What was your original motivation?

[Em MacIntosh]

School had no love for me and I wanted to be able to hold my own so when I was seven I asked my mom if I could take karate. She looked through the phonebook and found the Yoseikan, a non-profit school where they taught traditional Chito-Ryu karate. I got bored after six years of trying to stick it out and moved to another non-profit organization, Taikyoku Jiu Jitsu Kickboxing under Murray Mathews at the King Edward Park Community Hall.

I think non-profit schools are more likely to be legit because they seem to usually be guys in their 40s or 50s who don't want to rust up so they need to take it out on some kids. They seem to do it for the love of the art itself and have no thoughts about the money (indeed they seem to come out of pocket a bit and have to deal with the paperwork). Problem is sometimes they can't make it to class because of work.

 

[chrispillertkd]

Thanks for the link, that’s the first I heard of DL moving outside his dojo. If you ever hear of him giving a seminar, let me know, I’d love to attend.

Well, not a seminar but Dave Lowry is slated to give a demonstration of Yagyu Shinkage Ryu in the Labor Day Japanese Festival in St. Louis, MO. It looks like he's going to be demoing Shinto Muso Ryu, as well. A trip from Canada might be out of the question given the short notice, of course. I know I'm not going and I'm only in Pittsburgh! It's too bad because the schedule of demos looks great (you can see it at http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t=97261 )

Pax,

Chris

 

[tonbo]

I wanted to get into martial arts as a young kid, but it never got off the ground....my dad supposedly knew some MA (I think it was just stuff he learned in the army), and was going to teach my brother and myself, but only after and if we could hold a broomstick out in front of us at arm's length (palms down, arms extended) for two minutes. Since I was 7 and my brother 5, well, that didn't work out. Nothing against my dad, I love him tons, but I think that a) he really didn't know anything, b) didn't want to teach us, and c) didn't know how to tell us a) and b).

I tried a little Wado Ryu in college because I wanted to follow through, but only took one quarter, and didn't have the discipline then to go further.

Then, when going through a divorce years later, I decided that I wanted to be able to protect myself just in case my soon-to-be-ex's new boyfriend decided to do something stupid (it was a messy divorce, and he had a short temper, supposedly). So, I enrolled in a Kenpo class "for my son's benefit" (he was 3 1/2. LOL). I figured that if I had the "excuse" of taking him to class, I would keep myself motivated. Once I had played around in Kenpo for a while, I was hooked, and have been ever since.

It started out as a desire to protect myself, but pretty quickly turned into something I just enjoyed the hell out of.

I like to think that I actually originally got into the MA to better myself....that's the story I'd rather remember, and I'll stick with that.

Peace --

--Tonbo

 

[gardawamtu1]

My primary motivation was and is to get in shape with a form of exercise that would sustain my attention. I get so bored running or doing aerobic machines. I like weight training, but can easily get bored with that as well.

What I quickly learned was that while I wanted to get into shape in order to look better, my reasons for continuing to get in shape have changed. I now want to get into shape because I want to be able to do more in the martial arts. It has really helped shift my perspective.

 

[MarkBarlow]

As a teenager, I visited a Judo class and was fascinated by the instructor. He was in his 60s, around 5'3" and very soft spoken. The way he tossed everyone around and his willingness to randori students 40 years younger, a foot taller and 100lbs heavier just amazed me. I ended up studying Judo and Jujutsu with him for 20 years.

He was the finest man I've ever known and as much a mentor off the mat as on.

 

[Wey]

As a teenager, I visited a Judo class and was fascinated by the instructor. He was in his 60s, around 5'3" and very soft spoken. The way he tossed everyone around and his willingness to randori students 40 years younger, a foot taller and 100lbs heavier just amazed me. I ended up studying Judo and Jujutsu with him for 20 years.

He was the finest man I've ever known and as much a mentor off the mat as on.

Thats awesome. I like it!