scottnshelly

My philosophy is avoid, prevent, dissuade, control, finish. Allow me to elaborate. My first line of defense is to avoid a fight. I do this by avoiding rowdy bars, bad neighborhoods and people that just don’t like me. If I am not able to avoid these areas, then I prevent a fight by not running my mouth, I don’t wear controversial clothes and I don’t cause any trouble. If someone comes looking for a fight and I’m not able to prevent it, then my next line is to dissuade. I can usually talk someone out of a fight; there are many methods of this, humor, distraction, ignoring, etc. This is the furthest I’ve ever gone; I’ve never lost a fight because I always beat them at the dissuasion phase. If I were to have to fight, I would control and then end the fight as soon as possible. I don’t use the ‘never fight, ever’ method, nor do I go looking for fights. As you can see, I fall somewhere in the middle. Of course I’m going to say that I think that everyone should follow this, but that’s because I’m biased toward my method.

Thanks, I certainly understand that nothing changes on the day of a belt test. My question was vague and I apologize for that. I meant to ask how have you changed since you were Shodan, Nidan, Sandan, ect. I know that it's not a sudden change, but if I look back to when I was a Shodan, I can clearly see a difference to me now. I would like to think that this progression continues throughout the ranks. Thanks again.

My grandfather (mother's side) and my father got started in Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do at the same time, years before I was born. I think they both got up to 2nd or 3rd Dan. Then my aunt (mother's side) got up to 1st Dan in the same class. When I turned six, my father started teaching me. My daughter is only two years old, but she already knows how to kick, punch, pinch and choke. What's funny is, before I even started trying to teach her any thing, when we wrestled, she always got behind me and went for my neck. She'll be a fighter one day. My brother - four years my junior - went to class with me for a long time. He got up to an upper-intermediate belt before he decided he'd rather go the way of the military/pilot. I also have a great uncle and uncle that studied some type of Martial Art. I only met them once and they mentioned that they had an Instructor living with them, teaching them for a while. I'm not sure if it goes back any further than that, that's the only family I know about.

I've learned a few forms from video, even one from a book. The thing about it is, like others have said, don't fully rely on that knowledge. Seek improvement from your Instructor. John Chung has a wonderful series of forms - chun ji set. I bought all of the Black Belt forms and most of the underbelts. He does a great job of explaining and showing from different angles. I also used Larry Tatum's video as a supplement to learn Long Form 6 as my Instructor thought it would be more beneficial for me to learn it on my own then have him critique it, thataway we could have more time in our private lessons. I also learned a Korean translation of Bassai Dai from a book. This shouldn't be attempted until the student has a grasp on the basics and understands the pattern of forms. Then it should be critiqued.

Someone should do an investigation into belt fraud. Get someone who has no training, except what they can mimmick from movies, to go around to different schools and see how many ranks they can obtain. Then we could publish the results as to which schools are more likely to hand out certificates and which require tests/training.

It depends on your definition of mercy. If you mean just letting someone repeatedly punch you because you don’t want to hurt them, then my answer would be no, I wouldn’t show mercy. If I was in that type of situation, I would control the fight, and then stop the fight. My order goes like this: avoid a confrontation, prevent a confrontation, dissuade a confrontation, control a confrontation, stop a confrontation. If something happened to where I couldn’t avoid, prevent or dissuade an attacker, then my fourth step is to control him. If that means breaking both of his arms so he can’t hit me, then that’s what I’ll do. If that means I can just scream really loud and scare him, then I that’s what I’ll do. As far as not calling the cops, I think that’s a very bad idea. If you call the Police after a confrontation, you will get the first chance to tell your side of the story. If you flee the scene and then someone else calls the Police, you are going to have a much harder time convincing them that you were the victim.

For those that are in the upper ranks of Black Belt, what was the transition like between 3rd and 4th, 4th and 5th, etc.? I've been at 2nd Dan for a while, and I'm starting to feel the transition into 3rd I think. How do things change - if at all? Thanks.

I'm no expert on this topic, but I have a belief in karma. In laymen’s terms, it's basically the belief that there is no luck, no miracles, no chance; everything happens because of something that you did previously. Some believe that it goes back to previous lives, or will affect you in lives to come. I’m still undecided on that part. I do think that you reap what you sow. If you never help anyone out, no one will help you. If you always throw trash in other people’s yards, you will get garbage in your yard. If you show people respect, you will receive respect in return. Of course, I’m not expert; this is all my own opinions. I wouldn’t be surprised if everything I just said was wrong. There are plenty of websites and books out there that can help you understand.

Check around in your area, meet with the Instructors and tell them what you're looking for. Some will adapt their methods to your restrictions, others may be able to direct you to a school that can/will. It's hard to say which style is the least stressful on the joints, as they all are to a point. Let us know what you decide on.

My Instructor worked in security and in corrections for a while. I think that's how he knew which techniques worked to subdue an opponent and which ones didn't. I'm looking to get into Law Enforcement, so in a couple months/years I'll be able to add my name to this list too.

Canes are perfectly legal and lethal.

What we have to think about is there are several types of umbrella. The old fashioned ones with the hooked handle and pointed end would be very effective as a weapon. I have done some training with a cane as a weapon and I can say that there are a lot of techniques with that hook. Then there are some with a straight handle; there are still a lot of options with that. You could jab with either end, a lot of the bo staff techniques could carry over to this weapon. The compact umbrellas could also be used very effectively. You would have to be a little more close to your opponent to use the compact umbrellas efficiently though. The thing to remember when handling yourself with an umbrella is don’t fully rely on it alone. Remember that you also have to hands and two feet that you can use. Don’t try to do Jackie Chan stuff with flipping it out and all of that Hollywood jazz; keep it basic.

That doesn’t necessarily qualify the school as a McDojo. Maybe all of the students learn really fast. Maybe since the Instructor is a 12th Dan, they have a lot of belts; perhaps their 4th Dan Black Belt is just an intermediate rank. Don’t judge the school and its curriculum just based on the rank of the students. I have to agree though that this does sound a little fishy. A 13 year old 6th Dan…

I've never been one to say anything about people not wearing 'traditional' gi's, just as long as they are wearing something. I do have some reservations about some of these flashy, tiger-striped, multi-colored, sleeveless, scrolling marquee, sequin covered tops that I've been seeing around. I just wear a plain black heavy duty gi. As a sign of respect to my Instructor and school, I have an eagle and my name embroidered on the back. (When I achieved Jr. Black, my Instructor gave me a gi with this on it. All of the Black Belts in the school were.)

I only got to see a few forms, mostly from kids. The forms that I saw were pathetic. What really got me is I saw several kids doing my Black Belt forms - all underbelts. They disgraced the forms terribly. Some were moving way to quickly to have good snapping punches while others tried to change the techniques. For instance, in Chung Mu, toward the end there used to be a 180 turn with a double upper palm strike. One kid did the turn then started hissing and slowly moving his hands upward, not in any type of strike, just moving his hands with a hissing sound. In Toi-Gye, one kid change the scoop blocks at the end a lot. I noticed several changes like this for dramatic purposes. As far as the fighting, it was very sloppy stuff. It was that XMA stuff where everyone just does a bunch of jumping kicks and slaps. It really looked like the organization went toward the XMA sport side for the popularity, but the attendance was way lower than the ones I went to years ago. Maybe this is just what the competitors are moving toward, not the organization. I hope I don’t offend anyone with my statements, it’s just sad for me to see such a change in competitions. Years ago, there was some applicability to the competitions, now there’s not. Now this is a trophy collecting business. Is this the direction that competitions are moving everywhere?

I may have already mentioned before on here that I was planning on watching a tournament after a five year hiatus. Well, that was Saturday, 6/11/05. I have to say that I’m very disappointed with the direction that the organization is moving. When I was competing, it was a very traditional organization with very strict rules. It was open to all styles, but the competitors were mainly Tae Kwon Do, Okinawan and Japanese Karate and a very small school of Kung Fu – I was about the only Kenpoist. I missed the Black Belt forms due to a minor miscalculation with directions to the venue. I arrived in time to watch some kids fight, then the adult Black Belts. It used to be two divisions, Men Black Belts and Women Black Belts – anyone over 18 is an adult. This time there were weight classes and age brackets, mostly one competitor to each division. The only woman there won grand champion without even gearing up – she was in a knee brace too. Then they had a grand champion fight for the men. Some young rookie won by jumping and tapping the top of the head – which used to not be a point – every time the judge said go. I was also disappointed to see a waning in gi/dobok/uniforms. Out of all of the Black Belt fighters, there were two in a complete uniform, one was with mixed colors. Everyone else was in sweats, t-shirts, sleeveless tops, torn hippie-style pants or some other tacky article of clothing. By the looks of the fighting, I’m glad I missed the forms. I think that the forms are a very sacred thing that should be kept traditional. I think were would have been a lot of XMA type stuff by the way these guys fought. I saw three people that I recognized. None of them remembered me. I used to know everyone by name, style, rank, Instructor, etc. Overall, besides the wonderful BBQ afterward, it was a bad experience. At first I thought this would motivate me to get back into competing, but now there’s no way. I can’t win with my traditional form; and I couldn’t beat someone that just reaches out and (with an open hand) touches the top of my head every time. I think I would be ridiculed for wearing a solid colored gi and not dragging my belt all over the dirty gym floor. I guess I’m just too old fashioned.

A lot of the towns in my area have a “[insert name of town here] Days Festival” where they block off the main street and have activities for the kids and stuff. Different towns do different things. One has a mini carnival, one has vendor stands everywhere, and some have parades. See if your surrounding towns have this. One of my good friends had a small school in one of these types of towns. All of his peers (Instructors from other schools) went down with him to this festival and we choreographed a little demonstration with weapons, self defense and some light sparring. Then we all ran over to the dojo to open the doors and sign people up. That worked out really well. I’ve also marched in a parade holding a banner, done open house type events with free refreshments and done demonstrations at schools.

Repetition is a big thing where I'm from, especially in my Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do class. I can remember some classes punching up and down the floor for the entire class - and holding it for a long time between each step. What’s great about this type of exercise is it not only teaches strong technique but also discipline, perseverance and self-control. You want to scratch your nose, but you can't; you want to move on to something else but you persevere.

Wow, thanks guys. Great advise. I pretty well know the area, people and competition. I've lived here my whole life. There is one other school in town - my alma mater. A lot of students left the school when it changed Instructors. I know I could get a lot of those old students to come back to me. So, little competition, large demand and everything in this town is within 6 minutes of everything else. I appreciate all of your advise and look forward to more.

I have a few questions for those who have successfully opened and ran a school. A few years ago, my father opened a school and I taught at it. It was closed down after only about a year and a half or two years. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about opening another one. I already have some experience with teaching and running a school. I know I would do a lot differently than he did. I had nothing to do with the finances, books, advertising and things on this nature; this is what most of my questions are about. What are some of the major challenges? Did you build a building for this, rent something or work out of a building you already owned? How did you get the first couple of students? What kind of permits do you need to get (of course it varies by town/state)? Did you already have a class schedule in mind, or did you work something out as you got the school running? Did you start off with any advanced students (from another school) or did you start with a bunch of white belts? What is the first step that I need to take to get serious about this? Also, if you teach full-time, did you have to work your way to that, or did you just quit your job and open a school? In my town there are a lot of old run down buildings downtown. I figure I could get one of those for real cheap and have the students help renovate it a little at a time. Has anyone here done something like this? Thanks,

Everyone has different preferences; therefore everyone should already be studying their interpretation of a perfect art. I don’t learn things that don’t pertain to me, I sample from everything that I can benefit from and mold it into the perfect art for me. Don’t limit yourself and don’t learn things that are useless to you. Always strive for perfection. If you aren’t already studying the perfect art for you, then you should find out what’s missing; what would make it the perfect art and strive for that.

I've never worked with a sword or bokken, but I buy everything from Century. http://www.centuryfitness.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10051&storeId=10051&categoryId=13673&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=13528&crumb=13501-13524

That's a great point. Here in Oklahoma guns are almost strictly for hunting. Most people aren't bothered when they see a truck with guns in the back window. In Western Oklahoma schools let out for deer season; someone was worried about the number of kids bringing guns to school, so now they just shut down for that week. We like to eat what we kill, and humans don't taste great, so we stick to deer.

A lot of people have a hard time taking instruction from what they consider a peer. If you two were the same age, he probably saw you as a peer. Was this the first time that you had been in charge of teaching him or correcting him? I think that he saw you as a friend. Several factors lead me to believe this: similarity in age, the fact that you talked him into coming back and the way that he thought he could slide through the rules with you on his side (wearing a necklace). When you told him to remove the necklace, he was probably a little bothered. Then when you started teaching him something, in his mind, he probably thought that he should be where you are - teaching. The pushups probably sent him over the edge and made him not want to come back. It's hard to say who's at fault. I think you both share the fault equally. He should've recognized your authority and respected your instruction. You should have recognized that he considered you to be a peer, not a leader, and spoken with him or your Instructor. Sometimes these situations just don't work out, sometimes they do. It all depends on how you treat each other.

Congratuations, keep up the good work.