Sensei Rick

NO, he pointed to his belt.

how long did it take you to become 5th degree, white to black..... just curious

But doesn't getting a job kinda say your not a karate instructor, even tho you are. The next question people ask me after they find out what i do is, "is that your only job?" as if teaching only part time would make me any less of an instructor. Well it is my full time job and has been for a long time. and yes times do get lean. and no, i will do nothing but teach the rest of my life. But hey, that's just me.

hey, i finally got a post from patrick, the man behind the mask.

I'd actually claim that showy kicks and other acrobatic things have existed for a very long time - and have been trained by martial artists for fun and body control etc. I'm am very familiar with your styles kata, would you please show me where they use a turning wheel kick or even a turning back kick in one off these. i'm not trying to start anything, just trying to let you know where im coming from in my comments. turning kicks aren't even mentioned in karate do kyhon. My current instructor studied with Robert Trias (opened first karate school in the US, right here in phoenix) and he was only taught a turning back kick at that school. We've come a long way baby.

LOL, yep, it's like frankenstien. hey, i'm new here, i feel like such a dope for not looking at the date of the original post. i'm new tho. But what i got from fright club (the movie) was what my instuctor and a few hard core students from back in the day realized. YOU CAN hit someone, get your but kicked, and STILL be friends. my favorite memory is fighting with my TKD instructor (Dino Homsey, remember him, 1987 north american PKA chamion) and laughing like crazy about afterwords. All the booty we kicked around town, and all the great people we met back when he was fighting profesionally. Now, I teach and he is still my best friend and favorite sparring partner. I thought i'd be able to beat him eventually, but he schools me even to this day. I love bringing him out to my classes and them seeing what a true champion is like in the ring. It's only now that i realize the only shots i get in are the ones he lets me get in. And now....... this topic is over!

This isn’t completely related but, I have a short and soon to be long standing tradition of a mew years day workout. I start pumping it up right after thanksgiving. I live in phoenix so an outside workout this day is usually one that you can wear shorts to. Have a workout on January 1, in the morning to set the tone for the whole year. Are your students going to be training this year, or are they going to be lazy. Make this event open to anyone, and make it an old school awesome workout. Also make it open to families. I involve the whole family as much as possible and make karate as much of a part of the family as church and TV or any other family outing. Good luck!

Welcome, and stay the path grasshopper

me too, welcome

the purpose of the teacher is to make students think, and not just regurgitate (sp) what they are told. Your article is one from a great teacher, thank you.

a truly great article, thank you for it. I would be interested in knowing your favorite kata.

"Daniel-san, you watch too much tv!" I think you'd learn more by growing a bonsai tree.

welcome and keep posting. I like some of your insight.

I use jump-spinning kicks frequently in fighting and drill these many times in my class. My student must all perform turn reverse crescent, turning wheel, turning round house, butterfly kick for brown belt. (And many others) for black belt, they must add the jump to all of these. I am familiar with many kata outside my own two styles. Never have I seen ANY of these kicks in a kata yet, I didn't think about it until just now. These types of kicks are obviously "new" to martial arts. I have wanted to invent kata's that incorporate my "fighting and kicking" style. I want to create Kata's that teach my student to fight how I fight. I even want to do them as two-man kata, where they could stand alone, or be preformed together and suddenly you'd have a fighting seen. Kata were invented at a time when these flashy techniques didn't exist. Who know what will become in the future. I have always taught the sidekick in penan nidan as a side snap kick. Some students perform a side thrust kick simply because of their hip position and lack of flexibility. They turn their bottom more towards the target, and drive the heal out. Does this make the kata wrong? I think not. I think that thrusting and snapping may have been interpretation on an instructor’s part. Funakoshi writes "I suffer no pretense that these kata will remain in tack the way I perform them now" (me paraphrasing} "nor do I believe they should" Karate is like the constitution. It is an amazing instrument. The founding fathers allow for amendments.

Believe it or not, I know about 90% of them by name. Hey our company is having a huge tournament this weekend.(11/05 and11/06/05) If you live in phoenix, it's at central high. Come say hi to me, I am the MC of the event, up at the trophy table. All day Saturday, and all day Sunday. Sorry for the competitors, but it's only open to our students, but I’d like to meet Karate Forum members and start networking and sharing. I also wanna find a group of BB's to train in Karate do. Old school only. Lots kata and Old man karate stuff

I wanna say ju jitsu school is the answer. I have seen some bad things about bjj here in arizona, so don't sign a contract if you can help it. my biggest peeve is the lack of cleanliness. I have also gone to a bjj dojo and seen belts, including black belts, just laying on the floor. I would not study there. A ground art would be a good suplement for your current knowledge. Being close is always a plus, you will increase your odds of working out.

Thanks for the welcome. Yes I do have a small army, but most of the time I feel like it’s an asylum.

Hi, i'm introducing myself. I teach full time for a youth organiztion called Young Champions of America formally young olympians. I teach 7 days a week and currntly have about 700+ student's. I have one adult class but the rest are kids 4 to 16. I have an awsome demo team that preform things i can not even do. Isn't that great. I will be testing about 30 students this spring for brown and black belt. They are panel tested in front of about 35 black belts. A real sweatbox. I love teaching and I love learning. I don't know it all, but I'm learning more as teacher than i ever did as a student. I'm on here to better myself as a teacher and share with all of you. anything else,..... just ask.

How many street lights are in your city. So many styles and so many convulusions. Yet, I teach nothing like my sensei, so i too have changed (progressed) the style. I have a bb in TKD and Taka hashi ryu. I really stick to the core of my humble beginings. since i teach for a youth safety organization, I teach a japanese systems of kata. The patterns are easier to undrstand. Yet I teach all of the TKD kicking combos i can get my hands on. And i have a demo teams that does all wushu forms. The student should become the teacher. I now give my students a larger foundation than i recieved, and now i hope they grow and become better than I. Go read karate do my way of life. Funakoshi warns of teams such a sempai, or any terms that may mean someone is below another. but i digress, and now am off topic, how strange is that. You should hear me in class. Sure styles change from when Funakoshi taught, but hey, we have home computers now too.

Hasn’t anyone read karate do my way of life. Funikoshi talks about this in the hand wrestling competition. He says to the bully. I know you will win so why bother with the fight you have already won. I was once called out as a 13yo. I went to the park, as did a few of the kids from the class. The bully was literally twice my size. He was in junior high and had a beard! I knew I was going to die, but I was going to hurt him....wellllllll, he never showed up! And I actually won that way. He tried calling me out again and everyone else jumped in and said "why, so you can not show up again." The whole class was calling him chicken and I JUST PLAYED OFF THE FACT THAT HE DIDN'T SHOW UP THE FIRST TIME. He didn't have any anger though and never pursued it after that day. Meanwhile MY reputation grew and rumors started and people were saying that I was tuff and I never had to deal with a bully again. I'm not giving you an answer as to what to do. Sensei can show you the path; it's up to you to walk it. Please remember this, when to tigers fight, one tiger will surely be hurt..... and the other tiger will surely be dead. And as for blocking, best not to be there!

tekki shodan. after 42 years of studying that kata my instructor thought he had seen all the bunkai of that kata..... till he taught it to me. Is it any wonder that Funikoshi writes that he spent more than three years learning that kata. ouhsssss!!!

worry more about your blocks, and less about your belt. You opponent sure will.

I like the progressive responses to this question. Keep your eyes open grasshopper.

Being a teacher will show you what your DON"T know about what you know. If you don't understand that statement, then your not quite ready. You must understand your own black belt before you can help someone achieve theirs. Now for the real scoop. I have made more money at every other thing I have done, but i now make a fair living at teaching. I am rewarded in ways that money can never buy. I so truly love teaching. I love that I have turned around, and recieve my new glory thru my student's achievements rather than my own prowess in the ring or school. And I learn more everyday teaching that I ever did as a student.

I currently have 700+ students, all under 16 yo. Ignore bad behavior(to a point of course) and reward good. Praise student who are listening and working, give them your attention. Everyone wants sensei's attention. )