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Archive for the ‘Martial Arts’ Category

The main reason most people drop out of the martial arts — besides life taking them in different directions — is because they didn’t take the time to do any research and found out later the studio they joined wasn’t what they expected.

The time you invest researching studios will pay you back a thousand fold. It will also help you find the right studio for you. You’ll be more enthusiastic about your training and you’ll get more out of it.

Here are eight consumer tips to help you make a more informed decision before starting at any martial arts studio:

1. Belt Rank Isn’t Everything. Just because an instructor is a high ranking black belt doesn’t automatically mean they’re a good instructor. What’s important is if they can help you reach your goals and teach you what you want to learn.

2. Size of Studio. Quality of instruction can vary from studio to studio no matter its size or what they teach. A larger studio may have more convenient hours, but may not offer you the personalized instruction you’re looking for that a smaller studio may provide.

3. Watch a Class. Don’t overlook this step. This will tell you more about the studio than anything – especially when you show up unannounced. Most public studios welcome walk-ins.

4. Visit Several Studios. Just because a studio is close, doesn’t make it the best place for you train. Wouldn’t you rather train at a place Five or ten minutes further away if it better matched your needs? Visit at least three places before deciding just to be sure.

5. Talk to Students. Students will tell all. They will tell you what to expect and why they decided to train there. This may help you make a better, more informed appraisal of the studio and its instructors.

6. Read the Fine Print. Not all studios require a contract, but if they do, pay particular attention to the terms of any contract and make sure you fully understand your rights before signing on the dotted line.

7. Ask Questions. Don’t be worried that you will offend the instructor because you look for clarification. If an instructor or studio owner doesn’t answer your questions to your satisfaction, then maybe you should move on to the next studio.

8. Try Before You Buy. If the studio you’re interested in offers a trial program, it is recommended you take it. This will tell you a lot about how you will be taught and what you can expect from the studio.

Help me, Im fat, lazy and afraid of a bully.
When the World Turns VIOLENT! I bet you run.
Are you martially in danger?

All titles to bring on that chilling fear inside and solicit a response – so read on..

ITS DANGEROUS OUT THERE

Its dangerous out there and especially for you..

The enemy may be next door and you dont know it but you got to have the guts too look. What can you really do once you see some violence or get scared or worse because you receive a bashing or king hit – do you hide in your house?

You know that given a situation to be a hero and stop a crime, terrorism or violence you’ll be able to step up or chase after them etc – or maybe you’ll cower or be the victim.

The danger today is maybe not too obvious to you but you better hone your sensors or youll get hit without seeing it coming.

PHYSICAL COMPETANCE

Have you ever seen raw attack or someone getting ‘owned’? Just search google for “martial street fights” – “martial owned” Watch those movies and cringe!!!

http://www.google.com/search?q=martial+owned

http://www.google.com/search?q=martial+street+fights

Kung Fu, Boxing, dancing, balley, incompetance? What will you offer to your attacker?

I can judge I am probably half the strength and endurance form 10 years ago, how about you?

Can you throw a punch or even stand steady on one leg? can you do a round-house or even give a kick to the knee? Ever heard of a combination?

MARTIAL KNOWLEDGE

a martial art is defined as – 1 : of, relating to, or suited for war or a warrior 2 : relating to an army or to military life 3 : experienced in or inclined to war : WARLIKE

http://www.martialarm.com/information/martial-arts-definition.html

a martial art is defined as: various forms of self-defense, usually weaponless, based on techniques developed in ancient China, India, and Tibet.

http://www.martialarm.com/information/martial-arts-definition.html

If you’ve never studied a martial art, your awareness of them most likely starts at Bruce Lee movies and ends with the stylized theatrics of The Matrix. If that’s the case, you may not realize from what you’ve gleaned onscreen that there are an estimated 200 unique kinds of martial arts, and within these, thousands of different styles. Karate, judo, kung fu, and tae kwon do are among the most popular and well-known of the martial arts in the U.S., but there are numerous others.

Despite the array of martial arts and styles, most of them share common techniques, and so they can be organized into broad categories that facilitate understanding. The primary way of classifying martial arts is by the basic physical technique they use: striking or grappling.

The different styles can even be related to shapes or geometry – squares, triangles and circles.

MARTIAL TRAINING TO LIVE

Training is hard..really hard. The most hard is to get started and its down-hill easy from there. What you need is a martial arts machine – something new and exciting to get you off your fat ass.

Search for it – martial arts machine – http://www.google.com/search?q=martial+arts+machine

Whats important now is to do something, start with brief excercise, get into stretching, shadow box, then step up and train hard.

GO to the local phone book and look up kung fu or karate. Then give them a call, go along or take your kid.

CONCLUSION IS ACTION

Life is not scarey but maybe your lack of skill, self confidence and personal competance is making you petrified.

Be pro-active and look, then choose and participate in action whether alone with a martial arts training machine or go to a dojo.

If you are not liking what you see in the mirror, afraid to go down a dark street, scared of a potential confrontation then train now.

Before Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme, there was Bruce Lee.  In a way, it is a real shame that many of today’s generation of action film fans have never been exposed to Bruce Lee because he was perhaps the greatest martial arts action hero of all time.   His martial arts on film may not have been as fancy as say Jackie Chan’s or Jet Li’s but his on screen ferocity and charisma are unequalled.  Even more important was the impact on martial arts that Bruce Lee had which still endures today even over 30 years since his passing.

Bruce Lee always considered himself a martial artist first and an actor second.  As a martial artist, he was way ahead of his time in developing his own style of martial arts he called jeet kune do.  His martial arts incorporated the most practical techniques from various combative disciplines as he moved away from the traditional and classical techniques.  His martial arts abilities were real and
respected by other prominent martial artists like Jhoon Rhee, Chuck Norris, Ed Parker and Joe Lewis.  His name was inducted into the prestigious Black Belt Hall of Fame twice, once while he was alive and the other after his death.  These are honors that no other martial arts action hero has ever come close to.  Martial arts schools in North America enjoyed a huge growth in enrollment because of Bruce Lee.

North America got an early glimpse of Bruce Lee when he played Kato in the Green Hornet television series and a bit role in the movie Marlowe.  He went to Hong Kong and made a few films like Fists of Fury (called the Big Boss in the Asia market) and the Chinese Connection which made him a huge star in Asia.  Bruce Lee also wrote, directed and starred in his own movie production called the Way of the Dragon which featured perhaps one of the greatest martial arts fight scenes ever.  This scene took place in the Roman Coliseum and was with Chuck Norris which gave Norris his first film start.  It was Enter the Dragon that broke him to North America.  Unfortunately, he died tragically at the age of 32 in 1973 before he was able to witness the success of that movie.  At the time of Lee’s death, he had completed the fight scenes for another movie called Game of Death which featured basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabar, who was actually one of his martial arts students.  Other students of Bruce Lee included actors Steve McQueen and James Coburn.  Game of Death was completed with look-alike actors later on.

One of the most significant contributions Bruce Lee made is that he opened the door for other Asians in the entertainment industry worldwide.  He was the first Asian to achieve any significant success in the North American entertainment scene.  He became a star in North America and the rest of the world by playing heroes rather than past stereotype roles for Asians such as like servants, gangsters, laundry workers or other ‘pigtail coolie’ characters.  On an even greater scale, Bruce Lee gave Asians, particularly the Chinese people worldwide, a reason to be proud.  Bruce Lee influenced them to be confident in pushing forward to achieve their goals no matter what field they were in.

The British Aikido Board
Disastrous National Nepotism Seminar 2011 – 99 Students
By Henry Ellis Co-author of Positive Aikido.

( BAB Founder member – now resigned )

For many years The British Aikido Board ( BAB ) have shown no interest what-so-ever in the true history of British Aikido, to be fair to the BAB, they have in the recent past shown a great deal of interest and support for the false history of British Aikido for which they have now publicly apologised, the apology to Henry Ellis by the chairman Mr Vincent Sumpter pictured left, can be viewed on this site. www.geocities.com/britishaikido.

Kenshiro Abbe Sensei 1915 – 1985..

When Kenshiro Abbe Sensei first stepped on British soil in 1955 he brought with him the knowledge of many Budo arts, Aikido being one of them. Abbe Sensei also brought his Aikido based philosophy of Kyu-Shin-Do. This was the inception of British Aikido. Yet no where in the BAB literature will you find any reference to Kenshiro Abbe Sensei by name or the origins of Aikido within the UK. In the year 2000 the BAB were happy to help promote Mr Pooles proven fraudulent claims to 47 yrs of Aikido, I am plesaed to add that the BAB have now taken this claim by Mr Poole from the BAB Associations information website. I personally received my invitation from the BAB to attend Mr Poole’s event, that was the start of the long running British Aikido Board Controversy which was resolved at the mediation meeting 6th July 2005 with Sport England/BAB/Ellis. Yet sadly, the BAB have never ever recognised or promoted the true history of British Aikido or its founder Kenshiro Abbe Sensei. The reason for this article is that following the success of the great Kenshiro Abbe Sensei Celebrations 14th May 2005 I am informed that the BAB plan a similar event next year which would be an insult to the memory of Abbe Sensei and to the handful of Abbe Sensei direct students.

It should be pointed out that the spate of attacks on the credibilty of British Aikido History – Kenshiro Abbe Sensei and Henry Ellis have all come from within the BAB, some are executive members along with prominent members of the British Aikido Board associations. These are the very people that the BAB members would expect to promote and protect their proud lineage. Below are a few examples.

One: Ms Shirley Timms the British Aikido Boards secretary, totally ignored the facts-photos-evidence against Mr Jack Poole’s false history which were personally handed to her by Henry Ellis, prior to Mr Poole being presented with his coveted bronze samurai statue in Oct 2000.

Two: Mr Toni Davies the previous BAB chairman, deliberately lied at a general meeting to protect Mr Poole’s false history. Read the Sport England meeting minutes.

Three: Mr Vincent Sumpter The BAB chairman once supported the claims of Mr Poole by stating ” We have no formal records to prove or disprove either claim ” DUH < There were four of Abbe Sense's direct students within the BAB at that time.>

Four: Mr John Burn.* BAB Executive *- *BAB Communications Officer* – Very Serious libel attack on the name of Henry Ellis. renews his attack 10th June 2005 stating ” This only serves to amuse me “.

Five: Jim Johnston. The then *BAB Press Officer*. Promoting the fraudulent claims of Mr Poole whilst fully knowing the truth.

Six: Mr Dominick Foster.* BAB Executive * – Attends the Kenshiro Abbe Celebrations and states to a VIP guest “What is this Celebration all about ” he then states that next year is the true celebration of British Aikido by the BAB.

Seven: Mr Jack Poole.* BAB Senior Principal Coach *. The Jack Poole Biography..( a catalogue of lies. ).

Eight: The KenShinKai.* Prominent BAB Association*. Gave 100% Support for the JP Bio..Their open letter taken from the NACD is an absolute classic and can be read on this website.

Nine: Mr Gwynne Jones.* Prominent BAB member *. Dis-credits 6 of the first 8 of the early dan grades in MartialArts Illustrated article ” Bends the Branch..Issue June 05. visit the National Aikido Database forum for more information.

British Aikido Board Statement Damned Forever
Ten: This is without doubt the most disgraceful of them all.. * The BAB Chairman *Toni Davis stated in the year 2000
“We the British Aikido Board are not the custodians of British Aikido History and
therefore have no interest in the same“

Eleven: Sadly, with the arrival of the new BAB chairman Mr Vincent Sumpter nothing changed, he made the statement below despite the factual information available to him and his executive, We must not forget that Mr Sumpter had the only four surviving students of Abbe Sensei for Aikido within the BAB.

Twelve: On the 17th April 2002 The *BAB Chairman * Mr Vincent Sumpter wrote to Henry Ellis with reference to the history of British Aikido. He then made the following crass statement in his support for the BAB stance on Mr Jack Poole.

“The period in question predates the creation of the BAB by a significant amount of time and therefore we have no formal records to prove or disprove either claim.”

Thirteen: The Kenshiro Abbe 50th Celebration Seminar
May 14th Crystal Palace London
720 Participants –Guests – Spectators

At the Sport England / BAB / Ellis mediation meeting 6th July 2004 where the BAB were reprimanded by Sport England and instructed to give Henry Ellis a full public apology.

At the end of the meeting ( The minutes for this meeting can be viewed on this site .( www.geocities.com/britishaikido ), Henry Ellis appraised Ms Sadie Mason of Sport England of the proposed plans for the Kenshiro Abbe event, Ms Mason suggested that we should involve the BAB in our plans as part of the reconciliation of British Aikido, Henry Ellis agreed.

Henry Ellis offered Ms Mason’s suggestion to the Abbe Event Committee, the suggestion was unanimously accepted 100%. The BAB executive were then approached and invited to send a representative ( any one of its 15,000 members ) of the BAB to attend our meetings and report back on our progress, this offer was rejected out of hand.

Mr Vincent Sumpter

“No matter your Pretence, you are what you are and nothing more!“
Kenshiro Abbe Sensei

Not deterred, we then invited the BAB chairman Mr Vincent Sumpter to attend The Kenshiro Abbe 50th Celebration as a VIP guest, to pay the respects of the BAB membership of which he represents . There were many BAB members attending, proving that this event was not about personal differences – styles or what organisation you belong to, I was pleased to see students from Mr Poole’s organisation who were also made very welcome. This event was about one thing and one thing only “ Kenshiro Abbe Sensie “ with demonstrations of the early aikido and its proud standards, with Sensei Eastman showing various techniques to show the influences that the different early teachers brought to the UK in those early days.

Students trained with other students of various styles and associations with a friendliness not often seen in modern Aikido circles. this event went a long way to promote all that is good in Aikido. I believe that the spirit of Abbe Sensei would be very proud of this special day to his memory.

Another crass statement from Mr Vincent Sumpter 27th March 2004 made before the Sport England Mediation meeting 6th July 2005. In an unwarranted attack on the genuine aikidoka who supported the British Aikido Controversy debate in its defence of the true history of British Aikido and the Aikido history of Abbe Sensei and his disciples.

Mr Sumpter bleats.

“The Boards conscience is clear. like all the practitioners of Aikido who contribute to this “controversy “ Mr Humm appears to have forgotten the meaning of the word “Aikido “ – Harmony of Sprit to find a Way “ The “Controversy “ website feeds hatred, ill – feeling, bitterness and discord. For my part, as an aikidoka who is passionate about the art and the etiquette that goes with it, I will therefore not add to the feeding frenzy this website generates. I can’t stop what is going on but I can turn the other cheek.“

With reference to the above statement by Mr Sumpter I should remind the reader to visit on this website www.geocities.com/britishaikido to read both the Sport England minutes and Mr Sumpters apology to Mr Ellis which can only be considered an apology to all those that supported the “Controversy “ in the name of Kenshiro Abbe Sensei including the named Mr David Humm.

In response to our invitation to attend as a VIP guest to the Abbe event Mr Sumpter replied stating that he graciously accepted our invitation. Just before the event he changed his mind without explanation, suggesting that we allow Mr Ralph Reynolds to represent the BAB.

Mr Reynolds had a far more important role to play as one of the main teachers at this event where he was delighted to take part as an original student of Kenshiro Abbe Sensei.

This was such an important event with many good students who were members of the BAB, yet, the British Aikido Board were not represented at this event to pay tribute to such a great master and the founding father of British Aikido.

If Mr Sumpter had attended he would have seen a Martial Arts Spectacular never before seen in the United Kingdom, where students from many organisations met and renewed old friendships, there were many more that made new friendships.

In almost 50 years of Aikido I have never before experienced the special atmosphere that electrified the great hall at Crystal Palace from the moment the Taiko Drummers started to play on this day of celebration in the name of Abbe Sensei. I never ever thought in my life time that I would ever see an event to eclipse the great event at The Royal Albert Hall in 1963 with Abbe Sensei. I knew on Saturday the 14th of May that I was now witnessing the greatest Aikido event in my 48 years of Aikido. I am not an emotional man but I will admit that as I looked over the balcony of the concourse onto the tatami area with the sound of the Taiko Drummers and the hundreds of students and guests gathering below I was unable to stop the trickle of a few emotional tears as I realised I was witnessing something very special.

MR SUMPTER, you too missed something very special, whilst you sat 40 miles away at home ignoring the tribute to the father of British Aikido, others travelled from all parts of the UK – USA – France – Holland – Germany – Czechoslovakia. etc.

Whilst you sat at home it was a wonderful moment when Sensei Bill Woods who was the personal aide to Kenshiro Abbe Sensei and without doubt the most influential force in the history British Martial Arts, made a supreme effort despite his serious illness to pay his respects to the memory of Abbe Sensei.

Also whilst you sat at home, Sensei Bill Stopps the personal Aide to Matsutharu Otani Sensei who despite his age and ill health also attended and thanked me wholeheartedly for inviting him as a special guest, and for the wonderful day he had experienced.

Whilst you sat at home just 40 miles away, Sensei Robin Otani and his two sons, the descendents of Matsutharu Otani Sensei travelled all the way from Devon to attend.

Sensei Joe Curran travelled all the way from Newcastle and Sensei Mike Nery travelled from Bristol. Sensei Dave Rogers travelled 7000 miles from New Mexico USA as did Sensei Al Montemar and Mr Chad Hatcher who flew over from Texas USA to pay their respects. Whilst you sat at home there were many others that travelled long journeys to attend.

Unlike you Mr Sumpter these people wanted to attend.

You missed some of the finest displays of the Budo arts that any martial artist is ever likely to witness at any one event, a truly lasting experience for all those that made the effort to attend.

I was always under the impression that it was the sworn duty of any chairman to always do what was best for his organisation and its members.

As the previous BAB chairman Toni Davies will always be rembered for nothing more than his lies and unswerving support for Mr Poole.

The present chairman Mr Sumpter will always be remembered as the BAB chairman who snubbed the Kenshiro Abbe Memorial to pay tribute to our founding father on behalf of his membership.

Try Try Try Again

After the disastrous “British Aikido Board Nepotism Seminar 2004“ with only 99 students attending out of a membership of approx 15000, the BAB have decided not to hold it’s 2005 National Seminar .

They are of course fully aware of the fantastic success of the Kenshiro Abbe Celebrations. With 720 participants – honoured guests – spectators.

The BAB having failed miserably in its four year support for Mr Jack Poole to change the history of British Aikido. They now appear to have a renewed interest in the true history of British Aikido and its founder Kenshiro Abbe.
No matter whatever the British Aikido Board do, that damning statement below will hang over their shameless heads for ever and a day.

British Aikido Board Statement Damned Forever

The BAB Chairman Toni Davis stated in the year 2000

“We the British Aikido Board are not the custodians of British Aikido History and
therefore have no interest in the same.“

“No matter your pretence – you are what you are – and nothing more.“
Kenshiro Abbe

http://www.EllisAikido.org – -http://www.geocities.com/britishaikido