funny story

[zamanbd80]

tell me a funny story.

[Spodo Komodo]

Last week practising Pinan Godan in the field behind my house. I made the jump at the end of the kata and landed with both feet in a previously undiscovered mole run. I was planted in the ground cross-legged to just under the knee...

[wildbourgman]

As a teenager training Shotokan karate I had a fellow student that had just restarted training after a few months or so off with a broken arm. He was pretty rusty to say the least.

My instructor was a hard, competitive sensei and also very committed to proper technique, especially strong deep Shotokan stances.

While performing some sparring drills with this student he was supposed to throw a mid level round house kick and I was supposed to down block and reverse punch.

My rusty partner threw a upper mid level round house kick that travelled up my arm and smacked me in the head with full power.

Instantly I blacked out, and then when I could see again it was green and yellow with stars and a ringing in my ears. I felt nauseous and thought I might throw up right there on the dojo floor.

The entire class had come to a halt when they heard the smack of his foot on the side of my face and head. My Sensei rather than checking to see if I was alright he explained to the students that I had been knocked unconscious, but still stood strong due to a proper stance and good leg training. He spent a few minutes explaining quality deep stances, while I stood there getting ready to blow chunks and probably had a concussion.

[Lupin1]

This is my favorite story my instructor tells.

He was training at his dojo back in the 70s-- a time when people apparently regularly walked into dojos and issued challenges and otherwise started trouble.

Two guys came in and wanted to watch. They sat and watched for awhile, making loud comments about how weak everyone was and how it was a joke of a school. The instructor was getting more and more angry, but everyone just kept training and ignored them.

My instructor was a lower ranked student at the time and was working a move he and his partner had been practicing just for show where he covers his ribs with his hand and she sidekicks him there-- hitting his hand but looking like she's nailing him hard in the ribs. Afterwards, she was supposed to sweep his leg and take him down, but she swung her leg up a bit too high and popped him in the nose.

He falls to the floor with blood gushing from his nose when his instructor comes up beside him and whispers "just lie still and go along with it". The instructor and another black belt grab him by the ankles and drag him the entire way across the floor and into the changing room, leaving a trail of blood that spans the entire floor.

The black belts then go back out, walk up to the obnoxious visitors and say "Gentlemen, you're in luck! It seems a spot just opened up for a new student!". The two guys turned white and immediately left, never to darken their doorway again.

[Patrick]

I love these stories. Thanks for sharing.

Except for yours, maybe, wildbourgman. That sounds awful. Is your instructor still around?

Patrick

[wildbourgman]

Yes Patrick, he's still around but he no longer trains or teaches. He was a very good instructor to learn from but he was not so much on caring. He was very competitive for himself and his students but the big thing was that he focused on detail and that's what I remember about him most of all.

Because oh him and my current Shorin Ryu instructors new direction I've been using the phrase "start with perfection" and that's something that I think can help many instructors and students find their way in every walk of live including martial arts. In my view you should only allow students to move on when perfection of current techniques has been achieved. I think we throw too much at students and then wonder why they are sloppy later in their training. The instructor that I wrote this about taught us how to crawl perfectly prior to allowing us to attempt to walk.

The story wasn't funny at the time, but when I tell it to people who knew my Sensei they laughingly say that sounds exactly like something he would do. Also there may have been a brief discussion about my well being, but due to my altered state of consciousness I was not privy to or included in any such parlance that may or may not have took place.

[Patrick]

Thanks for the update, wildbourgman!

Patrick