Ummm, if you say so

[theletch1]

I went into the dojo on sunday afternoon to get ready for class and when I walked into the office I noticed that there were three new messages on the machine. Two were hang ups. It was the third that really made me do a double take. A guy left a message using a fake accent (sorta Mr Miyagi meets Igor) and leaves the following message...

"My master says aikido is nothing. It is tai-jutsu that is master of the grapple and the lock. Uh, just thought I'd tell you that."

Now, ordinarily I'd have just erased that one. Thing is (1) there are no tai-justsu places around the area. At least I don't think there are. (2) I had to re-listen to make sure I had the message right over the accent and (3) Sensei McCraw loves messages like that. He gets an actual belly laugh going at some of them.

Anyone else get crazy messages like this at the dojo?
Edit:scratch number one. Did a quick google and found a taijutsu/ninjutsu in the area I'd forgotten about.

 

[terryl965]

Man we get them probaly once a month or so from somebody that has study somewhere and thinks they know everything but they never show up to the school. They are just a joke and we take it with a gain of salt.

 

[Iron Leopard]

That's a good one! Most of my best stories are the walk in guys that are missing.. well they are just not all there! lol

 

[bluemtn]

That was really too funny! I'm not even a black belt so no school ownership here, but there is at least one story to be told. My instructor and I, and a few fellow students went to the main studio in Pa. for a class. We start stretching exercises when this guy walks in, changes, and joins in. Since he was new, the head instructor for that evening asked if he ever took classes elsewhere. He said yes, but it had been a long time ago. We start doing the basics- kicks, punches, etc. The bad part was everytime something was introduced, the new guy would say, "that's wrong/ that's not how I was taught/ I'll show you", and he'd proceed to show it- poorly as a matter of fact.

 

[Iron Leopard]

hehehe that's funny too!

 

[theletch1]

That was really too funny! I'm not even a black belt so no school ownership here, but there is at least one story to be told. My instructor and I, and a few fellow students went to the main studio in Pa. for a class. We start stretching exercises when this guy walks in, changes, and joins in. Since he was new, the head instructor for that evening asked if he ever took classes elsewhere. He said yes, but it had been a long time ago. We start doing the basics- kicks, punches, etc. The bad part was everytime something was introduced, the new guy would say, "that's wrong/ that's not how I was taught/ I'll show you", and he'd proceed to show it- poorly as a matter of fact.

No school ownership here either. I'm one of the senior students at our dojo and teaching is part of the requirements for progression to sho-dan. My wife and I hold the same rank and are available on sunday afternoons so we agreed to do a class to give everyone who couldn't make it to both weekday classes a chance for an extra session. I'll tell ya that I think I've made the most progress in technique since I started trying to teach them. Sensei hasn't gotten very good reviews from others regarding my teaching style (I won't say ability) so I guess I'm doing something right.

I've never encountered a visitor who would dare say that we were doing something wrong...except for visiting and active yudansha with in the system that were passing through the area. We have had several aikido-ka from hombu styles stop in to train when they were in the area on business and have always had a great time sharing the similarities and differences between hombu and nihon goshin styles. I think it was more the accent that the guy was using that cracked me up than anything. I know OF the instructor for the taijutsu school in the area but don't actually KNOW him so I am giving him the benefit of the doubt and guessing that this was just an overly zealous white belt that felt the need to pull a prank. Just thought it was funny and wanted to share it with you all.

 

[bushidomartialarts]

we once got a call that named a local school and challenged us to a fight. turns out they got the same call using our name. we never did figure our if that was somebody specifically targeting one of us, or just random. we all thought it was funny.

 

[Carol]

I train in an art with strong Islamic roots. There is a metaphysical side to the art (which neither my school nor I partake in) that leads some Muslims to fiercely believe that the art should only be practiced by Muslims.

My teachers have said that they regularly get calls from people asking if we teach Silat, when they answer yes they are asked if they are Muslims. The next question is usually more confrontational, but the confrontation is laid to rest when they describe what our lineage is.

 

[Infinite]

My Kung Fu great your Kung fu crap!

Too many martial arts movies thats what I think. Maybe its Ashaad Kim.

 

[tellner]

Anonymous messages by anonymous cowards aren't worth getting excited over. Skeptics and know it alls who put in an appearance either enjoy it and stay or don't and leave pretty quickly. As long as they don't disrupt class who cares?

There's the usual crop of people who say that Silat in general is crap, our Silat isn't real Silat or similar. They generally don't bother to actually show up, so I take little notice of them. For some reason, and I don't know how Guru Plinck does it, the ones who do make their way to his door don't say much, go away and don't bother us any more. Maybe it's the Green Beret Top Sergeant energy. Maybe he just has the baraka and bad people aren't inclined to stick around. Of course there's the proud, the few, the deluded who don't know the difference between body mechanics and (and I quote) "black magic" or "sorcery".

So far we've been pretty lucky in our own teaching. One putz who thought he was being clever sent a ringer then came himself. He didn't want to participate, and from what he was saying later he didn't understand what was going on - odd for someone with as distinguished a title as his - but nothing ever came of it. I think the line we got from (the writer, not the singer) Steve Perry got him thinking. "What would I do? I don't know. There's a lot of things that I might do. Why don't we find out?" So far we haven't had to really thump anyone, kein an hora.

Since Silat's gotten a little more exposure there have been a few people who say that only (Muslims|the right kind of Muslims|Real Indonesians|people who wear the right costumes) do Silat. Nobody seems inclined to take it up personally which is about the point that one needs to take serious notice.

There have been a couple people who have promised to come around and do bad things to various people and their families. A few calm quiet words about the laws concerning self defense, deadly force and the inadvisability of making criminal threats that can be recorded or are floating around in the Infosphere usually bring them back to Earth pretty quickly.

Our worst problems have been with other members of the big happy dysfunctional family that is Dutch-Indo martial arts in America. If the Silat "community" ever stopped squabbling we would rule the world :shrug:

 

[Solidman82]

That Phone call sounds like something I should definitely try for a laugh sometime, or at the very least something I would try.