tommarker

My association has a few patches that are required, and a few that are allowed. - Association Logo on left breast. - Korean flag on sleeve - US (or flag or your native country) on the other sleeve more "optional": instructor patch judging patch world tournament patch (every 2 years) Some people have only the three, while I've seen others who have their more "formal" uniform that they wear to functions with all the patches. I'm part of the less is more crowd sometimes. Heck, there are times where I don't even want the black trim. Just a clean white uniform with maybe a few characters and a plain black belt with no stripes.

Amen! I've watched TKD schools that spend all class working on 3 techniques, marching up and down, banging targets, practicing one-three step sparring with each other to the point that I'd have thought it was Shotokan if not for the V-neck tops! On the other side, I know TSD folk who practice solely for improving their chances in competition. They compete several times per year at open tournaments as well as closed tsd-only tournaments. They are the ones who when you spar them, they wrap both hands around the chest to prevent a point, and look shocked when you go ahead and blast their arm as hard as you can It all depends on the head instructor's focus and background. Especially in the US, where people take a certain extra liberty to change things (guilty!) or incorporate theories that suit their bodies better. And then, others are just into what is profitable!

think of US womens gymnastics... its not that implausible

I don't have an 11 year old... high school was not that fun for me but I think aes knows you're talking to him.

at her age, if she looks at it as something she "has" to do, it will become a lot less fun, and she'll just resent it. let her do her thing. we get plenty of people who come to our school (at a university) who gave it up in middle school and high school who want to get back into things. the martial arts won't go anywhere anytime soon, but she's going through an important time now too where she will want to do things on her own. leave the option to go always open and she'll respect that a lot more than anything else.

those are the requirements for your school/art/association. Know all the katas perfectly? At 1st (or for that matter, any dan) that is a stretch. Unless you're talking about knowing the moves in the order they occur. Big difference. My point is instead of tearing this kid down, why not put aside your ego (my black belt is worth more than yours!) and expose him to something new and positive? Eh? Anyone?

you were probably training with a pretty elite group. From my experience with people from S. Korea, a lot of them learned a little TKD in gym class or in the military (recieving your combat boots is like your chodan promotion ) It would be just like if you were to look at olympic athletes here in the US. I can bet they don't do strip mall karate for an hour a week. I also imagine those guys have some sort of stipend or sponsorship that allows them to train 8 hours a day (Which I doubt they do year-round.) gotta eat and pay bills and buy clothes.

do we have to pile on this guy about his age in EVERY post he makes? He clearly wants to learn, so let's help him learn! I think we've ALL established that fact that he is 13 and a Shodan. But guess what? HE'S NOT YOUR STUDENT! Asusradeon, I'd like to hear more about your kata if you don't mind.

Have you considered a YMCA program? It's a good organization, and the commercial storefront studio problems don't apply. I'm not saying doing it at the church is a bad idea.. but if you have a successful program at the Y, it might make it easier to get people at the church involved too. Perhaps a few people from the congregation work at the Y, and share their positive experiences with the group.

I think a look at the history books will show Eastern civilizations to be just as nasty, brutal, and well.... human as Western.

47martialman... what you're talking about (several stripes on gup ranks) is referred to as a "tip test" and can actually be very handy from a teacher's perspective. Let's say you have... 75 orange belts. I know it's a lot, but I like big numbers. All of them have to be responsilble for a certain amount of knowledge before green belt, correct? Are you going to remember what all 75 orange belts know and don't know? Not to mention the other ranks. So what you might do is give them a stripe when you know they know their required techniques, another for their hyungs, another for one-steps. Etc. You may have a "test" one day in class in which you see who is at what level, and give out stripes accordingly. NOW, you could also be evil and charge for these "tip tests" but I wouldn't personally. When I first heard about it, I think I rolled my eyes and made a gagging noise, but when you think about it from a business/organizational perspective, it's a pretty cool idea.

Not surprisingly, as it's the form for my rank, these days it has been Jindo/Chinto/Gankaku

Is this also an attempt at humor?

It's a funny balance. Some criminals will use eye contact to determine if you are a hard target or a soft target. If you go out of your way to avoid their stare, you can risk looking like a punk and therefore open yourself up to more problems. Getting in a staring contest could bring similar problems. The trick I think is to meet eye contact, acknowledge it, and then continue on your business. That way there is no challenge thrown down, and no sign of weakness on your part. In some situations, it's just a catch-22.

Those must be the "Secret" techniques I keep hearing about!!! I will take note that no one here has yet posted about how their 540 jump wheel kick has stopped a fight. Which to me shows that most people know enough to stick to the boring old basics. ShorinryuSensei, I'm surprised that at your size you don't get a lot of people with "small man's syndrome" who feel the need to start a fight with you.

get a shotgun

think of the utility of a sword in the hallway.

Excellent point. I would not want to get hit with a pocketnknife re-inforced hammerfist or a ridge hand to the jaw/temple area. Bram Frank has developed the Spyderco Gunting for these types of situations. There are several sharp ramps and points on the handle to assist in nerve strikes and locks. There is also a ramp on the back of the blade that can be used to catch on the person's arm which causes the blade to open, resulting in a nasty slash. I'm not an expert, but Gunting fans are everwhere, and it's not hard to find an expert, real or otherwise It's not my cup of tea, but the Gunting is probably THE sharpest knife I own. I personally carry a Kershaw Talon or a Spyderco Endura wherever I go and they both get a good utility workout as well.

better than a flying kama.... you know, one with an actual razor sharp edge, and not chrome plated crap with lightening holes

I have a few problems with that statement, but I'm not sure where to begin... There are plenty of people with a valid need for self-defense who are either unable to own a gun, can't afford one, etc or are unable to legally carry one in most environments. For them, the knife is a good choice. If you need to respond to lethal force, you need to be prepared to use lethal force to end it. Someone who REALLY wants to kill you may not be stopped with a fancy lock. I'd rather have a Swiss Army knife than nothing in this case. The whole argument about having a knife making you more likely to use it doesn't hold water outside of paranoia, IMHO. I've carried a pocketknife with me since I was about 8 years old (almost 20 years), and have been in my share of fights and disputes. I've never pulled it out in those cases. There have, however, been cases where I was 100% ready to use it if necessary, to the point where it was palmed in my hand while evading a situation that I walked into. Even though I didn't use it, I was glad I had it, even though I was shaking afterwards. Now if you DO choose to carry a knife, I would highly suggest getting some training, and practicing a lot on your own to prepare yourself to deal with such a high stress situation. It is not a talisman used to ward off danger, and flashing it in a fight may just get you killed... don't expect the "Crocodile Dundee effect."

and the stab/slash arguement can be traced back hundreds of years and each school is firmly entrenched in their beliefs (i personally subscribe to thrusting) but I think we can safely agree that both will do a good job of killing a person dead when needed. If you want non-lethal methods, I would look to using pepper spray as a distraction, using hands or kubaton or something as a follow-up. Do not expect assailant to fall to ground trying to scratch their eyes out in pain. Spray vigorously, and when hands go up, attack low. person bends over, attack high. drop. stomp. repeat as needed.

If you're going to use a knife for self-defense, I highly suggest you are prepared to kill the person. End of story. Knife = Gun on the scale of use of force. Any other expectation is a pipe-dream.

Would it be less shocking if he used someone older? I personally don't find this THAT shocking, in that people who study nunchaku seriously actually spend a lot of time doing really boring stuff like trying to hit an incredibly small target with just the tip of the nunchaku to increase their accuracy and distancing. I've done speed breaks with the nunchaku, and what you're probably not seeing here is the initial distance setup. I.e. he probably started about 6 inches further back, and slowly moved forward until he was just close enough to tap the glass. In other words, I don't think the kid was ever in any real danger. Yes, he could have slipped and hit the kid, but: a. he's really not swinging THAT hard b. you could just as easily hit a kid that hard "accidently" during sparring. accidents happen, and that round kick could just be an inch or two off and bloody a nose or something just as traumatic. Now if this was (sorry) some kid who learned how to do kewl nunchaku tricks off the web and was swinging them around like a moron, it would be a different story altogether.

If you want to learn Tai Chi, you owe it to yourself to find a good instructor, which isn't going to happen overnight. Go out, read some books... Dr. Yang Jwing-ming has a lot of texts out there. Look at the pretty pictures, but don't try to duplicate it yet. More importantly, read what he has to say. You will start to get an idea of what a good teacher can do for you. In the long run, Tai Chi is good for a karate student as it fixes a lot of alignment problems that would normally go unchecked for a few years, and it can make much more efficient and powerful in your movement. Taking it too early may confuse you though.

Don't listen to Kicks. You need to be able to break a brick with a spear hand, perform bassai sho backwards and take the pebble from my hand. Actually, you should definetely ask your instructor or see if they have a student manual. All of our students receive a manual listing their requirements up to Cho Dan. From there, they get a manual listing the req's for E Dan, Sam Dan, etc.