still kicking

Evergrey I definitely was not singling you out, I just happened to mention a recent post you had made. The funny thing is, I personally don't even spar with light or no contact, and I'm not sure where that idea came from. I do (try to) go light contact only to the head, because as I mentioned previously, I have seen people with severe dementia, which can be induced by trauma and take time to develop, and it is ugly. Trust me, you do not want to end up in the "memory care" unit of some nursing home. I do enjoy trading hard blows to the body, and agree that it is good to challenge one's self with a reasonable amount of contact. I have seen sparring videos of some of you involved in this discussion, and you seem to be using what I would call medium or medium hard contact, same as me. Be that as it may... as much as I have enjoyed KF over the years, I am no longer enjoying it due to what feels to me like an increasing amount of disdain for people who do want to practice just light contact sparring. There were some good posts in response to my original one, and I appreciate the balanced views, but... I guess at this point in my life the only times I care to associate with people who merely "tolerate" one another is at the occasional family reunion, and that's just because it makes my mom happy. Well, maybe I just need a break and will come back later. Maybe next week, who knows. I wish you all the best.

Ger 'er Done wrote: Even in point sparring, this is incorrect technique. You do not get any points with no contact and no power or committment, if the refs know what they are doing. Also, you are supposed to keep fighting until the ref stops you, not when you think you've scored a point. You can be disqualified for repeatedly doing this. For training purposes in class, it's best if the instructor allows the fight to continue on for some time rather than stopping it after every point. IMO.

I have been a member of KF for quite some time now, sometimes more actively than others. Patrick has done a great job of keeping this site going for so long, and maintaining a certain level of respect. As he recently pointed out re: one of my posts, we (mostly) only know one another through our words, and it is sometimes difficult to ascertain intention or meaning. I feel the need to say, at this point, that although peoples' words are mostly respectful, I sometimes wonder about the amount of respect from those who like to spar hard contact towards ones who don't, and I suppose this goes both ways. Not to single anyone out, but in a very recent reply to a post about the value of sport karate, evergrey wrote: My immediate response to this, in my mind, was "and this is admirable how?" I do not consider myself to be a "tippy tappy hobbyist", and I do not think that it is respectful to reduce other martial artists to that characterization, any more than it would be respectful for me to think of people as crude neanderthal head bashers. It seems to me a bit pretentious to say that "karate is a way of life", as a modern day person, but really, something that is so instrumental in helping me strengthen, improve, and develop my body, mind, and spirit, is definitely more than a hobby. I'm sure that's true for most people that are interested enough to read KF. I think that even to make somewhat disdainful comments (which I have probably done myself) about elementary school children might discourage some of the smarter elementary school children who know how to read from following this site. We want our children to read, don't we? They are the senseis of the future, and maybe they haven't figured out yet whether they are mostly interested in self defense, sport karate, or professional fighting. Personally, I would like to see KF as a place where all martial artists can feel that their ideas are valued and respected, and though I know that is Patrick's intention, I would like to ask everyone to think about what I am saying. The fact is, apparently contrary to some of your experiences, and although I live in a large U.S. city, I do not go around regularly getting into fights on the street! A long ago boyfriend hit me once, but I got rid of him in a hurry. Another time, in my previous incarnation as a karate-ka, a jerk came up behind me on a stair well and grabbed my butt. My bad for not being more aware. I responded by swinging around and roundhouse kicking him in the head (he was several steps below me) with medium contact only, which gave me a few seconds to assess the situation and get ready to fight, but he put up his hands, said "whoa", and slithered off. Other than that, all of my self defense situations have involved avoiding, defusing, de-escalating, etc. I work in the mental health field, and regularly have to undergo trainings on these topics as part of my work, and I feel that my karate training gives me more confidence and ability to stand my ground and be calm in these situations. If it came to it I could evade, block, or put someone in an arm lock. It would not look good if I went and slugged a client in the jaw, but in an extreme situation, which is highly unlikely to arise, I would be prepared to do so. My position on it is this. I feel that sparring with medium to medium hard contact to the body, no or light contact to the head, is right for me. There has been plenty of pain and fear and bumps and bruises over the years, from partners hitting too hard or making more contact to the face or head than intended, to give me the confidence to know that I wouldn't just buckle into a heap in a "real situation". In the unlikely even that a stranger came at me out of the blue and started beating on me, before I was able to evade or run away, I am quite sure that I would fight hard, but that remains to be seen. I might get hurt some, and it would be a sucky day, but it makes no sense to me to purposely subject myself to the same kind of beating on a regular basis in class so that, what, it would be a familiar scenario on the street? It just so happens that my city has recently experienced an unprecedented number of random shootings, to where the whole population is on edge. Of course, all of the newspaper article comments can be broken down into "guns, we all need more guns" and "guns, guns are the problem, let's ban them". It sometimes seems that the two sides will never seem eye to eye, and maybe that's the case with full contact vs. lighter contact sparring. In any case, I am certainly not about to sign up for a class where I get to experience being shot three or four times a week, just so I am better equipped to deal with it in "real life". Sheesh. So people, please let's all get along, we're all in this together! Sorry for the long post, but it's been a long time coming.

In my previous school, the chief instructor and even the head of the organization were just called sensei. Whoever was teaching the class was also called sensei, so they might be sensei one day and sempai another day. Outside of class it was just first names. In my current school, the chief instructor is called shihan, sandan and above is sensei, and through nidan is just sempai, even if they are teaching. I kind of like my Uncle Bill's attitude about it, although he wasn't the sensei of anything. He always used to say, "I don't care what you call me, as long as you don't call me late for dinner".

Some good posts from Evil Dave re: the particulars, and Justice Zero re: the issue of unequal justice in the court system. As I recall from a time I Googled "moral turpitude" a while back (since I was curious as to the exact meaning), the term was coined quite a while ago. Of course, what is acceptable in society changes, and what is acceptable in one society is not acceptable in another. While I would want and expect my sensei to be of high ethical standards, I also realize that he is human. In terms of the actual offenses that could be considered "moral turpitude", I think there are gray areas. In my profession I work with many low income people, and I can't tell you how many have been convicted of assault based on being a bit inebriated and in a scuffle where it was not really clear what happened, so both people were charged with assault. Adultery? I'm pretty sure there are a few high ranking senseis who are guilty of that offense, which in my view is between that person and his or her partner. Not all that admirable, maybe, but perhaps forgiveable. All I am saying is, I think there are gray areas, and I would need more information before making my decision!

I think that if you are planning to go the tournament route as you advance in your training, it is never too early to start. It's a lot easier to compete against other beginners, even if you are a beginner, too, and then when you are facing stiffer competition it won't be so intimidating. I have only competed in tournaments that were sanctioned by my school, with several students and teachers from our school attending. It can be a great team building experience, and is a fun way to spend time with your dojo mates. At beginning levels and for some time to come, I think it would be a really bad idea for anyone to compete without their sensei's approval, and without a sensei or senior student present. That's my take on it.

Very cool that you can track which OS's people are logging on with. I have Windows 7 on my home computer, which is what I use the most for KF. I also use my Android phone, and Windows XP on my work computer, so I use all 3 of those. Not very much at work, honest, boss.

Awesome. It's a belt that goes with everything.

The first thing that comes to mind... an instructor who can recognize and help me build on my strengths, and also help me develop ways to compensate for my weaknesses.

I'm glad you have accomlished that last mentioned skill, MP. One of the doctors I work with still needs to work on that one. I actually agree with your comment about excessively light or no contact. I personally am in favor of medium hard contact to the body and light contact to the head, at advanced ranks, sometimes point sparring and sometimes continuous. If people want to go all out hard contact to the body, have at it! Bruises and broken bones will heal, brain injuries will not. It sounds like you are very aware of the issue and work within certain parameters, so that's cool. I'm sure not everyone doing hard sparring does, though, but oh well, what can you do. It probably accounts for only a small portion of all the idiocy in the world, anyway. He he.

I meant to also say... of course if people are aware of the risks, it is their right to participate. Maybe I am more sensitive to it because I once worked in a facility with a lot of head injured folks, and it was not pretty. Well, if you're gonna do it, I just hope you are really good at blocking your head.

Not trying to be a wet blanket, but don't you guys worry about this stuff? http://www.bu.edu/cste/about/what-is-cte/

He's probably had multiple concussions if he's getting hit like that. That is not a good thing, you can get depressed and demented and suicidal. LIke those football players (I forget the names). Just wondering if you hard contact folks worry about that!

Ueshirokarate -- I've recently moved to a dojo that pratices Yamanni ryu bo and sai, plus another weapons style that I can't recall right now. I've been working on the Yamanni ryu Sai jutsu ichi and ni (I think that's the correct name) for a couple of months. I'm used to a very hard straight in kobudo style, so the rounder softer moves are a bit of a challenge, but I am enjoying it! I am finding it a little difficult to discover the origins of power from within, but that's probably because I'm mostly focused on memorizing the moves at this point. There is a seminar coming up in a couple of weeks, by Oshiro shihan, which I'm sure will be quite worthwhile. Have you been training in this style for very long?

Or at least part of it. First of all, apologies for the double posting and all of the typos in my previous post. The main thing I want to correct from that post is, when I said "undue hardships" attaining advanced dan rankings in my new school, I meant financial hardships. As far as other hardships that may be involved, I really can't say. Anyway... I also need to say that my previous teacher in no way profited from all of the money I spent there. It was/is a non-profit organization, and all teaching is a labor of love -- or something, but not money. The teachers did not get paid. Tuition money went to keep the place open, plus towards financial assistance for students traveling for testing, tournaments, etc. it's just that it was only a few hundred dollars and not nearly enough to cover all costs. The thing is, I thought the training was amazing, in terms of what I was looking for. I have seen a lot of karate and people from other schools, and I think we were top notch in terms of basics, speed, power, focus, precision, etc. Very impressive. But to what end? I had worked through (and paid to test on!) all of the kyu ranks and attained black belt within that organization some 20 years previous, and had to start over. I was OK with that, except that I didn't know that my teacher was so OCD. I work in the mental health field, so I'm qualified to say. I think that having "high standards" is one thing, but... when you are have testing opportunities only once every 4 months or so, at most, when a student knows all of the requirements for the next rank quite well, and then some, and is performing them quite well for that rank, and you don't promote them because "there are just a few more details to improve" -- people get very frustrated and discouraged, and leave. The enrollment is now very tiny. That's not why I left, actually, since I was only a couple of months from my next big trip and the black belt testing. I left because I was wrecking my body. I went through two hip replacements early in 2011, recovered quickly, and was back to training after three months. The joints were fine, but unfortunately, due to my own stupidity, I overdid it and developed major quad strains on both sides. Pushing and pushing to "re-earn" the gloried black belt, and anticipating another stressful trip which would have involved staying with a bunch of other people, a few of whom were just abounding with youthful energy and I found to be rather overwhelming, well, all of a sudden it just seemed ridiculous. I decided to forgo testing this year, and to "take a break". That gave me some time to reflect, and I started checking out some other schools, and ended up where I am. It is the same style, but a different organization. The changes are fairly minor, so it should not take me all that long to adapt. I am only training two or three times a week for an hour or an hour and a half for now, which feels like taking a break! My quads are healing, there are lots of great people there, and many sempais and senseis of all ages, including mine. I feel that there is room for me to grow and am feeling feeling positive about my training again, but just feel a bit stunned by all of the changes. I know this is all rather incoherent, and don't know if it is of any value to anyone but myself. For what it's worth, it has been of great value for me to be able to write it out. I now feel more freed up to post about just "regular topics", having gotten this off of my chest, so thank you all for listening! If anyone has any comments they would be most welcome, but if you are left speechless that is OK too. Ha ha.