My martial arts experience and attitudes
It's been a couple
years since I have been in a karate class full time. Generally I
have been working on other projects which needed to come first or
the oppertunity has not been such that I could take advantage of
it. Nevertheless, I am an accomplished Karate-Do who has attained
his Sandan rank. I am currently working on fencing and softer
styles of martial arts to round out my training.
My training began in Shotokan karate at the age of six. At that
time I lacked the mental discipline to even earn the first rank and
so I discontinued my study about six months later. When I was ten,
and my parents thought that the classes were 1) something that I
had the discipline to sit through and 2) at a reasonable time in
the after noon I resumed practice. This began under the expert
tutalage of Shihan Tim Steinwachs, Isshin-ryu Godan. My Dai-Sensei
at this school was Sensei Tony Fornier, who also is an excellent
teacher. The style that I was taught was again Shotokan karate.
After achieving the Brown Belt (at this school, one rank before
Shodan) Sensei Tim left that school to start his own. Although the
new teacher at the school was no doubt excellent, I was of an age
to move out of the children's class. After a short break from the
martial arts, I followed Sensei Tim to his new school, and to the
style that he taught there, Isshinryu.
(As an aside, karate was the first thing that taught me that
anything that a person spends 2-3 hours a day on, He is liable to
get good at. This knowledge seems both rare and valuable!)
Isshinryu karate is often undeservedly called a difficult style.
This may be because there are no "Training Wheels" katas thar are
taught. I believe that this is a good thing, because training
wheels seem to teach people how to do things incorrectly. The first
Kata is Seisan, which contains all of the basics that a student
needs to practice. Seisan is the first and most important tool that
a student uses. Isshinryu also uses a unique blocking and punching
system that allows for greater speed, and with practice, greater
power and control than most other forms do. Similar adjustments
have been made to the stances and kicks that are used in this
style.
In many ways, this new style suited me better. I found that the
dynamic nature of the style was more to my liking. In the years
since then (11 or so) I have found that Isshinryu in many ways is
the best style of Karate that I have come across. I learned a basic
set of movements, or a basic way of thinking and learned how to
build on it from there. I have also picked up a lot of other
movements from other styles including Ju-Jitsu, Aikido, Tae Kwon
Do, and others. Check out the links above to learn
more.