Shorinryu Sensei

I used to be a school teacher in another life and have worked in school systems for quite a few years. Personally, I would love to see the martial arts incorporated into the schools. I've wished for years that beginning in about 7th grade, young women would be given either a required, or more likely, optional one year class in practical self-defense techniques. No kata, no proper stances, etc..just effective techniques that work against an attacker. I feel that a martial arts class taught as an elective would be GREAT! Obviously, it would be for a PE credit, and if ALL schools had the program in their schools, tournaments of some sort, most likely light contact, would be similar to basketball or football games. Our team against yours. At the end of the "season", there would be tournaments for class/regional champs, which go on to state champs. Insurance coverage isn't an issue really. Martial arts if far safer generally than football or wrestling...even basketball. I see no problems at all in having to "water down" the techniques taught. If the class is being taught as a 50-60 minute class during school time, then obviously there won't be time for major conditioning drills or warm-ups. Just a few basics and stretching (max time 20 minutes) would be all that would be needed. The biggest question is...what system would be chosen to be taught these people? Korean? Okinawan? Japanese? American? That, I think, would be the major flaw in this idea. The principal of the local high school and I talked about this at length. He often came up to the gym and watched my adult classes 3 evenings /week. I was teaching, and often complemented me on my teaching methods and the quality of the students I was producing and the attitudes those students had towards others. I had a club at the high school for 3 years (up to 75 students by myself...THAT was interesting!) with a member on the student council, President, Vice Pres, Secretary and Treasurer. We were active on the campus doing cleanup of the school, after basketball/football game cleanup, etc and it was well recieved. My class did a demonstration once at half-time of a basketball game..and boy,were we all nervous! but I thought it went pretty well. The principal and I talked about offering it as an elective PE class under the (on paper anyway) teaching of the men's/women's PE instructors. I wasn't certified to teach high school PE, so I couldn't offer it myself for credit. The state didn't like it though, as it had never been done before. I left the school system before we had a really good try at it, and it's one of my regrets on leaving teaching.

Teaching your first class, all on your own and in your own "space", can be a daunting adventure filled with joys, and pitfalls. My own first class was back in September of 1978. I had just graduated from collegew and was starting my first teaching job (junior high). My class consisted at first of 12 jr/sr high school students on the stage of the gym at the K-12 school in a little farm town in the middle of nowhere. What I would suggest to you is to find a place, such as a church, school gym/room, college space (classrooms are fine once you move the desks out olf the way), or if you have any connections with someone that owns a business and has spare room in their building and will let you teach class there for a nominal fee. These places are cheap (or free), and a good place to start from. All you need for equiptment is a foam/air kicking shield if you can't mount a heavy bag where your at, and space. The rest will come when you have a "permanent" space of your own. Good luck!

Interesting. You guys should transfer up to the local ITF/TKD school up here. He gives out BB's after about 1.5-2 years. The instructor is supposed to be a Master of the art, or he puts "Master" in front of his name in his advertisements anyway. I believe he's in his early-mid-30's. Don't get me wrong, he's pretty good, but master level? Not by my definition of the word.

Doing a Google search, it says that it's a traditional Japanese karate system "founded by Grand Master Yoshio Sugihara’s father as a kendo (sword) style", but the majority of the links (most didn't work for me though) were about New Zealand sites. I've never heard of it myself, but I live in the sticks.

1st Generation here. My two sons have both come and gone, and come back again several times into my classes, but don't have the desire or time to make a life long commitment to it. Maybe later they will...hopefully.

I think the belt system hasits place in thye arts, no matter how many belts each system chooses to use. I do sort of wish there was a more uniform color system within the arts so that a blue belt means the same in all systems for example. People naturally like to see a natural progression in all that they do generally. Part of it is to see who is better than who, but another part is to give a person goals. To be able to advance to that next "step" in the progression.

As much as having other aspects (kata, sparring, etc) of the martial arts in the Olympics sounds appealing to me, I think it would be a bad idea. After judo was introduced into the Olympics, it became more of a sport than a martial art and is now almost exclusively taught worldwide as a sport. After TKD was introduced, many branches of it are now becoming more of a sport, or at least, appears to be heading in that direction also. Kata competition, both hard and soft forms and perhaps kobudo (weapons) kata might be OK. However, I would expect it to become incredibly flashy (including splits, flips, etc.) and essentially, not a true representation of what real karate kata is all about in the end. You'd end up with a gymnastics floor routine performed in colorful "gi's" in very short order I'm afraid.

I'll agree with the above two posts also. I used to be an elementary teacher and have taught my fair share of 6-12 year old kids over the years. fun is the key word here, and like has already been said, you can't force them to enjoy it. One thing you might want to try. Get a foam pad (a good old pillow mightwork too) and let them practice kicking that with you holding it. Maybe make a deal with them (hey, bribery works! ) that if they work real hard, you'll all take the family out ofr a Dairy Queen (or any ice cream) after practice.

My dojo is attached to the back of my house (used to be a garage) and I purchased 3/4" carpet pad, and then got some EXCELLENT quality used carpet (no stains or discoloring) out of the dumpster behind a carpet store. Total cost...under $30. It's plenty of padding for normal falls and takedowns if you aren't slamming people down, and best of all...it's CHEAP! It also makes that part of my house much nicer, and according to a realtor friend of mine, it turned my 2 bedroom house into a 3 bedroom if I want to sell it down the road.

I have no firsthand knowledge of the organization, but a few years ago, the skuttlebutt around the tournaments that I attended was that they, and others, are an organization that literally anybody can join. There are few, if any, requirements to join it, and looking at the site just now, I didn't see anything (I could have missed it though) where it requires any proof of legitimate rank to join.. Clicking on "Joining NAPMA", you get a form to fill out, and this little tidbit ... "Get Started On Your Monthly Membership For Only $99". Is that monthly dues of $99? YIKES! Personally, I wouldn't say that being a member of it mkes you a better, or worse, instructor. It appears to help you get and retain students, but I wouldn't let a dojo's membership affect my decision to join, or not to join a school. One thing I did notice is if yo uclick on the Coca-cola link. It says: Who is Eligible To Participate? All martial arts schools in the USA located in an area served by a participating Coca-Cola bottler. The Ultimate Win/Win/Win! You win. Your students win. The martial arts industry wins! The Benefits For You: * Free 30-day trial NAPMA Associate Membership for participating in the program. * Special low pricing on top selling products such as Dasani Water, Minute Maid, PowerAde, Fruitopia, Nestea, Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, and Sprite. * Your choice of a coin operated vending machine or an upright cooler for dispensing the products. * Free placement and maintenance of the Coca-Cola equipment in your school. * Sponsor support from your local Coca-Cola bottler based on your school's volume. * National sponsor support from Coca-Cola based upon total volume of the martial arts industry. This is our opportunity to demonstrate that the martial arts are a strong, viable market. * Full service vending option. If you want the profits of the products without having to restock or order, this option is for you Maybe things have changed, but a number of years ago I had a commercial dojo and I contacted the local Coke distributer, and he placed a Coke machine in my dojo, and I filledit with pop and juices at wholesale prices, which I'd bet is the same thing that they are talking about on the website. There was NO charge to me as a business owner to have their machine in my place otherthan the electricity to operate it. If the machine malfunctioned, I had but to call the distributer about it, and they came to repair/replace the machine at again, no cost to me. Just be careful. Personally, I wouldn't be the least bit interested in joining the organization myself.

Well, if you regard the nunchaku as a toy, you will develop "toy-like" techniques, which is what I see WAY to much of in dojo's and tournaments. The people that do this are often instructors that will pass along this "toy-like" technique to their students, claiming it is legitimate good technique, not flashy trash. THAT is my complaint with it. Sorry, but I'm still here. Perhaps it might give you a clue when flashy technique is brought up, and good, legitimate martial artists complain about it? Punchline? Did I miss a joke somewhere? it only makes sense that you'd learn faster, but also along with that, breaking bad habits, and I'll bet you have plenty of them, will be difficult, but not impossible. The last part of this statement is correct, but the part about flashy techniques being beneficial...well, I guess twirling a baton would be just as beneficial, and you could at least use that in your yearly parades in front of the jr. high marching band. AHA! He see's the light! Why learn bad technique, and then have to make all those corrections later on? EXACTLY what I am trying to do. Only if you're trying to pass it off as good technique it is. If you tell me "I know it's junk and flashy, but it's fun to do."..then I'll accept it as that. But if you tell me it's good technique, then we have an issue. And that's just fine as long as you know the differance, and apparently you do.

This is exactly what I do with my students. I tell the attacker to attack as hard, or harder than the defender can handle. You do them no favors by coddling them and making it easy for them. My senior student, 6'4", 230lb and very solid, attacks me full force...as I require him to do.

I've been a kata judge and kumite referee for somewhere around 25 years now, but have only competed in one tournament myself. I won 2nd in kata, 3rd in sparring, Outstanding Tournament Judge and the Outstanding Competitor Awards..which I thought was a pretty good haul for my first competitive tournament! I "retired" from competition at that point. Anyway, since it was my first tournament as a competitor, I was pretty nervous to be fighting and competing against black belts from all over the country for the first time. Most of these black belts I had judged myself,which I think was an advantage because I knew how they fought pretty much. There were, of course, several black belts from out of state I had never seen before. My first kumite match was against a 3rd Dan in TKD that I had never seen before. He was about 6" shorter than me (I'm 6'6") and told me afterwards that he competed in about a dozen tournaments/year. We were pretty evenly matched, but I could tell eh wanted to do a head kick on me really badly, so after a point, we lined up to get ready for the next point attempt, and I got into a much lower stance than I normally used. The ref said HAJIME' and we stepped towards each other. My opponent telegraphed a really pretty side kick to my head, but I dropped to the ground under it and threw a side kick of my own at the same time to the groin, landing perfectly! Yes, the groin is a target in an open tournament around these parts. This totally flustered my opponent because he wasn't used to someone doing that, and I won the rest of my points pretty easily and won the match. I'll never forget the look on that guys face when I did that to him. He was really nice about it and wanted me to teach him the technique afterwards, which I did.

Agreed. Be patient, your in for a lot of fun.

Wasn't me.

Why do I suddenly feel so much like a nose? Everybody's pickin' on me! I'm not trying to ridicule anybody for what they chose to do, but rather to state my viewpoint that I feel breaking isn't useful, nor that difficult. Oh sure, start getting into multiple bricks..yeah, that's a different story. I'm talking about 1-2 boards. Not that tough. I've seen young kids that can do that. What does it prove?

Simple, direct, and well said IMHO. Maybe not so much as "has completely bastardized the martial arts" but perhaps more as IS bastardizing the martial arts. A slight differance, I know.

Not withstanding the amount of offense I take to being called a "Japanese style" , most of that I could handle..but while listening to the Spice Grils? Man, that's pure TORTURE!!!

I don't feel that the poll itself is biased..either you think breaking is useful, a waste of time, not sure or other. What's biased about that? Yes, I did give my opinion on breaking after the poll, but how does that make the poll itself biased? Is it my sense of humor you are objecting to? You're not a logger by chance?

Once you reach the level of limberness (is that a word? ) or flexibility that you want, it's not difficult to maintain it on "off days" (aka no class that day) with some mild stretching as you do things around the house. I will stop sometimes walking into another room and swing (not kick) my legs (one at a time of course ) up and attempt to touch the top of the door jam. I'm pretty tall and yes, I can do that. Or as I'm in the kitchen making something to eat I will swing my leg behind me or to the side as far up as it will go (you need to push yourself). I've been doing this for years that way and I find it saves time rather than going out to the dojo (in my converted attached garage) or going through the formal stretching routine. It's called multi-tasking!

I believe they were 12"x12"x1"..that's pretty standard isn't it? When the TKD sensei was demonstrating the techniques before we had our chance to break, he went through this breathing, minute long prep "thing" and screamed as he broke ONE board. My people just went up to it and hit the boards and broke them just as easily. Same boards, same thickness, etc. Like I said, it didn't seem like a real big deal to us, and was easier than expected. Most of my people didn't even take much of a practice "swing" before breaking them. They just went up, looked at the boards, and hit them.

One of the last, and greatest martial arts masters of our time, and a lifelong and very active practioner of Shorinryu Matsumura Seito Karate was the late OSensei Soken Hohan. OSensei was, I believe, 93 years old when he died and had begun his study of this system when he was 16 or so. OSensei taught classes up until the last few years of his life, and IMHO, I believe he was a legitimate 10th Dan Master of his system. As other sensei's that I know have told me (I don't know firsthand), OSensei was bouncing young men around the dojo while he was in his late 80's with little effort. I agree that there are FAR to many 10th Dans in this world, and just because you start your own system doesn't automatically make you that rank IMHO. It needs to be after a lifetime (40-60 years old is NOT a lifetime!) of study of the art....ANY art! I remember reading in Black Belt Magazine years ago that there are more "10th Degree Masters" in ANY major city in the USA then there are in the entire Orient. I lived in Houston for 6 months and have travelled a fair amount around this country, and I believe it! Just look at the yellow pages in any large city (NYC, LA, Chicago, Houston or Atlanta for example) and you will see tons of "10th Dan Masters" out there. BAH!

Some styles break boards, some styles don't. Even within the same system, some do, and some don't. Personally, we don't (some dojo do however) and feel it isn't good for anything unless you have a wood stove and need kindling. I feel it gives students a false sense of power and is only good for impressing novice spectators at demonstrations. My class attended a 24 hour seminar to help raise money for a leukemia patient (a 16 yr old TKD black belt) about 15 years ago, and one of the classes they taught was board breaking. Since none of my students had ever broken a board before, they were eager to give it a try. Every one of my 12 students in attendance, from white belts to black, broke all of their boards (up to 3 at a time) easily no matter what technique they used to do it with. Jenny, a 16 yr old green belt, wanted to break a board with a back fist. The TKD instructor teaching the class and holding the board advised her to try a stronger technique, but she insisted. She broke one board easily, and later, two boards (backfist also)on her first attempt at each. Everybody else from my class did likewise and came out of that particular class feeling board breaking was a total waste of time and effort. It was just to easy! Roland, a 40 year old blue belt, just stood there, no particular stance or preparation, and demolished up to three boards without any effort at all. It wasn't even what I would call a good punch. He looked at me after he broke them and just shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes like "Well, that was easy!" How do you people feel about board breaking? Do you consider it a waste of time, or beneficial..and why?

The only thing I would change about my chosen art is that I wish that it was more widespread to allow me to more easily find belts higher than myself within easy travel distance to train with. The closest other sensei doing the same system as myself are in Seattle, Minnesota, California or Texas. Technique-wise, I would change nothing about this system. I feel it is a perfect blend of all of the elements that I feel are important in a MA. CloudDragon, you've given me an idea for another thread on board breaking.

How about suspenders? the only drawback is the metal clips taht connect it to the top of the pant. Those might smart a bit if someone kicks you there and the push back into your stomach. But hey, no pain, no gain! Actually, an elastic waist is usually, in my experience, more comfortable. I wear either that, or the traditional drawstring waist. I think I have maybe 6-8 assorted gi's and parts of gi's (mix and match some days) that seem to have accumulated over the years. I hate those "pro" pants that lace up like a shoe in the front. They ride low on the waist like you're describing, and they just don't feel right to me.