Meeting Patrick McCarthy

Last weekend I met Patrick McCarty at a seminar he was presenting for his hosts Ken and Mindy Akiyama at the Londonderry NH House of Samurai dojo.

McCarthy Sensei and I first met on the internet 8 or 9 years ago and I assisted his research with several translation projects, but this was the first time we were face to face. We had some personal time to chat about common friends and experiences and were pleasantly surprised how much we did have in common compared with the vast differences between our lives.

Attending his clinics allowed me to experience a small part of what Koryu Uchinadi represents. Especially valuable were other KU students in attendance. The East Coast KU representative Darren Johnson and that of Nicholas De Paolo and his students from Florida.

This gave the opportunity to learn the techniques being shared and experienced much more advanced practitioners.

As an instructor McCarthy Sensei’s vast experience shows! He runs his clinics at a casual pace that enhances the students efforts to learn, but shifts to jokes, historical lessons as well as effortlessly handling all questions no matter how diverse and never losing track of how to return to the topic of study. This approach to instruction engages the student at many levels and allows the student to participate at the method of learning which is natural for them.

Most impressive is his mastery of the knowledge he’s sharing. Watching his advanced students rolling around the ground with the locks, counters, counters to counters and his suddenly stopping their action to change the placement of a foot in one encounter because the correct lock would not follow shows impressive intensity in following a complex drill.

I only experienced a small slice of McCarthy Sensei’s KU but see it is a unique way to use the common techniques within karate in a extremely dynamic manner. He presented number of two person sets and they move in many dimensions including standing and ground fighting studies that can be done with no resistance up to very hard resistance.

At one level they are akin to other two person studies, such as in the Chinese arts. First they are non-resisting drills for basic study, yet there are other levels where the technique complexity in the same drill is ramped up. At another level they are much more than I have seen elsewhere, especially in the intensity of workout they work towards.

I found the time to participate in this clinic very worthwhile. It won’t change my own art, but does give me a lot to think about, especially from the notes I took (part of my own method of learning). I can see the appeal world wide to those who wish to push their use of their karate beyond their current approach of study.

Without doubt I have gained from meeting with Patrick. I think both of us now have a clearer picture of the other’s drives and goals and that can only enhance our future discussion.

Of course to complete my thoughts I should include my lesson learned. I have to work harder to bring forth the beginner mind. As McCarthy Sensei said there’s nothing he was using seniors haven’t seen, but I keep relating the drills back to my previous training and that blocks understanding what is happening. Lesson to Ponder.