Tournament and Seminar Schedule 2008
January
Jan
14 – Soke Gary Wasniewski
Seminar, 7-9:00pm at the GAMA Dojo. Contact Sensei Tim Gilbert (301) 253-4765
Jan 19- Karyims 22nd Battle of the Martial Arts(
Jan 26 – WOMAA Mid
Atlantic Four Seasons Championship(Bridgeville,
De.)Contact Bruce C. Smith (443) 366-6277
Jan 26 – VKA Classic
Ipen Karat4e Championship (
February
Feb 22-23 Beach
Blast Martial Arts Open 2008(
Feb 23 – Future
Leaders of
March
Mar 8 – NAFMA Sport
Weaponry Championship (
Mar 14 – World
Series of Martial Arts (
Mar 22 – 13th
April
April
12 – Kathy Long Seminar at GAMA. 10-12AM at the Dojo Contact Tim Gilbert (301) 253-4765
April 20 –
May
May
3 – The JW Spring Classics (
May 3 – World
Tournament of Champions Spring Open (
May
17 –
May 22-24 – NAFMA
National Championships (
May 24 – WOMAA Mid Atlantic Four Seasons Championships (Bridgeville De)
Contact Bruce C. Smith (443) 366-6277
June
June 7 - 4th
Annual “Stop The Violence” Karate Tournament Contact Sensei Kenny (302)
293-2185
June 7 – Virginias
Best Challenge (Lynch berg, Va)
Contact Edwin Alegaendro (434) 385-1440
June 28 – 3rd
Memorial Martial Arts Tournament (
July
August
Aug 8-10 – US
Capital Classic/China Open (
Aug 30 – Kathy Long
Seminar a the Dojo.10-12:00am. Contact Tim Gilbert at
(301)253-4765
Aug
30 – GAMA Birthday Party at the Dojo. 6:00pm-Until Closing. Contact Tim Gilbert at (301)253-4765
September
Sept 13 – WOMAA Four Season Championships (Bridgesville, De.) Contact Bruce C Smith (443) 366-6277
Sept 21 – 28th Annual Tournament
of Champions (
October
October 27, 2007 The Kumite Klassic,
Shihan Steve Tolson
(301)884-6141
November
November 7-9, 2007
Eastern
Nov 15 - WOMAA Mid
Atlantic Four Seasons Championships (Bridgeville De. )
Contact Bruce C Smith
(443) 366-6277
December
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Wisdom of the Samurai is available in book form for
$29.95. If you want a copy of this book
call (301) 482-0000 and ask for it, and it will be packaged an
mailed to you. Do you want to manage
your life and your relationships with others well.
These articles with some additional information are in book form.
(Note that we have tried to make it easy for anyone to
ask a question or make a comment and get it answered. If you want to ask a
Martial Arts related question you can email Gamasensei
at Damascuskarate dot com(Translate
this to an email address). Please do not send rude emails, I will simply delete
them. I will do my best to answer all emails in a timely manner)
March 24, 2008
Teaching Young
Children Martial Arts
Many parents have questions regarding the Martial Arts and their children, like “How old should my child be before I start training them?” or “What is the best Martial Art to teach my child?” I though writing about this subject would be instructive.
Lets start by answering the above questions. Most 4 year olds simply don’t have the discipline to study the Martial Arts. This is more of a comments about the development stage of the child than the child himself or herself. I say “most” because I have had some very successful 4 year olds come thru my school. Training them just takes time and patience. Can a little child of 4 profit from Martial Arts training. Of course they can, I have had several children this age come to the dojo and learn to take and follow directions, learn to deal with adults, learn how to work with other children, and overcome their fears. So training 4 year olds is not a bad thing, it just take a lot more time and more patience In general 5 year olds have more of the discipline necessary to train in the Martial Arts.
Now, I don’t think it matters what Martial Art you teach a child, what matters is the relationship between your child and the Martial Arts instructor. Is he or she kind to your child, does your child like the instructor, does the instructor spend time with your child making sure they are learning correctly. In general is studying with this instructor a happy experience for your child. If you don’t see these things in a dojo you should probably shy away from this dojo.
There are some other considerations when selecting a Dojo for you child, these are Safety, Instructor Quality, Dojo Quality, Training Techniques, and Class Size
Let us address each of these area’s:
Safety:
Are all classes taught by a Black Belt level instructor? Martial Artist are required to make many subjective judgments during a class. Black Belts holders are generally trained and qualified via their experience to make the kinds of judgments.
Instructor Quality
Does the person who will instruct your child a good character? Your child will come to view his/her Martial Arts instructor as a role model. You want to make sure that the role model your child sees is appropriate for your child.
Dojo Quality
Is the Dojo part of a larger organization. This is not a show stopper, some Dojo’s which are not a part of a larger organization can be very good. However, being part of a larger organization help define what is taught in to your child, it helps ensure that all of the instructor are current in their Martial Arts training, and it helps each instructor gain access to new material to teach your child.
Training Techniques
Is the instructor cruel to you child. The problem the instructor has is how to make a child size student “tough”. In the name of “toughness” I have seen children as young as 12 years old knocked unconscious, kicked so hard they have had the wind knocked out of them, and stuck with a weapon. None of these thing happen if a parent stays with the child..
Class Size
Does the instructor have time during class to spend with your child. It doesn’t matte what the class size is but does the instructor have time during the class to come around and talk to your child. This is the process that generates learning in your child.
The Martial Arts is a wonderful discipline for children to study. It teaches the very young how to follow directions, how to work in groups, and builds strong and healthy bodies. All of these are necessary to a child to succeed in school.
Meeting the Grim
Reaper
Feb 18, 2008
I had a stroke. I though writing about the experience would be informative so below
Are my thoughts on the subject and its relationship to what we learn in the Martial Arts.
The actual stroke was a terrifying experience. The things that you depend on to work well for just don’t seem to work any more.
I am a 65 year olds male who is very strong physically. The strength that I have depended on all my life to accomplish things no long worked, I was physically weak and unable to even speak.
The stroke itself is a humbling experience. Simple things like eating, drinking, and speaking, are beyond your ability to perform. It is a very frustrating experience. I kept thinking that I should not have eaten the last piece of Veal Pot-roast for dinner Luckily for me the people involved in caring for stroke victims are a kind and gentle group who treated me with kindness and respect during the whole experience.
What helped me from the Martial Arts? While it not exactly Martial Arts, I was glad I had all of my Family Planning done. All of a sudden thing like did my wife know where our money was and how to get to it, were all of my Wills in place, and did I have a living Will in place be came very important. Next, I think physical fitness came thru, I don’t mean the ability to do pushups, I mean have a strong frame on which to hang my body. My heart worked well, my Brain got busy repairing itself, and the Dr.’s did the rest. Attitude helped, when you cannot hold a spoon you appreciate people who can hold you’re hand and form your hand as needed to hold a spoon. Finally I think Honor was important, I had lived a good life and those who knew me would think well of me and that thought was comforting. I had a long discussion in the Hospital with one of my friends who teaches Astronomy, he told me that when we don’t have a radio or TV in out lives we tend to be closer to nature. This statement helped me realized how much of my life was shaped by access to radio and TV.
I learned several things during this experience. Those who deal with strokes and their victims are very interested in the Martial Arts Not because we can pound somebody into pie but we know how to fall. We train ourselves to hit hard and fall to the matt without being injured. . Stoke victims are not interested in pounding people into pie but they have a keen interest in learning how to fall without being injured.
Faith helped a lot, when you are eyeball to eyeball with the Grim Reaper and you know you can’t win this battle you tend to close your eyes and say “Lord, please take care of me”.
The actually stroke occurred very quickly. I went to dinner on Saturday night with my family and I was fine. That night I went to the movies with my Son and his family and I was beginning to slur my speech. By Sunday morning when I woke up I was unable to speak so I had my wife drive me to the Hospital. This is probably not the best scenario for a stoke victim but I had to have something important fail before I realized how much trouble I was in.
What did I appreciate. Visitors were especially nice Even, if they didn’t bring anything, just the fact that someone would take time out of there busy schedule to come and see me meant a lot to me.
I wanted to enjoy the simple things of life again I wanted to hold hands with my wife, I wanted to talk with my son and tell him how proud of him I was, I wanted to drive a hot car and feel the power at my command, I wanted to go to the movies with my son again, and I wanted to eat a steak dinner.
There was little fear involved, only the realization that my body wasn’t working well.
What made all of this bearable was a lot of friends who
visited my hospital room as soon as it became well known that I was ill. I will
cherish the many cards and gifts I received especially from my many friends in
Thank goodness, I survived this stroke. At the present time I am OK. I am now on the long road to recovery and I am getting stronger each day. I have learned to appreciate the kindness and consideration of others during this experience. I hope somehow to be able to pass on to others what this experience has taught me.
A Walk Thru Life
December 17, 2007
Most of us come into this life as small squirmy and noisy little packages whom are cared for by some people called their parents until you are able to care for yourself and then we set out on a walk thru life, probably better thought of as a Journey. Then we reach old age and something malfunctions in our body and we leave this Earth. This is an event which happens to all of us.
What we do in the course of this Journey is pretty much up to us. Most of us get involved in making a living, supporting our families, and of course practicing the Martial Arts. What we do when we undertake this journey thru life has significant effects those around us.
Do we fear the end of our existence here on Earth? This is generally not a very productive emotion to let drive your thoughts. Some people on this Earth have learned to deal with this fear by acceptance. The idea is that if we accept the fact that the end of our time on this Earth is coming we are freed from fearing it.
The remainder of our journey thru life becomes a management problem. What do we want to accomplish with our time here on Earth? In our case what do we want to accomplish in the Martial Arts when we are here on Earth. Be careful what you wish for those people I know who are leaders in the Martial Arts world very hard at the business of training in the Martial Arts. Whatever our goals for our lives there seems to be some clear life management guidelines, which I call HRC, that would assist us all. Lets talk about these guidelines.
Honor
What does it mean to be honorable? Many people have struggled with this question so here is my answer. Always speak the truth, and be honest in your dealings with others.
Respect
Respect the people and things around you in your life. Start by respecting yourself, eat right, exercise, and train in your Martial Art. Respect the customs of others, even if you disagree with them. The customs are clearly something that somebody sees some value in, or they never would have been shown to you. Respect the Earth, we are all privileged to live in a pristine world and we should shepard the Earth for those we share it with.
Courtesy
Be kind in dealing with others even if they are not kind with you. If someone treats you badly, and you respond by treating them badly, you have not improved the world around you. . Show an interest in their goals in life, you make more friends with an apple than a lemon. Your affect on the Earth when you leave it will be in the minds of those you leave behind. Most of us don’t want to be remembered as mean, or vindictive. Remember, that all of those people you meet in your life will carry the memory of you when you no longer walk this Earth.
These guidelines will make your life easier. Notice that I did not say they would be easy to implement. To implement these guidelines you must gain control of your emotions and assume responsibility for your own actions. Two things which require a lot of growth in most individuals. I was involved with a wonderful example of what could be accomplished by following these guidelines. I recently had several of my students throw my wife and I a surprise Xmas party. This was a group of approximately 20 adults and children who came to the party to honor someone. What struck me was how happy everyone was. We even had people including children call the dojo and wish my wife and I a Merrry Christmas.
The lesson I learned from this event was that we are all happiest when we help others. It is the act or providing assistance or honoring others that seems to provide us the most satisfaction.
Merry Christmas
everyone!!!!!!
November 12, 2007
A Gathering of Eagles
I had the pleasure of attending the Eastern USA
International Martial Arts Association (EUSAIMAA) conference in
Several things happened at the Conference which I thought would be instructive to talk about.
First, was the advent of all of the little children whom I have watched grow into teenagers and are now all my good friends. I am amazed at how quickly the shy little children I remember coming into the dojo have become powerful Martial Artist. I am also concerned about the future of these little children. What do you teach these children to ensure that they grow and prosper in the future? I suppose I am not asking any questions that most parents haven’t asked themselves, and in fact I remember asking the same questions about my son when he was a young man. Most of us are not in a position to manipulate our child’s future however we as Sensei’s can arm these young people with some weapons that they may or may not have. If you as a parent a teachers, and associate, or just a friend, think about what has caused you they most problems in your life you will generally find that these problems have occurred when and individual has lost their way on the path that we teach in the Martial Arts. The things that guide us best in our lives are honor, integrity, and character. These are not easy things to teach, but if we teach our students these things they will be well armed to face future challenges.
I was privileged to attend this conference with my good friend Sifu Kathy Long. Something happened at this conference regarding Sifu Kathy which I thought was very instructive. Sifu Kathy received and award at this conference, when she rose to go to the podium to receive her award she was one three people in the room who received a standing ovation from the audience of approximately five hundred well known Martial Artist. My understanding of this event was that it indicated how much respect there was for Sifu Kathy in this audience of her peers. Everyone in the audience understood what a hard fighter she is, how hard she works, how kind and humble she truly is, and that a leader Sifu Kathy is in the Martial Arts.
The other thing that happened at this conference which was very interesting was my good friend Keith Turner taught a Jiu-jitsu Seminar. Sensei Keith is a smaller gentleman, he is probably five feet six inches tall but he is a superb technician in his art. I watched people try to grab Sensei Keith and end up flying all over the flood. It was truly one of the most impressive seminars I have ever seen. I had an opportunity to discuss the seminar later with Sensei Keith and I asked him how could you make all of those different people with different sizes, shapes, and strengths, fly around the mat so easily. Sensei Keith answered me with one word, “Technique”. Sensei Keith was clearly one of those Masters who had so much skill in his art that he could make hard things looks easy. I came away from this seminar hoping that I could master my arts as well as Sensei Keith has mastered his.
One of the other things that happened at this conference involved the little children. We had several little children this conference from my dojo. I was a little reluctant to nominate young children at this conference until I had a discussion with one of the young students . This young lady came up to me and told me what a good time she was having. I learned latter that upon arriving an the conference this young lady was very reluctant to work out with other students because of her insecurity about her age (9Years old ) and rank (Go Kyu). However during the conference she learned to overcome her shyness and by the end of the conference the young lady was telling me about what a great time she had and how much she had learned.
My observation is the this conference was very educational to all who attended it, and was well worth the time and financial commitments involved. I would encourage everyone to attend at least one of these conferences.
October 8, 2007
The Size of our Lives
It seems to me that many of us, both students and teachers in the Martial Arts have a very short sighted view of our lives and our accomplishments, lengthening this view would make us better teachers and students.
Many of us attend and compete in Martial Arts tournaments. We work hard to prepare, we learn all we can about the tournament, we learn all we can about competing and competition, and then we spend days preparing our self and presenting our forms.
This is a tremendous amount of work which involves many months if it is done properly and in such a way as to make yourself competitive.
The truth of the matter is that whether or not you bring home a trophy from a tournament has very little to do with the benefit you receive when competing in a tournament. If you win a trophy you are exuberant, if you don’t win a trophy you come home and sit down and ask yourself “Why didn’t I win?” You agonize for days over what you did or didn’t do during the competition. You even feel bad because you sometimes believe that the fact that you didn’t “win” a trophy makes you feel incompetent as a Martial Artist. But the truth is that you are not incompetent as a Martial Artist, you are just inexperienced. As you gain experience, you learn how put power, strength, speed, and all of the other attributes that judges like to see into your forms. Now, if you are fortunate enough to have a good Sensei, he or she will help you improve your forms before you have to go thru all of this extra work. The fact that a tournament makes you do this is the real value that you receive from competing in a tournament. I tell my students that whether or not they win a trophy is immaterial, they have won if the learn something at the tournament.
Lets talk about some other things that happen in the Martial Arts. Sometimes you run across students whose personality is so obnoxious that they are difficult to deal with, we commonly call these people jerks. If you knock them unconscious you haven’t fixed them, you have just made them into unconscious jerks. If you help them improve their personality and teach them to learn, to be better Martial Artist, to be less abrasive, and not to take advantage of others then you will have changed their life forever. By the way, if you do this to a student or another Sensei they will remember you forever. You will not only have made a lasting friend but you will build a monument to your skill as a Sensei.
Most of us remember our first Sensei because he or she helped introduce us to the Martial Arts.
Many of us learn Kumite (Fighting)
by practicing a lot and getting hit hard. It is absolutely necessary to fight
hard at some point in your Martial Arts career if you are going to learn to be
a hard fighter. However it seems like some students and instructors lose sight
of the goal of building a good fighter and begin to measure their success as a
fighter by how many other students they can defeat. The truth is that to be a
better fighter you need to practice against people who are better fighters than
you. Roughing up less capable fighters does nothing to improve your fighting
skills. Some of the best fighters in the
It seems like those people at the top of the Martial Arts such as Soke Gary and Sifu Kathy have learned to treat their students with great respect but that some of us in the Martial Arts have forgotten that lesson. What needs to be done is to emphasize in all of our classes that we need to be good partners and that our objective in class is to help each other learn and grow.
Why do students and instructors behave in such detrimental ways? I am not sure that I know the answer to that question. I do know that the path to excellence in the Martial Arts includes learning to show respect for your opponent and to help your opponents grow their skills in the Martial Arts. Most students and instructors in the Martial Arts are wonderfully talented people who have been made very tough both emotionally and physically by years of training and they want to do well by their students. Let me pose five questions that still abound in the Martial Arts for which each of us would profit from learning an answer:
1. What should we try to teach a student with an abrasive personality in our classes?
2. What do we tell the student who says “I don’t like to hit anybody” (Usually a new student)?
3. How do we make a student “tough” without destroying their willingness to train?
4. How do we teach a student character?
5. How do we positively handle children who come into the dojo and behave like children i.e. run, laugh, talk, etc.?
It seems to me that it would help us all to learn to measure our skill as a Martial Artist by taking a larger view of the events in our lives
Sept 3, 2007
The Destiny of the Samauri
Is helping a student manage their life part of the job of a Sensei?
What is the secret to managing your life so that you are successful, well off financially, and don’t have other problems that you are unable to deal with? As I have said before, if I knew the answer to this I would bottle it and sell it and become a wealthy man. However I have accumulated some knowledge about these things in my life and I would like to pass some of it on to those of you who read this column.
First of all, why do we as Martial Artist care about how our students manage their lives? The answer is that it affects their Martial Arts training. Students don’t leave the Martial Arts because they can’t do a sidekick, or a front kick, or a spinning backfist. Students leave the Martial Arts because their life is in disarray and this disarray has pushed studying the Martial Arts so far down in the priority list of activities in their life that it has fallen right off of the list. It seems to me that all of the reasons that you hear from students about why they left the Martial Arts ( Health, Money, Time, Work, etc.) are designed to conceal the fact that the student won’t admit to themselves that they are no longer committed to the Martial Arts. A student may hold this view of their life because of a faulty character education. If this is in fact the case then it seems like spending some time teaching the students the benefits of adopting the character of the Martial Artist is time well spent on behalf of educating the student. .
All of us would like to live our lives and be happy, secure, and healthy. Happiness isn’t achieved because we behave badly. There are no circumstances ever under which telling untruths is justified. Always tell the truth, no matter how difficult that may seem.
Most of us would not think of ourselves as not being truthful however we get led down this road because we make easy decisions. To remedy this we need strong character. This is why character education is so important to a student. Remember, you become what you defend, teaching students not to respect a defeated opponent is not a good thing, it sends the wrong message to the students and pushes them down a path towards becoming something that most of us do not want to see as Martial Artist.. It is simply unrealistic to believe that all of the holds and strikes in the Martial Arts i.e. the technology of the Martial Arts was developed without developing the character of the practitioner. If we treat people with courtesy and respect always then when you must make a hard decision regarding these people, even if they don’t like the decision they will respect you for making it and this will help you respect yourself.
What should we do about all of this? It seems to me that some guidelines for teaching character in the dojo are useful, so here is my best attempt:
Character Guidelines
1. Advertise
I have a poster on the wall of my dojo with a picture of my good friend Kathy Long on it. The poster shows Kathy in a Gi executing one of her beautiful side kicks. Beside the picture of Kathy is one very large words “VIRTUE”. The message to the students is clear, virtue is something admired by the Master of this dojo and is to be admired in this dojo.
2. Sacrifice
The students need to see an example of what a good character is. How you interact with your students sends and important message to your students. The students need to see a Master who cares about their progress, about their learning, and about their well being. If the demands of your schedule, your personal life, your work, or other endeavors keeps you from spending time with your students, you are sending a poor message to your students.
3. Example
As teachers, we should always act well in and outside of the dojo. A mean, vindictive, or cruel Master sends a very poor message to the students. Is your tutelage cruel or kind. Because you are the Master of the Dojo and powerful within the dojo does not mean you should use your position to abuse your students.
4. Tolerance
Be kind, respectful, and courteous to your students, even if they do not behave this way towards you. Remember, poor behavior in the dojo is an educational issue and in fact may sometimes be a physical issue, I have a student who is an adult male and has difficulty staying still in the dojo. Even when we line up to begin class. This behavior has alienated many students in the dojo but has not offended me because what I see is an experienced and kind adult male who has ADHD. The students simply need to be given a chance to grow in the Martial Arts and to learn the advantages of good behavior in the dojo.
5. Courtesy
Courtesy is a tool which a student can use to demonstrate that they have control of their own emotions. Courtesy should be expected of all students in the Dojo. A failure of a student to demonstrate courtesy in the dojo shows a lack of education and discipline in the student. A failure of the student to demonstrate courtesy in the dojo will make the dojo almost unmanageable by the dojo Master.
If we are to achieve the goal of being a good Warrior and Master we must adopt and follow the guidelines above. You can train a student to deal with a difficult environment without being mean or cruel to them. The students needs to understand what their goal should be in a difficult environment. The legacy of the Master who was mean or cruel in their tutelage is to soon be forgotten, students remember the Master whom they admired as an individual. Remember, we all write our own destinies and the destiny of the true Samauri is not how we die but how we live our life.
August 6, 2007
Prepare Yourself
Have you ever wondered what is it about a person that makes them a successful Martial Arts student?
It seems to me that character has more to do with being successful than anything else. If I start trying to talk about what makes a successful Martial Artist I find myself using words that describe traits of a persons character like dedication, hard work, discipline, etc. Our task then as Sensei’s is to figure out how to shape the character of our students to make them successful Martial Artist.
This is not an easy task. If you watch the students in a dojo you will find out that like most dojo’s you will see a cross section of humanity. You will observe students who lie, cheat, and steal, and you will see students who sacrifice their time, money, and sometimes even their blood to come to the dojo and train. You can observe this in many of your students. I have a brother and sister in my dojo who both come to the dojo and train. The brother is gifted with athletic ability, he is very athletic and learns new kata quickly while the sister is pretty much exactly the opposite. She is not very athletic, takes a lot of time to learn things, and has difficulty mastering new techniques. However it is the sister who impresses me most as a student. I saw her during a Kumite class get hit in the nose so hard it bloodied her nose. I turned around to look at her during class and was surprised to see that there was blood all over her face. My first reaction was holy cow, I hope she is alright. I was comforted by the fact that she was still standing upright and her knees were not wobbling I instructed the young lady to go into our restroom and to wash her face. When she came out of the restroom something interesting happened. I fully expected the young lady to go into the lobby of our dojo and sit down and not participate in the rest of Kumite class. What happened instead was that she put on her gloves, informed me that her nose bled easily and not to worry about her, and stepped back out onto our dojo floor to engage in kumite again with the same young man who had bloodied her nose. I remember thinking, wow, this young lady wants to learn Karate. My esteem for the character of this young lady went up several notches during this class. She continues to be a dedicated student who is now a Blue Belt and is working her way to becoming a good third degree Brown Belt.
Now what can we do for our students to help them gain this type of commitment on the dojo floor? Is character a genetic quality of a student or can it be trained into a student? I believe that just like motor skills character can be trained into a student. Note that this is not always a painless process. Sometimes you must give student the chance to temper their own character in the fire of their own will. There certainly seems to me to be some character related areas that paying attention to helps the student learn more and to improve their own character. These areas are:
Students should learn that making mistakes in the dojo is ok, they can make mistakes without being criticized. This will help the student to learn to try new things in the dojo. Many students, especially children, have motor skills problems. To expect that they can accomplish initially the complex tasks required in Karate is simply not realistic. Our job as Sensei’s is to guide, help, and encourage them along this path until they are successful. A positive attitude in the dojo is also maintained in other ways Neither profanity or brutality should be allowed into the dojo. If I hear profanity used in our dojo I will talk to the student and inform them that kind of language is unwelcome in our dojo and ask them to sit out the rest of the class. I have been in dojo’s in which the environment can only be described as brutal. Shedding blood, and inflicting pain were encouraged in these dojos with the consent of the Sensei. I remember thinking what were these students learning? They were all ferocious fighters but not very good Martial Artists.
As Sensei’s how many of us take time in our dojo to recognize our students. It can be a little thing like congratulating a student at the end of class for a good performance during class, or giving a student a best testing award during a rank promotion test. I remember how much these types of thing encouraged me The Kumite instructor in my dojo does something I like a lot. At the end of each class she tells each student how well they did during the class in front of the other students. You can see the students virtually beaming at the end of the Kumite classes.
The Martial Arts community is
replete with Halls of Fame Banquets where students are recognized for their
Martial Arts accomplishments. It is not the awards that the student receives at
these banquets that is important it is the effect that receiving that award has
on the student. Students come back from these banquets better motivated, better
disciplined, and more committed to achieving in the Martial Arts. How many of
us as Sensei’s have taken the time in our lives to take our students to one of
these banquets? One of the best Halls of Fame Banquets I can recommend is the
Eastern USA International Martial Arts Association Black Belt Hall of Fame
Banquet held in November of each year in
Children and Adults come into the dojo with different views of what a
Sensei is. Many children view Sensei’s as some type of teacher who has achieved
almost magical prowness in the Martial Arts. Adults
see a warrior who is honest, strong and unafraid of hardship. I see nothing
wrong with either of these views. They both have elements of truth in them and
both serve as a good starting point for the development of a students
character. What this means to us as Sensei’s is that we must ensure that we
always behave well in the dojo. In the presence of conflict and personality
clashes we must always maintain the position of an honest broker in developing
resolutions to any conflicts. We must always take the long term view and assist
the students in accomplishing what is best for their Martial Arts career.
4 Respect
In our dojo, part of every Rank Promotion Test involves answering History
of Martial Arts questions, my students bow when the enter the dojo, they bow
when the step onto the dojo floor, and bow when the step off of the dojo floor.
They commit to memory all of their Sensei’s (Their Karate Lineage) and the
learn how to count and execute all of their techniques when the commands are
given in Japanese. We also have a real Japanese Geisha who teaches Japanese
dance at our dojo. I am convinced that you cannot understand a Martial Art
unless you understand the culture from which it arose. These activities help
the students understand and respect the culture which gave birth to the Karate
which they are studying.
What you see here
are some tools for teaching character in a dojo. A Sensei can ignore these things
at the risk of producing characterless Martial Artist (Something no good Sensei
wants to do). A Sensei should remember to never give up on a
students. No matter how bad the character of the student you as a Sensei
must always struggle to repair the damage done to a students character
If you are
contemplating studying the Martial Arts, prepare yourself to meet a man or a
woman called Sensei who will change your life forever.
July 30, 2007
The Nutritional
Martial Artist
I recently had my good friend Kathy Long help me with some nutrition issues i.e. she helped me plan a diet. The experience was instructive and I thought it would be educational to talk about what I learned.
I had become concerned because I have high blood pressure and I had decided after some discussion with my physician that I would try to loose some weight. In fact I was beginning to look the same coming, going, or revolving. So with this as a background I decided to try to improve my meal planning.
One of the first things I learned was that loosing weight is not just a matter of not eating, it is an issue of eating healthier. Most of us have gained weight because we have eaten poorly for a long period of time. I, like most good martial artist am pretty well disciplined and I can stop eating anytime. The problem I had was what to do when I started eating again. Kathy helped me understand what was good for me and what wasn’t. She helped me understand the difference between what my body needed and what my body wanted and she showed me some healthy substitutes for some of my favorite foods, like cheese.
This turned out to be a lot trickier process than I had envisioned. Did you know that egg whites have protein in them? I always thought protein came in the form of steaks and hamburgers.
I also had another problem of what to do in a restaurant.
Because I live and work in the
I learned to eat more often. Now I eat five times a day, I just don’t eat as much each time I sit down to eat. I have learned to eat when I feel hungry.
I had seen friends diet before and I remember thinking how could I possibly survive as a Martial Artist on the small amounts of food these people are getting. Today, I have an English Muffin for breakfast, a grilled chicken salad for lunch, and a bowl of cottage cheese for dinner. If I get hungry during the day I eat another bowl of cottage cheese. Even now this looks to me like amazingly little food, but I will certify that on this diet I do not get hungry and I have plenty of energy when I go teach a Martial Arts class. Part of this diet involves training yourself to eat properly. I have to confess that over the years I have let my diet disciple disintegrate and I am now having success at reinstating that discipline.
Because of this whole process I have become more aware of how careful world class Martial Artist like Kathy Long and Gary Wasniewski are with their diet. I have also become aware of the complexity of structuring a good diet and how tough a problem that can really become.
Eating healthy, especially eating the types and amount that a Martial Artist should it is a very complicated endeavor. I would recommend that any Martial Artist who wants to eat healthier should seek the help of a professional. My journey into the area of nutrition has taught me that eating healthy i.e. becoming a nutritional Martial Artist is within the reach of everyone.
June 18, 2007
Crossing the Space
There is a space between practicing the Martial Arts and being a Martial Artist which is difficult for many Martial Artist to cross. Any high performance athlete knows this space. As Sensei’s, we see students who come into out dojo’s and never successfully cross this space. What we don’t to realize that the students inability to cross this space has multiple causes, one of which is ineffective teaching i.e. if you are going to make a student into a high performance athlete you must give them a goal. In fact, you must induce your students to want to become high performance athletes.
There are practitioner’s of the Martial Arts and there are teachers of the Martial Arts unfortunately these two types of people are not always found in the same individual. Practitioner’s are often highly skilled individuals who execute wonderful jump spinning hook kicks, side kicks, backfists, etc. The practitioner’s focus is always on themselves. Everything they do is designed to improve their skills as a Martial Artist. Now there is nothing wrong with trying to improve your Martial Arts skills, that is called “training” but if that is all you do you are still a practitioner of the Martial Arts and not a Martial Artist. Dedicated Martial Artist commits to the Martial Arts. I am talking about more than just time. We all commit our time to the Martial Arts, that is called training. I am talking about something much more substantial, like money, personal prestige, assuming risks, spending your time searching for the path and leading others to that path, and putting the interest of your students ahead of your own interest. None of this is easy, that’s what makes the job of being a Sensei so difficult.
Now let’s talk for a minute about the poor student. The
student comes into the dojo knowing nothing of about this space. If you examine
most new students motivation for undertaking the study
of the Martial Arts you find that the student wants to be a “Black Belt”. This
is mixed with a little bit a desire for Self-Defense, a little bit of desire
for physical fitness, and a lot of desire to please Mom and Dad who bring many
students to the dojo. Very few White belts understand what it means to be a
“Black Belt”, they depend of the Sensei to educate
them in the realities of obtaining a Black Belt. This is often not a very easy
task. This task is complicated by many things. The Martial Arts is a disciple
where students strike each other. You must teach a student to do this and to do
this in such a way that they do not damage each other. Students and the parents of students do not
like it when they are damaged or their children are damaged. In order to avoid
this as Sensei you institute and enforce rules for Kumite
(fighting) in the dojo. But at some point the responsibility for not injuring
your Kumite partner transfers from the Sensei to the
student. Some children do not want to learn the Martial Arts. After all, a
child’s life is usually pretty good. You have Mom and Dad who take care of you,
feed you, and are your friend when you need one. The Martial Arts is about
sweating, hard work, getting hit, and a lot of other things that many students
would prefer not to happen in their lives. Changing this perception of the
student involves education, the student must be shown that change in their life
is inevitable and that
he or she can deal with this change and that achieving in a difficult environment can be both fun
and rewarding. Finally some students are just not very athletic. They dream of
themselves becoming the next Bruce Lee when in fact they move like they move
like
Training high performance Martial Artist involves training the mind as well as the body. I have a young student who is preparing to take her Shodan examination soon. This young lady is truly a very talented child. She is hard working, diligent, dedicated, and in general everything a Sensei could want in a student. Yet a year ago you would hear very negative statements from her like “I can’t do that” or “Every time I fight him I get beat up”. So the question of interest is “What has happened in the last year to change things?”. In the dojo we concentrated on teaching this young lady how to strike something, we concentrated on teaching this young lady fighting strategy, and we made sure to reinforce the confidence of this young lady in her ability to defend herself. We also gave this young lady time to adjust to a new performance level. This approach has worked admirably. This young lady is now a high performance athlete and realizes that the challenges that come at any level of performance are just something that one learns to deal with.
So, we return to the question of what makes a high performance athlete. I am not sure I can answer that question accurately, all I can tell you is that at some point the student realizes the value of assuming control of their own destiny and at that point they begin their journey across the space between doing the Martial Arts and becoming a Martial Artist. .
May 28, 2007
Something Else in the
Martial Arts
When I put together the dojo we currently train in, I assumed a hefty financial risk that I would be able to fill the dojo with paying students. The more I meet other dojo owners and movers and shakers in the Martial Arts community I realize that these people have all done the same thing in one way or another i.e. those who affect the Martial Arts community invest time and money and effort in that endeavor.
Now let’s talk about the students. What makes a student successful in the Martial Arts? I’m not talking about achieving the rank of Shodan, I am talking about a student that wants to be skilled in the Martial Arts. Is it the quest to acquire the rank of Shodan?, is it to acquire status as a Black Belt?, Is it some macho driven desire to pound all of your opponents into apple pie and thus prove you are the best of the best, or is it as I think, something else. It is illustrative to pursue this line of discussion a little bit further.
What makes a student successful in the Martial Arts is a
difficult question to answer. If I knew for certain what the answer to this
question was I would bottle it and sell it and become a wealthy man. The
reality of the Martial Arts is that it is not a large money producing
profession. Frankly I would advise anyone who is interested in making money not
to go into the Martial Arts as a profession. I have a good friend who I hope
will forgive me for using her name, but Samantha lives in
Is acquiring the rank of Shodan a worthy goal? Of course it is, but it is the journey and not the rank that is important. In fact, I would say that achieving the rank of Yondan(4th Degree Black Belt) or Godan (5th Degree Black Belt) is much more important because that is where a student begins to look and behave like a Master. I have two students, a young man named Alex and a young girl named Alyssa who are both shinning example of this principle. Each child came into the dojo about five years ago to begin their training and they are now first degree brown belts (Ih Kyu) getting ready to test for the rank of Shodan (First Degree Black Belt). I expect both Alex and Alyssa will continue their quest to learn more about the Martial Arts after they achieve the rank of Shodan. Alex and Alyssa were both shy little children when they came into the dojo and now they are confident as they throw jump spinning hook kicks, practice combinations on the bag, and run thru their kata. What has happened to both of these children is that they have found the path. Something in the years of sweating and pounding on the bags, and practicing kata has moved the souls of these little children to make them want to achieve.
Is it macho to want to defeat an opponent in Kumite? I don’t think so. We have to be careful here because Karate is after all a Martial Art which involves students striking other students. It is natural for anyone involved to want to test their skills in this environment. What we do in the dojo is to keep the students safe. We establish rules so that students are not injured but educated during Kumite. In a good dojo, the minds, the emotions, and the egos of the students are all educated.
We have to say a few words here about children. Children come into the dojo not knowing anything about the Martial Arts. Children do not understand what focus, intensity, concentration, and even hard work are. The good Sensei works with the tools available to him or her to help teach the child to understand what these ideas represent.
So success for a child may be different than success for an adult. If children step out of the dojo understanding what focus, concentration, intensity, and hard work are I would call them successful students.
Will having a Black Belt give you status? I had a student one time tell me that he wanted to teach Karate. I asked him why? They students will not worship you, they will not bow down to you except once in a while, and you will have to deal with some of the strangest personalities you will ever see. Some of the children that come into the dojo have such serious personality problems that they are almost handicapped. Had I known how difficult it was to teach small children Karate I probably would have charged more. I think after hearing my advice the student opened his own dojo only to close it about three years later. I have had students kick me, bite me, accuse me of buying trophies, and other nefarious deeds which are two numerous to mention here. Not much status or respect here. Frankly I was able to ignore all of this behavior because I realized that it was driven by lack of knowledge and shortsightedness about the Martial Arts.
How do we as Sensei’s fashion successful Martial Artists? As I said before, this is a difficult question to answer but I will try my best.
Students and Sensei’ need some guidelines so here is my best shot:
· Always behave with Honor and Respect in the dojo. A good dojo is a place where standards of conduct are upheld. Failure to show Honor and Respect in the dojo tells more about the student or Sensei than anything else.
· Safety is of prime importance in a dojo. Make sure that adequate safety measures are in place to protect the students.
·
Do not worry about advancement in Rank. Make
yourself the best Martial
Artist you can be an advancement will follow
· Brutality is not strength and Compassion is not weakness. A good dojo will accommodate all levels of skills and interest
Finally
· Be patient with Children. With kindness and patience you will change the child’s life forever.
It is my sincere hope that these guidelines will help us all find that something else in the Martial Arts that makes it so special to all of us.
April 16, 2007
The Art of Coping
I had a student make a statement to me that the Martial Arts isn’t about learning to fight, it’s about learning to cope. After some thought I think I agree with this statement, although I do believe that there are other things that the Martial Arts teaches you besides how to cope.
If you begin studying the Martial Arts you soon find out that it is hard work. If your response to this is to say I am to old, or I am to crippled, or I am to feeble, or I am to young, etc. what you are really doing is making a decision to avoid hard work of studying the Martial Arts by avoiding committing to this study. This has huge implications for how you deal with difficult things in your life. Some people have this kind of commitment but it is not easy to find. One of the most committed men I ever knew was a gentleman named Charlie Gaskin. Charlie is dead now, he died of lung disease several years ago but right up until the week before he died he was in the dojo working out. Something that I learned by watching Charlie was that he enjoyed working out. Charlie was never fearful of his impending doom, although I am sure he realized what was in his future. Charlie never mentioned his illness in the dojo and always had a smile and a kind word for all who were in the dojo. Charlie was a true warrior who had learned to cope admirably with a serious illness. I know that part of this was Charlie’s character but I like to believe that part of Charlie’s wonderful warrior spirit was something he learned from studying the Martial Arts
All of us who teach the Martial Arts have had on occasion the experience of having some unknowing student or bystander make silly comments like “ I think I could take you” or “ To be a good Martial Artist you have to draw blood”. Listen, drawing blood has no relevance to a persons skill as a Martial Artist. The end result of a well delivered Martial Arts blow is unconsciousness or death, neither of which we like to see in the dojo, although I have to agree that these types of things do occur during tournament competition in the United States.
As far as the “I think I could take you comments” my response is good, go train harder. I had an educational experience happen in our dojo a couple of months ago related to this type of comment. As I was closing the dojo a group of young men were standing outside of the dojo and came into the dojo to talk. They asked me if they could really fight hard in the dojo. My response was sure, I will fight you as hard as you like, up to and including breaking bones. They then asked when they could do this and I said right now, come on in and we will do it immediately. The young men thought this was a wonderful idea and came into the dojo and began to put on kumite equipment. Since I was ready first, I asked the young men, before we step on the floor, please tell me if any of you like going to the hospital. The universal answer from all of the young men was no, going to the hospital is a bad thing. I then suggested that in view of their answer that before we fight hard we should talk about some rules. You could see the light in these young men’s eyes as they considered this suggestion. These men had been educated in the real purpose of the Martial Arts.
It seems worthwhile to discuss one other event which happened in my dojo. I had a friend of mine bring in another Black Belt. The other Black belt turned to me upon entering the dojo and said “ I want to go hard with you” . My response was ok, I get to kick you in the knee, shuto you in the groin and in the throat, and stick my fingers in your eyes. His immediate answer was no, I don’t want to do any of that. My response was ok, what you want to do is go hard according to your rules. I then informed him that I was not interested in such an event.
Parents and adults do not bring their children or themselves into the dojo to be injured. They come to the dojo to learn. They depend on us as Sensei’s, to construct an environment in the dojo which keeps them safe and allows them to learn. If we fail to do this we have failed in one of our responsibilities as a Sensei.
Learning the Martial Arts is about learning mastery. It is about learning not how to master others but to master yourself. I am convinced that this is what parents are seeking when they provide their child with Martial Arts training. The Martial Arts is a tool for teaching young and old alike the value of coping. It is about learning the art of coping.
March 26, 2007
The Value of the Path
In the Dojo, one sees all sorts of relationship malfunctions. Since these malfunctions affect a students ability to train in the Martial Arts they often become the problem of the Sensei. The interesting question is how do you deal with these problems, what causes them, and what can be done to prevent them?
It is easiest to see some of these malfunctions in the little ones, in fact it is an extremely complex task to wend your way thru the emotional minefield of a little child and end up producing a highly skilled Martial Artist. One of the dangers one faces in training a child is to expect adult skills and behavior from the child. Children have no hidden agenda’s. As any parent can tell you, a child acts exactly how they feel. The motors that drive children’s behavior are not the same motors that drive adult behaviors. So some children tend to do things in class that we don’t want to see in a student, like talking during class, refusing to exercise, not focusing, not working very hard, etc. If you work with the children long enough you soon see that these are not behavioral issues, they are educational issues.
Since children tend to work in groups the child needs around him or her an environment where the other children all do those things i.e. focus, work hard, exercise, etc. i.e. when you train children, paying attention to the group dynamics of the children’s classes and making sure that each child has a positive learning environment is important
It is also important to remember the earlier comment about
the motors that drive children’s behavior not being the same motors that drive
adult behaviors. I had one small five year old boy come into my classes and
refuse to do any of the warm up exercises. After talking with him for a while I
discovered that his father was in
Adults relationships tend to go astray in different ways. Many adults simply choose to stop learning in the dojo. The consequences of adult relationship malfunctions can be much more serious than with children. Many adults come into the dojo proud of the fact that they can run their own lives. The idea that they may need help, and their willingness to accept that help simply never has crossed their mind, even though they exhibit what most people would characterize as serious malfunctions, such as alcoholism, depression, loneliness, a sense of isolation, etc. We could discuss in great detail the types of relationship malfunctions that affect adults in the dojo but it is worth remembering our original question which was how do you deal with these problems, what causes them, and what can be done to prevent them?
For answers to these questions we must turn to what our ancestors in the Martial Arts have taught us.
Chosin Chibana (The founder of Kobayashi Shorin Ryu Karate) has stated “ A good Karateka would cross the street to avoid a fight.
In many dojo’s the Dojo Kun will be posted. The traditional translation for the Dojo Kun is: seek perfection of character, be faithful, endeavor, respect others, and refrain from violent behavior.
The Dalai Lama at the turn of the Millennium has said
1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson
3. Follow the three Rs:
a. Respect for self
b. Respect for others and
c. Responsibility for all your actions
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of
luck
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship
7. When you realize that you have made a mistake take
immediate steps to correct it
8. Spend some time alone every day
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll
be able to enjoy it a second time
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation.
Don’t bring up the past
14. Share your knowledge. Its a way to achieve
immortality
15. Be gentle with the earth
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each
other exceeds your need for each other
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon
Finally, a lesson from a Japanese Master. This Master
during the Meiji era (1868-1912) received a visit from a young woman who wanted
to study the Martial Arts. He served her a cup of tea. When he served her he
poured her cup full and then kept on pouring. The young woman watched this
until she could no longer restrain herself. Its overfull she said, no more will
go in. The Master looked at the young woman and said Like
your cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations, how can I show
you the Martial Arts unless you first empty your cup.
Remember, violence is not strength and compassion is not weakness. The above advice is a lot of good advice from some very smart people. What struck me were some of the overriding common thoughts from these people, avoid a fight, seek perfection of character, be faithful, respect for others. This is the path. This path was articulated by people who are much wiser than most of us, including myself, and is what we must teach in our dojo’s. With some luck and a lot of hope the students will see the value of this path.
Feb 19, 2007
Caretakers of the Tao
If you train a person in the Martial Arts does it affect other aspects of their lives? The answer given by most martial artist is of course it does. Many problems in a persons life are in general, caused by a weakness in the character of that person. If you fix the weakness in the character of a person using Martial Arts training then the problem in the persons life should disappear.
The question of interest then is can you train a person in the Martial Arts without paying attention to how they conduct the rest of their lives? I think the answer to this question is no. If a man or a woman came into our dojo seeking Martial Arts training and we knew they were a criminal, most of us would refuse to train them. In fact in our dojo they would be escorted to the door.
This approach generates a host of questions about the responsibility of a Sensei and how a Sensei should determine a students character. Should you be harsh with the new student in order to make them tough? (i.e. make them sit on a stump in the rain for three days outside of the dojo as they did in the old Kung Fu TV show). Should you interview with a new student in order to learn more about them? What criteria should you use to accept new students i.e. do you accept only new students who are the most talented and the least flawed, or do you accept students with many flaws in the hope you can correct them? How do you determine a students character and once you make this determination what do you do if you don’t like what you see? Who gives us the right as Sensei’s to make these types of decisions about a student?
Lets try to address some of these questions. First of all is the question of harshness with a new student. Harshness is a very negative approach to training a student, you see this best with children. Adults make these same kind of decisions but they are not always as easy to discern as they are in children. Children come into the dojo full of energy and life and knowing absolutely nothing about this strange person called a Sensei whom their parents have introduced into their lives. If this new person called a Sensei is harsh with the children, the children, because they are very adaptable will quickly learn the rules for dealing with this person called a Sensei. However, the children may also make another decision that studying the Martial Arts is not enjoyable and I don’t want to do it. They won’t walk off of the dojo floor because they want to please their parents who brought them to the dojo but they will stop trying to learn new things that the Sensei tries to teach them. So harshness runs the risk of destroying the most valuable asset a Sensei has in a student, their willingness to try to learn new things. In fact if you observe the most successful Martial Arts programs for teaching children you will find that they are very positive. They compliment the student a lot and reward them for achieving in the Martial Arts.
I like the idea of interviewing a new student. I think it is valuable to be able to look a prospective student in the eye and talk with them. This gives me some information about the student and gives my intuition some information to work with. Besides when you interview a student you can develop answers to questions you generally have a hard time asking, like do you have any character, are you a nice person, are you willing to work hard to achieve, etc. Of course a student can mislead you but in the give and take of and interactive conversation these is not always easy to do.
It seems to me that when you interview a student you can find out a lot about them. It is not what they say that is so important but how they act i.e. are they at ease during the interview, are they dedicated to the Martial Arts, and are they truly interested in the discussion you are having with them Is this student going to be the next Bruce Lee or the next Larry, Mo, and Curly? Somewhere during the interview you are going to have to make a decision to accept or not to accept the prospective student. A cruel irony of the Martial Arts is that the more flawed the student the more they can profit from Martial Arts training. I don’t think there is any right or wrong answer on who to accept into a dojo. If a student can find out about the types of students already present in the dojo it will give a student a hint of the Sensei’s preferences in students. Our dojo tends to have a mix of children and adults. We have a lot of families and a lot of young people. This is a personal preference of mine, I like teaching families and young people mainly because they have so much energy.
I was a bit naïve when I opened my current dojo. I thought I
would set up a place to train and people would all come and train and we would
all be friends and go home after class. I was totally unprepared for all of the
interactions which occur when one runs a dojo. I live near
The name for a teacher about life is “Sensei”. A Sensei is a bit of a philosopher, only a Sensei’s realm is physical as well as intellectual. A Sensei teaches his or her students how to deal with difficult problems and how to solve them. During this process the Sensei lays down some guidelines for his or her students about how to find solutions to difficult problems. That is what we do as Sensei’s and I believe that these guidelines are one of the things students are seeking when they enter the dojo. The Martial Art we teach will become what we make it and as Sensei’s we do what we do because we have inherited a responsibility as caretakers of the Tao of our Art.
Jan 29, 2007
A Sense of History
It seems to me like many students in the Martial Arts lack a sense of history. Each decision they make helps them manufacture their own history. Students manufacture their destiny one decision at a time. If the student is fortunate, he or she will have the fortune to find a good Sensei who teaches them the Martial Arts and in general provides them guidance in their growth in the Martial Arts, in this way the student builds an excellent history in the Martial Arts. Then, for some reason, a student decides to leave the Dojo and the Sensei whom they found and trained with and with whom they have a long history of success and being helped to find their way in the Martial Arts. I call this the “Grass is Greener” syndrome. Students are generally unaware of the perils and pitfalls that lay ahead of them in their Martial Arts careers when they do this. In fact, I would say that lack of good guidance for a students growth in the Martial Arts seems to me to be one of the biggest problems students have in building a good Martial Arts history. One cause for this phenomena is lack of commitment on the part of the student.
Most students start building their Martial Arts history when they are a child. If they are fortunate, their Sensei takes them to an awards banquet and at the banquet the student learns at an early age that they will. benefit from hard work and commitment.
The teenagers come to the Martial Arts with all of the grace and enthusiasm of youth. In the dojo, under the guidance of a skilled Sensei, the teenager grows confident and learns that they can accomplish difficult tasks and that honor and character are important ingredients of any adult.
The adult enters the dojo sometimes almost reluctantly. They have been forced to enter the dojo by their children or by other events in their lives. The adult is nervous about the dojo because the dojo is forcing change in their life. In the dojo the adult relearns the value of movement and exercise that they knew in their youth, that they don’t have to surrender to the effects of stress in their lives, and that they can be active participants in any event well into their old age.
Now, the most interesting question is how do all of these things happen and what tools do we have available to make them happen?
As a student grows in their Martial Arts career they learn that they inherit a responsibility to help others in the Martial Arts community. If they fail to recognize this responsibility they will loose their ability to grow in the Martial Arts. This is a difficult responsibility for many students to accept and many students cease to grow in the Martial Arts because they never accept their responsibility to help others.
Another tool to help students improve their Martial Arts
understanding is the Martial Arts Banquet. I have had long discussions with
Master Sri Denish from
What is important in the Martial Arts is the way we affect peoples lives. We can teach children that they can achieve, we can teach teenagers that they can deal with the challenges of life, and we can teach adults the rewards and happiness that comes with training and the friendships that they develop in the Martial Arts.
To depict the rewards we can achieve in this arena I would like to quote the halting language that a little 8 year old girl in one of my classes wrote for a school project about Thanksgiving.
It is without a doubt one of the finest letters I have ever received and I am very proud of it:
“When giving thanks on Thanksgiving there is only one person on the top of my list, and that is Sensei Gilbert. I would invite him because he inspires me so much. You are probably wondering who he is. Well, he is my Karate teacher. He makes me feel so comfortable, because he doesn’t look at me as a kid with Cerabal Palsy, he looks at me as a kid who can do anything. Sensei has a way of making a kid who feels different good inside. When he sees me he always seems happy to see me. When I walk in the door to Karate there is a smile on his face. He’s always saying “Hey Michelle how is it going?” Sometimes I can’t even describe how great he makes me feel. There is no other way to spend Thanksgiving with someone who is special to you.”
This little girl gained the will and the courage to fight the effects of cerebral palsy for the rest of her life because she got a chance to study the Martial Arts, and by the way, she also wrote a very articulate description of something that studying the Martial Arts does besides teaching combat skills.
Jan 8, 2007
The Chronicles of
Sensei
My wife and I just returned from a Black Belt Hall of Fame
Banquet in
The first thing I noticed about this banquet was that I got
a chance to meet many old friends. The Martial Arts are a big family and
everyone who has ever put on a Gi is part of that
family. I couldn’t talk about old friends without mentioning an old friend I
met at the banquet, Grandmaster Gary Wasniewski.
Grandmaster
The next thing I noticed at this banquet was that I got to meet a lot of old friends that I hadn’t seen for many years. I got to say Hi and and renew some friendships with some people whom I hadn’t seen in 10 years. We talked about training and some of the events that had affected our training many years ago. It was above all a refreshing experience. This is one of the reasons that I would recommend that everyone who is involved in the Martial Arts one way or another attend one of these banquets i.e. everyone should take some time and money out of their lives and their busy schedule to go enjoy themselves in their Martial Arts community. If you don’t do this you run the risk of becoming obsolete in the Martial Arts.
The next thing I noticed at this banquet was the wide
variety of Martial Arts currently available. I saw a demonstration from a group that was
from the
I saw a wonderful demonstration of the African Martial Arts
at this banquet. I knew about the slaves bringing over the African Martial arts
to
I also met several old friends from
I was also fortunate enough to meet, talk with, and get my
picture taken with several well known Martial Arts celebrities. I was struck
again by how kind and friendly all of these very well know Martial Artist are,
there was no doubt in my mind that any of these celebrities could have kicked
me all over the floor and tied me in knots easily. Cynthia Rothrock
was kind and friendly, had a beautiful smile, and was kind enough to let me
take her picture with my wife and myself. Don (The Dragon)
I could write for many more pages about what a wonderful time we had at this banquet but let me try to summarize some of what I learned here.