Spartacus Maximus

Unless there has been a sudden surge of similar messages, an e-mail such as the one mentioned here is hardly worth a passing glance, nor is it worth wasting time replying to it. Immediately delete and move on to more pressing and meaningful orders of business.

This exact injury happened to myself a year or so ago. No broken bones or tearing. Just a nasty sprain that took nearly three months to completely heal and the soreness/discomfort to disappear.

Although customs and traditions require everyone at shodan and above to assist their juniors-in-grade when asked, instructor candidates are usually chosen in a way by the head of the organization. As the organization is small compared to many other Shorin ryu organization, special attention is given so that all students from shodan and up are able to answer common questions about training. That everybody can have at least minimum exposure to teaching. Whether or not one accepts to become an instructor is the individual's own choice.

That seems reasonable. How much time did you have to work with and who was the target audience? Are such seminars expensive in your area?

Have anyone been asked to put together a short term course or self-defense seminar? The time is limited to 8 weeks, 3 hours per week. What sort of techniques would be the most useful and easiest to teach? The target audience ranges from young adults to older people up to 65years old. Initially the proposed content is this: 1. General target areas 2. How to strike correctly(natural weapons, making a proper fist etc..) 3. Releases and escape techniques for common grabs and holds 4. Drills to train contents of #3. The total number of individual techniques should not be much higher than 12. Anyone have ideas?

When face with the same problem, the easiest solution was to study in detail any available photos and spend a few weekends constructing a pair. Any large hardware store has all if not most of the necessary parts. Best of all, being an expert craftsman is not required. The final product ended up being much more durable than anything found at shureido or anywhere else. Either that or get someone who is going to shureido in California or Okinawa(anybody can buy them there) to buy it and bring it to you. No problem traveling with nunchaku in checked baggage.

The very fact that this sort of thing happens is a testament to how much ranks on martial arts are political. No martial arts association or governing body of any size is free of this practice. People are offered honorary or full ranks for a variety of reasons. Even in Okinawa, it has been known to happen and it is more common there than what one could be led to believe. Rival governing bodies, often for the same "style" will try to get members from others to join by offering them rank if they do. The ones who do this are often the head of governing bodies. From recent memory, a sandan and a nidan were offered no less than yondan and shihan teaching title with 5dan, no less. All without any evaluation or testing whatsoever.

Thinking of starting home brewing as a new hobby. After reading a few websites on the subject, making a batch of meade or honey wine seems like an interesting experiment. Who has done some homebrewing before?

Whenever specific time-in-grade for a rank is mentioned, it is usually meant as a benchmark. As progresss is different for everyone, time in rank is not a relevant concept outside of the context of teaching and evaluating students. What ought to be considered instead by both instructor and student is the quality of the skills gained and the level of improvement of each individual since the last time these were evaluated. A good instructor will judge a student by that student's improvements, not by those of others.

Very good choice and wise decision. No business is free of risk and if the expenses become too much to manage, closing is the only solution if it means saving one's livelihood. One of the best ways to maximize the chances of success is to build up a significant regular student base before thinking of renting a place specifically for that purpose. The best way of doing this cheaply is to start a club by teaching in a sports centre, public gym or even sharing space with another instructor. This is always much, much cheaper with little risk compared to renting a place for the purpose, let alone having that place customized for martial arts instruction. A few years of doing this and establishing a regular student base, should normally allow an instructor to accumulate adequate resources to open a location.

Stalkers are invariably emotionally disturbed in one way or another. Their conception of what is appropriate social interaction is distorted. This makes them very unpredictable. If the victim does everything to bring attention to the situation and the more likely the stalker is to get caught quickly. Stalking is very hard to do for the stalker if everyone around knows what's is going on and who is doing it.

That's alright, but it is nice to know that one is welcome to train and seek advice at anytime of the year even if most other people decide they want to take a break.

What happened in this case is that the only thing the police were able or willing to do is interrogate the guy and basically check his papers for being in the countrY. That worked against him I the end he was caught for a visa violation and served a deportation order. That almost guarantees he will have a really hard time returning if allowed in at all. Border authorities tend to have ways of preventing known undesirables from returning.

Some of the more traditional and defense orientated martial arts system have one form or another of conditioning the body and especially the limbs to withstand strikes for blocking or parrying. One of the ways to do this is by gradually being hit with some sort of flexible stick. In Japan and in systems of Japanese origin it is common to use a shinai, which is the type of bamboo stick-sword used in kendo. Is anyone familiar with what being struck full force with one of these feels like or the kinds of possible injuries one could sustain if one attempted to block or take a strike? Shinai or kendo sticks are not solid pieces and are made up of several flat strips of bamboo strapped together with string. The potential damage is probably much less serious than a solid stick such as a bat, no?

How long and what time a school is open is up to the instructor. The one's who are full time and do nothing else tend to keep their school open year-round for longer than instructors who run a school in addition to a full time job. For both types though, it is unusual to close completely for more than a day or two. What usually happens is that training hours are shortened as activity slows down during holiday/vacation periods. Then, of course there are exceptions such as the type of instructor who trains every single day whose school is open as long as they are present.

The more numerous students are the more challenging it can be for an instructor to keep track of each individual's progress. Set standards for minimum time in grade are a valuable teaching strategy.

What about the Krav Maga schools? Anyhow there is nothing wrong or unethical with taking adavantage of a fad for staying in business. The important thing is to stay focussed on what one is trained and qualified to teach. Karate instructors ought to concentrate on teaching Karate only. Adding boxercise or anything else should be left to somebody trained and qualified to do that.

Restraining orders are difficult to serve, process or enforce when all parties involved are foreign nationals. The victim in this case had the advantage of holding a proper work visa whereas the stalker only had a tourist visa, which limited his time before being required by law to leave after a short time. The stalking stopped because the stalker was arrested for visa related infractions. It is also highly likely that their mutual embassy had a role to play in his arrest as the victim reported him.

Age would make sense as a the source of issues with joints, but this only applies to much older people. Perhaps the fact that it is not both sides has something to do with how people naturally have a slightly weaker side. Left dominant versus right dominant.

The fact that both the victim and stalker were foreigners further complicated things and not much can be expected from the police in cases like this because it simply is not seen as a priority. It is still a good idea to notify them and give them as much to work with as possible. What seemed to have worked was getting their embassy involved by lodging a complaint and passing on the stalkers photo. Eventually somebody got him as he was arrested, but strangely it was on something unrelated to his stalking/harassing behaviour. Embassies of certain countries might have some means of pursuing their nationals on foreign soil if there is a complaint and evidence

In Okinawa and in all other dojos elsewhere either run by Okinawans or their direct students, many had titles next to their names but were just called by their names and the word corresponding to "mr" or "ms". Only the instructor was called "sensei". It was relaxed, casual but still polite and everybody was well aware of where they stood. This is probably the reason why titles are not mentioned other than for formalities.

Larger dojo often have specific time in grade as requirements. In most cases it is more of a guideline than a rule. A student will not automatically advance to the next level when the time in grade has been reached. It just means that the time is the minimum. Progress is unique to each person and some people might not be up to a level's standard after the minimum time. There are many more variables as well as evaluation from the instructor.

Has anybody ever had a knee make a crackling or popping noise for no apparent reason? There is no pain or soreness, nor has there been any significant recent injury; yet it makes an audible crackling noise as it bends. It sounds a little like when someone cracks their knuckles.

These type of aerobics/kickboxing exercise programmes are a fad and many martial arts schools started to add them to increase their business and attract more people. When tae-bo came out, the martial arts-flavoured aerobics boom was at its peak and a lot of martial arts schools started doing that as well. Eventually, like other fads and gimmicks it lost most of its appeal and not as many schools still have it.

One of the most important things for a victim of stalking to keep in mind is that stalkers absolutely hate attention. They cannot stand being in the spotlight as this means that everybody is looking at them, knows their face and what they are doing. Hundreds of eyes are better than the victim's two. A photo or video of the stalker is a very effective weapon. After giving it to the police, it can keep the victim safe by sharing it with family, neighbours, at the workplace and even posted online for maximum exposure. In this particular case, the police did nothing more than interview the culprit, but they very unlikely to do anything else. A sad fact is that the police have other priorities and are even less likely to take on anything involving foreign nationals.