renketsu

http://muttley.tomelliott.net/~tom/drivingcarefully.jpg The photo says it all

Depending where you are, Mugenkyo are definitely worth a listen/watch. I have seen them twice in the UK and they tour regularly - details are on the website. They have a CD for sale on the website (I have it and it is good) for £12 and you can listen to some of the tracks for free by the looks of it. Andy.

28 Feeling it too

https://www.sangakukarategroup.co.uk The website for our group of clubs, contains general karate info besides club specific stuff.

I put 21-30 as this reflects my own club. Our association though has 500ish students and instructors. Andy.

How did you get this... is this the standard AMA insurance or a private policy as an aside to the normal insurance? I have $5m instructor's indemnity from the AMA (UK thing) and will be paying through the club for my two assistant instructors this time round as they only teach at my request. Any student of shodan and above who is willing to sub-teach if asked can train with me free of charge, I am also allowed to train free of charge with my own senior instructor. Regards, Andy.

I dont know about anyone else but I wouldnt want to try stopping someone hitting me on the head with a bo by catching it - I would imagine that would break several bones in your hands. I favour the idea of using weapons to defend against weapons and have been taught a similar move to that one in Bassai Sho when I trained in kobujitsu. Jutte is another contentious kata... I pasted this before showing Jutte being done using a bo and it looks pretty much perfect to me (yep I've tried it)... the idea behind using open handed moves (versions of weapons moves) to hide the fact that you are training to use weapons sounds feasible. Just my opinion. Andy.

Hi, Does anyone know of the White Tiger Karate Club/Association in the Wigan area (North West England)? I have had a mate ask about it and I have never heard of them and am looking for some background info/website etc (I have looked on Google but cant find anything). I will advise him to check the usual stuff but am looking to forwarn him incase it is a McDojo Cheers, Andy.

Yeah CoF are good and I dont mind the growling, but it takes some explaining when I give someone a lift in the car and I am playing CoF! I have to say 'Dusk and her embrace' is my fave song of all of theirs, although 'Shallow be thy grave' (cover of Hallowed be thy name by Maiden) is up there too Yeah... I have the Velvet Revolver Contraband album in my car and its definitely growing on me. I never was a big GnR fan and dont have any of their albums so cant really compare the two bands much! Andy.

Should I take offense at this comment (or is it an unlikely coincidence)? Depending on which websites you were looking at - I could take this as a personal insult... deriding my grade/ability/instructors who promoted me etc. This is my profile on our group website (which starts off as "The senior instructor of Renketsu Karate Club is Sensei Andy Wilkinson (3rd Dan) who has been training for over 11 years"). I am 28 (obtaining my sandan in sept 03 following a very physical grading conducted by my 6th and 5th Dan instructors), I run my own club as a hobby (yep, I work for a living too) with about 20 students and I purposely charge low rates (to ensure that the club stays afloat but that is it): * £2 per lesson * £5 per Kyu gradings (conducted by my 6th dan instructor) * £20 for Dan gradings (conducted by my 6th dan instructor) * £5 for courses Therefore, its pretty obvious that my grade is not an attempt to promote a McDojo by having an "inflated Dan grade" as implied. It is commonly accepted in the UK (for Shotokan Karate) that the gap between Dan grades is a minimum of the same number of years as the next grade from the date of your last grading, ie: 2nd - 3rd = 3 years 3rd - 4th = 4 years 4th - 5th = 5 years 5th - 6th = 6 years etc etc. Our grades are registered with the EKGB (English Karate Governing Body) and AMA (Amateur Martial Association) in accordance with their rules of time spent training. It is such a pity that 24fightingchickens.com has gone, there was a brilliant article on there about grades and how non-standard they are and how people think someone else's grade effects them... oh well never mind.

I "inherited" a dying class when I was a first dan aged 21!! There were 3 other students left: a junior 2nd dan (who left within weeks - hopefully not due to me!) a senior 2nd kyu a junior 1st kyu (who left after attaining shodan) So I effectively started from scratch by recruiting new students (I had a grading for 18 students last night and the club is now doing very well) and have kept the "senior 2nd kyu" as one of my seniors, she is now a 2nd dan and I guess she counts as someone I have taken under my wing Andy.

V reg Ford Fiesta (1.25 Zetec) in a funky blue/purple colour If I could afford any car I would probably go for the comfort approach rather than out-and-out speed and get a top of the range 7-series bmw or on a poseur day it would be the knight-rider lookalike 8-series bmw. Andy.

It was my dad who suggested it to my younger (much younger) brother and I... we both joined and then after a few weeks dad joined as well. Both of them stopped training within a couple of years but I was hooked and am still there 11 years later Now being the only person from my family and circle of friends who trains, I have no practise partner away from the dojo Andy.

£5 ($9ish) for coloured belts (kyu grades) £20 ($37ish) for black belts (any dan grade - there is no increasing scale.) Coloured belts are an extra £3 ($5.5ish). Black belts are included for people passing 1st dan. Dan grade registration with the AMA (Amateur Martial Association) is included in the £20. Certificates are included in both sets of prices. Andy.

Thank you all for the replies... all seemed to generally agree with the idea The problem I would have is that my club is part of a group of clubs, run by my instructor (6th Dan) and I would have to ask him before doing anything such as changing the "uniform" on a permanent basis... I could imagine some of his students training with me and running off to tell the boss Initially, the idea would be any plain white T-shirt or polo shirt and if that was a hit then next year would be embroidered only... they are likely to be under a tenner each (looking at the prices on the web - cheers for the link Aefibird ) It's the same idea as my club badge... it's a requirement that you wear the badge on your Gi once you have licenced (only £3). Oonyuudou - The thought of people practising in their underwear is generally highly unappealing (there are some exceptions of course ) Andy.