# Stupid intro threads...



## Nighthawk (Aug 25, 2013)

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!


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## Nighthawk (Aug 25, 2013)

And one more thing! (I can no longer make edits to my original post...) The people here, at Salmeri Karate (http://salmerikarate.com/index) opened their school to us so we could still have some semblance of a camp.


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## Brian R. VanCise (Aug 25, 2013)

Welcome to MartialTalk!


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## arnisador (Aug 25, 2013)

Scottish! That is unusual! Good luck!


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## Nighthawk (Aug 25, 2013)

arnisador said:


> Scottish! That is unusual! Good luck!



One of the biggest difference between Scots fighting and most others is the way the shield is used. The Scottish targe (round shield) often has a spike coming out of the boss in the center. The shield is intended to be used as an offensive weapon much more so than in most other cultures. Scottish shields are typically 18 inches around, wood laminated with thick leather, covered in nails. To give you a clear idea... This is my buddy Dave:


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## Takai (Aug 25, 2013)

Welcome to MT. That photo makes me really regret missing our local Highland Games this year.


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## sfs982000 (Aug 26, 2013)

Welcome to the forums!


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## Happy-Papi (Aug 29, 2013)

Welcome!


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## Xue Sheng (Aug 29, 2013)

Welcome to MT


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## Steve (Aug 29, 2013)

Well, as they say, "If it's not Scottish, it's crap!"

Welcome to Martial Talk.  It sounds like you have a diverse background, but frankly, I've seen intro threads far more stupid than this.   I'll try to dumb it up a little for you.


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## Nighthawk (Aug 29, 2013)

Awesome! Thanks! Needs some dumbin' down... And speaking of which, no training for me tonight! Broncos are on, and I'm going camping this weekend, so I'm watching football and packing.


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## Steve (Aug 29, 2013)

Seahawks are about to kick off.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2


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## Yondanchris (Sep 22, 2013)

Welcome to MT! Lots of traditional martial arts talk around here!


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