Shorinryu Sensei

Your profile says nothing about if you are taking martial arts currently, what system if you are, your age, the situation you're talking about (in school/work?) or anything else. I can't really suggest any reasonable course of action without some more info please.

Isn't learning karate, aikido, TKD, BJJ..whatever, all about learning how to defend oneself on the street...essentially anyway? If all a martial artist can do is "fight" effectively in the dojo, or tournaments, but not on the street in a real situation..isn't that telling you something about your training methods? Possibly about the system itself that you are learning? I've had to use my training about 5-6 times over the years..but not in a life or death situation though, and thusfar, my training has served me well and effectively. Not to say that it will in every situation, but so far, so good! I'd say that if you can't after as little as a year of training (or less), against your "average" street punk, then there is something lacking in either what you're learning, or your own personal emphasis on training and taking it seriously. IMHO anyway.

Yep, that's probably correct! Live I've said, it's an odd kick and used for striking the stomach/lower adomen area and meant more as a hard pushing technique, rather than a disabling technique like a snap kick. It's also rather affective if you're to the side opf an opponent and attack his knee/leg. I've used it, and it works well..with practice.

I agree..however, your average Joe Schmuck on the street has no way of knowing whether this guy is legitimate or not. All they see is a dojo, a sign out front, and that black belt around his waist. How is a novice supposed to know if the guy really knows what he's doing or not? Well..they can't. Pure and simple. We had a school here (long since closed) called Montana Freestyle which was total nonsense from the start. However, in it's 2 years or so of existance, it turned out some 15 or so black belts, all of whom were promoted to that rank in about ONE YEAR! They had about 20 students or so when I watched the class, all inexperienced people from off the street. If you ask any of those people if their instructor was legit..they'd all say yes, but I watched class several times, and within just a few minutes, I knew the guy was bogus..but what do you do? Jump up in the middle of the class and scream *???

Like I said, I agree with you in theory, but practice is another thing. You'll be hard pressed to find many that would do the research necessary to verify claims without compensation...who's going to pay for that? And please understand, I'm just playing "Devil's Advocate" here and not trying to bash down your idea..I think it's GREAT! Here's a "for instance". I knew a guy in this state (since deceased) named Ray W. that had a "legitimate" 3rd degree BB in TKD. He founded and started an organization called the AKKA (American Korean Karate Association) and declared himself a 9th Dan GM. This guy actively sought out many other self-promoted martial artists literally around the world, and exchanged God knows how many rank certificates with them (I counted at least 8 on his wall the last time I was in his dojo) where he would give out a 5-8th Dan certificate to a guy from his AKKA in exchange for the same from them and their made-up group. So, what Ray W. ended up with was a wall full of "legitimate" 5-8th Dan black belt certificates from various other dubious organizations, which if called to verify like you're suggesting, would indeed say that yes, Ray W, does hold a 8th Dan in Crapolayu, and a 7th Dan in Bullpuckie-Do, and a 6th Dan in Garbage-r-us Kan. What do you do then??? You called these organizations and they verified Ray W. as being legitimatly ranked in those arts..but it's all just CRAP! And believe me, there is a lot of this kind of junk going on all around us, and it inferiorates me something BIG TIME!!! Yes, I'd love to see some sort of regulation...it's just that there is no real way, as I see it, to do it with any sort of effectiveness.

Then I'd say the martial artists he's "beating up" need to re-evalutate what they are learning. But then again, I know (as most of us probably do also) some people that are just plain, good fighters! With no training, they can hold their own with just about anybody in a NHB kind of street fight. I know more than one black belt that has had his butt handed to him in a street fight. Funny thing is, they were all from the same system (different schools, but same system), which I think tells me something about that system. No, I'd prefer not to say which system that was.

I'll have to agree with Doug on this. This topic has been a discussin in martial arts for quite a while, and there are pro's and cons to each side. Personally, I'd love to see a regulating organization, as we have our share of phonys even in the small area I live in right now, and there's nothing you can do about it other than voice your opinion on it to others. But then you are "bad mouthing" another instructor/system, which is frowned upon in the arts. Not that that ever stopped me, because I basically call it as I see it. If I think a school/system is *..I say so, and I don't care who knows it. Possibly the best course of action I could advise anybody about these places, is to CHECK REFERENCES, and don't take no for an answer. Don't take somebody's word that they are a 26 year old Grand Master and have been studying their art since they were in their mothers womb because she was a black belt at the time (I've heard of that before). One thing that has always bothered me about a governing body for ALL martial arts is this. Who would be on it? What standards would you use to determine if GM Joe Blow is legitimate or not? What if he tells you he studied extensively in some obscure temple in Nothern China..how do you verify that? Also, what system is the most prevelant out in the world today? TKD, right? Is a majority of TKD "Inspectors" on this committee going to look at my credentials as an Okinawan stylist, and say that I'm legit..even if 98% of what I do is contrary or different to what they do? Like I said, in theory, I agree with you and would love to see it. In practice however, I see a whole can of worms being opened and a lot of beuracratic * happening that could really make a major mess of things.

You guys wear shoes on the street? What kind of seriosu martial arts are you??? OK, just kidding (in case you were wondering). You can still use the toe techniques with shoes on, and it's actually easier on the toes of course because your shoes help protect your little pinkies! However, because the tip of a shoe is wider than the end of the toe, you lose some of the penetration factor you would get without the shoe on..but like you said, who wlks around all the time with no shoes on? Now, I routinely wear cowboy boots (I'm in Montana ya know), and the tips of those boots can be one heck of an asset in a fight.

The staff, by whatever name you wnt to call it, has been in nearly every culture, and is by far the most common weapon. As to whether the quarterstaff or the bo is better? I don't know. I would suspect that they are quite similar, although the quarterstaff appears to have been longer. I don't know about the hardness of English hardwoods, but I know Okinawan hardwoods are darn near unbreakable!

I believe many of the older Okinawan systems (we do) use the toes for kicking soft targets like the stomach and inside of the thigh. It allows much more penetration than the standard "ball of the foot" method. It can be used like a regular front snap kick or a roundhouse, but in the case of the roundhouse, the foot is positioned differently.

Actually, neither. It's just a different kick. Like the thread title says...an odd kick, but effective.

I knew that...

This is good advise. I taught out of my home, school gyms, church's, grocery store basements, backyards (tough in the winter in Montana), office buildings, health clubs and empty mall stores for maybe 12 years before I opened my first full time commercial dojo. If I'd have used contracts and been more aggresive, I think I would have had a pretty good business and done well with it. Unfortunately, I hate contracts and the idea behind them, and this area is a very outdoor recreation oriented one, so winters and summers are both slow. There's a TKD guy on main st running a full time dojo that seems to be doing pretty good, but he's passing out belts like confetti and telling tall tales to his students to keep them enrolled. to each their own.

Oh, I was just slumming. I used to ref and judge about a dozen tournaments/year. That's down to maybe one a year now. Sometimes people ask what judges are looking for and thought maybe I could give a little perspective on that.

It's interesting reading your comments people. Here in Montana (I know, the "STICKS!") they run the open tourneys this way. All black belts, and limited borwn belts, are considered judges, as long as they have judging experience (in their own dojo counts). There are no weight classes at all. Are there on the street? Divisions are broken down by age groups, and belts are broken down into under one year, over one year but under black..and then black belts. So yes, there is a huge descrempency in belt levels, but so many systems have so many different color belts, how do you just say "blue to brown belt"? There are womens divisions, but if there are only 1-3 participants in that division, they are asked (not required) if they would liek to compete with the men. Normally, they will opt to do this (bravo for them!) and they do quite well. Contact at these tourneys is light to the head and medium allowed to the body. Rules are STRICTLY enforced, and excessive/intentional contact will get you disqualified IMMEDIATELY with no refund. I've been a kata judge and kumite referree at these tournaments since 1980, and they seem to be working out just fine. As for the comment about one school bringing tons of black belts and they always win because of it..that wouldn';t work here because as soon as somebody started complaining that judges were being unfair, the promoter would watch that ring, and if needed, dismiss an judges demed as unfair or biased. We generally try to have 4 corner judges for sparring and one center referree. Every effort is made to assign as many different judges from as many different systems to that ring. Ideally, with 5 judges, they will all represent different systems. The same goes with kata. 5 judges/5 different systems.

Well, I've seen a lot worse uniforms..plenty of room on this one to put a McDonalds or Pizz Hut logo. I'm a traditionalist pretty much, and I really don't care to go to a tournament and see all these flashy uniforms myself. What are we? Martial artists...or walking billboards? My 2 cents worth...anybody want change?

I think a lot of it depends on the type of contact allowed. If it's a light to medium contact tourney, and you have judges/promoters that enforce those rules (some don't, and they SUCK!), then I think required protective gear should be hand/foot pads, groin cup and mouth piece..period. The rest would be optional if you want to wear it. This is the "old school" outlook. Now, if you want to get into the REALLY OLD SCHOOL train of thought, then you're talking JUST a groin cup! I tend to be really old school minded myself and I think that to much protective gear tends to make for sloppy techniques because people know that they stand a lesser chance of injury if they just dive in without worrying about blocking. But then again..that's the way I think. Learn to protect yourself first, THEN worry about hitting the other guy. Isn't that what karate is all about anyway?

I totally agree that the cane is an effective weapon, but hardly "harmless" looking, as anything stick-like is. We do kobudo weapons training in our dojo, and I use the cane in conjunction with that. I have no formal cane training however, but it's pretty easy to use sai, tonfa, bo/jo, etc techniques with a cane.

Well, I've been teaching since 1978 and thusfar have had 2 blind students, one with polio (one of my first students in fact), 2 in wheelchairs, one deaf, many with bad backs or knees, and one with severely torn muscles in his groin and would never be able to kick well. Also, I've had to deal with God knows how many women with PMS! ARGH! (that's a joke folks, so don't get your pantyhose in an uproar please!) My origional sensei and I went around several times on this issue, and his opinion was that if the person can't learn the art "correctly" because of a disability, then he/she shouldn't be allowed in class. To which I told him...*! He didn't like it, and it was a bit tense for a couple of years between us whenever the subject came up until he moved out of the area and we lost touch. My personal opinion is that ANYBODY should be allowed to train in a martial art within the limits of their disability. How you deal with them is the challenge, but it will, in the long run, make you a better instructor and a better person as a whole. You have to make certain "adjustments" of course, but I always found that the fun aspect of it. Deaf people are easy, and I don't lknow sign language, but they are very good visual learners and like was said earlier, notes are GREAT if you have to explain something clearer. Blindness is very difficult, as you need to help them learn the hand/leg./body movement by putting your hands on them (tricky if you're a man and the student is a woman/girl), or they on you (not bad if you're a man and it's an attractive woman! lol ) Another joke folks!!! For physically handicapped people, I modify the curriculum and requirements to allow for their disability, but expect them to work as hard as any other student, within the limits of their disabuility. Thusfar, I've had a few get into the middle to upper colored belts, but none have stayed wuith it long enough to get a black belt.

I'm still trying to get over the mental picture of a bunch of kids squatting on the floor doing the "crap" walk. Makes me remember the 7 year old that just stood in the middle of the floor, never saying a word, and peeing his gi pants! Anyway, kids that young are naturally flexible and don't need much, if any, in the way of flexability exercies. Strengthing and coordination exercies are better for them. Others I might suggest are: 1. walking a straight line like a cop will do to a drunk, for balance training. 2. put a 6-8' 2x4 on the floor and have them walk on it without touching the floor 3. standing on one leg for as long as they can with variations like holding it out front as long as possible or to the side/back to strengthen the leg muscles. Make a contest of it and give a small prize for who can hold it the longest. This is where a Dollar Store in town is nice..cheap crap for incentives for kids. 4. run them back and forth as much as possible doing kicks, punches or blocks. Kids are a varitable fountain of energy and need/like to burn it off! Mainly, keep the youngsters class a high energy class. You might consider talking to an elementary PE teacher for suggestions also. I hope this helps.

Uhhh..who is this directed at?

There again, it depends on what kind of sweep you are doing. General rule of thumb, NEVER lock your joints...but a ALMOST straight leg has more strength for a follow through on certain sweeps. An example would be These aren't easy to describe) if you and your opponent were standing facing each other and grappling and you swing your right (or left) legt straight out to his side, almost brushing the outside of his leg and hip as it goes up, then swing it down fast w/straight leg and have your heel pass through his ankle. It takes them down hard.

I'm the 23rd person to read your thread, and the first to respond. I think why nobody else has Okinawan Warrior, is we have no idea what, or whom, you're talking about here. Is there a website you can direct us to perhaps? Or give us a little more information other than just "Red Door"? A Google seach brings up all sorts of stuff, from perfume (my fiance's favorite) to romance novels.

We're talking sweeps, not kicks. Sweeps don't "snap"..they flow through the target, like the ankle or knee. If your snapping your foot at a ankle instead of "sweeping" through it, then you're kicking the ankle, which technically, isn't a sweep. EDIT: Think of it this way. A kick wants maximum power to drive through an opponent..right? Well, a sweep doesn't need max power. Rather, it works against weak parts of your opponents body, such as joints and where his foot makes contact with the ground. A sweep isn'ta penetrating technique, but rather a technique designed to move the designated target to somewhere else. Does that make sense?

Well, there are a few dozen was to sweep I suppose, whether using a straight leg or a bent leg to accomplish it. So, I guess the answer to your question is...it depends on what kind of sweep you're doing, what level of knowledge you have, and I suppose the system that you practice. My best answer would be that bent leg sweeps are for closer in techniques, whereas straight leg sweeps are for opponents that are farther away. Or, said another way...if it works, do it!