sensei8

Interesting analysis?!? Peculiar analysis, was what I thought for quite some time. Those that are immature in techniques, and I once was one like that for quite some time, do have difficulty in understanding his analysis. “It’s a smidge difficult to compare to our form of football and in itself catching a ball.” Is it really?!? At first, it was difficult for me!! Not anymore!! If you’re asking me how do I teach it, the Shindokan deflection, well, it’s quite basic, which all teachings should be, imho. First of all, my usages of the word “catch” is improper. We CAPTURE, not catch said desired attack. Also, while I use the deflection for its simplicity, what we’re actually doing is RECEIVING said attack. At first, with the assistance of one of my instructors, I show my students several definitions, slow at speed, then speed up until full speed. To teach, and bring alive Soke’s analysis, I use…well…of course…a football!! It’s a crude way to teach how we deflect, however, students quickly start to have their Aha moment through visual cues. Not each and every deflection we use follows the football catch analysis. No. The only deflection that uses Soke’s analysis is when we want to bring said attack into our body so that we can either manipulate, control, or start to transition behind our attack. I might deflect over and over until said opportunity makes itself available for me to manipulate, control, and/or transition behind said attacker. Teaching that, well, here’s where the football, nerf football is safer, comes handy. I’d you’ve ever watched a wide receiver trying to catch a football that’s been thrown wide, and seeing that wide receiver with stretched out hands catch that football…what does that wide receiver do immediately once that football is in the clutch of his/her hands?? They tuck that football close into them with an almost vise like grip. That’s the ending result of any Shindokan deflection!! So yes!! We do a lot of playing catch with a football. In time, I teach that football catch but that wide stretched out hands become closer and closer to the students body until the hands are directly in front of them; ready to receive said attack. When the student decides to capture said attack is entirely up to that student. It’s quite rudimentary, imho. Yes!! Yes!! Yes!! Yes!! I’ve never stopped anything, I’ve only received/deflected said attack. Practitioner’s can label how they stop an attack anyway that their style dictates. Styles might disagree with other styles methodology and ideology, and that too is their right to do so. We don’t block; we only receive/deflect!! Many practitioners can’t receive/deflect because they’re still afraid. We only receive/deflect in a controlled manner!!

With only about 1 more month to play in their 162 game season, it’s getting gritty down to the wire. My Yankees find themselves in 3rd place in the American League behind the Blue Jays and the Red Sox; we’re nipping at the heels of Toronto and Boston but it’ll not be easy to surpass them. Here’s what’s happening as far as the playoffs are concerned, according to Yahoo Sports… MLB playoff picture: National League Division leaders: NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers (81-50) NL East: Philadelphia Phillies (76-54) NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers/San Diego Padres (74-57) Wild-card teams: Wild card No. 1: Chicago Cubs (76-55) Wild card No. 2: Los Angeles Dodgers/San Diego Padres (74-57) Wild card No. 3: New York Mets (69-61) MLB playoff picture: American League Division leaders: AL Central: Detroit Tigers (78-54) AL East: Toronto Blue Jays (76-55) AL West: Houston Astros (72-59) Wild card teams: Wild card No. 1: Boston Red Sox (71-60) Wild card No. 2: New York Yankees (70-60) Wild card No. 3: Seattle Mariners (70-61) Red October looks promising for my Yankees however, nothing’s guaranteed for my boys in pinstripes. How’s your team faring as we near Red October?!?

No comments?!? No discussions?! All opinions welcomed!!

In addition, in Shindokan, we move when the attacker moves. We don’t wait for the attack to reach us because, in our opinion, that’s not the proper way to control the fight. >A+B= Ineffective/A waits for B to reach A >AXB=Effectiveness/A moves whenever B moves

Yes, I believe that Miguel would have master contacts in Japan. It’d be worth the phone call, that’s for sure. You’re welcome about the belt reminder!!

Key factors about Shindokan: 1) We never block an attack 2) We want to get behind our attackers 3) We want to be very close to our attacker 4) We don’t back up Today, I briefly want to address key factor #1: We never block an attack; we deflect said attack. Dai-Soke describes how we execute our Uke, deflection, in an interesting analysis. He says the Shindokan Deflection is similar to catching a football. A) Position Your Body Correctly!! Poor body position will greatly affect your effectiveness. Therefore, one’s focus should be towards improving your position. Your position should be facing directly towards your attacker. Why?? Shortest answer: Shortest path between two points is a straight line; anything else is unnecessary. B) Position Your Hands Correctly!! With your arms in front of you at a 45 degree angle network. Network for us means that your upper body and hands are in agreement. Whether you’re in a front facing, half-front facing, or side facing posture. In short, your position and hands should not be like you’re playing a game of Twister. C) Catch The Attack!! Hand usages are not arbitrary nor are they suggestions. Rather they’re directives towards to either accepting said deflection or seizing said attack. When deflecting, ones directing said attacking force where you want it to finish. Therefore you’re hands aide you to catch said attack. When thereafter, you seize the attack immediately either by with your hand(s) or your arm(s) or with your hand(s) and arm(s). Our strong desire is to not use our hands to seize said attack because a free hand is unlimited, while a engaged hand is limited; we hate to seize ourselves while we’re trying to seize said attacker. D) Tuck The Attack!! To control our attacker during a close range attack, we must tuck the attack like a football player would after they catch/receive the football. A football player doesn’t want that football to get away because if they do, either a incompletion or fumble will result. Well, once we deflect, we want to control, and to control we must tuck said attack into me, not away from me but making said attack a part of my body so my attacker doesn’t get away from me. All of those factors take minuscule amounts of time to execute. Our goal in any Uke for us is the setup that helps us to get behind our attacker. Shortly, I’ll briefly address key factor #2 about Shindokan: Getting Behind Our Attacker.

Humans has been attempting to replace humans one way or another. Whether it’s practical or fantasy, you see it a lot in movies and such. Some of this desire is to make life much easier for us humans. Granted , that sounds good to me but I love to work and do things for myself. Interested if in the far future that we’ll have robots that are like Data from Star Trek: Next Generation?!? I’m old school because, well, I’m old!!

The first World Humanoid Robot Games began Friday last week in Beijing at the 12,000-seater National Speed Skating Oval, built for the 2022 Winter Olympics ROBOTS…yes…ROBOTS…but not just ordinary robots, but humanoid robots, has finally concluded. More than 500 humanoid robots in 280 teams from 16 countries, including the U.S., Germany and Japan have wrapped up 3 days in its very first games, like Olympic type games, but not without any technical difficulties. Games like soccer, track and field, tennis, boxing, and more. Rock-N-Sockem Robots has come to fruition. It was only a matter of time!!

Pre-Season game #2 is a done deal for my wife’s Raiders with a pre-season record of 0-1-1. Yesterday we went to the one and only 2025 pre-season game as the Raiders hosted the 49ers; red shirts were everywhere. Both teams battled back and forth with 1 TD each along with the rest being field goals. Stadium was nearly sold-out. For a second there, I surrendered to another tie game. BUT Nnnnoooooooooooo!! With a 49ers interception with under a minute to play, the 49ers began their drive. However, 3 plays later, the 49ers were driving…backwards!! The tie I was hoping for, after all, a tie is better than a lose…I suppose, was not to be. With 3 seconds, if my memory serves me well, the 49ers split the uprights with a 58 yard field goal for the ‘W’. Final score: 49ers 22…Raiders 19 It was a great game!! GO COWBOYS!! (Cowboys lost their 2nd pre-season game yesterday to the Ravens: 31-13…we got smashed) [I’d tried to post some photos I took with my phone but I STILL don’t know how to do that…sorry…I’m not tech savvy at all]

Ouch!! Tell us what you really think!!

Miguel Da Luz - founder of the Okinawa Traditional Karate Liaison Bureau (OTKLB). Miguel has lived in Okinawa a long time…20 years or more. Miguel would be the main contact between you and any given Okinawa Master; I’d say his list of Okinawa Master is the who’s who of Okinawa Masters. If you are a black belt holder, it is recommended that you bring both black and white belts: you should wear a white belt first. If sensei urges you to wear your black belt, only then you can wear it. Good luck!! (EDIT: Auto Spell hates me)

Congrats, Revario; well deserved!!

I’m going to figure out how to do the Taxi/Wolf whistle. I have to become it’s been on my bucket list for far too long long. Btw, I love the name Wolf Whistle much more than Taxi; sounds pretty cool to me.