Montana

We train not to finish, but rather to stop the fight. Our aim is to use whatever force is necessary, yet not excessive unless the situation warrants, to stop the opponent from attacking us. If that means we have to "finish" him, then so be it. If it mens we just have to knock the wind out of them or bloody his nose to end the fight..even better.

*ahem*..well, other than that's a typical example of the type of kata that I, personally, do a daily basis...it was pretty ok. Well OK...maybe a bit more flexible than I am.... Anyway, she's very impressive in the flexibility and balance areas..,.but I'm a hardcore traditionalist and really hate turning the arts into a flash-fest.

I disagree here. I think self-defense should be taught as the core of a style, and everything else should come out of that idea. That way, you know that the bulk of what you are learning is self-defense based. Absolutely CORRECT!

I'm fairly new to Shorin Ryu, having just started in January....of 1975. One thing you'll learn about Shorin Ryu...the more you learn of it, the harder you train, the more discoveries you'll make about it. It's a wonderful, well rounded art and allows you to grow for the rest of your life. Embrace it...study it...and open your mind to it. It's a wonderful art.

Exactly, and not only openings and weakness's in your opponent, but in yourself as well.

If I'm understanding you correctly, the standing guy is in front of the kneeing guy and has his hands around the kneeling guys throat? If so, then his balance is WAY forward because he has to bend over at the waist to get his hands around the others throat. I can't see anybody doing this...to awkward and unnatural. But anyway, in the given scenerio, I'd probably: 1. lean backwards and kick the guys knees out from under him, or... 2. groin strike with my hand, or... 3. lean back and kick to his groin, or... 4. grab his arm, spin so my back was to him and launch him over my head to the floor, or... 5. lean back ans sweep his legs out, or... 6. his torso is totally exposed and open for any sort of punch you ants to give him. That's all that comes to mine in 60 seconds...there are others.

I've been a judge and referee in open (all styles welcome) since 1978, but have only competed in one tournament myself. Why? well, I'm not a competitive person by nature, and for me, tournaments are just a game. They have little relevance to what martial arts are all about in my opinion. Tournaments are "play time" and sport, not really "martial arts". In the one tournament I competed in (black belt heavy weight division) I won 2nd place in kata (Chinto), 3rd in sparring (single elimination..I lost with a score of 4-5 to a good friend of mine from another system with many years of tournament competition experience), Outstanding Judge award and the Outstanding Competitor Award. I figured for my first tournament as a competitor I walked out with 2 trophies and 2 plaques..that was good enough, so I retired from competition.

VERY cool!

\For the most part, I agree. Depending on the circumstances, such as just one opponent, I might just stand back and be there if needed, but otherwise not get involved. Multiple opponents, you betcha! I'm there for ya sensei!

DITTO!

Our system also advocates the head turn prior to movement in a kata. I'm wondering if I'm seeing a pattern here with Okinawan systems? When I call outa kata, and my students know this..the first thing I want to see move is the head..period.

I also agree..where a class is taught is by far less important than the quality of the instruction. Myself, I've taught in the local park during nicer weather, several high school and college gyms, churchs, grocery store basement, 2 health clubs, my basement, my garage, my living room, conference room of a phone company, in several commercial locations including a shopping mall, and a few places I'd just as soon forget about! lol Yeah, I know...a lot of locations. I've been teaching since 1978 in 4 different cities.

There are no "secret techniques"...just techniques you haven't learned yet. If an instructor/dojo/system has "secret techniques"...they are just trying to mystify the art to keep you coming.

There are many reason IMO that an age requirement needs to be in place for Dan levels. Firstly, IMO of course, I feel a Dan level rank signifies that the holder can take over any aspect of a class and teach it to others if required. This includes kata, self-defense techniques, full/medium or light contact sparring, warm-ups, etc. This is one (of many) reasons I object to 6-14 year old black belts. Secondly, I feel that it takes time to "season" a person after a promotion. Meaning they need to mature into that new belt level and continue to train harder for improvement in speed, technique, strength, etc. That takes time. If all you had to do was learn and test on new kata, then it is conceivable that a person could be a very high Dan rank in a very short amount of time.

My thoughts EXACTLY! It's "Karate" Kid, not KungFu Kid..

Everybody's definition is going to be different. Personally, it represents work done and a specific level of skill. Again, my prsonal opinion is that a black belt holder "should" be able to handle themselves in a fight against the majority of the people he/she should encounter on the street, and should also be able to handle themselves against multiple attackers and attackers with most weapons (guns don't count obviously). Because this is how I define it, I am against children attaining black belts. There's no way a child of 6-14 can handle themselves against an adult...period! Well, there has to be SOMEONE that can teach, and criteria that allows them to determine whether or not a person has the skills and knowledge to teach. When I started my training in January of 1975 after a stint in the military, a black belt was pretty rare to see. Now, half the grade schools kids have them! Pretty pathetic if you ask me. I think a black belt is pretty meaningless now.

I also agree!

That's basically how I've been testing kyu ranks for the past 25 years or so. Dan tests are a bit more formal, but not bad.

I've taught karate classes in two different health clubs where we had the opportunity to do karate training ibn the pools, and it's GREAT! The water resistence gives you a great workout when practicing kicks, punches and blocks. The best way to do it IMO is to have everybody wear sweat shits and pants (clean of course) as the added weight really makes those muscles burn in a short while, yet you remain cool. I had everybody get in the pool so that the water was up to their necks and we went through the basic blocks, kicks and punches, just like we do every class, then started working on combinations. Everybody had a GREAT time and everybody was really tired at the end of an hour class. I whole heartedly recommend this type of training when possible.

I think that depends on the instructor, type of students you have (all beginners or a mixture of belts), ages of the students, etc.

Bo Jo Niton Bo Sai Kama Tonfa Nunchaku Cane (my personal favorite) Plus we will attempt to use any everyday item a students brings in a self-defense way.

They're going to be out camping, and they're eating LOBSTER TAIL??? Where's the steaks and burgers??? RV's? *tsk* OK, here's my opinion of this...not knowing how much they're charging for this seminar, I'd bet it's VERY expensive though, I'd guess that this is just another case of "Let the Buyer Beware!"

The first class I taught on my own as a new shodan (just 3 months) was in the Fall of 1974 in a small farm town in Northcentral Montana. It consisted of 27 junior/senior high school students. None of my new students had any prior experience in any form of the martial arts, and it was interesting...to say the least! After 3 months or so, I had students that were able to take new students to the side and teach them the basic blocks, kicks, stances, punches, etc, which freed me up to teach the rest of the class. There were times that I also was unable to attend the class and had to cancel on short notice. I made it clear to my students that this would be rare, but would happen sometimes and that we would schedule a makeup class sometime within a month to make it up. It was never a problem. As for teaching a class by yourself, well, I've had classes of well over 50 students and I was the only instructor. You have to intermix your more experienced students among your newer students so that they can help them as you go along. It works very well, as most people are more than willing to help others. If you can't handle 15 students, my suggestion would be to take no new students and the class will eventually decrease in size for one reason or the other, until you have a class size that you're comfortable with. That, or split the class into two groups (not recommended) that train at different times.

Well, since I don't have a facebook account (I know, probably the only person on the planet that doesn't have one...and doesn't WANT one!)...I couldn't see the vid's. Maybe next time.

I've had a number of instructors from "make it up as you go" schools inquire about joining my class. My problem with that is that they will take what I teach them and integrate it into their own class for their own students. That just sort of rubs me the wrong way. I teach somethign to them, they barely have a grasp of how it works and why, but they take it and teach it to their students. From a students perspective, if I knew my sensei was taking classes from someone other than his own sensei or someone with more knowledge in the same art, I would be concerned as to why. My thoughts would be somethign like "Is my instructor, or the system he teaches, so weak that he needs additional training in another system to mnake his stronger?" Personally, I'd probably look elsewhere for training, as this sort of thing doesn't instill confidence in my sensei.