Montana

If ones a black belt and this black belt isn't knowledgeable in self-defense, then imho, that practitioner shouldn't be a black belt in the first place...imho. AGREED! 100%!!!

Hmmm..I'm wondering if "Effective Self-Defense" might be considered a legal bad idea? You can teach people and they can walk out feeling like they're supposed to be able to defend themselves, but if they get their butt-whooped by some punk on the street, they might come back and sue the dojo for false advertising, or "not as described" perhaps?

Krav Maga, BJJ and others are based and developed by people with extensive martial arts backgrounds in proven systems, not "shake-and'bake", a little of this and a little of that backgrounds. I don't necessarily agree that systems need to "evolve" constantly, because there are only so many ways a person can be attacked by grabs, hands, feet and weapons. What Bruce Lee did was to have a solid background in a viable martial art and study and train intensely other systems and then create a system using solid, proven techniques that he understood. There's a big difference there. What I was trying to state in my original post was referring to those that take a few MONTHS of one system, a few of another, etc and never really LEARN a whole system before declaring themselves a master and starting their own systems. Then they promote others and send those out to teach others a very weak system..such as "Rex Kwon Do". I'm sure most of us in this forum know of systems like what we're talking about here. Very weak systems that should die out, if there were any justice in this world. There's a big difference there.

In another forum that I visit now and then there was a thread about what makes a good sensei. One person posted that to make a good sensei, they had to be someone that was well respected "world wide", had published books and videos, been written about in Black Belt Magazine and had shelves and shelves of trophies from international tournaments. My reply to his statement was ....... BAH! When the vast majority of sensei, both in the USA and abroad, teach out of their homes, garages or gyms, don't write books and might only make videos for their own students to use sometimes, does that make them poor instructors? I don't think so! Even on Okinawa, Japan, Korea, etc, the vast majority of sensei's don't have large, commercial dojos. They teach out of their homes for the most part and don't attempt to make a living with their teachings. They have knowledge they have accumulated over many years of study and teach small classes to those that want to learn. Most don't have videos for sale. Most have never appeared in Black Belt Magazine other than as a small footnote perhaps, and most have nothing to do with the international tournament circuit. So I guess they aren't good sensei, right?

This ought to stir up some good discussion! You'll often see people in this form state that "it's not the system, but rather the sensei/instructor that makes a good dojo. Well, to that I say BAH! I'm not going to try to define what a good martial art is, or a good sensei because everybody has their own ideas of what those are. My thoughts won't be the same as yours (although if you were smart, you'd follow me without question! ). But back to what this thread is about. You can have a good martial art, say Shorin Ryu, Shotokan (pick one), etc, but the instructor of that particular dojo you are attending might not be all that good of an instructor. Sure, technically he can do all of the things that he was tested for at the belt level he carries, but can he teach it to others? I know some wonderful martial artists that are very skilled in their respective arts, but they are terrible teachers. They don't have the patience to work with beginners and have difficulty explaining concepts to people and understand why others don't quite "get it" like they did when they first learned it. They are good martial arts teaching a good system, but they are lousy instructors and turn out mediocre students. In other instances I know some instructors that are fantastic teachers and can teach anything to anyone! However, they are teaching systems that are, well...how do you say it nicely? SUCK! Specifically, many of these systems are ones that were "invented" by their instructors 10-20 years ago. Their instructors had a few months of training in this system, a few months of training in that system and maybe got as far as to get a brown or low level black belt in one system, and they decide to combine all of this vast knowledge they've accumulated from numerous systems into one "perfect" and all encompassing new martial art that they just happen to decide they are now a master of. So they start teaching classes to "newbies" that don't know what they're looking at, promote those people up through the ranks to eventually black belt level. These new black belts start their own dojos and off they go, teaching a martial art that is weak and based on one persons opinion that a little of this system, and a little of that system makes a good martial art, when in reality it's a very weak system. The perfect situation here, in my opinion of course, is to find a really good, and well respected martial art that you want to try, that has a good sensei that has the patience, knowledge and experience to pass on even the most subtle concepts of their martial art to others.

I've posted this before, but the way that I test is that my students know that they are being tested in literally EVERY class. They know better than to ask me to test because that tells me that they aren't ready yet mentally, not necessarily physically. I don't want students that are there for belts, but instead they are there for knowledge. When I feel a students is ready to progress to that next belt level, I will ask them in class to do a certain thing or two (or more) that I know they have been struggling with. Whether that is a kata, or certain techniques. When I am satisfied they are where I want them to be for a certain belt, I will award that belt to them at the end of the class. I've never seen a point to many hours or days of testing someone. Either they know it, or they don't, and the instructor should be able to tell that on a daily basis in my opinion. To make someone stress over a test is idiotic in my opinion because EVERYBODY stresses if they know they are being tested, and I see no benefit of subjecting someone to that. I want each of my students to work hard and do their best in each class. If I feel they aren't giving me 100%, then they don't advance. I'm well aware that 100% effort for an 18 year old is different that 100% effort from a 60 year old, and I adjust accordingly. I've been testing this way since I started teaching my first class in 1978 and I like it. So do my students, because they know that if they don't work hard and make corrections accordingly, they won't advance. I have one student, a 58 year old man, who's probably my hardest working student, but there are things that he just can't "get". Not physically, as he runs 5 miles several times/ week and can do more pushups than anybody else in the class (and they are PERFECT pushups!). Rather, he doesn't "get" some things in the realm of the concepts of the technique and kata. He's been stuck in his last brown belt (just before black) for about 5 years now, and he's ok with it because he knows full well what he's lacking to get his shodan. He'll get it some day...just when, we're not sure yet.

Various systems have various interpretations of the bunkai of kata, and like all bunkai in all traditional kata there is more than one bunkai that exists for every move. The last movements of Passai are primarily a slow sweeping motion which is feeling in the dark for your opponent, then upon touching them your first hand is reaching out and grasping their arm/coat/etc and pulling them in while the other hand is reaching for a nerve in the area where the neck meets the shoulder.

Without knowing the bunkai (IMO) of a kata, then movements of kata are meaningless. You might as well be dancing. You need to visualize what your opponent is doing that causes you to do a certain technique in the kata as you do the kata. It brings the movement alive and gives it meaning. Without knowing the bunkai and what it is that you're doing and defending against, then what's the point of doing a kata?

Actually, traditional kata DO mimic fights. The movements are based upon the experiences of the origionators of the kata on techniques that they, themselves, used in a real situation. They found the techniques effective and incorporated them into kata to pass the techniques on to others. [/u]

Bassai (we call them Passai) kata's last moves are not "cooler" because they're done slow, they have bunkai, just like every other move in a kata. The final movements in the Bassai/Passai kata are techniques done in the dark where you can't see your opponent, and are "feeling" with your feet, then reaching out with one hand and grasping your opponents wrist and applying either an arm bar, or attacking the nerves in the neck with your other hand. No moves are done in "traditional" kata because they're cool. They all have a purpose and an application.

I'd tell you about my first belt test...if I could remember back that far! Without going out to the garage and finding just the right box where my certificate is, I'm not quite sure when it was. Probably around March or April...1975. All I can remember is...I passed!

True, I seldom had parents that would sit in and watch their kids in class, and even more seldom would they ever ask me "What can I do to hep my son/daughter do better?" I had a nice seating area for parents/visitors, but about the only time I saw some parents was when they enrolled their kids. Otherwise they'd sit in their cars and wait for them to come out. Sad really. Most parents don't get as involved as they should.

Not really. The belt system had nothing to do with with students not liking to be a white belt for 10 years. The belt system was introduced to show the progression of skills (theoretically anyway) and time spent in the arts, not to gratify the students.

You sir, are 100% CORRECT! Of course there are exceptions, but the youth of today is totally into instant gratification. They have instant food (McD's), instant movies (download from the net or get them instantly from the TV, etc), instant communications (cell phones), instant "fun" (video games)...basically, everything is "right now...GOTTA HAVE IT RIGHT NOW!!!" Many martial artists today expect instant gratification. "We want our belts, and we want them now!" mentality. And it's going to get worse I suspect.

I've been in the arts since January of 1975 and have never broken a board yet. We feel that there is no point to the exercise.

Well, first of all, I'm absolutely 100% AGAINST women's self-defense classes. Why? Basically, they're a total waste of time, energy and if the women are charged for the classes, their money! Look, anybody that's been in the martial arts for very long knows that to be any good at it, you need to develop muscle memory, which is done by countless repetitions of techniques and continued practice of those techniques for basically the rest of your life! A womans self-defense class is what...once per week for maybe 4-6 weeks for an hour each time? That's not nearly enough time to develop muscle memory as is needed. And when those women "graduate" from the class with their little diplomas saying that they have successfully passed Master Joe Blows Womens Self-Defense Course and they think they can really defend themselves, but in truth they only have a false sense of security and a week from now will forget 90% of what they learned, then what good was it? I'm sorry, but I would instead encourage these women, through entry level, introductory classes, to join an actual martial arts class where they will actually learn something worthwhile and that will, in the long term, stick with them and do them good if they need it. On the other hand, I had a friend a long while back by the name of Jerry Lemm that taught an EXCELLENT 2 hour women's self-defense class. What? Only 2 hours long, and after my previous rant, it was excellent? Yes, and you know why it was excellent? Because nowhere during the entire 2 hours, did Jerry teach as much as one martial arts technique! Nope, not one! So, how do you teach womens self-defense classes, and not teach and "self-defense" techniques? Thanks for asking! You teach awareness! Little things, like pay attention to what's happening around you. Like not making yourself a target. Like not having a car license plate that says IMAQT, IM2HOT, SARAS, SUSIEQ, etc that identifies your car as driven by a woman. Also don't hang all that foo-foo stuff on your mirror that identifies your car as a womans car. It makes you a potential target ladies! Jerry's 2 hour seminar taught these women valuable self-defense techniques that would be remembered and easily used on a daily basis, not just practices a few times with a compliant partner, then never used again and useless when needed. Otherwise, good luck with the classes! lol

Well said Kruczek!

OOPS! My mistake, it should be "not" instead of to. Fixed. Thanks.

With Spring and tournament season just a few months away for a lot of you, I thought I'd bring this thread back up to the front in hopes it might help any of you that are planning on competing in tournaments. Enjoy. This section often has tournament competitors asking what judges look for, or suggestions for improving their "performances" before a panel of tournament judges and referee's, so I thought it might be a good topic for discussion. I've been a tournament judge and referee since 1978 for open, all style tournaments. I don't attend XMA-style tournaments, so my comments are for the traditional tournaments. The tournaments I attend are light contact for lower belt adults and young children, and medium contact for middle to advanced belt adults. Legal target areas include the front and side torso and kidneys (the spine is a no-no), front and sides of the head and the groin. Sweeps are allowed, but not directly on the ankle/knee joints. Take downs are also allowed but must be controlled and no "slamming" your opponent to the floor. The reason for this is that we don't use mats at our tournaments. The floor is usually a wooden basketball court or tile over cement (such as a closed grocery store might have). When I first started, the only gear required was a mouth piece, groin cup and hand pads, but it has progressed to require foot pads and head protection now. Personally, I'm not a fan of protective gear of any sort because you won't be wearing it in a street confrontation, but that's just me. Depending on the tournament, competitors are lined up by age groups and belt/experience levels. Typically the sparring divisions are like this: Beginning (under 1 year experience) Youth 6-8 years old Beginning Youth 9-12 years old Beginning Youth 13-15 years old Children 16 and above go into the Adult Division. Intermediate Youth (over 1 year of experience but under brown belt) 6-8 years old. Intermediate Youth 9-12 years old Intermediate Youth 13-15 years old Children 16 and above go into the Adult Division. Advanced Brown/Black Belt Youth 6-12 years old Advanced Brown/Black Belt Youth 13-15 years old Children 16 and above go into the Adult Division The Adult Divisions are typically: Beginning Adults (under 1 year of experience) Intermediate Adults (over 1 year but under brown/black) Intermediate Adults (Brown belts) Advanced Adults (Brown and Black Belts) Sometimes we will have a division for Advanced women, but typically the women I know that are that level choose to compete in the regular Advanced Adults Division also. Personally, I admire those women and give kudos to them for stepping up and recognizing that they are holding an advanced level belt rank and aren't afraid to get in there with the "guys". Referee's for the beginning and intermediate levels can be brown or black belts, but the center ref has to be a Dan level belt. Depending on the tournament, sparring can be who gets the most points in 2 minutes with a maximum of 5 points, and the action stops when a point is called by any of the 3-5 (5 required for advanced sparring) judges. The clock only stops in case of an injury, so points are awarded fast and the action starts again immediately. The other way that sparring can run in our tournaments is 2 minutes of continuous fighting where the clock only stops if there's an injury or the action is gridlocked (basically, no action is going on. At the end of 2 minutes the 3-5 referee's all hold up their flags as to who they think won the match. Very often referee's are bad mouthed because we didn't see your point/technique that you scored against your opponent. You need to keep in mind that we are only human and can't see everything...or we see something that YOU don't see. Sometimes that great punch that you are sure scored, we see as being to far away from the opponent, or not strong enough in our opinion to be a legitimate scoring point, it was blocked, or you were so off balance that the technique wouldn't have landed with any power to actually do any good. That, and we have to have a majority (2 out of 3, or 3 out of 5) of the judges must see and agree that there was a point. Angles of view are everything in a tournament. If we can't see it, we won't call it. ALWAYS kai when you do a point! But if you kai EVERYTIME you do anything, we will get used to hearing it and tend to ignore it. Kai ONLY when you have made what you think is a good point. It's not the length of the kai (ie: a 5 second kai is way overboard) that is important, it's the strength of the kai. Now for empty handed kata judging. Because this is an open, all styles tournament, judges can't base their scores on the accuracy of the kata that is being performed for them. Although I've seen kata from Okinawan, Korean, Japanese, American and all other styles of martial arts over the years, I don't know them well enough to say whether they are doing them correctly or not, so we have to base our opinions on certain criteria. Such as: -speed -control -timing- -power -balance -focus -strength I'm typically the center, or controlling judge, for kata, so I always have a short meeting prior to the start of the event with my fellow judges. For beginning levels the judges must have at least a brown belt, with the center ref being a ranking black belt judge. For intermediate levels all judges are black belt level, with the center judge being sometimes the highest rank (but not always), or most experienced judge. We have a few "masters" that show up for tournaments, but they are sometimes VERY biased towards their own students, or they are just not very good judges, and thus are not allowed to be center judge. I also hold a short meeting before the contest with all of the competitors and give them a pep talk and wish them well. When the competition begins, the competitor approaches the judges (usually at a run), stops before them and gives their "salute" or bow, is expected to announce their name, system practiced, name of their kata and then ask permission to begin. I the motion them to begin their kata. We will typically watch 3 competitors, chosen at random representing different systems, by the score keeper sitting behind us before we give any scores. We use the 10 point system (10 being the highest) and can either score by the half point (ie: 8.5), or by the fraction (ie: 8.3, 9.1, etc) depending on the rules of the tournament. After we have scored the first three competitors this way, then each remaining competitor is scored at the end of their kata. Weapons kata can be a real challenge. Judges are picked because of their knowledge of kobudo/weapons. Again, I am typically asked to be the center judge for this competition. I hold a short meeting with my fellow judges prior to the beginning of the event and state some basic rules. First of all is the weapon of choice. Is it a real weapon, or something else? For example, I had a black belt woman enter the competition with a broomstick painted black. Man, could she whip that thing around FAST! However, because of the type of material and the weight of the weapon, she scored very low with the judges. The reason was because if she had actually hit somebody with it, as a kata represents her doing, the weapon would have snapped and caused little to no damage to them. Keep in mind, this is NOT an XMA tournament, but rather a traditional tournament. We also look for good technique. I wouldn't want to even try to guess at the number of competitors over the year that didn't have a clue how to use nunchauku, sai, tonfa, etc other than to whip them around or poke at the air. The best example I can give would be a 3rd dan black belt that laid out nunchauku, sai, bo, katana, and a few other weapons in a half circle in front of us and announced he wasn't going to do a kata, but rather demonstrate to us his expertise with each of the weapons. Sadly, and I was very embarassed for him, he was nothing short of terrible! His technique was very weak with all of the weapons, but hey, he had good KAI's! Out of a possible 10 he scored a 7, which is the lowest score we will give a black belt. My best advice, if you're going to enter a weapons division, is to use a REAL weapon, and really learn how to use it. The nunchauku, for example, isn't ONLY used as a swinging weapon. There are a multitude of blocks and parrys that can, and should be demonstrated. Under no circumstances is the nunchauku passed between the legs, around the back of the neck, twirled between your fingers like a baton, or held close to the rope/chain. Not in a traditional tournament anyway. On the bo, it is a two handed weapon. Swinging it over your head by one hand is NOT good technique or control. Nor is your ability to twirl it with one hand using your fingers. There are a few one handed techniques used with the bo, but essentially it is a two handed weapon. With the sai, kama and tonfa, learn the proper way to hold the weapon when doing a block. So many times I have seen a competitor do a high block and the "blade" of the weapon that is supposed to be blocking isn't where it should be and if the situation was real, the competitor would have their arm cut off or broken from the strike. I hope this helps you understand a judges perspective to tournaments.

Why does everybody miss the most obvious answer? Ask your sensei! That's why you're in his/her class is to learn and be taught. Right?

Well, here's my $.02 worth. I used to be a school teacher and taught classes in high schools and colleges, where I've had a lot of high school and college level wrestlers in my classes over the years and this is what I've learned. In a fight situation, where your wrestler opponent doesn't know what you know, you have an advantage to strike first, and strike hard. Basically, use the element of surprise. Secondly, every wrestler I've had in class, until they learn otherwise, approaches you with hands held wide in a grappling stance. Their head is VERY exposed and vulnerable to a hard jab or back fist, which needs to be followed up immediately with a hard technique such as a lunge punch or snap kick. They also sucker easily for a fake front snap kick (make it fast or they'll grab it) followed by a hard punch...then keep on punching. Third, the wrestle loves to dive for your legs. What always seemed to work for me was to take a half step backwards leap and push their head down when they dove in and follow up with a punch to the back of their head/neck, which could be followed by a tap dance on their back in a street situation...then get the heck out of there! As has been said before, keep your legs apart so that they can't grab both of them if they shoot, and pummel the back of their head if they do grab one of your legs. Anyway, that's what I've experienced and it's worked for me.

My journey began in 1973 while stationed in (West) Germany while in the US Army. There was an enlisted man in my barracks that had a couple of years of TKD training prior to his being drafted into the military and he would work out with a few of us occasionally. The TKD he taught never really thrilled me that much, but it did spark my interests in the arts. When I got back home in late 1974 there were 2 people teaching in the small (12,000 people) Montana town I lived in. One taught TKD, the other Hawaian Kenpo. Both were well known bullies that went into the bars on weekends looking for fights. I pretty much forgot any thoughts of learning the arts because I didn't like either of these instructors or their methods. Then in January of 1975 I called up a friend of mine to see if he wanted to grab some beer and go cruising around town (That was the big thing to do back then...) in my 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner. He said "I can't, I have to go to karate class." Come to find out there was a new sensei in town by the name of Dennis (Denny) Miller teaching Shorin Ryu Matsumura Seito/Orthodox. I went and participated in the class and never left! My friend quit after a few months. Sensei Miller had a life long impact on my life, and if you're reading this Dennis..."THANK YOU!"

Just because we don't agree with it doesn't make it wrong. My biggest pet peeve is young kids (6-12) that wear black belts. If that's ok in your (anybody's) dojo, then that's fine. For me though, I see those kids and it makes me laugh because of what I personally think a black belt represents and means.

As I said in my first post, there are always exceptions. My personal definition of the requirements for black belt are that they should be able to handle themselves against the majority (not all) of people they meet on the street. This excludes trained fighters, such as boxers and other martial artists. However, IMHO, a black belt should be able to hold their own against trained fighters as well. Not necessarily expected to defeat them all, but at least hold their own. Having a black belt does not mean you are the biggest, baddest person on the street by any means. It means (to me) that I have a certain amount of training to defend myself against the average person I would confront on the street. Obviously, a well trained boxer/MMA fighter is NOT your average person on the street. I'm 6'6" tall and weigh 245 lbs. I hold a 4th Dan in Shorin Ryu and have been in the arts since January of 1975. I feel comfortable that against your average, to above average, person on the street that I would be successful in a street confrontation I don't feel I'd fair well in the octagon or such because I train for self-defense, not 3-5 rounds against a professional fighter. My goals in the arts are not anywhere aimed at competition.

AGREED! To me, a black belt symbolizes the skill level of the person wearing it, and that person should be able to handle themselves against the majority of people they should encounter on the street This includes ADULTS! Under that definition (MY definition), a 6-15 year old kid wouldn't qualify except under an extremely rare circumstance.