Chris from CT

OK. I'm going though previous posts and I'm fired up. Not a good combination. I can respect Moobrack for his view and agree if you've spent your lifetime helping the martial artsyou should recive a token of appreciation, but I agree wholheartedly with Rushman and Lori here. Our society puts too much emphasis into a black piece of fabfic that goes around your waist. If I take a person's white belt, put it on and this other person puts on my black belt, has either one of us changed? A Black Belt (or any belt for that matter) means as much as you put into it. Nothing more, nothing less. take care

Man, there were so many good points in this thread! Some I agreed with and some I didn't, but hey, you can't please everyone. Originally, SubmissionFighter was talking about how his buddy's students were doing better than his buddy's teacher. That's good for your buddy! About the belt ranking... Did they move up higher than just the next rank (skipping ranks)? If so, that's rediculous! Skipping rank only hurts yourself. Each belt that you earn you are building a foundation. You learn certain requirements and you have time to work on them and refine them. If you skip ranks you get twice the amout of material to learn and half the time to make it part of your own. Think of it like this... If you have a huge, beautiful house and it has a weak foundation, the house (not matter how huge or beautiful) will crash into ground. If you have years of previous experience in a related martial art then that might be ok because you already have a foundation and most of the material would be a review with only slight variations. This would take less time than learning from scratch. About the money... It used to be tradition to give part of your school earnings to your teacher. He/She's the one who got you there in the first place. Back in the day the Teacher had a much bigger role to play than just the guy who teaches you about kicking ass twice a week. You would spend much more time with the teacher, sharing your problems, looking out for your well being even outside of the dojo/dojang. The teacher was almost an extended family member. So this is why it was understandable. Perhaps not so much today given the way things seem to operate in our day. But that is up to SubmissionFighter's friend. Politics that is probably one of the things that drive me up the wall! I can understand how people feel when they lose all enthusiasm for the arts when this pops up. It's in every martial art, too. THAT SUCKS! And it will come out when you least expect it. I'm not sure if it was Master Hal Whelan in Massachusettes or Master Mike McCarty in South Windsor, CT that had a slogan on their site that read "No Politics, Just Hapkido." That would be a person I would want to train with! I would like to meet them in person some day. From what I hear they are good martial artists and good people. Martial arts is about people, not politics. Sharing ideas and becoming a more complete person is what it's about. Sorry about the long post again. I just got fired up. I'l keep it shorter next time. Take care

Thank you everybody for that warm welcome! "200" does this mean I win something? take care

Oops, sorry I thought you had asked me, Gold Dragon. Take care

Patrick: I was just in Dover, NH for a seminar. I enjoyed it up there even if it was only for a day & a half. KickChick: Thanks GoldDragon: I'm in Westport, CT. approx. 45 min. south of New Haven and 60 min. north of Manhattan. Take care

Thank you for the welcome. I'm down here in Fairfield County. Originally, I was born and raised in Danbury, but now I'm living in Westport. Take care

Hi, everybody. Just recently, when I found this board and satrted reading some of the posts I was happy to see the general tone of this board was very respectful. I also post on another board because of the same reason. I'm glad I found this one. As far as a intro goes... I've loved the martial arts for years and once I started, I was hooked! I train in Shaolin Kempo and Hapkido. Originally it started out doing one at a time, but now it's both. I must be nuts or just addicted! I am looking forward to reading posts from everyone. Take care

Throw one more up on the board. I look forward to all of your posts. Take care

Hi, all. I just found this site and wanted to say hello. I train in Hapkido in Connecticut. We only have forms after black belt and for weapons. Other that that it's all "hands on." Take care