scottnshelly

Did the "attacker" get expelled for breaking the zero tolerance policy?

My father and I are both Black Belts in Tae Kwon Do. He has only ever trained in a very traditional TKD class. I have spent more time training in a much less traditional environment and have more diverse experience with grappling and other types of Martial Arts. His idea of “learning to fight” is along the lines of WTF sparring whereas mine is more along the lines of Kenpo self defense. When I was a teenager, he opened a TKD school but I taught most of the classes. I was a Jr. Black Belt in two styles and working on my third. He handled all of the business aspects and was involved in most of the classes, but left a lot of the teaching to me. We conflicted a few times on belt promotions. He, being closer to the business aspect and seeing the school failing, wanted to promote the kids sooner than I thought they deserved. After less than two years the school went bankrupt. Now, several years later, he is talking about opening another school, similar to that one. He suggested that we will be partners this time (instead of owner/instructor and employee/assistant). He will handle the business side again but this time I will be the head instructor. I have several concerns and reasons to be hesitant. My main concern is that if the money comes up short he might push belt tests again in an attempt to retain young studunts’ interest and their parents’ money. Another concern is the financial insecurity, especially since I’m trying to raise a family on a small income. Another major concern of mine is the curriculum. In the last couple years I have migrated away from high blocks and front snap kicks and forms. If I was to teach a class, I wouldn’t feel right teaching something that I have doubts about; yet I’m not qualified to teach anything other than these things that I’m questioning. Should I go through with it and teach what I know or forget about the idea altogether? What would you do?

Karate Dojo: Traditions and Tales of a Martial Art by Peter Urban Secret Tactics: Lessons from the Great Master of Martial Arts by Kazumi Tabata Martial Arts Teaching Tales of Power and Paradox: Freeing the Mind, Focusing Chi, and Mastering the Self by Pascal Fauliot

Congratulations.

Fascinating. In Microsoft Excel, you cannot name a sheet 'History'. There is already a sheet named that, but it's invisible to us.

My first was at the age of 14 in 1997. Our class had a set workout that everyone did at the beginning of every class and test. As I remember it’s basically 30 pushups, 40 sit-ups, 50 jumping jacks and 25 reserve sit-ups. The Black Belt test consists of four rounds through that. Then we did 10 punches on each hand of all hand techniques required through Black Belt. That was immediately followed by 10 kicks of each different kicking technique on each leg. Next came forms; I did 11 empty-hand forms and a weapons form. After that was self-defense. I had to do a defense fast, then slowly while explaining each movement, then fast again. One requirement was to come up with one that neither of my Instructors had ever seen (between the two of them they were ranked in Tae Kwon Do, Kenpo, JuJitsu, Kung Fu, Judo and more). They surprised me in the middle of one weapons self-defense by having a student attack me from behind with a (fake) knife. After self-defense was board breaking. I did a couple regular breaks, some combination breaks and one jumping side kick. 15 two minute rounds, alternating between continuous and point sparring - full contact, no headgear, face and groin allowed – with the Black Belt panel. This is where I got my dobok ripped. After 15 rounds, we did one 3 minute round of full contact grappling (which I think was just my Instructor’s way of getting to punch me barehanded). After the sparring came a question and answer session, much like a job interview. Each of the 8 Black Belts on the panel asked me a philosophical question about martial arts, Black Belt rank, students and life in general. I had a hard time standing in ready position during all of that. The last part was the ceremony. They deliberated and came back out with a belt, certificate and a plaque commemorating the school’s first Junior Black Belt. I had to retest two years later to achieve the rank of Adult Black Belt.

Most likely the Kukkiwon. Good luck with your decision.

This also works really well if you can get behind your opponent and push him forward and pull the escrima back. It has to be above his knees though.

Just for the sake of arguement, I'm going to say you did the right thing. If it was a different situation an apology (even at the expense of chasing him down) would be in order, however, you were in a large crowd of bikers. Most biker rallies involve alcohol and rowdiness anyway. He ran away, so if you would've chased him down or hollered to apologize, he might've retaliated. My first defense is to avoid a potential confrontation. What if he would've gotten upset; by following him you presented him the opportunity to strike back. By letting him go you have avoided his retaliation. Now if a large angry mob was to form around to get revenge, a loud and sincere apology would be the best thing. Either way, it is easy for all of us to say what we would've done and what was the right thing to do. In reality, it's hard to say at the time. At least you didn't follow through with a kick to the knee, palm to the nose and several other devestating blows. Good job.

I have done both Kenpo and Tae Kwon Do, and I think that they compliment each other quite well (depending on the organization). If it is a traditional style, rather than Olympic style, I'd vote to go with the TKD. With the Yoshukai , they may not be accustomed to your kicks and punches whereas it won't be as much of a difference between Kenpo and TKD. For your purposes - extending and complimenting your training, i would go with TKD. If you were looking for something completely different to supplement your training I would say Yoshukai. Of course this could all vary and I could be entirely wrong.

Excellent. I haven't gotten a new book in a while, let me know if it is any good. Thanks.

I’ve always been curious about the last two moves in Choon Gun. I understand that it’s a staff block, but it doesn’t seem to make sense as an ending move. I feel really awkward, leaning over, opening up so much and not following up with a strike. Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Is that supposed to be a staff block? Are there other possible applications for this move? Is there a symbolic meaning for it being there? Thanks.

Excellent point, great addition to the list of good qualities.

I went through this phase also a couple of years ago. I even made it a point to try to forget all of the forms that I knew. I read Bruce Lee's and others' comments about forms and decided to focus more on combat oriented techniques. So, I'm not going to argue and tell you that you are wrong. After a period of about four years without forms, I realized that what was missing was the forms. Now that I have them back in my practice, I feel more accomplished. There are benefits to everything that we do. There is no question that most of the techniques in forms will not be used in combat as we see and practice them. There are other benefits though. My conclusion is that forms are not useful to you right now, they were not useful to me a couple of years ago, they are not useful to some others. On the other hand, they are very useful to some.

Courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-Control, the indomitable spirit, respect, self-defense, confidence, calmer temper, bad knees, higher mental capacity, problem solving, and the ability to kick people in the head to name a few.