SamuraiDave

I disagree, you can train to either be a traditional or a sports-karateka, but in the opposite situation you will be in trouble. Your mind is used to one way. If you are a sports-type karateka then you will hesitate to employ something lethal or restrict yourself in a deadly situation and vice-versa, if you are more into combat-karate then you may accidently hurt your opponent in a tournament. I know many senseis that would agree with me on this, but that's just my two cents....

I would count music

Never play leapfrog with a unicorn...

beep beep beep

Hi K! Yeah, new faces come and go all the time in class. I would be surprised if I knew a lot of people in the adult class since I haven't been in there in three years. As for those two people... basically Mr Young had a council of Eugue Ryu instructors in Ohio to help run things. I believe they were Mr. Perry Wiltsey (spelling???), a Yodan, Mr. Rodney Kohler (a Yodan), Sensei Topp (Sandan), and Mr. Jeff Fee (Sandan). I have worked out a few times with Senseis Fee and Kohler, but only saw Mr. Wiltsey once in the last ten years. I am not sure who Mark Hunter is, though he sighed the guestbook on the Lima class website and claimed he was a Sandan. I have never met him nor heard of him before and I don't think he lives in Kansas. I may be wrong about the ranks of the council as well. Sensei Baswell- I talked to my instructor last night, he was glad to hear that I had been in touch with you. Mr Young called him recently and asked him to let the Kansas students know about Mr. Adams. He said he would be glad to fill you in further on details if you wanted to call him or email him. If you email me I will provide his contact details for you. Take care! Kieran- Sensei Topp said he knew you were "talking" to me on the net. Hope that your belt still feels new and that you haven't run anyone over lately. Ciao!

Glad to hear from you Mr Baswell! Glad you could fill me in on the Kansas City club, though I am sure my instructor could have answered some of it for me but I have been out of the loop for three years now. Yes, Mr Adams passed away on March 1st. I assume he had cancer or some other illness. I was sad about it as I had never had a chance to meet him in person. I hope to get out and meet the people out in Kansas. Haven't been back to the states in two years now. I hope to make it back to Ohio in June (finances allowing). I will see if I can find out any more about Mr. Adams. I have been told that before Mr. Adams became head-instructor our style was predominately Karate and Jujitsu and Mr. Adams had lots of previous expertise in Kodokan Judo so he switched the style to Karate and Judo. I do know in most of the Ohio classes over the last 10 years we have switched back a bit more to Jujitsu rather than Judo. My own students have a certain number of Jujitsu and Judo techniques for each belt (and also Karate of course and others). My own belt syllabus is a bit different from my own instructor and I am sure his is a bit different from the other Eugue Ryu instructors. I hope to spend more time in all the Eugue Ryu classes, both in Ohio and Kansas. I had wanted to work with Mr. Adams. I haven't gotten to work with Perry Wiltsey or Mark Hunter either. I don't know many of the current students in Ohio and hope to meet them as well. Anyone is welcome to come out to visit us in England if they want, though our school is new and still growing. I think alot of how good each belt in your style is depends on your training. The old saying is, "practice makes perfect" but I disagree. I think perfect practice makes perfect. I have worked with and met hundreds of black belts in the last 10 years and I can count the number of them that really impressed me on one hand. I don't like to compete in tournaments anymore, but I wasn't losing to black belts when I was a green belt. Most of the new-ish black belts I meet tell me they don't really feel like a black belt at all. I am just old enough to remember the Green Hornet and I loved the hapkido in Billy Jack (though I hated most of the film). The martial arts that affected me the most as a kid was The Karate Kid. Mr Miyagi rocks! haha Anyone who wants to say hi or ask a question can email me at jukidowarrior@hotmail.com Take care all!

Have to fix something. I mentioned some of our black belts earlier and I messed up one of the names. I left out Sensei Faulder. I confused his last name with Shockley, who is a different student. I haven't seen John in so long I confused myself about his last name. We don't have a Sensei Shockley (yet). Keiran, I would be surprised if you didn't know Senseis Jones or Faulder. Also, Sensei Oscar Adams passed away in early March (1st?). Not sure of the exact conditions. I don't know where he comes into the lineage of the Kansas City Club, but he took over from Sensei YamaEugue and Sensei Ray Flowers. I unfortuneately never got to meet him but have seen many pictures of him.

Just moving somewhere in the existing area. Had a personal rough spot, my wife and I are divorcing. I am paying for a big, three-bedroom house and need something smaller just for me and my dog. Been looking for a new place for months now and houses are extremely expensive in the southwest of England. Although I am older than my brother, he had a 11-month headstart on martial art training (I was working in the evenings at the time and couldn't attend). I did know Sensei Topp for several years before I introduced Ron to him. Ron's belt tests were usually quite different from my own, though they were only 11 months apart. That's part of the reason I developed a more exact guide to what each belt tester needed to know, though Sensei Topp is better than I am at judging what everyone already knows and what he wants each person to develop. I have the luxury of having fewer students so I can spend a bit more time with them each. I don't have a blog for my online stuff, though I am writing and studying quite a few styles now. My notebooks are less of a journal and more of ideas, quotes, and information I discover on my martial arts, philosophy, religion, etc... It might make a good book someday if I get around to finishing my other books. Bruce Lee did a similar thing when he was laid up in the hospital for a long stretch. I will look for you on MSN Messenger when I get moved into my new place, though I am unsure how long that will take. Cheers from rainy Somerset!

Glad to hear things are going well for you KL. Not surprised at all that you have been working on Aikido lately, we tended to focus on various things for a while then switch. Ron didn't mention your birthday, it was on one of your posts somewhere. In my school here in Somerset I have a set syllabus of what you need to know and work on for each belt. I think it's a bit more fair that way. Sensei Topp occasionally goes by what he feels he wants you to know on that day which sometimes changes as the days go by. We spend quite a bit of time on various styles instead of strictly Karate. My own students probably learn 40% Karate, 40% Jujitsu, 10% Aikido, 5% Judo, and 5% various other things. I have to give a orange belt test tomorrow and a blue belt test next week so those two students have been getting ready for weeks now. Thanks for the info on Black Belt Magazine, didn't know it. Probably won't be able to order anything since I just ordered about $300 worth of DVDs. I am moving soon so I'll have to get my own computer up and running soon instead of using the one at the library. Would love to have a discussion with you online about what you have learned in Sensei Topp's class to see if he is still teaching the same things he taught me. Take care. Hope all the other Karateka out there are doing well. Ciao...

Hi Kieren, Talked to my little brother last night, he said he definitely remembers you from the extra seminars. He said you had spirit and seemed to be a dedicated student. Placing an order soon from the new catalog, going to spend this weekend making some kata videos for my students. We still have a kata night and a sparring night at the end of each month, I assume Sensei Topp still does the same. As far as I know, there are only a few black belts teaching in Sensei's class- Me and Sensei Smith, Sensei Jones and Sensei Shockley, and Sensei Chad Topp, Sensei Barnett, and his dad (though I think his Shodan is honorary). Barnett works down in Cincinnati last I heard, Smith spends most of his time teaching in Bellefontaine, I teach over here now, and I think Chad is still in the Marines. You should see Sensei Jones and Shockley often I think, they spend a lot of time over in Wapak. In the other schools I think Randy McElroy stopped teaching in Delphos. Sensei Kohler and his crew still operate up in Lima, where Sensei Young lives. Other than the Eugue Ryu school in Kansas I think that is all of them. There may be others but I have been out of the loop since I moved across the pond three years ago. There are quite a few other black belts but I am unaware of what they are doing. I know a few of them live in Lima. Hope you are enjoying your green belt. Good luck with your driving courses and of course happy birthday.

Hi Kieran! Sorry, don't have anything online at the minute though you can email me anytime you have any questions. I plan to make it to all of Sensei Topp's class (Karate and Aikido) whenever I am back in Ohio. I know the website he has is actually a website of one of the other students so that's why it's not huge. Glad they finally updated it though. Been studying Judo and Aikido over here in additional to the Karate and Jujitsu in the states I learned. The atmosphere over here is quite different from Ohio, both in good ways and bad ways. The instructor in Delphos was "Weasel" Randy McElroy I think, trained with him a few times, nice guy. Email me sometime and I will tell you more, have to run, busy day today. Take care, Kieran. Take care everyone else.

I always wantd to get into martial arts but growing up poor in Ohio there was only one dojo in my city (in the 80's) and we couldn't afford for me to go. I have three role-models though. One real (though now deceased) and the other two fictional characters from books. Bruce Lee is one (though not for the obvious reasons, I hate his movies). The other two are John Kelly-Clark (created by the author Tom Clancy) and Raistlin Majere (created by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman).

I am usually quite good at everything I do or try, but two things I have been hopeless at- basketball and drawing. I have gotten into drawing lately though and I am much, much better now than I used to be. I think it may be because I am more focused from my martial arts training over the last 10 years. I drew a Christmas tree several months ago and that was the first thing I ever drew that I thought looked great and was proud to have drawn. I saved it, lol

I can understand that. We get quite alot of southerners (mostly from Kentucky) up in Ohio. I personally get along great with southerners and greatly admire Bobby Lee, though I hate the confederate flag. I live in England now where they consider all Americans to be Yankees even the ones from the south. Somerset County over here is quite a bit like Kentucky, and I love it here though there are things a few things I don't like.

losing control is the only thing I fear, though I think that is rational. I don't have any irrational fears (like phobias).

Well I haven't been back in the states in two years though I am planning to go back to Ohio in June. Considering moving back, though if I do I will probably like to go out to Kansas and visit the dojo out there and everybody I can. Good excuse to visit a friend of mine in Topeka. Do you know anything further about your lineage? Take care!

I just learned the Kansas City School lost one of their instructors. Sensei Steven Williams passed away on 17 March. My condolences to all his friends, family, and students.

Hello Everyone! I studied under Sensei Topp for over nine years. I just learned recently that there was an Eugue-Ryu school out in Kansas. Hello to all the Kansas students. I am currently living and teaching in the southwest of England. Kieran, have you ever met Sensei (Ronald) Smith? He teaches at the dojo in Bellefontaine. He's my little brother. I would be interested in learning more about the Kansas school. We both share our lineage back to Kensensu Yama-Eugue, but I would be interested to learn if their head-instructor trained under Ray Flowers, Oscar Adams, or Michael Young. I understand the Kansas school has been in touch with Sensei Kohler's school in Lima, Ohio. I occasionally trained with Sensei Kohler for several years though I haven't seen him in about 5 years. I know there are Eugue Ryu schools in Kansas City, Kansas and in Ohio in Lima, Wapakoneta, Bellefontaine, and probably soon in Marysville, and also my own in England. There was a school in Delphos, Ohio, but I don't think they teach there anymore. Hope you are are dedicated students. Kieran, did you pass your belt test? Cheers from rainy England!