Shorinryu Sensei

lol...yep, sounds like you got it! NOW..this is where the real meat and potatos comes in. When an attack comes in..punch/kick...whatever. At the same time you make your body shift away from the attack, you toss in a counter offensive technique..usually a punch. With the combined power of the your arm movement, the shoulders moving/rotating and pushing the arm, plus the momentum of the attacker..you can really nail somebody good! When you get the timing down so you wait until the last possible micro-second to do all of this, the attacker can't adjust and change the angle of his attack and get you, plus it suprises the hell out of them! Primary targets for the counter punch are the head or the solar plexis/diaphram or ribs. Have fun! I've seen and talked to a lot of instructors from many different systems that tell me "Oh yeah, we do that too."..but in the 20+ years that I've been judging/refereeing tournaments, the only people I have actually seen USE it, are my students. And when done properly, it works LITERALLY every time.

OK, since you're online at the moment..try this. Get in a front stance, left leg (works either way, but we'll start with left) forward.left foot will NOT be moving. When the guy lunges at you (this is the tricky part and takes lots of practice) keep your front foot in place (it can pivot though) and wait until the last possible moment, and then move your back foot directly to the left..(hard to explain) in a cresant circle so that you end up nearly in a front stance, still facing the guy, but facing his side now. I know that sounds confusing. How the heck do you explain it??? OK..try this one, maybe it will be easier. Out self defense stance is rather nature. Feet about 1-1.5 feet apart in a normal standing posture, knees slightly flexed. Both hands out in front of you, palms facing the opponent like you're saying "wait, stop". As he rushes in, take either of your feet and move it behind the other foot, rotating the body as you do so that your body rotates to a front stance, and you're at 90 degrees from where you started. Damn..that doesn't sound good either! *sigh* Think of a clock..going back to 1st scenerio. Left foot forward at 12 o'clock, right foot at 6...OK? Now, take your back (right) foot, and move it in an arc, shifting your body with it...to 9. There..I like that better. Did that work? Reverse feet..right foot forward at 12, left at 6. Take left and arc to the right, shifting shoulders and torso as you move until left foot is at 3. Working any better? Last scenerioo where you're in that natural stance..left foot at 9, right fooyt at 3. Take left foot and arc it behind the right foot...3/4 turn around so that you end up with right foot forward in front stance at 9, and left foot at 3....that still sucks though! lol Look..why don't you fly out to Montana, and I'll just show you!

I thought this worked rather well actually, and would use it again. I have a friend that was having the 3rd anniversary of his sports bar, and wanted a couple of extra "bouncers". Mostly just a show of force, and to check id's at the door. Anyway, these 3 guys came into the bar, rather drunk already when they got there, and were pretty lound and obnoxious. After maybe an hour, the owner asked me if I would talk to these guys and see if htey would calm down. Sooooooo...over I went. One of the guys gives me the standard "F**k you a**hole!" (pardon), so I asked him again, VERY politely, to please try to calm down or I would have to ask him to leave. He spun around and grabbed my shirt with one hand and said "And what are you going to do about it?" My first thought was to drop the guy like a sack of flour, but an odd thing grabbed my attention immediately..like time stood still. Nobody in the bar was talking, and all of the maybe 300+ people crowded in there was so quiet, you could have heard a mouse fart in the corner. Why I said this, instead of physically taking control of the situation, I don't know..but I said to him..."Look buddy, you're what? Maybe 23-25 years old? I'm 50. So as I see it, if you hit me and knock me down, everybody in the place is going to say..."Look at that jerk beating up the old man!" Either that, or maybe I could drop you, then everybody would say "Look at that young punk..can't even take an old man!" I told him..."Either way, you aren't going to win this, and if you do swing on me, the owner will press charges, and you will go to jail and get a nice, little fine. So why don't you and your friends just sit down and relax, have a good time...but try to hold the noise down. And you know what? That's exactly what he and his friends did too! lol I thought it was GREAT!

It's difficult to explain, but see if you can find a shorinryu sensei near you and ask him to give you a quidck demo of (various names for it) body shifting, change of body, or body change. he should know waht it means. It takes practice, but I've used in in real fights and sparring, and I think it's a wonderful technique for people who charge you.

I teach almost all the kicks (except for the more complicated ones) every class, to every student..through the basics portion of the warmups. In this system, we don't get into many of the fancier kicks that the Korean systems do, but these are the ones we do every class for warmups. All are done both stationary, and walking. front snap kick side kick round house back kick (also spinning) shin kick jumping front snap kick (note: done for distance, NOT for height) That's the way I've been doing it for over 20 years and it seems to be working just fine. I put high expectations on my students, and don't teach liek many other sensei, where certain techniques are learned at certain blet levels, such as this basic technique for white belts, but they can't do anything more complicated until they get a higher belt. My opinion, that's a boring way for students to learn. I've found that white belts, once they have the basics down pretty good, can easily move right into much harder techniques with little, or no problems. I alternate with doing one easier (block/punch) technique, then go into a much more difficult technique, such as an armbar or takedown. Regardless of the belt level (as long as they aren't TO new to the class), the students adapt quickly and easily and can nearly always do what I ask them to do. Of course, the higher, more experienced belts will do it faster, smoother and more effectively, but the concept is placed in the lower students mind for digestion, and the next time we do it, they will get it much better. Anyway, it's working fine for me, and I'm quite pleased with my students, regardless of the color of the belt they wear.

I've been to a couple of TKD ONLY tournaments as a spectator, and to be honest with you, Open Tournaments are FAR superior! Why? Because you're competing not just within one system, but with ALL systems possibly represented, including TKD. Since I don't know what state (or country?) you're in, I don't know what's available in your area, but I would think open tournaments should be available just about anywhere. As for your age being a factor, in the open tournaments I've gone to, there have been kids as young as 4. Of course your parents have to sign a waiver for you to participate, but adults have to sign one too. Good luck, and keep training!

Good advice battousai16...I'm outta here.

Yeah...what Hohan-1 said! You go bro! That one touch thingy...I don't know that one. I'll hit my sensei up about that one. Thanks for the "hint".

Hohan-1...then you'd understand when I saw the first of the video tapes with Pinan Shodan on it..maybe 8-10 people on a stage doing the kata and you can't tell if they're blck belts, green, blue or whatever because the quality is so poor, and when they get to the mpovement where they do the spear thrust with the right hand, a girl in the front row, middle..does a hand bock, then quickly changes to a spear thrust! GOOD GRIEF!!! I would NEVER consider showing a tape, especially one that I was selling as an example of my art, or for training purposes, that had an obvious screwup like that in it! As I watched the whole tape, I saw many other examples of bad form, or just plain mistakes! Another tape had a ourdoor demonstration, where Alexander takes a nunchaku and greaks an apple or small melon that a guy holds in his hand, and the pieces go flying out into the audience. After a few seconds, someone that got hit with a chunk of it, tosses it back at Alexander and HITS HIM..and it's on the tape! Why didn't he edit that out??? Like I said..I don't recommend them.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one with that attitude delta1..CHEERS!

I guess I'm just weird. When someone in my sensei's class fell back hard against his living room wall (that's where class was held) and smashed a huge hole through the sheetrock, I helped him fix it with no thought to any sort of discount or compensation from him for my efforts. When sensei bought a house and was converting the single car garage in the alley into a dojo and didn't have money for plywood, carpet, paint, lights, etc..the whole class pitched in out of their own pockets to fix the place up, and not one person except sensei (we all declined his offer) ever mentioned that we should get free classes, money or discounts in exchange for our materials, time, muscles and skills. Sensei's wife fed us lunch/dinner, and we bought the beer. A funny thing about that class I guess. We loved our sensei, and were PROUD to help him get his dojo ready to train US. That was our compensation..a nice dojo to train in, instead of a duplex-apartment living room. Sensei was helping us make our lives better by passing on his knowledge..we all felt the least we could do is give him something in return. Maybe it's a Montana/small town thing, but a lot of people up here just don't ask, or expect any sort of compensation for doing things for other people. We jump start strangers cars in Wal-Mart parking lot on a cold day, instead of having them call a tow truck for $25-50 to do it, and don't ask for a dime in exchange, and refuse it when they offer (nice of them to offer though). We stop along side the road and pick up stranded motorists and give them rides to the nearest phone, or even take them home! Unheard of in large cities, and rightfully so I'm sure. I don't know people...I guess I believe in "what comes around, goes around", and I see no sense in expecting compensation for everything you do in life.

And are you so new to the internet that you blindly believe everything you read and see on here, and take everything as a fact without questioning things that seem a bit out of whack? Are you one of those that forwards that email supposedly from Bill Gates that states that every person that forwards this email, Bill Gates will personally send a check for $1,000? If either is correct, then I apoligise. I can understand why that story sounds OK to you.

Again, I'd like to know where this tournament was that Dillman met O Sensei Soken? Preferably the city, possibly the state? Country? O Sensei Soken wasn't interested in tournaments or sport competition in the arts, nor are many practioners of Shorinryu Matsumura Seito karate now days. Sure, some do, but tournaments aren't stressed at all, and are not required for advancement in most schools. This is why I am so very curious for that information as to the exact location where Dillman met O Sensei, since I don't believe that O Sensei attended more than possibly a very few tournaments in his lifetime. I see no resolution in trying to convince you that O Sensei Soken wouldn't have taught Dillman much, if any, in the way of adanced pressure point, or tuitte techniques. Since I had never met O Sensei and can only speak from 2nd hand knowledge from people that have trained extensively with him..I'll continue my belief, based on my conversations with past students of his, that Dillman is a fraud in his claims regarding O Sensei Soken.

One series that I purchased a few years ago, and possibly he's made upgrades since then, is Sensei George Alexanders Shorinryu kata videos. I do NOT recommend those, as the tapes are of poor quality (3rds-4th generation copys it looks like), and the people doing the kata are making serious, BASIC mistakes in their movements. I'd steer clear of his tapes personally.

Yes, I'd like to hear about that also please. I've also heard that about Okinawan masters in the last couple of years. You think it's because they're seweing a lot of people having their picture taken with them, hen claiming all sorts of things that just aren't true? That would make sense. It's sure been done before! I have a picture of myself with Ed Parker, taken about 2 years before he died. I was invited to attend a seminar he gave. It was interesting and nice to meet the man, but I would never make any claims about he or his organization and what I learned, other than what I just said..I went to a seminar given by him once. Learned nothing I didn't already know BTW...lol.

Really? I find that interesting that other sensei in your area don't talk to one another and maybe share ideas (you don't have to agree, just talk). I try to meet every new instructor that comes into my area, introduce myself and give them a "Welcome to the neighborhood." sort of talk. I can't say that I like every instructor in my immediate area, but I try to stay on good terms with them all.

Well, again, I'd believe it a heck of a lot more if I had a URL for a newspaper website instead of a posting from another forum. True, but then again, since the robber WASN'T actually shooting anybody, is trying to disarm an apparently irrational man with a gun, that asks for your wallet and watch, a smart move? Not only for yourself, but for others around you? I don't think so. A VERY rare occurance. Bank robbery is one thing, cold blooded murder is another, and I'm sure the majority of bank robbery's occur without ANYBODY getting hurt in the process. none of us know what was going thru his mind and you cant go back and second guss things. Also true, but what if the Krav Magna guy got himself shot and wounded, and maybe a few others in the bank got themselves killed in the process? I know if that were me, I'd sure spend the rest of my life feeling like crap! We can "what if" forever on this topic, and everybody's entitled to his/her opinions of course, but "IF" the story is true (which I really doubt), then I feel the guy made a move that he was damn lucky succeeding in, and damn lucky that he didn't get himself or others killed.

Of course there are many kobudo kata, but using the karate kata with weapons just gives you a different perspective for the same kata. It appears you do Shorinryu also, but a different branch of it than I do (should be close though), but we teach that the weapons are just an extension of the empty hand techniques. Agreed? And if so, then why not use weapons with the karate kata? I don't teach this to my students, but those that are using weapons (brown belt and above) I do encourage them to experiment in this fashion. it makes for some interesting applicatiosn sometimes! lol With Respect

Geeze, what a bunch of capitalistic money mongers you guys are! lol Sorry, but can't a person be the head of something, just because they want to help out, and not for compensation? Especially something like a college club? My opinion I guess. No wonder I'm broke all the time! lol Anyway, a few ideas for you. 1. A family night at the club. Pot luck, demonstrations, maybe get the family involved a bit with their kids/spouse, etc. 2. Unless you really want to bring in a big name instructor, ask your sensei if he/she is on friendly terms with another sensei nearby from another system and see if they will come in and do some things that you don't normally do in your class, but the other sensei does. I have given several seminars myself to TKD, Shotokan, Judo, Aikido and a "Freestyle" class. I always have a heck of a lot of fun in those!!! Money was offered to me for most of these seminars, and all I charge was $5/person for a 2 hour (usually runs more like 3-4 hours) seminar, and only for those seminars that involved my travelling and having to stay overnight, or to cover gas money for a truck that gets 16mpg! lol It usually ends up costing ME money to do those, but I don't mind (as long as it isn't to much!), because I was able to show interested people something about what we do that might be different from what they do. Just an idea. Where in Canada are you? PM me if you'd rather not be specific on here.

I like that! The next thing we're going to hear is that Dillman can rip a heart out of a mans chest with his finger tips! But of course, he can't show you that, because it would kill you! Convenient, huh?

OK, big question here. What tournament? Where/location? Again, to my knowledge, O Sensei Soken wasn't in the habit of walking up to a stranger and handing out books about the advanced inner workings of our system to anybody, let alone a stranger that he met at a tournament. From what I understand, if he did walk up to Dillman and talk to him about his kata, and if he did work with Dillman for a weekend, then yes, I'm sure Dillman came out of that training a much more humble person than when he went in. Also, I assume Dillman speaks the native Okinawan language or Spanish, or had a translator because O Sensei spoke basically no English, and little Japanese (he hated that language). Just to make my position clear here, I know you're one of Dillman's students, and I respect you for that. However, amongst the Shorinryu Matsumura Seito/Orthodox community, Dilman is considered as phony as a $3 and boasting about things he can not prove. Also his claims of working for a weekend with O Sensei Soken may be be true, but IMHO after nearly 28+ years in this art, that he learned all of these techniques and how to apply them correctly and effectively, is just pure rubbish! Anybody, from any system that does similar techniques will be able to tell you the same thing. Also (repeating myself here) the thought that O Sensei Soken would take a basically complete stranger and non-student of the art, and teach him these techniques is again...rubbish! What I suspect is the case, as many before me have said about Dillman, is that yes, he met O Sensei Soken, POSSIBLY worked with him for a weekend and was shown a few BASIC tuitte techniques, liked them and decided to claim that since O Sensei Soken was one of the most authentic and well respected of the "old masters", he'd start name dropping and making false claims about learning all these secret techniques. An easy thing to do since Dillman was in the USA, and O Sensei was in Okinawa and quite old by this time. I'm sure Dillman wasn't worried that O Sensei would hop on a jet and come to the USA to kick his butt! BTW, just on a personal note, there is no one touch knockout such as Dillman claims in our system (or any other I'd bet). I verified that years ago with people much higher and more experienced than myself in this system. Obviously, the same with the "no touch knockout". Mystical, made up CRAP to get people into classes and seminars, and yourself on the cover of magazines! Hey, it's working!!!

[quoteI can't comment on your specific situation, not being a party to it, but it is my understanding it is a parent's job to provide guidance, direction, and {gasp!} limits for our children, regardless of whether "everyone is doing it" or of the child/teen's infinite wisdom. Parenting isn't a popularity contest, and I don't think being a complete pushover is the answer, either. Ohhhhhhhh.......I LIKE This woman!!! BRAVO KW!!!

Stop and think about the technique for a moment pcam16. Think about your balance. Forget the crap you see in 99% of the movies where you see moves like this aerial. I don't know how long you've been involved in the arts, but if even for a few monbths, can you HONESTLY ever see a REAL APPLICATION of that aerial in a combat situation? One that won't get you killed IMHO if you do, then you're watching WAY to much TV and the crap they portray as "martial arts", and believing that yes, people can jump 30 feet in the air, walk on water, fight 25 guys at once..blah blah blah! Do you believe the stuff in the movie "Hidden Tire, Crouching Dragon"? Walking onb tree branches/water, floating/flying through the air?

Oh brother..you're right on that one! We don't do weapons on empty hand kata's as the norm, but I like to do it for something different, and I think it's fun and challenging.

When I teach kata, facing the class, I have found that doing them myself as a mirror image to what the student is doing, is an effective way of teaching them sometimes. Nahachin kata work especially well for this, as I can stand about 3-5' in front of them and they can see very easily what the movement is and how to execute it. I can do all 5 Pinan kata and the 3 Nahachin kata this way. Anybody else done this, or am I the only whacko in the room?