In all your martial arts training history, is there anything you regret or wished you had or could/should have done? 

For me it is finding and training under my teacher. Perhaps my understanding of Okinawan karate and martial arts would be greater had our paths crossed much earlier. 

So far to date; i regret not formally having gone for my 3rd dan when I had the chance. As I worry that with whats going on that I may not have the chance.

I don't regret anything in my MA journey. I have goals that I want to complete before I cannot any longer, but I can't find any regrets in my training.

I have one and that is I wish I had finished my TKD training and gotten to black belt.  I was less than a year away and I left to go take up another style.  

My one regret is that I wasn’t strong enough to prevent the SKKA civil unrest and war that eventually caused the SKKA’s collapse and closure. 

@sensei8

Resilience like yours is admirable after everything you’ve had to endure(shared on KF). One of the most difficult things to imagine was how it must have been to lose so many friends and fellows at once in that awful freak accident. 

 

 

On 7/28/2025 at 3:38 AM, sensei8 said:

My one regret is that I wasn’t strong enough to prevent the SKKA civil unrest and war that eventually caused the SKKA’s collapse and closure. 

What is the story on this? 

The short of it all is that ego took root.

Soke passes away. Dai-Soke passes away. Son of Dai-Soke closes our Hombu because he wants to move the Hombu to Okinawa. The Regents, of which I was a member of for 25 years, reopens the SKKA under a brand new charter and By-Laws; Dai-Soke is expelled for cause.

I’m elected Kaicho for a short time per our By-Laws. By a majority vote, San Dai-Soke is re-established as the new Kaicho. 

Several of us Regents fight him being re-established. Civil unrest begins with the SKKA Hierarchy.

I’m expelled by Kaicho and Kancho!! 

Most of the Regents refuse to bow to the Upper Hierarchy demands. Student Body is at an uproar.

Civil war erupts between varies factions within the SKKA network and the Hombu.

Dojo’s within the SKKA network withdraw their membership from the SKKA.

Student Body at the Hombu diminishes to nearly zero. SKKA and Hombu dies.

I failed the Student Body, Soke and Dai-Soke by not fighting much harder to save and restore all that Soke and Dai-Soke had built, and rebirth the integrity that was everything to them…and us.

On 8/5/2025 at 6:04 PM, sensei8 said:

The short of it all is that ego took root.

Soke passes away. Dai-Soke passes away. Son of Dai-Soke closes our Hombu because he wants to move the Hombu to Okinawa. The Regents, of which I was a member of for 25 years, reopens the SKKA under a brand new charter and By-Laws; Dai-Soke is expelled for cause.

I’m elected Kaicho for a short time per our By-Laws. By a majority vote, San Dai-Soke is re-established as the new Kaicho. 

Several of us Regents fight him being re-established. Civil unrest begins with the SKKA Hierarchy.

I’m expelled by Kaicho and Kancho!! 

Most of the Regents refuse to bow to the Upper Hierarchy demands. Student Body is at an uproar.

Civil war erupts between varies factions within the SKKA network and the Hombu.

Dojo’s within the SKKA network withdraw their membership from the SKKA.

Student Body at the Hombu diminishes to nearly zero. SKKA and Hombu dies.

I failed the Student Body, Soke and Dai-Soke by not fighting much harder to save and restore all that Soke and Dai-Soke had built, and rebirth the integrity that was everything to them…and us.

Sounds pretty crazy.  Sorry you had to experience that.  I had no idea. 

Great question, food for thought. I don't regret any of the training, choices I've made, or things I've learned along the way. If there's anything to regret, it's that I had a 10-15 year period where I couldn't find a place to train where I'd fit in.