05/12/2005 In Miscellany by andy
Note to those practicing Taido outside the USA: American Taido students typically wear standard karategi for Taido practice.
I started practicing Taido in 1984, when I was seven years old. For those of you who don’t remember, the 80s in America were all about flash, and the martial arts were no exception. I remember looking through martial arts magazines as a kid and seeing guys in American flag satin gi (the word “uniform” hardly applies), pink and black tiger-stripe gi, and all kinds of crazy patterns with patches for just about everything all over them. At one point, Century was even marketing “rugged” stone-washed gi that looked as if they’d ought to have been worn by the likes of Motley Crue.
You may laugh at the idea of seeing a karate school full of hair band rejects, but it’s not such a silly deal. In all seriousness, one could easily say the traditional white pajamas are just as silly in this day and age. Especially here in the West.
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28/12/2005 In Miscellany by andy
[rant] Not to be negative, but these things bug me. I have compiled my list of the top eleven problems with Taido as things currently stand. This list is unique to me and represents my personal values for what Taido is and should become. I can cope if people don’t agree, but meanwhile, i’ll be working on moving things in a direction that I feel is healthier and more effective all around. Maybe I can change a few minds, and maybe I’ll change my mind too as things go forward. For right now, here (not really in any kind of order) are what I see as the eleven biggest things holding Taido back from its potential:
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16/03/2006 In Experiments / Ideas, Practice / Training by andy
I love coffee. Always have, as far back as I can remember actually knowing what coffee tastes like. So when I was looking for a job during a “break” from school, it was only natural that I should apply at Starbucks. I did and was hired. Actually, I worked at Starbucks several times, as well as a few other coffee shops, but this story takes place at the Starbucks store at the perimeter pointe shopping center in north atlanta.
The last time I did a stint at Starbucks was the second half of 2001, and the manager of our store was a woman named Sherri. She was nice-ish, but the two of us had major problems getting along. Though we both had good intentions, we seemed to go about everything in totally different ways. Of course, my way was infinitely superior in every possible manner of judging.
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04/07/2006 In Georgia Tech Taido, Rankings / Evaluations by andy
It’s potentially interesting to note that there have been no written examinations for black belt promotions in America for several years. This is sloppy administration. A quality school offers quality instruction, tested through quality evaluation methods.
I believe that Taido requires intellectual understanding as well as physical ability, and as a result, have always taught in a manner that I feel provides both. When Bryan and I began discussing the possibility of promoting students to black belt, we had no doubts as the quality of our teaching, but we were concerned about the quality of the evaluation.
To that end, we decided that we would require a written examination and essay/creative component in addition to the physical test administered by the american headquarters. I’ve discussed the hokei assignment previously. In writing the theory exam, I wanted to be careful that the questions were actually testing the things I hope to have taught. For those of you with no experience at test-writing, i’ll let you know right now that it is difficult to write a good test - this from someone whose job requires him to do it often.
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18/05/2007 In Learning / Teaching by andy
Note: This article began as a response to some good discussion in the comments on my “what is (my) Taido?” article. In editing that article, I decided that the ideas presented below deserved a more thorough treatment as well as some updating.
Everyone knows that there are basically just two types of martial arts schools: big ones that make money and small ones that don’t. There are a lot of stereotypes regarding which extreme is better, but as with all flat generalizations, the reality is not so simple. In converse to the prevailing trend, there exist very large dojo that produce fantastic martial artists. There are also small clubs that accomplish very little. My point is that the size of a dojo has very little to do with its quality.
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10/07/2008 In Experiments / Ideas by andy
Most martial arts (of which I am aware) are essentially technique-based. By this, I mean that they were synthesized from groups of existing movements.
Demonstration: Many martial arts use the exact same mechanics for deploying a front kick. It would be ridiculous to assume that each art’s creator independently designed a kick that looks exactly like every other front kick in the world. Obviously, the art was built around existing components (such as the front kick), perhaps with a couple of new movements as well.
We see this kind of thing very clearly in the history of Okinawan Karate. For example, a young man would study under several different masters and learn their techniques. After many years, the young man would be older and have grown proficient in many kinds of techniques. He would continue to practice those that worked for him and discard the ones he found ineffective. Eventually, younger students may come seeking instruction in his system.
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