sriney

Please keep on doing that so your opponent can win easier! ... It has nothing to do with the things sriney is talking about. If you are sparring in competition all you want to do is to win. You show discipline by not beating the ... out of your opponent; not by using hikite. The crispness and definition you work on in kihon and kata. And the Yin/Yang thing..... FYI, this explanation was in reply to the inquiry of why to teach this at all in the first place. If you'll read my previous post in the thread, you will see that I came out adamantly against the concept of chambering in application of technique. I then went on to say that it was taught for kata and practice of the discipline. The question came up after that of why to teach it at all since it caused confusion. Hence, my explanation.

It's a matter of discipline... to yourself and the art. Doing a full chamber adds crispness and definition to your movements. Also falls along the Yin/Yang philosophy... opposite actions... one hand moves out - one back.

Nothing disturbs me more than looking at a Red or Brown Belt having problems with Yellow Belt kicks or (god forbid) forms, but those students have mostly fallen into the same rut I see many of my contemporaries falling into. Many people set a goal for themselves... "I want to reach black belt by the end of the year"... "I want to drop weight by the next competiton"... Whatever. The problem is that most of the time, these students work so hard to achieve their goal, they stop working on those skills not directly associated with it. This ties in with your concerns in the liklihood that these students never really LEARNED the skills or developed them to their fullest in the first place. It's likely that they just learned enough to get by on their test. Have faith, though. These students usually either snap-to and straighten themselves out or quit. At any rate, assuming there is some sort of standard of excellence, substandard performance will probably not get them by on their advanced rank tests. "To whom much is given, much is expected."

I just taught a 55 year old his first lesson tonight. Additionally, I'm a 25 year old black belt in Tae Kwon Do and I'm starting an entirely new venture this month in Kobudo (Okinawan Weapons). Only you can say when it's too late to start your training.

That's a common discussion had by instructors of ALL styles. We often discuss the duality of having to teach students to chamber tightly when we teach them the technique, but at the same time... teaching them to keep their hands up when implementing it. Until the students get to be a little higher rank, they often have problems breaking the muscle memory associated with one task when performing the other.

The suruchin slightly resembles a bolo. More specifically, it's a 6 foot hemp rope with a smooth stone secured to each end.

I have heard the best practice form of this weapon is fashioned using two tennis or raquetballs and a nylon rope like that used for climbing.