropriate rank. The main reason I am looking to do this now is because I am going to have the money to do it.. Down the road I may not.. If I could be the owner and an instructor I would be fine with that.. I don't mind a higher rank in my school, I am not looking to be "in charge" in all aspects I just want to teach MA. I know about 3-4 3rd and ups who I am sure I could get in at least a couple of days a week.. As far as the certification goes, I don't have to have anything on the state or federal level, again my organization is small so I would just need the blessing of the founder who I know fairly well, I spoke with him last week when we both sat on a testing board. Unfortunately I did not get the time to speak with him in regard to the school idea, it was a fairly hectic day.

Most likely not. The only thing that I thought to offer was a discount if you paid for 6 months to a year in advance but otherwise no I don't want to force people into contracts. I would also have to think of the collections process if someone broke the contract and I just don't want to do that. I plan to do a pay up front/pay as you go type of billing.. I also want to have the option to pay per class as well, some people may not justify $99 if they can only make one class a week, so I was thinking I could do $5 to $10 per class if someone wanted to do it that way as well.

In the general area none. Within 20 miles 4-5, one north, one west, two north west, and one south. Within 40 miles there are probably about 5-6 north, including my old one, and south probably 3-4. I'm in a rural area where there are lots of kids, I assume most of my business will be kids.. Hopefully I can get somewhere by offering quality instruction with fair prices and a good kids program. I am near a town called Jackson, there is one there, south of my if Forsyth, there is one there, north east is Griffin, there are 2 there, locust grove is north and it has 1. Going further south there is Macon which has 3-4, north is Mcdonough and there are at least 3 there.. But again, nothing in the exact general location I am in, I would sort of split up the 3 closest and be in the middle of all of them. I do still wonder though if I should put the school in the rural area and depend on locals or if I should move into a more populated area and go head to head with another school.. Of course it would be a different style, I have the choice of either Shorin-Ryu or TKD with the closest ones to me.. My style is TSD/Chun Kuk Do based.. Lots of decisions to be made, this is why I hope I can get my old instructor on board, he knows all about this stuff and could probably save me a ton of headache.

My organization isn't quite as strict. I feel that I would be ok to do it but I do think they will want someone with more rank to oversee things, and I am ok with that. As far as permission that is what I intend to seek, I would not do it without that, especially considering that I want to be within the sanctioning body. The style that I am in is a small organization, it is not a world wide thing and is not overseen in another country, it is a spinoff of Chuck Norris' UFAF, it was founded by Duke Tirchel and is called AFAF. Mr. Tirchell is local and I can speak with him in regard to being under the AFAF organization. The school in which I attended is an AFAF school and I would like to open a 2nd location for that school, but if I can't do that then I at least want the AFAF part of it, I absolutely have to have that because without it I have no authority to give rank and I wouldn't be able to use the ciriculum that I know. I am only concerned with the rank issue because generally all of the instructors of AFAF schools are usually 3rd and above, however I think this may have more to do with being at a point to afford a school rather than it being required, perhaps I am looking at it incorrectly. As I recall when I started my CI was just a BB, like me and the asst instructor was a 1st dan.. That was over 20 years ago though.. The only thing I can do is ask.. I don't think they would turn down the opportunity for the exposure and the extra bodies, just the other week all of the instructors were talking about how they would love to bring in more students and have bigger tests.. So, perhaps with some conditions they would be ok with it.. Only way to find out is to ask, I will hopefully get to do that in the next few days, I just have to find a time to meet with my old instructor. I have 2 shorin-ryu schools near my home, I have met with both instructors and they are both 3rd dans, I think the rules must be a bit lax here vs Okinawa, I would guess because of the need to make money here, perhaps they are just allowing lower grades to run schools so that they can spread out the organization, I am not sure.

Thank you for the reply. I agree with you on the experience. If I had not been self studying for years I would not be confident in doing this. My rank could be 3rd or 4th dan IF I had stayed with the school I was with before but I branched out on my own and thus gave up advancement. The main reason that I want to open a subsidiary is because it would give me a few things, one I would be able to attend and have my students attend functions with the parent school, such as testing and tournaments. Two, I would have a very experienced and knowledgeable instructor to oversee things and bounce ideas off of and also he would be willing to help me in any way possible when I needed it. Plus there is an umbrella that I would be under and could use his resources, such as vendors, other instructors, etc.. I am not afraid of going it alone but I need the sanctioning body otherwise any rank which I award would be useless.. I do not want to start my own style or organization.

I have the marks, but it's from being over weight years ago. I find though that when I do work out to a high level I get red marks around my shoulders, never figured out why but I always assumed it was from muscles tearing.. They look like stretch marks but they are bright red.

Thank you for that, it eases my concerns and helps my confidence.

My organization is a little funny on rank. We have black belt, then 1st degree black belt, and so on. I am just a black belt. I am high enough that I can grade all the way to what would be 2nd kyu. Most of the time students going for 1st kyu or bb test in front of the large board anyway so I would not absolutely have to be high enough to test them myself. I certainly did not mean to come off as cocky with my previous post. I have seen enough attrition attending and assisting with ma classes that I know it is a constant threat to you. I just meant that I have a plan for a ciriculum which I hope would keep students coming back though I could be completely wrong, only time will tell me that. I get the impression that my posts read like I am in over my head but I don't feel that I am. This would be my first business, so I think that would be my biggest challenge. This is my main reason for wanting to join with my old school, my old instructor has over 30 years in the same location so he could definitely give me the guidance I need to not fall completely on my face. My ultimate dream would be to have a school like his where he also has a room full of weight equipment and tanning beds and also conducts a tae-Bo style fitness class as well. These are things that I would at least think would help keep the doors open. My biggest concern was, and still is being too low of a rank to be considered a head instructor under his school system, which is why I referenced hiring a higher rank to take that role. Today was a good example, I went and sat on the board for the bb test this morning and he told me " you can sit in but you cannot grade, your rank isn't high enough" I'm afraid that would be the statement if I tried to open a school by myself. Looking back however I remember that when I started way back in 1992 my chief instructor was also just a black belt, the asst instructor was a 1st degree, so maybe there is a shot. Both of them are now 4th degrees. I do like your suggestion of setting up a class at a local area first, and honestly that didn't even occur to me. I will seriously look into doing that, I could even start now I wouldn't even have to wait for the money. One thing I want to mention, some of you may read into my post and ask me, "why have you been doing it so long but are ranked so low?" The answer to that has many layers but in essence I was sort of a prodigy I got my bb at 10 and continued to train, I took time off to be a teen and then found myself wanting something different. At this stage I did not go back to the same school but rather began a self study regimine in which I branched out into other styles of ma as well as weapons and techniques that my training did not cover. I also started to learn about and focus on the mental side of ma which in my opinion was lacking at my school. I want to follow the ciriculum of my old school so that my students have a set of goals and clear requirements needed to meet them however I strongly want to incorporate what I have learned beyond my school. All of the instructors were talking today about everything I have thought was wrong with what I learned and they seem to be moving away from it themselves so I think my ideas would work well. The things are basic but essentially moving from the more traditional stances and positions into more modern self defense oriented things, more practical use training if you will. I would also like to include mental development and general fitness into my programs whereas again they were lacking when I came up. Hopefully I'm not wrong about all of this, but I'm new to the business side of things however it has been a long standing dream of mine on both counts. I have wanted my own school since I was around 8 and I have wanted my own business ever since I was old enough to realize I would have to make my own money somehow. I feel that I have the heart, the drive, and the determination to do it and with the right coaching I can make it great and for that I thank all of you again for giving me advice. You have no idea what it means to me to have people who I respect as much as you guys helping me out. In closing you have again inspired me, I believe my next step is going to be a couple of things. First I am going to speak with my old instructor, I didn't get the chance today as it was fairly hectic, secondly I am going to speak with the founder of my system, thirdly I am going to speak with other instructors in my area, and finally I am going to look into churches, youth groups, etc to see if I can bring in a martial arts program. Thank you again for the wisdom and inspiration.