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New England Visit
Thursday, 08 February 2007
New England Visit. . .
I broke a long standing vow, not to visit anywhere cold! Fortunately I didn't give away all my cold weather gear and therefore didn't freeze during my recent trip to Boston.
Although the weather wasn't very cooperative, my New England friends made sure every moment of my trip was both enjoyable and memorable. I spent a day with Bill Bauknecht, discussing politics, golf and a lot of Uechi-ryu philosophy. Although our political and golf discussions get quite heated, our love of Uechi-ryu is certainly on the same page.
I wish Bill would go public with his opinions, since he like the majority of other Uechi practitioners, prefer to remain silent and upset rather than stepping up and getting involved and being heard.
As I write this article I look over to the right frame and see that there are 689 people on uechi-ryu.com! Then I go to the Forums and see that 4 people are reading or posting! When I asked Bill why he doesn't post or even read the forums, his answer pretty much mirrors what everyone else says when I ask them the same question. . .
I've pretty much given up trying to get people to participate in the forums, even though much of what is attempted to be discussed there is both very interesting and informative. A few posters believe the forums are a private club where discussions can best be generated by the typical martial art forum intimidation and bullying tactics. (Hundreds of those forums on the internet) Almost every interesting topic is "hijacked" with so many off topic posts and straw man arguments that a new reader would have to spend hours scrolling though reams of off topic posts, attempting to find the contributions that actually address the original discussion.
Although some enjoy this kind of confrontational approach to discussing an issue, it is a major "turn off" for the majority of practitioners.
As the person responsible for the forums I must go there to monitor them. Otherwise I would probably prefer to do what 99.9% of the Martial art world elects to do.... pretend that they don't exist! Sorry, but thats how I feel.
Back to the reason for my visit to New England. . . And the main reason why I continue teaching and remain active supporting the Uechi community.
I'm waiting for the pictures from Darin Yee's Open House to arrive. Turns out the open house was not only for Darin's beautiful dojo, but was the open house for the entire 70,000 F2 facility, which includes 3 indoor soccer fields and other activities. Darin's Chinatown class opened up the event with a Lion dance that was the best one I've ever witnessed. The dance was followed by a Kung fu and Karate demonstration performed by all the seniors in attendance.
Following the demonstrations, all the karate practitioners were invited to the new dojo, where Darin performed a kata, then took four of his original Uechi students through a sanchin kata.
I had the privilege of teaching the first formal class following Darin's opening ceremony. The dojo was packed with many black belts and a number of newer Uechi students. Following the class Darin announced the new dojo's class schedule, which should keep Darin very busy.
Sunday, Darin and I attended John Page's open house in Ayer, Massachusetts. There was a full house and according to John, he was able to sign up many new students following the open house.
Good luck to both Darin and John. I'll be looking forward to many visits to your dojo in the future - - - of course this will not be during Winter! :)
New IUKF member dojo from Florida
Kevin Bryce and a few of his students visited our dojo recently for a workout.
If you live near Kevin or are visiting the Palm Harbor area, give him a call and participate in a workout.
Kevin P. Bryce: Palm Harbor, FL: 727-647-9474 E-Mail:
I broke a long standing vow, not to visit anywhere cold! Fortunately I didn't give away all my cold weather gear and therefore didn't freeze during my recent trip to Boston.
