They're always so awkward, aren't they? So... Martial arts forum... Guess I should go into information about what I study. I am a shodan black belt in Shotokan karate and Hakkoryu jujitsu. I study Western martial arts, as well- particularly Scottish sword and shield combat, meaning basket hilt claymore. I study eastern martial arts with Justin Butler Soke at Golden Eagle Shotokan ( http://www.goldeneagleshotokan.com/ ) and western with the Wolves of Dunvegan ( http://www.renscots.org/wolves.aspx ) So there we are... in a nutshell. :asian:
So at this point, I want to give a shout to Dr. Bruce Clayton, author of Shotokan's Secret. At the International San Ten Karate Association's annual summer camp in California this year, things got royally screwed up on the side of the people at the facility of Fish Camp. Those of us from out of state showed up and found out that the Fish Camp people had us scheduled for the wrong weekend, and as a consequence, we had nowhere to stay. Bruce Sensei and his wonderful chef of a wife not only opened their home to us (4 complete strangers) but they fed us and made sure we treated like part of the family. There were two of us- myself included- who were there to test for our shodan rank. We got back to Bruce Sensei's house that night to discover that they had bottles of wine to celebrate, and he gave me an autographed copy of his book signed "Welcome to our world" and never asked for a thing in return. Were it not for Bruce Sensei really going above and beyond the call of duty, we would have been right and royally screwed. Whatever you may think of his book, he is a good man, and now, a good friend.
So with all that having been said... Here's a picture from Bruce Sensei's porch! From the left- Mike Sensei from my dojo, Bruce Sensei, my student Chris (I teach him with the supervision of Mike and Justin Sensei- and I say with no small pride that he fought- and pissed- off one of the other shodans at the camp. Yeah, that's my boy! And only a green belt, I might add.) Ryan (the other student who was there to test, and incidentally, the adult chapperone for Chris and I since he's more grown up than either one of us, and as a matter of fact, is the youngest black belt Golden Eagle Shotokan has ever produced- Sensei has a general rule of never promoting kids under the age of 16 to shodan- thinks they're not mature enough to handle the responsability.) Justin Butler Soke (the founder of our school, and according to ISKA, the originator of San Tan Jujitsu, although he believes jujitsu has always been in Shotokan and he's just trying to remind us- didn't originate anything) and myself. I passed out hard right after this picture was taken. Ryan and I were exhausted...
So- now you have an idea of who I am and what I do!
So at this point, I want to give a shout to Dr. Bruce Clayton, author of Shotokan's Secret. At the International San Ten Karate Association's annual summer camp in California this year, things got royally screwed up on the side of the people at the facility of Fish Camp. Those of us from out of state showed up and found out that the Fish Camp people had us scheduled for the wrong weekend, and as a consequence, we had nowhere to stay. Bruce Sensei and his wonderful chef of a wife not only opened their home to us (4 complete strangers) but they fed us and made sure we treated like part of the family. There were two of us- myself included- who were there to test for our shodan rank. We got back to Bruce Sensei's house that night to discover that they had bottles of wine to celebrate, and he gave me an autographed copy of his book signed "Welcome to our world" and never asked for a thing in return. Were it not for Bruce Sensei really going above and beyond the call of duty, we would have been right and royally screwed. Whatever you may think of his book, he is a good man, and now, a good friend.
So with all that having been said... Here's a picture from Bruce Sensei's porch! From the left- Mike Sensei from my dojo, Bruce Sensei, my student Chris (I teach him with the supervision of Mike and Justin Sensei- and I say with no small pride that he fought- and pissed- off one of the other shodans at the camp. Yeah, that's my boy! And only a green belt, I might add.) Ryan (the other student who was there to test, and incidentally, the adult chapperone for Chris and I since he's more grown up than either one of us, and as a matter of fact, is the youngest black belt Golden Eagle Shotokan has ever produced- Sensei has a general rule of never promoting kids under the age of 16 to shodan- thinks they're not mature enough to handle the responsability.) Justin Butler Soke (the founder of our school, and according to ISKA, the originator of San Tan Jujitsu, although he believes jujitsu has always been in Shotokan and he's just trying to remind us- didn't originate anything) and myself. I passed out hard right after this picture was taken. Ryan and I were exhausted...
So- now you have an idea of who I am and what I do!
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