go on then i will add new post

Hi everyone
And may I be one of the first to say Merry Christmas & all the best for 2010

I am taking up the challenge to post something on the site.

I agree entirely that this site should be used to express our thoughts about training and all things to do with our background and present circumstances.

Firstly, does anyone feel guilty because there thoughts and memories don’t come as often as they used to do over time.
I do, but it is a natural thing, my feelings and memories don’t change and never will, but the gaps between are bigger.

Now I may upset people but not intentionally .
I keep seeing things about bullying on this site and it upsets me.

I must be lucky but I have not seen any bullies in my time of training.
What I have seen is a person wanting to push students to their limit and behond, which is what made me what I am today.

I ask myself would I be proud if I had been given a grade just for turning up. NO

Well I have been put into the bracket of bully in the past and believe me I am not a bully.
I have always had a view that if I would not do it to someone bigger than me then I would not do it to someone smaller than me.

I was bullied when I was young, on many occasions, cars would stop while I was walking down the road and some lads would jump out and start hitting me.
I am the middle son of 3 lads and a girl, in a single parent family when I was younger it was usually down to me to do the fighting.
People would knock on the door and call me out for a fight.
Usually there were large numbers of them.

At first I stood up and won the fight. Guess what yes the others would start so in the end I found it best to take a few punches and let them go on there way feeling big and clever.
This was one of the reasons I started to train.
Sadly when I got to the class as a young lad some of the bully’s were there.

I now see that the reason they went is because they were not really hard and they needed to protect themselves when they were on there own.

I hate bully’s but don’t mistake been pushed to improve with been bullied or we would never have a great army.

One of the best instructors I have trained under for pushing you in a class is sensei Christine Moody
I would not put her into the bracket of bully, but she pushed everyone past what you thought you could do. She took no prisoners and had no time for anyone wimping out.
Her class was always full.
I have tried to follow her way of taking a class but cant get half of what she gets into a class.

I may have been blind when I have been on courses but I was never been looking for a bully.

Now I will wait for all the backlash from my post.

All the best
Gaz Hutch Mirfield Wado Ryu

Hi Gaz,
Well i have in the past seen.
Black belts punch people for not having a block in the right position in the face, kick people in the groin for a bad ju ji uke, take advantage of people with less ability in sparring and basicly fill them in,take cheap shots at people duing kihon kumite, totaly lose it on people who dared to get a point on them and put arm locks chokes, etc. so hard that they nearly passed out or had to have the next day off work due to strained joints through to much force even when they had tapped out it was kept on to feed the black belts ego.
Yes bullying did go on in the past but i think today it's a thankfully rare thing.
My memories of seeing these are still very clear and i am sure there are lots of us who witnessed thing like this
Mike

Hi Gaz

Thanks for 'kick-starting' the posts!

You're spot on mate. There'll be no backlash, because what you say is true.

I was bullied at school which is the main initial reason why I took up the Martial Arts. Was I looking for 'revenge'?

No, but I wasn't going to be treated that way again, ever!

The times I have trained under O' Sensei, Arnie and many others, they have always pushed you to your limit, but you know this and respect them for it. There is a fine line between 'pushing' and 'intimidating'. The 'bullies' I have touched on have taken it TOO far, you see them 'relish' in the power that their black belt affords them, but for me respect is earned, not demanded. These people I have seen enjoying punching Kyu grades and quoting the times they have 'bloodied' students - only to find them 'miraculously disappear' when the dan grades come to fight.

I was always taught to never ask anyone to do anything you can't or wouldn't do yourself, something which I hold to this day with my students. With the Health & Safety restraints of today you can only push so far.

My students, most of which are young, leave the Dojo sweating, aching, but most importantly, smiling.

But back to the bullies from my school days, well, they all thought I was going to go on a 'Trail of Vengeance', but no way. I sincerely hope I never have to use what I've spent the last 27 years training for. Ever.

But, as they say, it's like insurance. Better having it and not needing it rather than needing it and not having it!

Best wishes to all forum members and casual browsers and wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

Yours in Budo

Dave

I too have experienced bullying as a young lad.

I fully appreciate what Gaz is saying about Sensei Moody, she really does get the best out of any Karate-Ka and will not stand for slackers.

Unfortunately though Gaz, I sometimes wonder if bullying has been replaced by the ugly face of politics and the thrill of one student or instructor trying to get one over on another student or instructor.

For instance as you rightly say, Sensei Moody's classes were always full, always by beginners to Senior Black Belts, and they all felt the same after her class that they had pushed hard, but I have always trained with other instructors (mentioning no names but you know who you are) who blatantly would strike to the groin and punch and kick students harder until they didn’t want to train, and would also pick certain people out of a line every time and criticise that person. I also know a certain Black Belt (again mentioning no names) who used his grade to over rule a grading decision when he wasn’t even on a panel and criticised my own grade when he was graded by the same instructor.

So maybe bullying does exist or maybe it doesn’t, but I think it’s a very fine line that maybe crossed Gaz and people never forget it!!!!

Sorry Gaz but I just can’t believe the comments certain people come out with every now and again that make you think that they are a little "2 faced" about things!

Sorry I had to have a rant about it, but I wanted to make my feelings very clear about this subject as an absolute servant to true martial arts!!

Rant over,

AN

PS No offence is intended to anyone on this thread, my rant is aimed solely at “Gaz”