CEB
27th December 2002, 16:27
Christmas is over and New Years is approaching. That means it is almost time to celebrate that damn old ******* father time. That means another year is gone as I try to deal with the onset of another one my mid-life crisis.
It really warms my heart to see our older senior practitioners get on the floor and whoop up on the young whipper snappers. Mainly because I hope to be old someday.
There is a kendo sensei in Chicago. I don’t remember his name. He is an little bitty old gentleman from the Choyokan. In kendo there is a practice called Godo keiko (best guess on the spelling guys). What happens is all the senseis line up from the various schools and all the students ( sandan and below) step up and get it. After they give it to you then they tell you what you need to do to improve your kendo. Well we line up and my buddy is across from this little tiny OLD frail looking sensei, My friend was thinking, Man I hope I don’t hurt this guy. The sensei appears to hobble when he walks. He looks like he can barely get around. Well when hajime was called the little old man becomes a tiger. My buddy is getting a butt whipping and decides OK the old man is going to get it. Ha Ha Ha, no way the sensei’s timing is to good. An amazing site to this old gentleman play kendo. Suzuki Sensei our original Kendo teacher came to visit us this summer from Japan, he is 74 years old now. No one could still touch him. He looks bored as he beating us. I guess that is what Kendo 7th dans do.
I have a cousin who does Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Connecticut. His teacher is Royce Gracie. My cousin told me a couple of years ago that Royce’s dad beats him on the mat. This is doing what they consider their traditional GJJ methods from the knees not the NHB type of fighting. I told Jim, “Well yeah I don’t think I could bring myself to ever beat my Dad either”. He said No Eddie its not like that, those guys play hard they do not give each other any breaks.
I have arthritis in both ankles and my left knee is bad. The ankles hurt a lot, especially in the mornings. They are starting to hurt all the time now but I ignore the pain and have been training through it. I figure my best hope is to stay as active as I can. Last year I was getting worried about it and I asked some of my seniors about my condition and they would ask me “How old are you Mr. Boyd?” “Well I’m about 40” I would say. Usually the reply was something like ‘yep I felt like too when I was 40.
I have had 2 friends and I corresponded with another individual who has traveled to Okinawa to train in Goju Ryu at the Shodokan. All 3 have mentioned how great of an experience it was to have met Takamine Sensei who is 95 and no longer able to train in the dojo. Even though he no longer actively trains he still acts as a source strength and inspiration to the Shodokan. Is honoring the old sensei something that is reserved for the far east only?
I’m hoping I can keep training into my 70s. I don’t like to see a situation in the martial arts where the old lions train until the young lions can beat them and run the old lions off. This used to happen in our dojo. The old men should be honored not beaten away. It seems to be their own pride that is driving most of them from the dojo and to the couch. The couch is the one place they do not need to be heading. My original Goju teacher and Judo teacher have both retired from teaching. Old age is a ***** I guess. Lets all do our own little part to try to make it a little more enjoyable for the old men.
It really warms my heart to see our older senior practitioners get on the floor and whoop up on the young whipper snappers. Mainly because I hope to be old someday.
There is a kendo sensei in Chicago. I don’t remember his name. He is an little bitty old gentleman from the Choyokan. In kendo there is a practice called Godo keiko (best guess on the spelling guys). What happens is all the senseis line up from the various schools and all the students ( sandan and below) step up and get it. After they give it to you then they tell you what you need to do to improve your kendo. Well we line up and my buddy is across from this little tiny OLD frail looking sensei, My friend was thinking, Man I hope I don’t hurt this guy. The sensei appears to hobble when he walks. He looks like he can barely get around. Well when hajime was called the little old man becomes a tiger. My buddy is getting a butt whipping and decides OK the old man is going to get it. Ha Ha Ha, no way the sensei’s timing is to good. An amazing site to this old gentleman play kendo. Suzuki Sensei our original Kendo teacher came to visit us this summer from Japan, he is 74 years old now. No one could still touch him. He looks bored as he beating us. I guess that is what Kendo 7th dans do.
I have a cousin who does Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Connecticut. His teacher is Royce Gracie. My cousin told me a couple of years ago that Royce’s dad beats him on the mat. This is doing what they consider their traditional GJJ methods from the knees not the NHB type of fighting. I told Jim, “Well yeah I don’t think I could bring myself to ever beat my Dad either”. He said No Eddie its not like that, those guys play hard they do not give each other any breaks.
I have arthritis in both ankles and my left knee is bad. The ankles hurt a lot, especially in the mornings. They are starting to hurt all the time now but I ignore the pain and have been training through it. I figure my best hope is to stay as active as I can. Last year I was getting worried about it and I asked some of my seniors about my condition and they would ask me “How old are you Mr. Boyd?” “Well I’m about 40” I would say. Usually the reply was something like ‘yep I felt like too when I was 40.
I have had 2 friends and I corresponded with another individual who has traveled to Okinawa to train in Goju Ryu at the Shodokan. All 3 have mentioned how great of an experience it was to have met Takamine Sensei who is 95 and no longer able to train in the dojo. Even though he no longer actively trains he still acts as a source strength and inspiration to the Shodokan. Is honoring the old sensei something that is reserved for the far east only?
I’m hoping I can keep training into my 70s. I don’t like to see a situation in the martial arts where the old lions train until the young lions can beat them and run the old lions off. This used to happen in our dojo. The old men should be honored not beaten away. It seems to be their own pride that is driving most of them from the dojo and to the couch. The couch is the one place they do not need to be heading. My original Goju teacher and Judo teacher have both retired from teaching. Old age is a ***** I guess. Lets all do our own little part to try to make it a little more enjoyable for the old men.