Weird encounter

Micra said:
without witnesses it would be his word against mine. and if he had the injuries to back up his claim, i'd be in trouble :thumbsdown:

Pfft, just smack youself around a bit afterwards, they'll never know the difference.
 
Micra said:
Woot, more martial artists here :thumbsup:

Who is gonna believe him?

without witnesses it would be his word against mine. and if he had the injuries to back up his claim, i'd be in trouble :thumbsdown:

Did you post in the "post a pic of yourself" thread? If not, you should consider a pic where you're "in action"!!

Go right here :mrgreen: : http://forum.finalgear.com/viewtopic.php?t=824&start=1020

2 years of Northern Shaolin Kungfu. I?m dying to resume my training! Nice to see more people here practice martial arts! :thumbsup:
 
Sorry to dig up that thread, but i read this and saw your picture in the Pic-Thread. Kudos for having a 2nd Dan ;)

Myself I did Karate for some years when i was younger (Shotokan) until i reached the 6th Kyu. I was forced to pause when i had to join the Army but i know practise Modern Sports Karate (pretty uncommon style), sadly I had to start all over again because of this, so i only have 10th Kyu (First Yellow, started 3 months ago).

As i mentioned, I noticed the picture in the other thread, and you are wearing a black gi in it. Is that common in Shuri-Ryu Karate? And what kind of style is that (full-contact?)
 
I'm a 2nd Dan as well, Micra. You did the right thing just trying to ignore him to the point he would dissappear.

So wait, Carsightings was riding his bike in Holland?
 
I think that he was soft in the head. I would be really careful and look for a stalker for the next week or so, just in case. If you see any other strange events, like him turning up again go straight to the Police Station.

One thing I would sit down and write down everything that you can remember about the person, clothes, what he was wearing, bike anything and everything whilst it is fresh in your memory. Then forget it unless he turns up. If you see him again and he speaks to you tell him that you do not want to talk to him and you do not have to give a reason and if he persists you will report him to the Police for harrassment.

(Strange: I just realised this is the dad in me talking and what I would say to my daughter).
 
Noboss: ouch...burned.

As I said like 4 months ago, that's just fucking creepy. I wouldn't have gone through all of the weird conversation. I would have kicked him in the face and shouted "RAPE!!" That's a fast way to get carsightings off the street.
 
If it were Carsightings, he'd have suddenly aged five years :p And I haven't seen him since.

Un-Dee: actually the only Shuri-Ryu dojos that require black gis are the ones that are under my Sensei, Wendi Dragonfire. There's a great article and some info on her here:

http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=6

It's an older article, she was promoted to 8th (yes, 8th) dan last year :thumbsup:

She made her students wear black gis as a statement against racism within and outside of the martial arts world. I've seen some other karate styles wear black gis, but not often, and for official events I'd have to wear white myself. Personally I think black looks much more impressive or even intimidating, and just more beautiful, but that's just me.

About Shuri, see the American website:

http://www.shuri-ryu.com/shuriryu.htm

My Sensei is also one of Grandmaster Trias' direct students and a co-student of Hanshi Robert Bowles, who maintains the site mentioned above. My sensei came to the Netherlands in 1982 to spread the style in Europe. We have 5 dojos now: in Nijmegen (main dojo, where I train), Leiden, Utrecht and Amsterdam, and a dojo in Berlin, Germany.

Shuri is a soft contact style. The Shuri the Dragonfire dojos practice is different from the American branch in that certain exercises have been replaced with others that are less competition-focused, a lot of things the Americans do, we do not (mostly power training) because we want our dojos to be accessible for everyone, regardless of their physical condition (we have a 3rd dan in a wheelchair and a 2nd dan who is spastic, both women BTW), most dojos are for women only (except the Nijmegen one, and We're trying to get some of the others, or at least some communal events mixed as well) and most importantly, we've abandoned competition karate. When I just started some of the women were competing, but that was only in the International Gay Games (my Sensei is a lesbian, I am not so I couldn't compete anyway), and then decided "It's not fair to only compete in the Gay Games, and since so many women here cant or won't compete in other competitions, let's stop competing altogether." We still practice sparring, but just for the heck of it. The style is totally focused on selfdefence/surviving on the streets and uses many locks, chokes, throws, pressurepoints, close-in fighting techniques (elbows&knees instead of punches and kicks) gauging, clawing and other mean tricks.

Not to offend anyone doing competition karate, but my Sensei told me the following once and I always use it to explain to students what I think the difference is between sports karate and 'selfdefence' karate (martial sport versus martial art): When you take karate and eliminate any technique and any spot on the body that can really injure, incapacitate or even kill someone, what you are left with is competition karate. Yes, I know, hitting the head or groin can cause some serious damage, but at least in our system, competition targets are limited to the temples, chest, ribcage and groin and head&groin should be protected. Free sparring also throws in the outsides of the thighs.

Any other questions? :)

EDIT:

somebody somewhere else on this forum wrote:
(you're a) kick-ass karate chick!

I still want that one as my user title :p
 
Micra said:
Not to offend anyone doing competition karate, but my Sensei told me the following once and I always use it to explain to students what I think the difference is between sports karate and 'selfdefence' karate (martial sport versus martial art): When you take karate and eliminate any technique and any spot on the body that can really injure, incapacitate or even kill someone, what you are left with is competition karate. Yes, I know, hitting the head or groin can cause some serious damage, but at least in our system, competition targets are limited to the temples, chest, ribcage and groin and head&groin should be protected. Free sparring also throws in the outsides of the thighs.

First of all, thanks for the lot of information, sounds pretty interesting. Secondly, I also think the black Gis look good but they are a lot more expensive most of the time, that might scare off beginners.
I tend to disagree concerning Sports Karate or "Competition Karate". The techniques we learn are a lot more effective than in Shotokan, and also a lot healthier (especially for the joints). Also we practise real fighting and also self-defence a lot, you just have to be able to make a difference in a competition fight. In Modern Sports Karate you fight without any sparring equipment except teeth protection and lower parts protection/breast protection for women.
Fighting is full-contact to the Upper body, no contact or minor touch to the head and everything below is not allowed.

Have you had a look at other styles, too?
 
Micra said:
somebody somewhere else on this forum wrote:
(you're a) kick-ass karate chick!

I still want that one as my user title :p

That was me! Not somebody! I'm special. I know because my Mommy told me all the time!
 
That was prolly kip_6666 on the bike next to you, he's in the Nederlands and pretty weird :p
 
He hasn't been around for ages, has he? Nice new sig, btw...
 
I tend to disagree concerning Sports Karate or "Competition Karate". The techniques we learn are a lot more effective than in Shotokan, and also a lot healthier (especially for the joints). Also we practise real fighting and also self-defence a lot, you just have to be able to make a difference in a competition fight. In Modern Sports Karate you fight without any sparring equipment except teeth protection and lower parts protection/breast protection for women.
Fighting is full-contact to the Upper body, no contact or minor touch to the head and everything below is not allowed.

Sounds interesting :) . I don't know your style, so I can't make judgements about it. It's just my experience that a lot of people that train solely for competitions, no matter how good and strong their techniques are, if they get attacked by someone who gets real close (grabbing them by the throat or lapels for instance) they can't do much because a)they don't have the room to get in the kind of techniques they're used to and b)if they're trained to hit people where it doesn't incapacitate them (a major roundhouse kick to the ribs for instance can be effective, but probably not enough to make someone stop if they're really angry). I'm not saying this is true for all sports karatekas, just some.

OK, I'm probably gonna get heck for what I'm gonna say next, but here goes. In my dojo, one of the first street things we learn is: if someone attacks you a)kick them in the knee (you can't walk with a busted knee, even if you're to drugged up or whatever to feel it, so they can't chase you) or b)hit them in the throat (you can't attack when you're busy trying to breathe) or c) go for the eyes (you can't attack when you can't see or are busy protecting your eyes either). Everybody always asks: "Why not kick'em in the groin?" Now this is the part I'll get heck for: I was taught not to go for the groin as a primary target (to take someone out with) because a) you need a pretty good aim. If you hit from the front rather than from below, it'll definately hurt, but not enough to make the attacker back down. He'll probably just get angrier. b)If he wears it to the right, and you aim to his left, then it won't be very effective. c) apparently if someone is in an all-out (drug-induced) rage, he might not actually feel a thing even down there (though most men say that's not true), and d)virtually every man on the planet has such a fast protective reflex when you as much as get near the groin, that it's nearly impossible to hit most of the time.

Have you had a look at other styles, too?

I've never actually taken lessons in another style, but I've been to a number of seminars/ training weekends that were given by Shotokan-based Senseis, I've had a T'ai Chi seminar, a couple of Judo trainings and all students in my dojo that do karate also take Philippine Arnis (stick fighting). Some info on arnis here:

http://www.kungfuarnis.com/Arnishistory.html

The reason we practice arnis as an integral part of our training is that my Sensei was a direct student of the late Master Remy Presas. I've actually had a lot of fun practicing with machetes (instead of sticks) a few times :thumbsup:

Buba: :comfort: I just forgot who it was. I could've written "somebody whose name I can't remember right now somewhere on this forum wrote:" but that would've been a bit long, wouldn't it? :p
 
I agree to some extent about the "competiton training". The first martial art I tried was Tae Kwon Do and I quit it exactly because of this: all that mattered was getting points (before anyone flames me, maybe it's just the school I went), and It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, I wanted something more "real", Tried some Aikido, Judo, Krav Maga and finally settled for Shaolin Kung fu because I found a school that has no "competiton" training whatsoever and because I liked this style more. I am 6'2" with strong legs, so I jus loved all those kicks and jumps.
Anyway, nince to see some other people around here also practice martial arts! :thumbsup:
 
Micra said:
OK, I'm probably gonna get heck for what I'm gonna say next, but here goes. In my dojo, one of the first street things we learn is: if someone attacks you a)kick them in the knee (you can't walk with a busted knee, even if you're to drugged up or whatever to feel it, so they can't chase you) or b)hit them in the throat (you can't attack when you're busy trying to breathe) or c) go for the eyes (you can't attack when you can't see or are busy protecting your eyes either). Everybody always asks: "Why not kick'em in the groin?" Now this is the part I'll get heck for: I was taught not to go for the groin as a primary target (to take someone out with) because a) you need a pretty good aim. If you hit from the front rather than from below, it'll definately hurt, but not enough to make the attacker back down. He'll probably just get angrier. b)If he wears it to the right, and you aim to his left, then it won't be very effective. c) apparently if someone is in an all-out (drug-induced) rage, he might not actually feel a thing even down there (though most men say that's not true), and d)virtually every man on the planet has such a fast protective reflex when you as much as get near the groin, that it's nearly impossible to hit most of the time.

The thing is that things are quite different when you're a man (thing thing, no offense), because if you are in a real fight situation, are clearly superior and know what you are doing you can't just take someone out by kicking him into the knee or hitting him on the throat (which definitely is one of the last things anyone should consider, because it can easily kill him), because by law you are allowed to defend yourself, but there is still something called commensurability.
When I was in the army we learned something called MuSaDo in the special training, where most attacks led directly to the targets as you said you practise it. It is very effective, no question, but sometimes it is better not to kill someone who maybe is only drunk and a bit in rage.
 
Of course your defense should be in proportion to the attack, I know that. I was talking about situations where you have no other choice but to use those techniques (if someone tries to beat you to a pulp or wants to rape you, or if a whole group jumps onto you at once).

The people (mostly women) who come to our dojo first and foremost want to know how to defend themselves physically in case they get attacked or molested. We teach them to recognize and set their limits, to use their voice, posture and body language and give them some fast and effective techniques. Only after they've learned enough physical skills to be able to choose how to react in a fight (the less techniques you know, the more brute force you need to keep someone off you), we teach them other strategies (attempting to talk/bluf your way out, de-escalating, distracting, calling for help, using your surroundings etc). At a more advanced level, we also teach them about the differences if it's actually someone you know (friend, family member) who attacks/molests you. There's a huge load of emotions involved when it's someone you know, that's not there when it's just some random person.

We often use roleplays, to have people act out a situation they've been in or could get in, and then have them show how they reacted, what was good or not good about the reaction, and what they could do if it happened again. It hardly ever gets physical in those roleplays, it's all about using your voice (talking), body language and avoiding confrontation altogether (crossing the street when you see a bunch of punks ahead, but also standing up for yourself at work for instance and not taking in whatever it is that bothers you until you explode and nobody knows what the heck is wrong cuz they've been doing it so long and you never complained before). But that's more selfdefence/empowerment than actual karate.

So Un-Dee (and the other martial artists here), have you ever been in a situation where you needed your skills?
 
Thankfully, I never had to use what I already know. I have come close, but never actually hit someone.
 
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