I was challenged!

[andym]

Zaine -

Eventually, the young man got bored and asked us for a friendly challenge. He went into how he loved martial arts and has done TKD, Shotokan and studied Kenjutsu.

We declined, being that we had no safety gear and we weren't interested in sparring with swords without the gear. He seemed disappointed but politely walked away.

-

I don't view this as a challenge, more an expression of the ignorance of the young man. Example 'studied Kenjutsu', probably means he's watched a video or 'youtube' - at best read a book. Comparable to an event years ago at our Dojo. A young man would come and watch - not take part, just watch. We talked to him...he loved the martial arts, great martial arts fan etc. From watching Kung Fu movies - HE JUST WANTED TO WATCH AND NOT DO ! Thought watching made him a martial artist : sad.

[MasterPain]

Dog Brother's event.

Sorry What's this "Dog Brother's event" ?

You can go on youtube and look it up there. It is in a way like fight club

I would recommend looking into their philosophy a bit before doing so. They don't want you if you don't understand the idea that you are there to strengthen yourself AND the tribe.

[Safroot]

I would recommend looking into their philosophy a bit before doing so. They don't want you if you don't understand the idea that you are there to strengthen yourself AND the tribe.

Any link to read more about their philosophy?

[Zaine]

I would recommend looking into their philosophy a bit before doing so. They don't want you if you don't understand the idea that you are there to strengthen yourself AND the tribe.

Any link to read more about their philosophy?

http://dogbrothers.com/

Here is their website.

[Zaine]

Example 'studied Kenjutsu', probably means he's watched a video or 'youtube' - at best read a book.

A lot of what he was doing looked like he had a lot of interest in XMA, which has it's own interpretation of Kenjutsu. It's possible that his Kenjutsu instructor was also an XMA instructor.

[Safroot]

Here is their website.

Thanks

[ShoriKid]

Dog Brother's event.

Sorry What's this "Dog Brother's event" ?

You can go on youtube and look it up there. It is in a way like fight club

I would recommend looking into their philosophy a bit before doing so. They don't want you if you don't understand the idea that you are there to strengthen yourself AND the tribe.

I had nearly forgotten about the Dog Brothers and the Gatherings of the Pack. I used to be on their forums, some interesting individuals there, or used to be. I seem to remember something about a lawn chair vs. boken at one of them ten or so years back.

Someone walks into your dojo and issues a challenge, it can't really end well. They've come with something to prove or a story to tell when they leave regardless. I was my first instructors door keeper so to speak. When someone came in and said they had trained before, when they were allowed to spar, I was the first on the floor with them. I was an adult, young, didn't mind getting roughed up in training and was the ranking student after a while. So it was my job to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Now that I teach on my own I've had a few guys come in, and it's always young guys, who had trained other places get a little wild sparring. Not out right challenges, but I think they mistook sparring at an appropriate level for lack of skill. Or over estimated their skill because I was trying to fight at their level. Either way it usually only took one or two times of being "reminded" that things weren't the way they thought to settle that. I can't think of any challenged we've ever had that was blatant though. I've heard a couple of stories about walk in challenges from senior instructors. With the way things are legally now, most of those days are behind us.

[Himokiri Karate]

I mostly train in boxing gyms but if someone comes in for a challenge they either have to do two things:

1. Sign a waver that includes medical history,emergency contact as well as a copy of recent medical test that shows the person is HIV free or does not have any transferable diseases in the recent time.

2.Must be registered with an amature boxing org or have a pro boxing licence and most importantly, the challengers coach must be in present or aware of the situation to avoid conflicts.

Its pretty much it, if you beat us then we can learn from you.

[guird]

The way you described it, it sounded like a friendly challenge, not one intended to disrespect. Maybe he just wanted someone to spar with from an outside style. Then again, I wasn't there.

incidentally, why don't you have your safety gear in your training area?

[bushido_man96]

The way you described it, it sounded like a friendly challenge, not one intended to disrespect. Maybe he just wanted someone to spar with from an outside style. Then again, I wasn't there.

incidentally, why don't you have your safety gear in your training area?

People who are interested in training like this should try to approach it a bit more tactfully. If I go to another school, I'll ask if I can train with them, not ask if I can spar someone. If you trundle in and ask for some sparring, it tends to get people's attention, and not necessarily in a good way. But if you ask to train together, then there is more of mutualness about the encounter.

I'd build a rapport with a school training with them for a time, and then let them lead into anything to do with sparring, or bring it up after such a time that there is a bit of a comfort level between you and the school. I think that would be a more respectful way of approaching it.