Rhino

Jax---LOL I have a similar story, I moved from MD to MO due to a job relocation and there are no Shorinryu dojo's here (well there is but it's junk) so I tried TKD. I went in of course as a white belt. The instructor new I had a ma background, the students didn't. He wanted to see what I could do at the end of class. Normally they spar for the last 30 min or so. The whitebelts didn't usually spar, but he put me in. (Paul Dexter is his name, two time world tkd champion) Anyway, I didn't get tired until I was fighting the black belts, they were simply QUICK. All of the other 15 million belt colors were astonished because they immediately got cocky and wanted to show off a little to this "white belt". As soon as they threw that first high flying hollywood kick at my head, they realized I had a lot of experience. They would say "uuuhhhhh, do you have a MA background or something?" My response was always, "Yes." and nothting more I waxed all the others and in my eyes, i beat the blacks also. BUT, my major problem and why I stopped going was because of my background, I wanted to trap their leg, or grab their arm. I was tossing the blackbelts onto the ground and landing on top with an arm bar. Of course, this is all illegal in TKD. It was basically poor self control on my part, but I couldn't see changing my style, it is very effective and I love it. Ok, enough bragging.

Sounds pretty good. 3-4 years seems to be relatively typical for most dojos. Depends on how "traditional" they are. I was in a dojo in MD and stayed a white belt for two years, but, it was very traditional karate. There, it took around 10 yrs to be a black belt. Go for it I say and have a blast.

Hey I made it to yellow belt!! Yeah

Again like everyone else has said, respect others above all. As you progress through your belts, NEVER look down on the white belt that just walked in the door. Help them, remember what it is like to be in their gi. You may be suprised too, they may actually know another style and can teach you a lot!! Just have fun and never lose that hunger for learning more because like others said, there is always more. No one can master a style, or know everything about it........all of us have so much to learn.

Stick with it guys, don't get discouraged. As far as the belts are concerned, they mean nothing except for seniority. I was a white belt for two years. All of us were there strictly to learn. Don't ask your sensei about belt promotions, it shows what you are after. A lot of people go just to get their blackbelt, they could care less about the art. But this is all just a trip into my little world. Bottom line, master your style not your belt.

I agree Master Jules, I bounced for about a year while in the Navy, I never EVER kicked above the waist. The idea is take out the legs, knees or ankles which brings them down to waist level, at that time a finishing kick to the mouth seems to work well. Anytime a kick comes to my head, that simply means that the person is inviting me to snap their other knee.

Do these boards hit back?? Probably not.......hmmm.

You are probably right battousai, they are tire of being called pansies!! I tried TKD, got into a lot of trouble. It's second nature for me if someone throws a kick, in essence they are letting me have thier leg, so i would take it, twist it, bend it and shape it into a nice pretty little pretzel all while attacking the face on the way down. They didn't take to kindly to that kind of fighting. I couldn't help it though, seeing that it was basically just a good workout, i stopped going. Maybe this could liven it up a bit, make it more "effective".

I just sent my statement in, going to check my email now to confirm it. EVERYONE should go do this.

I agree with you there jedmic! I tried tkd after I moved and had to leave my dojo, no karate where I live now. TKD is nothing compared to Shorinryu!

Duh, ok, now i feel like a complete moron.

Any hints for level 11??

Ok lvl 11 bites!!!

Also, I tried going to the website, it's not working, but I did check the site out for ASE Kenpo in Springfield MO. Looks like they also offer Brazilian Ju Jitsu.

Thanks to all you guys, it's great to have found a forum like this. Just clarify for me however, what is EPAK?