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Hello from Texas!
I just ran across this site today... so to introduce myself a little about me and my martial arts background. I started training in Kyokushin Karate in 1981 while stationed at the Naval Training Center in Orlando, Florida. My teacher was Sensei J.R. Swanson. His teacher was Shihan Darrell Wilson who was promoted to 6th Dan by Sosai Mas. Oyama personally.
We were briefly under Shihan Y. Oyama and Seiko Shihan Shigeru Oyama (1982-1985) My nikyu certificate is signed by Seiko Shihan Oyama. When Seiko Shihan Oyama split away to form World Oyama Karate, we stayed with Sosai Oyama.
I was promoted to shodan in 1986 and nidan in 1989 in Kyokushin. In 1987 I began teaching my own classes and had my own students up until the end of 2001 when I returned to active duty with the United States Navy (I previously served for almost 10 years, leaving in 1986). During this period I attended Kyokushin seminars with Hanshi Steve Arneil, Shihan Bobby Lowe, Kancho Akiyoshi Matsui, Shihan John Farrell, Shihan Mike Monaco, and Shihan Bill Richards. I also attended seminars with Morio Higaonna (Goju-ryu), George Dillman (Ryukyu Kempo) and Leon Jay (Small Circle JuJitsu).
After my teacher retired from teaching (due to health reasons) I met and trained with Shihan Bill Richards beginning around 1994 after Sosai had passed away. I attended a clinic with him in Hawaii in 1995 and had the opportunity to train with Kancho Matsui and Shihan Bobby Lowe. I also met Shihan Michael Monaco around this time. When Shihan Monaco and Shihan Richards left IKO to join IFK under Hanshi Steve Arneil, I decided to also join IFK after discussing it with my sensei. I was fortunate to also have the opportunity to attend multiple seminars with Hanshi Arneil and train with Shihan Monaco in addition to Shihan Richards. I took fighters to the American International Karate Championships in 1998 and 1999.
My military service took me overseas in 2004. The last Kyokushin training I attended (until recently) was a fighting clinic in Endicott, New York in 2003. Between 2004 and 2014 I spent almost 9 years overseas, two thirds of that in the middle east. My focus shifted to my military career and I left karate behind. I was a US Navy Master-at-Arms, Military Police Investigator, Physical Security Supervisor, Level II Anti-Terrorism Officer, and Non-Lethal Weapons Instructor. I retired from the Navy the beginning of 2012, then spent two years in Afghanistan working as a security contractor.
Since returning from Afghanistan last year I've basically been in retirement mode. I've been living in a rural area of Texas. I decided recently to sell my house and move to the city (probably either Bryan/College Station where I grew up or Houston. I'm still undecided on my final destination). During packing I've run across a lot of mementos from the 20+ years I was actively involved with martial arts. I decided to do a web search a couple of weeks ago and low and behold discovered there was a AKKO Kyokushin class in Abilene, only 47 miles from where I liveI've attended 3 classes a week since discovering them
It still remains to be seen (I'm 56 and haven't really trained regularly for 14 years), but I feel pretty strongly that I'm going to continue training nowI plan to continue training with the class in Abilene until my property sells. After that I'm leaning towards getting back in touch with IFK. We'll see how it all ends
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Originally Posted by Senshido
