Sasori_Te

Congratulations. *L* It was going to have to happen at some point. Now, you know that you can do it and that's very important.

I don't believe that I would ever go to anyone claiming to be a master of any style. As you said, a beginner doesn't relly have the knowledge base to know whether or not what they're being taught is good or bad. So, you have to go with the feeling of whether you're learning all of the differing techniques without getting them confused. That's why I said what I said before. It's hard enough for a beginner to learn one style well in the beginning without having techniques from other styles thrown in. These techniques from several styles could conflict with one another, depending on what is being taught. The real question here is, How competent is the instructor to be teaching several styles effectively?

equaninimus, I follow you okay until the push. Are you stepping across your left foot with your right foot in order to step into migi zenkutsu dachi between the feet of the opponent? After that I follow the rest too. I have to also say that you are trying my Japanese. *L* I haven't used it for so long that I'm a bit rusty. All of our classes are taught in English since we have no Asian instructors that come to visit regularly.

These could be some seriously lengthy replies. Here's one for the first movements: Turn, left forward stance, left gedan barai, step into right forward stance right middle punch. (Simple one) The turn and gedan barai is a redirect of a low punching attack or grab attempt. The redirect is grabbed and pulled toward the hip and an elbow lock is applied (gedan barai). From here you can do a step and break or a step - turn - throw.

I would like to apologize for my part in getting this thread off topic. I hate sparring partners that think sparring is a chance for them to show their latest television move. I was sparring with a Hapkido shodan that came to visit our class one day. I was trying to show him a technique that we were working on and he jumped up with this Jean Claude spinning hook and slapped me in the face with it. I informed him that he shouldn't try doing that again. He did and I dumped him on his head. Sparring should be a chance for you AND your partner to try out techniques that you are trying to become better at. I'm of course talking about class time sparring and not tournament sparring.

When I say out of reach I'm not speaking literally. I'm saying that while I may be good at doing a particular style a particular way, another person may not be able to do that same particular style as effectively as I can.

Kanzashi .... Here's a little story about a situation that happened to a student of a good friend of mine. She was going to college at a big Southwestern University. She walked into her apartment through the front door to go up the stairs. Three drunk guys were waiting by the stairs to have some fun with the first female to come along apparently. To make a long story short one of them ended up with a dislocated knee, another had a broken arm and the third was the luckiest and was only knocked unconscious. She was a shodan in American Kenpo. So don't go thinking that females can't take care of themselves.

If it were my daughter and I thought someone was abusing her just to show off then I'd be a little upset too.

It's nothing, I didn't get offended. If you re-read my posts you'll find that I say there are breaks that I can't explain away so easily. However I wasn't present at these breaks. Therefore some breaking appears to be real technique. From there, see my most recent post before this one for the rest of my feelings concerning breaking.

Amen brother Monkey!

Very good post I-self. Did you have another name on this board at one time? I seem to recognize your writing style and your qualifications sound familiar. You are a Orthodox Shorin practitioner. Correct?

10 years time hmmmmm..... I'll probably be doing what I'm doing now, I hope, teaching and learning new things. Hopefully my daughter will be training with me by then, if she's interested.

That would be a good first step on your journey. Good luck with that.

Hello and Welcome!

Hello and Welcome!

Hello and Welcome!

Hello and welcome!

Hello and Welcome. I agree with you totally. I also think that belt color and rank status have taken the place of the importance of knowledge in many dojos. I'll stop here before I get on my soap box.

Hello and Welcome

Hello and welcome!

Hello and welcome!

Telecommunications technician in a research and development lab. Thinking about going back to school to become a nurse. I'm a little burnt out on computers and electronics.

I got my name from the style I practice. Sasori Te translates to scorpion hand. The style being much like Shorin Ryu also includes more in depth pressure point work from Traditional Chinese Medicine. A lot of the tuite/ chin na comes from more of a Chinese background.

Here's another idea. Have the upper ranks take a new person and show them their basic techniques. This will give you an opportunity to have the whole class work on the same material. You can then walk around and double check what is being shown. Also, this will allow the other upper ranks to see how well they know their basic material. After all, you don't really know something until you've had to teach it to someone else. If you have a lot more upper ranks than new people break them up into groups of 3 or 4.

DM....that's what I thought too. When I got my Shodan was the time I first realized how little I actually knew. I hate to put it this way but I will. When you're young and idealistic it's much easier to miss seeing the forest because the trees are in the way.