Go Kan Ryu

[sensei8]

I think of myself as being rather insulated from some of the weird and wacky things in martial arts, living in the dead center of Canada we tend not to attract those that are looking for LOTS of funds and bigger organizations. The one experience I have with a GKR stylist was about 4 years back when someone from that group moved to my city.

Now we have a Gracie Academy guy here who teaches and owns his own club and is just a blue belt but he admits to his level of understanding and aside from some "rougher than needed" allegations the guy is pretty upfront that he is a newbie and trains hard to be better

Now the gent that came in from GKR tried to open a small club about four years ago and made the rounds meeting with instructors from different clubs. The first thing that I did NOT like was he called us and asked if he could drop by for a class, we did not know who or what he was at the time and told him to come out and train, the first week is always free so come on down.

He shows up and tells me and my instructor he is a senior level “sensei” in a different but similar style, he did not say GKR or I would have asked how long he had been training. He said he would be able to more than keep up and wondered if we wanted to hear what he had learned training one on one with his instructor….we said if something came up in class go ahead and throw your hand up!

Okay, so the guy straps on a black belt with a white stripe down it and we right away knew something was up! A European cut gi with the jacket looking a bit like the bottom end of bleached kilt and he had pads that he wanted to wear for Kumite…which thankfully we said he could keep on a desk in the gym if we started sparring we would let him know to go throw them on.

Basics are basics right…not if this guy has anything to say about them. First off he wanted to “present” us with his “Wisdom” on each move we were doing…but he looked like a white belt that managed to study a book and was really excited to share….and it was drivel!

Next was Kata, he was…well horrible! The guy screwed up Heian Shodan and forgot parts of Heian Nidan…we worked our way up to Bassai Dai and he was lost but tried to play along. Now we were kind of talking during short rest breaks, my instructor and I, and we said it must be because he was from some other organization and style and the fact that he could “play along” was good.

By half way through class he was sucking wind and actually gave up. He raised his hand and asked to go for water, when he came back he was looking kind of sick and we had not gotten to the Kumite yet. He asked to sit out for a tad to catch his breath and just sat for the rest of class.

After class we talked for a bit and as it turned out he had less than two years of training and after three months entered the “Sensei’s” Program and had not really trained much since. He had NO martial arts experience since then and after I asked WTF is a “Sensei Program” he asked how I got my Sensei level….After a long blank look I told him that you don’t take a course to become a Sensei , you train your rump off and after a good long time you start teaching, if your students consider you a Sensei…then you are one!

He did not come back but later I found out through a mutual friend that he threw in the towel and joined a Muay Thai club and just works out for fun.

I read up on GKR after that and to be frank I am very glad I live in the middle of Canada in a place that they probably wont come to. It looks like a pyramid system and shady as all get out. I know they have some great sport Karate people, but my feeling is that they are very physically gifted people that would do well in any system. The structure and frame work of the group is scary and shady at the same time.

That’s is just my experience with them, but I have had some good and bad ones with lots of different kinds of people.

Solid post!!

[Nidan Melbourne]

I think of myself as being rather insulated from some of the weird and wacky things in martial arts, living in the dead center of Canada we tend not to attract those that are looking for LOTS of funds and bigger organizations. The one experience I have with a GKR stylist was about 4 years back when someone from that group moved to my city.

Now we have a Gracie Academy guy here who teaches and owns his own club and is just a blue belt but he admits to his level of understanding and aside from some "rougher than needed" allegations the guy is pretty upfront that he is a newbie and trains hard to be better

Now the gent that came in from GKR tried to open a small club about four years ago and made the rounds meeting with instructors from different clubs. The first thing that I did NOT like was he called us and asked if he could drop by for a class, we did not know who or what he was at the time and told him to come out and train, the first week is always free so come on down.

He shows up and tells me and my instructor he is a senior level “sensei” in a different but similar style, he did not say GKR or I would have asked how long he had been training. He said he would be able to more than keep up and wondered if we wanted to hear what he had learned training one on one with his instructor….we said if something came up in class go ahead and throw your hand up!

Okay, so the guy straps on a black belt with a white stripe down it and we right away knew something was up! A European cut gi with the jacket looking a bit like the bottom end of bleached kilt and he had pads that he wanted to wear for Kumite…which thankfully we said he could keep on a desk in the gym if we started sparring we would let him know to go throw them on.

Basics are basics right…not if this guy has anything to say about them. First off he wanted to “present” us with his “Wisdom” on each move we were doing…but he looked like a white belt that managed to study a book and was really excited to share….and it was drivel!

Next was Kata, he was…well horrible! The guy screwed up Heian Shodan and forgot parts of Heian Nidan…we worked our way up to Bassai Dai and he was lost but tried to play along. Now we were kind of talking during short rest breaks, my instructor and I, and we said it must be because he was from some other organization and style and the fact that he could “play along” was good.

By half way through class he was sucking wind and actually gave up. He raised his hand and asked to go for water, when he came back he was looking kind of sick and we had not gotten to the Kumite yet. He asked to sit out for a tad to catch his breath and just sat for the rest of class.

After class we talked for a bit and as it turned out he had less than two years of training and after three months entered the “Sensei’s” Program and had not really trained much since. He had NO martial arts experience since then and after I asked WTF is a “Sensei Program” he asked how I got my Sensei level….After a long blank look I told him that you don’t take a course to become a Sensei , you train your rump off and after a good long time you start teaching, if your students consider you a Sensei…then you are one!

He did not come back but later I found out through a mutual friend that he threw in the towel and joined a Muay Thai club and just works out for fun.

I read up on GKR after that and to be frank I am very glad I live in the middle of Canada in a place that they probably wont come to. It looks like a pyramid system and shady as all get out. I know they have some great sport Karate people, but my feeling is that they are very physically gifted people that would do well in any system. The structure and frame work of the group is scary and shady at the same time.

That’s is just my experience with them, but I have had some good and bad ones with lots of different kinds of people.

Solid post!!

Very solid post. Very entertaining when they try and be awesome when they are not

[andym]

It's so good, I may have to borrow it for my ongoing opposition to GKR. PM on the Kensei.

[Nidan Melbourne]

I feel like educating them the next time they door knock

[CredoTe]

I think of myself as being rather insulated from some of the weird and wacky things in martial arts, living in the dead center of Canada we tend not to attract those that are looking for LOTS of funds and bigger organizations. The one experience I have with a GKR stylist was about 4 years back when someone from that group moved to my city.

Now we have a Gracie Academy guy here who teaches and owns his own club and is just a blue belt but he admits to his level of understanding and aside from some "rougher than needed" allegations the guy is pretty upfront that he is a newbie and trains hard to be better

Now the gent that came in from GKR tried to open a small club about four years ago and made the rounds meeting with instructors from different clubs. The first thing that I did NOT like was he called us and asked if he could drop by for a class, we did not know who or what he was at the time and told him to come out and train, the first week is always free so come on down.

He shows up and tells me and my instructor he is a senior level “sensei” in a different but similar style, he did not say GKR or I would have asked how long he had been training. He said he would be able to more than keep up and wondered if we wanted to hear what he had learned training one on one with his instructor….we said if something came up in class go ahead and throw your hand up!

Okay, so the guy straps on a black belt with a white stripe down it and we right away knew something was up! A European cut gi with the jacket looking a bit like the bottom end of bleached kilt and he had pads that he wanted to wear for Kumite…which thankfully we said he could keep on a desk in the gym if we started sparring we would let him know to go throw them on.

Basics are basics right…not if this guy has anything to say about them. First off he wanted to “present” us with his “Wisdom” on each move we were doing…but he looked like a white belt that managed to study a book and was really excited to share….and it was drivel!

Next was Kata, he was…well horrible! The guy screwed up Heian Shodan and forgot parts of Heian Nidan…we worked our way up to Bassai Dai and he was lost but tried to play along. Now we were kind of talking during short rest breaks, my instructor and I, and we said it must be because he was from some other organization and style and the fact that he could “play along” was good.

By half way through class he was sucking wind and actually gave up. He raised his hand and asked to go for water, when he came back he was looking kind of sick and we had not gotten to the Kumite yet. He asked to sit out for a tad to catch his breath and just sat for the rest of class.

After class we talked for a bit and as it turned out he had less than two years of training and after three months entered the “Sensei’s” Program and had not really trained much since. He had NO martial arts experience since then and after I asked WTF is a “Sensei Program” he asked how I got my Sensei level….After a long blank look I told him that you don’t take a course to become a Sensei , you train your rump off and after a good long time you start teaching, if your students consider you a Sensei…then you are one!

He did not come back but later I found out through a mutual friend that he threw in the towel and joined a Muay Thai club and just works out for fun.

I read up on GKR after that and to be frank I am very glad I live in the middle of Canada in a place that they probably wont come to. It looks like a pyramid system and shady as all get out. I know they have some great sport Karate people, but my feeling is that they are very physically gifted people that would do well in any system. The structure and frame work of the group is scary and shady at the same time.

That’s is just my experience with them, but I have had some good and bad ones with lots of different kinds of people.

Solid post!!

Very solid post. Very entertaining when they try and be awesome when they are not

Solid posts all around... I agree, it is humorous when these things happen

The silver lining is the gentleman in kensei's story seemed to recognize the error of his ways and switched to something else...

[quinteros1963]

I had an opportunity to see HKR students in action this weekend. They did well in the tournament, placing in many divisions. Like most schools some students were better than others. In all I have nothing negative to say about the style as it combines my favorite styles.