aurik

There is a West Ottawa Uechi Ryu dojo. It will be considerably different from the Chito Ryu you are familiar with, but we do have very effective self defense techniques. Of course some of the techniques do require quite a bit of training and conditioning to do well…

So I have noticed that we have threads on baseball and football, but we don't have one yet on what is (in my humble opinion) the most exciting sport to watch: ice hockey. Unlike football or baseball, hockey's action is (mostly) non-stop. In baseball and football, you have a single play that lasts a few seconds, followed by the teams planning for the next play. In hockey, the play continues unless a goal is scored, the puck goes out of play, the goalie "freezes" the puck, or an infraction of some type occurs. I have seen games where play continued for 5+ minutes non-stop. Oh... and fighting is legal, provided certain conventions are followed. Some say that fighting needs to be removed completely from the game, but it does have the desired effect of dissuading opposing players from dirty play. Right now is an exciting time in the NHL -- the trade deadline is tomorrow, and teams with players who are going to be free agents after this season need to decide whether they are going to be buyers -- do they plan on making a serious run at the Stanley Cup this year? If so they will look to fill any holes in their lineup with pending UFA's (unrestricted free agents) in exchange for prospects or draft picks. Other teams that know they aren't going to make the playoffs will tend to be sellers -- trading away their unrestricted free agents hoping to get assets back to help them retool for next year. Of course then there are teams that aren't sure what to do, and will stand pat. Sadly, my team, the St Louis Blues haven't done nearly as well as their roster suggests they should. They traded away all of their (marketable) pending free agents, but at least they did this earlier than most and were able to get some decent return on those trades. However, this also means that the team is now trying to re-establish its identity and has lost the last 6 games. It's sad I know. Of course, since I moved to Colorado, I can appreciate the Avs. They are actually doing really well right now, and just added a couple of new UFA's so hopefully that will help out somewhat. Until last night, they had won 6 games in a row... and last night's game was a really good one, even if they lost. So... as I said, the second most exciting time of the NHL season. Of course, the most exciting time is the playoffs, which are just around the corner!

I don't know of any dojos near Pittsburgh (and I've looked -- my wife's family is near there). The only information I have been able to find (so far) is on Bill Mattson's Uechi-Ryu dojo list: There is one listed in Greensburg PA. I don't know if he is still actively teaching, since Mattson Sensei doesn't update his site very often. I do know that Mattson Sensei (like many instructors since the pandemic) offers an online program, I cannot speak to its effectiveness, but Mattson Sensei was one of the first Americans to earn a shodan in Uechi-Ryu and one of a handful of Americans to hold a 10th degree. So that may be a way to go. One of the things I like about Uechi Ryu's katas is their consistency, but that also makes things more difficult at times. As you learn new katas, you'll see the same sequences in different katas. For example, we have a sequence that consists of circle block-hammer fist-boshiken tsuki-nukite. You see that sequence in slightly different expressions in at least 4 katas (I haven't learned the last 2 yet). It sometimes makes things more difficult because you'll sometimes find yourself starting one kata, and finishing another. This is likely due to the origins of Uechi-Ryu. When Kanbun Uechi studief pangai-noon in China, he only learned 3 kata - sanchin, seisan, and sanseiryu. After he died, his senior instructors created the additional 5 kata to flesh out the system, and break the 3 main kata into more manageable chunks. Also all of the hojo undo we do (our version of kihon) generally come straight from our kata, and you practice those every day.

I've been training Uechi Ryu for just under 4.5 years. The reason I started training had less to do with the style and more to do with the instructor. When we moved to Colorado, I started looking for a place to enroll my son (and eventually myself). When I started looking at instructors I did some research on them -- what stood out to me was the fact that my CI is still very much a student, even as a 5th degree master instructor (at the time). He still travels to Michigan to train with his instructor a couple times a year, and he travels to Okinawa regularly to train with several 10th degree instructors there. While there may be a number of different governing bodies in Uechi-Ryu, the heads of the organizations all know each other to one degree or another. For example, when my instructor travels to Okinawa and a senior instructor asks "What organization is that?" All he has to say is "It's Master Thompson's organization". Each organization teaches the same hojo undo and the same kata. Some of the kata may be slightly different, but it's one of those signature things where "If you do it this way, I can tell you learned it Master so-and-so's organization". Some of the two-person drills are different, but that's not a bad thing. In Uechi-Ryu, there is one core tenet that crosses all organizations, "All is in Sanchin". And as I learn more, I can see that is definitely the case. One reason that Uechi-Ryu may not be as popular is its conditioning. I can certainly see that. When I was a white belt, I attended a seminar given by the head of our organization. I learned some new conditioning techniques, and my partner for those was my instructor's younger brother. I was still very inexperienced and he was used to training with other advanced students. The result was that I had bruises on my shins that took months to heal. However the goal of conditioning is to start slowly and learn what you can tolerate and go just to that point. When I work with a new student I tell them "Figure out how much you can do so that you're mostly recovered in a day or two". Bruises slow down the process. A good instructor and experienced partner will help ease student into things. Another possible reason for the lack of popularity is the limited number of kata. However I see that as a strength. In several styles, by the time you reach shodan, you will have learned as many as 10 different kata (one for each kyu grade). In Uechi-Ryu, you only learn 5 kata (of the 8 total in the system). Our kata aren't as flashy and showy as some other styles, so they may not do as well in tournaments. So that may be a detractor. For me I find it a strength though - you work each kata long enough to get pretty good at it, and the number of kata is small enough that you can run through the entire set at the end of a 1.5 hour class. If you are interested in trying out Uechi-Ryu, I am familiar with a number of the organizations in the USA and can try to steer you in the right direction. Or I can try to answer any other questions you might have. Feel free to drop me a PM.

Funny thing is... there is a shop that I have taken weaponsmithing classes at, and one of the classes they teach is the Rondel Dagger. I've been wanting to take that class, but never had the time (it's always been offered during the week). Maybe someday!

There are indeed colleges and universities that provide a degree in Martial Arts. However, I am not sure what additional credibility that will give you that an instructor's license from a recognized style would not. What I would look for would be a university degree that will provide you with capabilities and knowledge that your instructor's license won't. I would imagine kinesiology would be a very good choice. Courses in business would also be a good choice if you want to run your school as a business. The idea of a university education (at least at the undergraduate level) is to provide you with both breadth and depth. Your martial arts teaching license will provide you with plenty of depth in your style(s) of choice. Use the university education to broaden your knowledge and complement it.

Congratulations Fat Cobra! Thank you for all of your contributions.

I'm glad you were able to have fun and realize that you don't HAVE to do both events if you don't want to. I personally hate points fighting too -- I'm not quick enough either. I tend to be more reactive when I spar. I'm the guy who lets a guy get the first strike in, and then I'll grab the arm/leg on the way out and pummel the heck out of them. Very effective in free-form sparring, but not so effective in points sparring. I love kicks to the thigh and calf, leg sweeps, and other grappling moves. As a bigger guy, I'm all about closing the distance and using my weight against the opponent. Whenever I sign my son up for a tournament, I tell him 2 things: "Have fun and do your best". I don't care if he wins or loses, but I just want him to go out there and show me the best he can do. I've not done a tournament in a long time, but that's my philosophy as well. I don't care about winning. I just want to go out there and show the best I can do. It sounds like that's what you and your daughter both did, and I applaud both of you for it.

So there hasn't been any training going on for the past 2.5 weeks. A couple weeks ago I started having shooting pain and weakness in my left thigh. Walking, standing, and sitting became very painful. I have been seeing a chiropractor for the last 2 years due to back pains, but at this point I decided that this was way beyond what I would trust to just a chiropractor and sought out an appointment with a spine specialist / neurologist. He did an evaluation and determined the weakness is limited to the left quadriceps - the hamstrings and right quad seem to be okay (at least for now). I had an MRI last night and they found a herniated disc in my lumbar spine. I have a followup with the neurologist on Monday morning so we'll see what he says. I actually had a similar problem 11 years ago that required spinal surgery, so this is not a new issue. I hope it doesn't require surgery, but if that's what is required to get me back to normal again, I'll take it.

When one teaches, two learn. I agree 110%. When I teach something, whether that is in martial arts or teaching something to my son's Cub Scout pack, or when I was a Teaching Assistant in grad school -- it made me learn the material that much better so I could communicate it effectively to another person. Also, it makes you learn to present the material in different ways, since everyone learns differently. Presenting material in one way to student A may not work for student B. When you have different ways to present material, you can be a more effective teacher.

I trained at an ATA school for a little while, and they did a very similar thing. Starting at first degree, you'd first have to earn a "first degree recommended" rank, followed by a "first degree decided rank". The recommended rank is temporary, while the decided is permanent. Of course, they required you to do a number of midterm tests between ranks as well, each one with its associated test fees. But of course, that's ATA for you.

Our dojo does have a Saturday all-ages all-ranks class. Nominally, all the students are training at the dojo at the same time. However, what usually happens is the younger white/yellow/green belt students typically go to the upstairs dojo, while the advanced students and adults train downstairs. We'll do our warmups, accessory exercises, and sanchin kata, and then the instructors will break up the groups by rank and they will work on their rank material together. So yes technically it is an all age/all ranks class, but the instructors break them down into rank-specific groups and they train as such. He will usually nominatte an assistant instructor to work with each group in order to keep things moving.

When I trained in Judo many years ago, o-soto-gari was the very first throw we were taught, and you're right, it all comes down to the entry and the kuzushi (off-balancing). We do 3 different versions of that throw in Uechi-Ryu -- one where you step behind the opponent and then trip them over your leg, one is a proper o-soto-gari, and one where you kick the leg out from underneath them with a soktuto-geri (blade of foot kick). I'm not sure if I would call one throw harder than the others - they are just *different*. Maybe though it's because I generally work with more advanced students (as opposed to yellow belts). When I was training in Judo, most of our training would involve the off-balancing, entry, and right UP to the moment of execution. So for o-soto-gari, we'd do the off-balancing, entry, and bring your leg to tap your opponent in the calf. Then your partner would do the same to you. Then lather, rinse repeat. You can get a lot of reps in that way without having to wait for each other to get up off the ground.

Only thing i would say to that is that sometimes the calling out can be better done privately / in person with the individual. Some people respond very negatively to being called out in public - though the CI obviously knows Zach so i assume that this was factored in. I do totally agree though that it is good for the CI to bring it up and let him know he needs to sort it! Reminds me of the other thread on here about the planned failure. This is a much much more productive way of dealing with things - don't put them out there to fail them, let them know they won't even get out there until they reach the standard expected I've had a number of private conversations with Zach about this, and I know Zach has had private conversations with our CI about this as well. A couple of weeks ago, he had a fair bit of 1:1 time with the CI working on his two-person drills. I'm pretty sure this got brought up at some point. My perspective is that the CI has been teaching for 20+ years, and he's known Zach for about 4.5 years. He's sometimes hard on his advanced students because he has high expectations of them. He will from time to time tell them why he is hard on them - because he expects a lot out of them, and he wants to see them learn resilience in the dojo where it is a safe place, than to have to learn it somewhere where there are real consequences. I mean, I'm a LITTLE hard on the advanced students, because they are advanced students. If I see them giving half efforts, or training in a way that doesn't help their partner, I'll call them out on it. Usually I'll get up in front of the class and talk about something I observed, without naming any names, and how they need to improve on it. For brown belts, I'll tell them about what they'll need to show and do in their test prep cycle and black belt tests, and to start getting into those habits now. That test prep cycle was a rude awakening for some of the kids. I have to say that Zach has really taken this well -- he is actively asking me when he can make it to class so he can get his make-ups in, and getting him ready for class is now just "Zach, it's XXX time. Please get ready". And he goes off and does it without any complaining or "can I go a later day this week". So it definitely had its desired effect.

The last couple weeks have been interesting, especially for Zach. A week and a half ago, he was having a hard time focusing and getting ready for karate in the evening (and this is the class I'm assistant instructing for). He got to class and realized he had completely forgotten his belt. So he had to line up as the low-rank for the class and stood out like a sore thumb. The CI immediately noticed it and called him out on it in front of the class. He also called him out on the fact that he has been missing too many classes -- you see, the previous week I had come 4 times (twice to teach, and twice to train). Each time, he asked me "Where's Zach?" And I told him either he didn't want to come that day and would come the next day. Well, the next day came and Zach couldn't make it due to another issue. And... things snowballed like that through the week. So the CI told Zach that he'd missed 5 classes so far since his last test. And he would have to make them ALL up before he would be allowed to test again. Whether that was 6 months, 9 months, or a year after his last test, it was now up to him. The good news is, the week after this, he attended 1 make-up class, and last week he attended 2. So he is on track to get all of his make-ups in pretty soon. Since the Mrs was gone for much of the last week, Zach and I have been attending the same classes. Last week I taught his class Tues/Fri, and then we went to the early adult class on Thursday, and the family class on Saturday. Last week was sparring week, so we did sparring drills on tuesday/thursday, and Friday was a full sparring class. Our CI broke the students up into manageable groups (3-4 students each) and had them do 2.5 minute rounds, rotating within the groups. He asked me to watch the different students and pull one of them out to work with them. I'd watch their technique to see where they were weak, and then exploit one of their vulnerabilities, and then explain to them how to fix it. For example, one common problem is to drop your guard and hold your hands close to your chest. So when I saw that, I'd step in, trap both of their hands, and lightly tap them on the head or in the chest. (LIGHT taps). I'd then explain to them what they did wrong and how to fix it. Another common problem is kids would do a kick and not pull the leg back. So, I'd grab the leg and the front hand, and take them down to the mat (in a controlled manner). And then explain to them what they did wrong. Or they aren't protecting their head, so I'd reach out and tap them on the forehead to remind them. Not so much trying to beat them at sparring, but mainly to give them a target to practice against and point out where they need to improve. I'll admit, I normally don't think I'm very good at sparring, mainly because I am always sparring against our CI. However, apparently I've learned enough to teach others how to get better. Last week we got a new adult white belt in the adult class -- apparently he has also done some Shorin-Ryu when he was much younger (and it shows), and we got another new student yesterday (high school aged girl). I got to work with the one white belt last night -- he was trying to work through Kanshiwa before class and got stuck at the end. So I helped him with that, and pointed out a few things. I also got to work with him on kotekitae, and gave him the advice I wish I learned my first week in. "As an adult it's not just about the reps. Know when to say 'enough'." Because if you are focused on the number of reps and on how much discomfort you're in, you will set your conditioning back. All in all it was a really good week and a half or so. The back is still giving me issues, but as class moved on things loosened up a bit. I found myself focusing on my breathing during hojo undo last night to work through the discomfort, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I've seen this very same behaviour with Zach. As he has grown and matured, he has found himself "aging out" of classes a bit early. For example, the beginner's class is generally from 10th kyu -> 8th kyu. One of the criteria for moving up is that he has to be able to perform Kanshu kata, and he started learning that at 8th kyu. We found that when he was workiing with older, more advanced students, he started listening better and paying more attention. Fortunately, he won't "age out" of his current class anytime soon, since it is populated with brown belts/junior black belts. And as an advanced student, the CI doesn't hesitate to call him out on his stuff when he gets out of line.

I've trained in Sanchin every workout for the past 4+ years -- there is always something new to learn in Sanchin. Just last night, Kyoshi talked to us about the importance of the Sanchin stance as it relates to your hips, shoulders, and reach. He demonstrated a front stance, and how the reach of the front hand is substantially longer than the rear hand. He then showed a Sanchin stance, and how the reach of each hand is essentially the same. Last week we got schooled on the importance of the stepping in Sanchin, how important it is to keep your weight centered throughout the step, and why the steps should be quick transitions.

Uechi-Ryu has a saying, “all is in Sanchin”. It is the very first kata we learn, and we practice it in every class. It is the very foundation of our style. Our katas are all done in a Sanchin stance, or a stance immediately derived from Sanchin. It teaches us dynamic tension, circular breathing, how to protect ourselves from being struck in combat, how to form a stable base. As we rise in the ranks, we are frequently tested in our Sanchin, are we effectively protecting ourselves? Can we resist being knocked off-balance? Are our strikes effective? Our instructors test us by striking us, pulling on us, and pushing on us while we perform Sanchin. Our version of Sanchin is substantially different from Goju-Ryu and Shuri Ryu. For one, all of our strikes are done with the spear-hand, and we use a half-hard, half-soft strike. Our muscles loosen up during the strike to tense at the moment of impact. We also practice a shallow breathing through clenched teeth (think, “ssst”), which combined with tension in the abdominals, protects us from getting the wind knocked out of us. When Kanbun Uechi went to China, he learned three kata: Sanchin, Seisan, and Sanseiryu. These are the foundation of our style. The foremost of which is Sanchin.

I agree here -- it is one thing to fail a student because he didn't meet the requirements of the next grade. However, to fail a student because "he hasn't dealt with failure yet" isn't going to help the student, it damages the relationship between the student and the instructor, and it damages the credibility of the instructor. I can certainly see the value in pushing the student in the prep cycle before the test. If you don't think the student is trying hard enough, if he isn't giving it all, make it hard on him. Make him work to earn the right to test. Nitpick his mistakes. Make him find the resilience to make it through the criticism. Our CI does that from time to time -- he did it to Zach just the other day. However, he will never let a student test if he plans on failing them.

I have actually only seen one student fail at our dojo at a testing cycle. I think this is mainly because students aren't allowed to test until the instructor is reasonably sure they will pass. I've seen students wash out of a test prep cycle though. Mainly because they didn't complete some of the requirements, or because our CI didn't think they would pass. Failing a test isn't a horrible thing -- I mean, they can just test again at the next testing cycle (which for colored belts is each month). However, most kids don't see it that way, and most of our students are kids.

Actually the thing that helps the most is just to stand, bend over and touch my toes and hold it. With each exhale, I extend the stretch more. A few minutes of that relieves the tension from the lower back and does a really good job on the hamstrings. I also have a hottub out back that I've been using on the lower back as well.

Thanks. I'm still not 100% by far. My lower back is now complaining that I took way too much time off from training, so it's going to take some time to get back into the swing of things. However the elbow/forearm aren't complaining about the training (much). So I will just keep moving forward and doing the best I can.

Congrats to both of you! Watching your kiddo get a promotion is as or more rewarding than earning one yourself. I had the privilege of awarding my son his stripe for nikyu at his last promotion. It was a really awesome feeling. Keep training and moving forward!

So after a few times trying to train through the injury, I decided just to take some time off and work on other projects for a bit. The dojo was pretty much closed from Dec 22-Jan 2, so I used that time to rest and recover. Yesterday morning I saw my chiropractor again and things were at about 90%. I've still got one trigger point on the forearm that makes me want to jump off the table, but during normal motion the pain is mostly gone except when I try to fully straighten or flex. So last night I went back to the advanced class -- Zach went with me, since he doesn't go back to school until next Monday. Fortunately yesterday's class was more cerebral and less physical. We did our standard warmups and accessory exercises, and then we moved into Sanchin. Kyoshi played with our minds a bit the first time through by changing the count -- instead of three steps forward, pivot, three steps back, piviot, three steps forward... he added extra steps into the mix (making sure we were all paying attention). Then after the second iteration, he had us work on our stepping. Specifically he wanted us to focus on keeping our weight centered over our feet as we did each of our steps. Apparently some of us are visibly shifting our weight back and forth as our feet move. So he had us work on making sure to keep our steps swift and keep us centered. You see there is a mantra in our style "All is in Sanchin," or "Always return to Sanchin". It is the core principle of our style, and as such it we execute it in (almost) every class, and it is on every one of our tests from 9th kyu all the way up to 10th dan. Kyoshi mentioned that at "low ranks", meaning 5th degree and below, Sanchin is 25% of our test score. At 6th degree and above, Sanchin becomes 33% of your score. After Sanchin we mainly worked on our dan-level kumite drills. We only had one colored belt in the class (Zach is currently a nikyu). So our CI worked with Zach on his dan kumite drills, and the rest of us worked on our Okikukai dan kumite (aka 10-point, required for nidan). I'm getting pretty comfortable with this drill now, there are two sequences I get mixed up still, but I'm getting there. Next we worked through our dan kumite drill (required for sankyu and up), and asked us to focus more on flow than on speed or power, especially at certain sections of the drill. We all then worked through it, and Rod (a 4th degree who has started training again over the past few months) pointed out some of the things I have been doing that made things so difficult for other people, so I gave that some thought. Class ended with kata, with each of us working on our rank kata. We walked through Seiryu a few times, and then our CI talked to us about some major differences between advanced black belt kata (seiryu, kanchin, sanseiryu) versus previous kata. Specifically, there are fewer pauses in these advanced kata, and there is more flow. He showed us a few places where sequences are performed differently in the advanced kata, for example when there is a kick following a pivot, we aren't supposed to pause/set into a kimae -- just go right into the kick. Also when we do a elbow strike-backfist-one knuckle strike in these advanced kata, we are supposed to pivot and go straight into the next sequence, instead of pausing at the one-knuckle strike. Finally, he talked to us about kime (focus), and how in each sequence there is a specific place we are supposed to pause for kime. We finished class with a few more iterations through Seiryu kata. While we were winding down and getting dressed, our CI talked to Zach about what they worked on in the dan kumite drills. One thing he observed is that Zach is getting more controlled and purposeful in his movements. He talked to Zach about the stuff he wants to see Zach work on, and talked to him about how he now knows almost all of the material he will need for his shodan test, the only remaining item is the bunkai for seisan kata. However, he is learning the kata itself now, so once he earns his ikkyu, he can start learning the bunkai. I think Zach got a lot out of that class. I certainly did.

1. Passing my (very intense) shodan test. 2. Watching my son pass his nikyu test AND being able to award him his stripe. 3. Every day I get to train!