bushido_man96

Welcome to the Forums!

Thank you, all! When it goes, I'll try to keep everyone posted.

In regards to your football analogy, I don't think so. Look at how baseball and basketball have grown the way they have overseas. Lots of Dominican players come to baseball now, and more and more Japanese and Korean players. But they reason they come to the US to play it isn't because it is somehow more "genuine" here; its because there is more money to be made doing it here. I think the meat of the disagreements in this discussion stem from what some people would refer to as "genuine" or "authentic" due to the nationality of the teachers involved. I say if someone wants the truly Japanese or Korean experience in MA training, then they should probably attempt to train in said countries to attain it. Not that close to the real thing can't be found in the US, but it won't be exactly that way, in my opinion. Then I believe what stems from this is that those who feel they have received the genuine training may tend to look down their noses at those who don't have that lineage, or feel the others aren't learning the "real" thing. I don't think everyone sees it this way, but I do think this is out there. I think this is what causes most of the disagreement in perceptions.

Can they work? Sure. Guns can do a lot of damage, too. But one can survive a gunshot. As mentioned above, they aren't as dependable as one might think. Nor should they be ignored as targets of opportunity. I think it is also important to point out that these MMA fighters are aware of the fact that if they take a groin shot, they can have the match stopped, and it is to their advantage to do so. Same way with eye gouges. If they knew they could not stop the match for a groin shot, then they would figure out other ways to deal with it. So showing a reel of MMA guys getting these shots isn't necessarily a proving ground for the strikes effectiveness. Wasn't there a Sambo fighter of yore in one of the first UFC's that won a title by beating Tank Abbott, with his eyes pretty much closed because of attacks to them?

I'd guess to substantiate your school as a "koryu."

Candy Crush Saga. Addictive!

Well done, Bob! Its been a great ride so far, so lets keep it going!

Nice! Thanks for sharing these! I hope the grading went well for all!

Congrats!

I carry a knife. Not because I think I'm "hard" but because it gives me a better chance in case of serious danger. And it's a useful day to day tool. I don't see how that should be a crime. Nor do I feel that I am an idiot or a coward.Also stabbing already is attempted murder, and threats ore a crime. Criminalizing a defensive tool is not constructive. I agree with MasterPain. I'm a fan of open carry, too. Not everyone carrying a weapon does so with bad intentions. Some want to keep themselves safe. As for the point of the thread, I don't think its necessarily a bad thing for more people to know first aid. Teaching these "bad guys" how to save lives isn't a bad thing at all.

It sounds like there is some pretty dark stuff going on there, according to that article. Hopefully some charges get filed on him, and things run their course for proper punishment.

I enjoyed our time with this, Bob. Could you elaborate a bit more as to what you focused on?

It sounds to me like this situation took care of itself rather well. As we say in the LEO profession, NFA: No Further Action. If there are hard and fast rules about this kind of conduct for the school, then I would perhaps advise that the student be pulled aside advised and or reminded of these rules, perhaps provide a copy to be read over, and leave it at that. I think its good that a kyu rank would want to spar a dan rank. It shows one of two things: 1. he wants the opportunity to learn from a higher rank, or 2. he thinks he can take the higher rank. Either way, the kyu will learn a lesson. I'd hope its #1 they are after, and not #2, but sometimes, that stuff happens. Like I said earlier, it looks to me like this situation policed itself rather nicely.

That does look like a good time!

I don't even recall seeing it in the 15 volume Encyclopedia, to be honest with you. Anslow's book were the first place I saw that one.

Hadn't thought of it that way...if I had a student ask a question about a form he/she wasn't working on yet I would just suggest that the question be asked when he/she was working on the form. Guess I'm used to Chon-Ji being the first form since that's how it is where I go... I'm the same way. We don't do the Saju exercises, we just go right into Chon Ji as a white belt.

I'm one of those huff and puff guys, too, although I wouldn't call myself a "fit" person. I'm not sure if that is necessarily a reflection of rank or not, though.

I agree, and this is the most important point, I think. In all the material we cover in our curriculum (and keep in mind we don't do any kind of forms applications training in classes), we do one takedown, in an orange belt one-step. We could make it into a trip or a reap, but we only do it on one side, attacking their forward right leg. And once they complete the punch, they are done moving, so no resistance. I think that rather than looking into the forms for throwing applications, it might be more important to have someone with the knowledge of applying throws and takedowns in by use of some active partner drills would server the students much better.

Nice. I've used this one a few times, as well.

Thanks a lot, everyone! I'm pretty pumped up to be going. A guy I know here has also been through the course, so I'm going to try to get with him so he can give me a bit of a heads up on what to expect. You should try to convince them, Alex! I might need a partner, after all...

I agree with you, Bob. I do think there are legitimate practitioners out there that won't have any connections with the Japanese or Okinawan origins of a style. There may even be some like that that are better than those that do. So much importance gets put on where someone is from as opposed to where they are going.

On this long MA journey, its hard to ask for anything more than that, isn't it?

Best of luck to you!

Not an instructor, but thought I'd share a situation from a student's POV. When I was 14 and doing Shorinji Kempo, a group of us had joined up at the same time and were all blue belts. Then everyone got proposed to brown belt apart from me. This got me so discouraged that I eventually quit (there were other reasons behind that, too, though). I know it was my fault for being weak-minded (and 14), but the school lost a student because of me not being allowed to grade. Just thought I'd share...not even sure why, lol. And that's why its called a test.

Sounds to me like your golden, then.