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.

Exactly. Most schools in my area charge between $25 and $50 a month for two or three lessons a week. It would not be feasible for me to expect to get 20 new students a month willing to pay $200 - $300 per month

Absolutely not. You are at an optimal age to start learning something new. I've never been embarassed. Everyone in the dojang is extremely professional. Everyone outside of the dojang is ignorant about what we do, so there's no reason to be emarassed about what they think. If you want to. I've only heard of a handful of instructors that make competing a requirement; there are also a handful that will not allow competing. Check around and see what you potential instructor thinks about it. Definately. You will have a common bond with those people. At first they will all be further along than you, so befriending them with be beneficial to you. Later, you will be more advanced than the new people and you can help them. Everyone in the dojang is very friendly and polite, making friends will not be hard to do. Look for: *A qualified instructor. Creditials aren't everything, but can give you an idea of his background. Don't be afraid to ask for lineage, certificates, ranks, etc. *Happy students. Feel free to interview some of the students at a prospective school. They should be happy to help - if they aren't that's a sign for a bad school. *A mix of ranks. A class where everyone is brown belt or higher either means a "McDojang" or a class with no new students in the past three years. A class where everyone is yellow belt or lower means low retention rate or no one will ever advance. *Philosophy. If you are really religious you may not enjoy a school steeped in Shintoism or Buddhism. Avoid: *Low level high ranks. Some kids can achieve high ranks if they try hard and start young. Too many high ranking kids could indicate premature promotion to obtain faster testing fees out of parents. These schools are called "McDojangs" or "McDojos". If you can't tell the difference between a yellow belt and a brown belt from watching, they are putting too much emphasis on promoting and not enough of advancing. *Secretive classes. If you aren't allowed to watch a class or if spectators aren't allowed in they may be teaching something that you don't want to learn. *Premature contracts. Some schools hand out contracts. These aren't too bad if you plan on staying for a while, but if you have to sign a contract before your first lesson, you may not enjoy it and be stuck paying for the next year. *Fees. Fees are a regular part of training. You should expect a monthly tuition, testing fees, tournament fees (if you compete) and maybe a membership fee. Find out ahead of time how much you should be expecting to pay. Also find out if you can purchase your uniform and equipment from the retailer of your choice or if you are required to purchase through the school. Take a clipboard with a list of questions that you have. Watch a class, talk to the instructor (and assistant instructors if possible), some students and some parents/spectators. Most importantly, don't settle for less. Find the best instructor that meets your needs best. Once you have the answers to all of these questions, the choice of school should be easy. As always, let us know if you have any further questions. We love to help.

I can say all 50 states in under a second, but the words aren't distinguisable. He can maybe throw that many punches, but do they have good technique or power? How far does he bring each hand back after the punch or is it just a matter of keeping both hands on the pad only moving them a fraction of an inch? I'd like to see a video of it.

That’s a great point cross. You don’t see a lot of attacks starting with a wrist grab, and probably not a not with a lapel grab. I think there are a couple reasons why we continue to practice them though: 1) They are really fun. 2) They are adaptable to fit into “real-life” scenarios. 3) There’s still a chance that it could happen.

Check with your local Chamber of Commerce. Our town has a Super Santa give-away type deal each Christmas. Local businesses can donate small gifts to be auctioned or raffled off. Also, local schools in my area have school carnivals each Fall. They always have a bingo area that gives away prizes donated by local businesses. Your area may have something similar or even better. Great idea by the way.

The Moo Duk Kwan was more traditional. Everyone wore all white until Black Belt, then you could have a black strip down the side. We did pal-gyes and tae-guks. In the line of self-defense all we did were one-steps. There was more of an emphasis on kicks, especially higher kicks. We learned Korean terminology, history and philosophy. The Tae Kwon Do that I moved to is more open-minded. This is mostly because the Instructor had previous experience/rank in other styles (Kenpo, Jiu-Jitsu, Kung Fu, Judo, and more). We learned Chang Hon patterns. The self-defenses were much more realistic. There was more of an ephasis on what works now rather than what was taught a long time ago. These two were similar enough that I could keep up with both, but different enough that I had to keep them seperated when practicing. Thanks again for your feedback and all.

http://labs.google.com/ridefinder and http://labs.google.com/ Neat stuff. The ridefinder probably isn't very useful to most of us, but sure is neat. It updates each time you refresh your browser.

Parkerlineage: You make some great points. Their weakest area right now is sparring. I blame that on two major factors – we are starting the sparring slowly to avoid mishaps and they can only spar with me or each other so they’re not getting much diversity in training there. I’d like to try to set up a friendly night of sparring with a local school, however, I don’t think anyone in town will be open to the invitation. Sensei Rick: My base is Tae Kwon Do. I studied Moo Duk Kwon TKD from age 6 to 16 and Tae Kwon Do (not with any association) from age 8 to present. I have a 2nd Dan in MDK TKD and a 1st Dan in TKD. Kenpo is my newest passion, only a brown belt so far through private lessons only. I still have a lot to learn in that area. bushido_man96: We haven’t done any tests yet. They are at about orange belt level right now. Since it is just the three of us, I told them we wouldn’t put any emphasis on belts and ranks unless they want to. I think it’s important to celebrate the important milestones though, so we will celebrate/test for green, blue, brown and black. These are the belts that I feel are a milestone rather than way to get more testing fees out of the students. This way if something happens to our situation they can go to another class at green, blue, brown or black belt, but we’re not trying to win a race to black belt or anything. Jiffy: That’s a great point. We finish each lesson with about half an hour of discussion of the “softer side” of the fighting arts. We talk about philosophies, theories and other important aspects that they wouldn’t get with a purely physical class. lordtariel: That is awesome. I’ve wondered about experiments like that; I’m glad someone carried one out. Thanks to everyone for the replies so far. At the moment these two are my only students and I’m kind of competition for the other instructors in town, so for the time being this will probably be their only exposure. They don’t fully understand the life-long commitment, dedication, path, etc. so they’re just enjoying learning to kick and punch. I can see at least one of them making it to black belt if neither of us moves away or anything.

I'm currently not charging them, I just like to teach these two so I don't mind doing it for free. I agree though that a class setting can be very beneficial to a student's growth. You are all correct that a class setting is working at the slowest student's pace. Luckily with these two the slowest one is still quite quick. We learned the first form in three lessons and the second form in two lessons. (Chun-Gi and Dan-Gun). We will be ready to start To-San this week. I am enjoying this very much. I've also noticed that we are able to do the more "fun" stuff that we usually don't get to do with a large group. On the other hand, there are some great drills that can only be done efficiently with a large group. Thanks.

Hmmm, not sure. Here is a link to the dojo's website:http://wcma.cmasdirect.com/ According to their About Us page, they are WTF and USTU. This generally means you will be doing a lot of kicking. Most USTU schools, seminars and tournaments that I've been to focus almost exclusively on kicking, with the most popular of the kicks being roundhouse. This is the style of fighting that you see in the Olympics. The classes are typically fast-paced with lots of two-person drills. Disclaimer: this is true based on my own previous experience. Experiences may vary by school, instructor, location and student. My general assumptions about this school, instructor and association should be in no way be used as a deciding factor on whether or not you like this school.