When you were younger, what were you MA related dreams?

[LionsDen]

My gf made me remember that at one point I had a dream to have a massive dojo, that had an approach that was like 100ft long lined with 12-15ft tall statues, all of this sitting solitary on top of a hill.

Think like Pokémon elite four, but for karate.

And no I wasn’t 8 or 9 when I had this idea, I was at least 18. And now I want to make that happen. The dream is back!

[Zaine]

Listen, that sounds incredible. There's still time to do that.

I'm still chasing my dream. I want to open a dojo, combine all the things that I know, and teach "karate," as opposed to a specific this or that style. Maybe call it American Shorin Ryu just to give it a name. The idea was to get to Sandan and start teaching the system that I knew while broadening through other systems, but then I moved for college and when I got back my Sensei wasn't teaching anymore. Then it was a number of moving around and never being in a solid location for too long. I spent a lot of that time, as my sidebar will attest, training in a lot of other styles. Some I was able to do for a few years and gain good proficiency, while others I was only there for a few months. Now I'm at a new school going for the long haul again (test for 3rd kyu in 2 weeks). By the way things are going, I should have Shodan in about a year here and can start running classes at this dojo so I can learn to be a better teacher.

I actually found someone else at this dojo with similar experience (they have 30 years on my 20) who has the same dream and we've been talking about the end game for us both and potentially developing the style together. It's been an exciting time to do karate.

[LionsDen]

Listen, that sounds incredible. There's still time to do that.

I'm still chasing my dream. I want to open a dojo, combine all the things that I know, and teach "karate," as opposed to a specific this or that style. Maybe call it American Shorin Ryu just to give it a name. The idea was to get to Sandan and start teaching the system that I knew while broadening through other systems, but then I moved for college and when I got back my Sensei wasn't teaching anymore. Then it was a number of moving around and never being in a solid location for too long. I spent a lot of that time, as my sidebar will attest, training in a lot of other styles. Some I was able to do for a few years and gain good proficiency, while others I was only there for a few months. Now I'm at a new school going for the long haul again (test for 3rd kyu in 2 weeks). By the way things are going, I should have Shodan in about a year here and can start running classes at this dojo so I can learn to be a better teacher.

I actually found someone else at this dojo with similar experience (they have 30 years on my 20) who has the same dream and we've been talking about the end game for us both and potentially developing the style together. It's been an exciting time to do karate.

Funny story, but I could have technically had my own dojo at 18 as a shodan.

The head sensei announced when I was 16 he was closing the dojo so he could be more present for his son’s senior year, but one of the assistant instructors stepped up to take over, but after about 6 months he told me if I wanted to take over when I turned 18 I could.

End of the school year and the original head instructor was back now his son was off at college.

Also might just make it fun and make it similar to the Pokémon gym challenge lol.

[Zaine]

Also might just make it fun and make it similar to the Pokémon gym challenge lol.

For Shodan you could spar the Elite 4 and at the end the reward is your Black Belt if you passed! That could be the signifier that you passed, as well. You did well, now just spar the Elite 4 and Champion and if you make it through your reward is the belt. Sounds fun.

[username18526]

I continue to fantasize about this at my age.

I want to create a dojo that also teaches "Karate" for striking after earning my BB in BJJ and Judo.

My style of Karate would be known simply as Karate and would combine BJJ and Judo as well as all the other systems I have studied, and gotten degrees in.

I would adhere to the BJJ belt colors for my grappling classes.

I would use my own belt system of white, green, blue, purple, brown, and black for my karate lessons.

I picture opening my own studio and running my own dojo on one of the less populated Hawaiian islands, like Maui or Kuai.

I would much rather workout in a tropical environment than in a city.

When I last visited Maui, there was only one dojo there that had opened for business, and it just so happened to be a Tang Soo Do dojang.