lordtariel

Demos are always a popular one. Hit up schools and look for public events(Our dojo is doing a demo during a Chinese new year parade this weekend). A different thing to do is make up some cool abstract martial-artsy bookmarks with your dojo's name on it and hand them out with flyers during the demo. See if you can get flyers and business cards posted at health food stores, libraries, and fitness clubs. One month trial membership drawings are another one. Most dojo's do trial memberships anyway, but people feel they're getting something special when they "win" one. Make sure your dojo has a website and that it looks good and is relevant to your school. There's lots of martial cheese out there on the ol' interweb. Try to avoid flaming animated gifs and rotating yin-yang images and grey text on a black or badly patterned backgrounds. Keep it classy and list class times, contact information, and a little bit about your school. Hope these help.

Well, there's lots of places online that you can find these... http://centuryma.com/ Century Martial Arts http://www.wle.com//store/k_weapons.html Wing Lam Enterprises http://www.martialartsmart.net/ Martial Arts Mart http://www.shureidousa.com/kobudo/kobudo.html Shureido(Super-expensive but incredible quality) Shipping's going to be a killer just about anywhere since you're buying a bo.(I wound up paying about $40 for my bo.. I paid more in shipping than the bo actually cost) I'd recommend finding weapons made either out of Oak or Ash since they hold up fairly well. I'd recommend seeing if your sensei can order the weapons for you to save on shipping or finding someone else who needs to buy a long weapon so you can split the shipping. Hope it helps

No kidding... Did you talk to your sensei in private or in class? I could see getting a talking to if you just brought it up in the middle of a class, but if you took some time outside of class to tell him your concerns it in no way warranted a public berating. I hate to say this, but you may just have to grit your teeth and bear it. Maybe you could work something out at another school where you do work around the dojo to pay for your lessons, but I'd be a bit careful. It sounds like your current instructor might get a bit touchy if you start training in a second art. Look on the bright side. When you choose a new school, you'll know some things to look for.

Um... isn't that when you hold down for two seconds, then press up and kick when you're using Guile? Just kidding, welcome to the forums.

Ever find those really good feedback posts? POSITIVE: Thanks for great Rainbow Brite lunchbox. Should shrunken head be inside? NEUTRAL: Excellent communication, but should've poked holes in box before shipping the kitten. Refunded. NEGATIVE: Honda R-Type sticker did not add horsepower as advertised. NEUTRAL: Item shipped promptly and in good condition, but I should not have to bid on birthday presents from my parents. POSITIVE: I don't really remember what I ordered. But I've been sitting in the box it came in all day, and it's great! POSITIVE: Excellent Buyer. A++++++. Thrilled by the quartz movement of the "Rolex". HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. POSITIVE: Plain brown packaging seemed to fool my wife. Thanks! NEGATIVE: The dog won't hunt. NEGATIVE: Very nice monkey mascot costume, but it's a size 34, not a 63 as advertised. NEGATIVE: Lederhosen not as pink as the picture led me to believe. NEGATIVE: This is clearly the ninth, NOT THE SIXTH, repackaging of Mad Super Special #24. POSITIVE: One of the scents mixed in with the packing peanuts remind me of a passionate weekend in Rio... was that you? POSITIVE: The way you wrote my zip-code makes me weak in the knees. Such smooth strokes. A+! NEGATIVE: Though you did nothing wrong, I am giving you this negative feedback to teach you that the universe is arbitrary and unfair. NEGATIVE: Buying this Space 1999 Lunchbox did not fill the void in my empty life for as long as I'd hoped.

What can run but doesn't walk, has a mouth but doesn't talk, has a head but doesn't weep, and has a bed but never sleeps?

I've never had a chance to encounter it, other than watching videos. I'd say it's more the artist than the art in a style vs style matchup though. Good luck and let us know how well it worked out.

If you're doing balance drills and having too easy of a time of it... try the same drill with your eyes closed.

Yup... that's one of them. Thanks.

Especially if they do cup checks with shinai...

Good point there... You could be in total control of your opponent, but his buddy could come up behind you and nail you in the head. I feel grappling is a tool to be used when it's appropriate.

And wearing street clothing and such.

Couldn't find anything for that style in my neck of the woods(Rogue Valley). Sorry.

Nope, try again.

What object has keys that open no locks, space but no room, and you can enter but not go in?

I keep a little notepad in my bag. If there's something I learned that I feel is important enough to write down, I'll do it after class before I change. Otherwise, I'll add it to my training blog when I get home.

I've heard of these guys before.(Here's their website: http://www.zgmain.com/main.html ) You can download some clips of them in action. Pretty good stuff.

I feel we need to be teaching people how to deal with post-conflict issues. After a fight what type of questions are the police going to ask you? Can you remember what your attacker looks like after you've escaped so you can report them? Can you identify the type of weapon he had(rifle, revolver, deringer, ect.) or the type of car he was driving? What sorts of leagal issues will come up after a self-defense situation? How do you deal with the mental and emotional fallout after a confrontation? All of these are important issues that seem to be ignored. Does anybody out here do this kind of training?

Roleplaying is very useful in this situation, not just in the dojo, but outside as well. Show people why they need to walk farther out into the sidewalk when going around corners, or how easy it is to hide what you're doing when you're behind a huge van or truck, don't just tell them about these things. Also, we focus on self-defense on physical conforontations. But what about things like identity theft, fraud, and social engineering. Little Johnny doesn't know that he shouldn't put his address or other personal information on myspace, or that there's scores of pervos out there just looking for that kind of thing. People who work in customer service jobs don't realize they're doing anything wrong when people call up and ask them to punch a sequence of keys on their phone, or tell them who they do repairs through. And some people still believe that if they cash that check from the exiled prince of some hoogabooga island and send them half the money that the check is going to turn out bad and they're going to be out the money.

Great job anyway. Remember, you may not have placed first, but you placed higher than all those people who were too afraid to go. Glad you enjoyed yourself.

I'm from southern oregon and went to school at SOU. I'm currently living in Grants Pass. As for the Ducks loosing... not a big deal.(My fiancee's an OSU girl )

Let me ask you a question... would it have bothered you as much if that person was over 13? My bet is you would have checked to see if they were all right, but it wouldn't eat you up like this did. It was an accident, and that happens sometimes in martial arts. It's one of the inherint risks of taking a combat sport. You didn't do it on purpose. It sounded like the kid was fine, so you should be too. Usually when I'm sparring with smaller kids, I don't yield much in defense and blocking, but when attacking, I do move much slower and obviously lighter so they have a chance to react and counter. My sugguestion to you is to train more with smaller kids. Talk to your sensei and see if you can help out a bit so you're not so uncomfortable with them. Honestly the hit was probably good for the kid as well. It didn't hurt her, but it did teach her she needs to be more careful, and it shows her that she can take little hits like that and still be ok. I'm not advocating thwapping kids left and right, but a little contact now and again is a good thing.

There's two movies I'm trying to find that I watched when I was younger but I can't remember the names of them. The first followed a fencer who gave up on fencing after an accident where his foil broke and he killed somebody. He winds up in this gladiator life or deat tournament where people use weapons and in the end there's this huge katana vs rapier sceene. The other one is also a fencing movie where this old guy shows up at a studio and tries to get on as an instructor but winds up as a janitor because his sword work is all sloppy. After a while he gets really good and becomes an instructor there. It turns out later in the story that he served prison time for killing the head guy's father in a sword fight. Again the big duel with the sharp swords. I know these are sketchy descriptions, but that's about all I can remember of them. Hope somebody can help me out. Thanks.

My sentiments exactly.