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Mark Brelsford
16th December 2001, 18:13
Hello All,

Just a general question for everyone, since I am still "the new guy". I was just wondering what are most of the experience/training levels of the folks that are posting.

I mean just a general thought of what some of you have done or are currently doing. I guess its kinda just for me to know everyone I am writing with.

Thanks in advance!!

Mark J Brelsford

:smilejapa

Joe Paden
16th December 2001, 23:44
Hello Mark,

You wrote:
<<Just a general question for everyone, since I am still "the new guy". I was just wondering
what are most of the experience/training levels of the folks that are posting.

I mean just a general thought of what some of you have done or are currently doing.
I guess its kinda just for me to know everyone I am writing with.>>

My name is Joe Paden, I live on the eastern shore of Maryland. I have studied Isshin-ryu since 1983
and the more I train, the more I realize I'm a beginner.

Our Dojo is in our back yard and my wife and I have only a few students. Karate is basicaly our life,
and we love it!!!

I really enjoy your Sanchin question, and please keep them up. Maybe you could share some of your
experience you had while in Okinawa. You did write that correct? Sorry if you didnt write it.

Joey Paden,
Maryland Isshin-kai

Kanpai :toast: to Okinawan Karate!!

Mark Brelsford
17th December 2001, 02:16
Joe,

Thanks for responding.... I know how ya feel. After a while karate really gets in ones blood!! I feel as you do not sure what I would do with out it.

If ya wanna know info on Okinawa just ask away!! I will do my best to answer what I can for ya!

Lets keep it going....

Mark J Brelsford

Hank Irwin
5th January 2002, 22:12
Haisai MarkSan, and everyone else! Have been studying Uchina To-De Jutsu for 30 years under Kyoshi Roy Osborne. A mixture of Shorinji-ryu,Ryukyu Kempo,Ueichi-ryu, & Machimura Suide, the main "flavor" being Shorinji-ryu. Have been studying Kojo-ryu & Uchina TsuruKen from Sensei Chuck Chandler for the past 4 years also. It's been a helluva ride so far. Been a "buki" maker for about 25 years now too. First taste of Karate was Wado-ryu at Takazawa Sensei's dojo. Only stayed there for about 10 months, wasn't my cup of tea. Training was lax and sport oriented. I was a clarinet player and a skinny kid to boot coming up in school. Much the subject of a picking on. The only good thing I had going for me was the Western Boxing experience I had from some family friends that were from a prominent Boxing family. I finally got tired of being hit in the nose all the time though. First glimpse of Karate was an ass kicking in the 8th grade I got from a buddy of mine. I( the tough Boxer I thought I was) was picking on him with the 2x4 I had on my shoulder and he round-house kicked me upside the head. Never saw it coming. He was a student of TakazawaSan's. He wouldn't tell me this though. I had to follow him around for about a week before I could find out where his school was. It went from there.:D

7th January 2002, 02:06
I was trying to avoid this. I really hate typing (j/k)! I started training in the MAs when I was 7 years old. My dad's friend was a Judo sensei at the local Y who continuously extolled the virtues of Kodokan Judo's training in raising strong young people. I trained in judo until the base my dad was at closed down a few years later (about 3 years). My pops then PCSed to San Antonio, Tx. where I began my Western Boxing training at an East Side gym that a schoolyard friend of mines dad ran. My friend saw me get into an altercation over a red, white and blue basketball I had received as a Christmas gift. He thought I did a fair job with the wrestling stuff, but that my punches looked horrible. Being a white kid attending the San Antonio East Side public school system, I was bound to get into more squabbles.

I loved boxing but it's kinda' hard on the face! I use to have a nice straight nose, but after years of boxing (and eventually football) it now points due east! I trained in boxing until my dad PCSed to the P.I. (Philippines). That was about 4 years. When we arrived in the Philippines the state of affairs at the H.S. was horrendous. My first day I saw 6 fights! 4 on campus and 2 that were fought at our "Bicentennial Park" that turned into huge "race" brawls. The tension amongst the different races at our school was severe. The Filipinos hated the Thais. The Thais hated the African Americans. The whites were severely outnumbered and despised by all. To make matters worse an open campus often allowed local off-base ruffians access to the campus, where they would threaten everyone they didn't like with bodily harm and even death if they ventured off-base.

This didn't look good to me. I mean I came from an impoverished inner city school system thinking that my move to the PI just before I was to attend a H.S. notorious for gang activity in SA, was a blessing in disguise. WRONG! The Wagner HS campus on Clark in the 80's was extremely entropic. The rules were extremely lax. You could wear what you want (even the females) and were free to leave the campus at any time. I guess they felt that since our school often scored in the top 2% of California HSs on the CTBS, that it was only fair to allow the test takers some freedom. What other school system in America would let you play a MAs version of "tiger in the ring" complete with flying kicks to the back of the neck and spinning back fists to the eye? You don't usually get intelligence and toughness in one package.

I was fascinated by all the different cultures tenuously thrown together, and expected to work their differences out. I was especially fascinated by the Asian cats and their fancy fighting. I started to talk to some of these guys and many of them told me about fighting styles I have never heard of. A lot of the Thai guys had trained in Thailand (and still did during summer vacation) and they were definitely scary. The guys that impressed me the most were the Filipino dudes. They just looked more polished and effective. I became friends with 2 of the "tigers in the ring" and they told me about their style, Shorin Ryu Shorinkan, and their instructor Sensei Ulysses "Ollie" Aquino. He was the Far East and PACAF kumite and kata champ, as well as being a formidable street fighter.

They brought me to their dojo the next day. What I saw was frightening. Almost all adults with a couple of HS aged kids, sweating like they were running a marathon. The teacher had the presence of a warrior. You could "feel" his Chi. One-by-one he was going around standing on the legs of the students as they performed butterfly stretches. Owww, I thought! I watched them progress pass warm-ups and into kihon drills. Each student paired up. One would defend as the other attacked. Bone-on-bone sounded not so good to my ears! That was enough for me. This place didn't even have any AC! I brought my younger brother along 2 days later to check out some other styles at the dojo (Goju Ryu, Lotus style Gung Fu, Kajukenbo) and 2 days later TKD, Muay Thai and Shotokan. They all paled in intensity. I wasn't convinced they "had it". I was use to sweaty grappling workouts and boxing training (roadwork, bag training, intense sparring).

Anyways to make a lengthy story longer, we picked Shorinkan and trained in it until we left the PI almost 7 years later. I even gave up a scholarship to UT-Austin and went to the Univ of Maryland (Far East Campus-Philippines) so I could continue my training. Our Sensei was also a black sash in Kuntaw, an accomplished kali practitioner, a great amateur boxer and a street smart modern peichin.

My pops PCSed and we arrived back in SA in 1988. I looked for a legit dojo but there were none in San Antonio. I knew of only one good dojo in Texas and it was a Shorinkan Dojo run by Kyoshi Ray Keller. My brother spoke to him about where we could train and he mentioned one half-arsed Matsubayashi dojo in SA, but if we really wanted to expand our knowledge and skills we should take a trip up north to Bastrop, Tx. just outside of Austin. His friend and sensei (one of them) Ron Lindsey was a veritable font of Machimura Suide (Matsumura Seito) knowledge and had studied with Kise, Soken and Kuda (among other notable Okinawan Masters). We thought that was a little far to travel (2.5 hours) and opted for the Matsubayashi place in town...

That lasted a few months until we could take it no more. The workouts were semi-high intensity but the techs were low intelligence and efficacy. A lot of theory without empirical evidence. I moved to LA to attend grad school and met up with a friend of mine who was studying this "new" art called Gracie JJ. I got into that whole early/mid-nineties NHB craze, and realized it wasn't as satisfying as the classical training I had in the PI. To this day I still train in BJJ, but just as a supplement to my fighting knowledge base, Shorin.

Sorry this is long, but you aksed for it... In '99 after talking to Sensei Keller again my brother and me traveled up to Bastrop to check out this Lindsey character we had heard about. Seems that he does a lot of seminars and many martialists had heard of him, and they always had good, "respectful" things to say about his techs. We made the journey to his "HakutsuruKan" just outside Austin as kind of a roadtrip. We were gonna peep the nightlife in Austin, and while we were in the vicinity we'd drop in on this "deadly" cat!

Mr. Lindsey was very informal. When we asked what we should call him if we decided to train under him he replied that "hey you" would suffice. We opted for "Sensei". When we asked him how he ran his dojo, he explained that many Okinawan senseis did things in a less regimented manner than their Japanese counterparts, and he did so, too. Every so often we would bow in if the class was large enough, but usually they just did an informal warm-up and then went straight into training.

When I asked him the difference between the different ryuha of Shorin, he explained that many of his teachers saw similarities in all, but that Matsumura Seito, Kobayashi and Shobayashi were closest to the original intent of Sokon Matsumura. We agreed, as that was our experience with the competition circuit overseas. In fact I hadn't even seen but one Matsubayashi practitioner overseas and he was definitely "different". Although my sensei in the PI was a multiple tourney champ, he truly despised competition and thought hat it meant nothing when it came to real world practicality. Sensei Lindsey felt exactly the same and then mentioned that he attends competitions but rarely competes as the judges usually don't know how to properly evaluate the things he presents them. He's even been laughed at while performing Hakutsuru kata.

He showed us some of Hohan Soken's pp principles, which I had never seen before. He explained some tachi kata and other techs based on geometrical principles. He was extremely cordial and forthright. He was not impressed with himself, and in fact was very humble as was evidenced by his small but authentic dojo, and modest house. He only charges $30 a month with almost unlimited access to the dojo. The floors are concrete and there is no climate control. He explained how the summers were HOTTTT, and the winters were COLLLD (until we warm it up). When I looked at the clock to check the time, 3 hours had gone past! It seemed like 30 minutes!

That being said we make a trek up to Sensei Lindsey's dojo twice a month, each session being 6-8 hours long. They are intense and we love it. I teach at the gym I work-out at, and am gaining new insight into the art. I still train in the summer under Caique (BJJ) and just started rolling with Ryron Gracie who is a personal friend, and my best friends good friend. Sorry for the name dropping my toes hurt too, hahahaha!!! That's my longer-than-heck story. I won't be posting for about 3 months now!

Bryan Seer

Hank Irwin
7th January 2002, 03:11
BryanSan, sounds like you had a helluva up-bringing. What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger,no? Haha! I have enjoyed every and any moment I have spent with Lindsey Sensei. This has been by way of seminars I attended where he was a featured instructor. I have a little video I've done from a seminar he did with him twirling me around on the floor. His bunkai "feels" real good Hahaha! He and my Sensei met and knew each other in Okinawa. Too bad you guys can only get there twice a month. For a fairly big guy, he can move real good. Lindsey Sensei is what, mid 50's? Anyway, you picked a good Sensei to help "round" out your Martial Arts experience. I know he teaches a lot of TsuruKen also, I learned some from him. :D

8th January 2002, 01:26
It's good to hear that there are other Ryukyuan stylists who have had a chance to train with Mr. Lindsey. He is extremely no-nonsense and his knowledge and application of that knowledge has to be experienced first hand! He's "steered" me around the dojo several times with PPs, throws, controls and locks whenever I had a question of a techniques "usefulness"!

Ronnie is deceptively fast, I'd have to agree. That speed is more proper footwork and angling than innate quickness ("change-body"). I do have to say that he was the starting fullback for Texas A&M, though, so he has does possess great athleticism, even for a man 10 years his junior (yes he is 50 + years old)!

I'll tell him that you said good things about him. He'll be very appreciative. Many times the unknowing assume that everyone is as clueless about reality as them, and that they can run off at the mouth about their perceived reality. If you've trained with Ron then you would NEVER be able to spout the derogatory things that I've heard (even on this board) said about him.

He always talks of the styles he finds to be good combat forms, and his appraisals of Shorinji Ryu have always been extremely positive. Thank you sir for taking the time to read my long-winded synopsis, hopefully we can meet at a seminar one day and train together as brothers.

Bryan Seer

Hank Irwin
8th January 2002, 04:24
If ever I can get the chance ByanSan, you betcha'. Please give Lindsey Sensei my best please! BrelsfordSan, could you give us a little history of yourself? Long post or not I am enjoying this very much.

Renji
17th January 2002, 02:26
Goodness I feel like such a baby here! I'm 16 years old and just started training in Goju-Ryu under Renshi Ken Harris a few months ago (I'm grading for my yellow near the end of this month). I also attend an Iaido class once a week.
I don't really have much of a background. I've always had an interest in the martial arts, especially the weapons arts. Then my mother introduced me to Sensei Ken and I started taking classes with him. It didn't go too well at first. I was the only younger person in the adult class and school was really pressing into my training time. So I quite until the workload lessoned. Which was the beginning of this school year. And I was feeling more confident because two of my friend had also joined the class. The class now is definately alot more enjoyable. We have two of the more advanced students from the kids class and I'm amazed at how much you can learn from the little guys! But so far I'm really enjoying my training and hoping to continue it for a long time. And if I get lucky I'll be off to Japan for a year (student exchange) training in Kendo, Judo and anything else I can get into.
Anyway that's my story,
Ren ><>

Mark Tankosich
17th January 2002, 05:06
Mr. Seer,

You wrote: "I'll tell him that you said good things about him. "

You can let Mr. Lindsey know that I've been hearing good things about him, too, from my sempai Mike Farrell ;).

Best,

Tatsu
26th February 2002, 06:50
Mr. Kass:
I have not lied and I'm not Ashida Kim or Ron Collins. I have adamant views about things based on my perspective. Sorry if I came across as brazen, but I am not a liar. My background is real, Sensei Lindsey is real (as many members have attested to), and obviously you are angry at me for my statements about "schoolboy" karate.

Those weren't my words. I was just relaying what numerous Sensei have told me. Shidokan or Matsubayashi or whatever ryuha you train in are very good representations of the old and new Okinawan Ti derived arts. I too trained in Kobayashi and was dismayed to hear the "schoolboy" term being used to describe it (although the first person I heard it from believes Kobayashi to be one of the strongest of the modern Ryukyuan styles).

Really man, I'm not a mean person and I apologize for offending you early on. Please don't assume that you know me, and please don't call me a liar. That's all I ask brother. Hopefully we can squash this junk and move on to agreeing to disagree sometimes!

Tatsu
4th March 2002, 09:05
Oh, I SEE!

Uh-huh...

Shidokan. Whatever.

LMAO, with no smile

Ron Rompen
15th March 2002, 01:32
Don't know how I missed this thread before, but oh well....


I am 40-mumble years old, work as a Quality Engineer for a metal fabrication company in southern Ontario (Kitchener).

I am a student of Japanese Goju Ryu, currently 3rd kyu in both karate and kobudo, hopefully grading for 2nd kyu within the next few months (although I'm in no big hurry)

I have been studying with Sensei Adette Rice for about 3 yrs now. I had previously studied Hap Ki Do under Sensei Rudy Timmerman in Sault Ste Marie about 30 yrs ago (when he first opened his school there).

Don't know what other information people would like to know/hear, so I'll stop for now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Hank Irwin
15th March 2002, 02:33
RonSan, haisai!(Uchina hogen for hello) You could eloborate a little. You almost sounded like E-oar there for a minute.:laugh: just kidding you know. We are a "lively" bunch here, so, be candid if you like.

Ron Rompen
15th March 2002, 03:03
Originally posted by Robert Rousselot
Ron,

I noticed you are from Kitchener.
I knew a guy from there and used to teach his wife, Ryan Kuwabara, Hockey player. Don't suppose you ever heard of him.

No, the name doesn't ring a bell. I have lived here for about 15 yrs, but am not (gasp) a hockey fan at all.

Ginko
25th March 2002, 20:58
I have been training for over fifteen years. Started Shorin-ryu in the Seibukan organization, then broke away to join/form the Zentokukai (some of you may know Angel Lemus from Bugeisha magazine). Along the way, I have also trained Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Yang Tai Chi & Yamnni-Ryu Bojutsu. Have taught on & off for about six years, but currently have no students at my home Dojo. Currently supplementing my training with kettlebells for conditioning.

Jay Setser
www.zentokukai.com

Doug Daulton
28th March 2002, 13:28
Gentlemen,

Consider this your first and only warning to quit baiting one another in these public forums. If you want to argue, take to e-mail or PM.

I very politely made my position clear the last time. (See: Last Debate & Comment (http://www.e-budo.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9590)) We are not going through another round of this.

Period.

Regards,