At Times I had fun doing karate.

 

 I have always approached my training in the arts very seriously.  But also having trained with many others I learned a bit about others perceptions about me.

Simply when I trained with Tristan Sutrisno I discovered how others knew him from his tournament competition, really knew nothing about who he was and what he really trained it. It often led them to assume about him, and they were very often most wrong in their assumptions.

As for myself most people just knew me as an Isshinryu instructor and new nothing about the wide range of people I studied with and how I worked so very hard to retain everything I was shown. I was never perfect of anything close. But I remembered and practiced so many things I  wsa shown.

Let me give an example. One time in Derry I had 3 Ueichi Ryu brown belts and approach me to join my program. Now I was ever looking for converts, preferring to teach my students from the ground up. However, I remained open to other possibilities at the same time.

They explained to me they had trained with Buzz Durkin down in Salem, NH.  And it was a very good school, but it also was a commercial school, and they really no longer could afford the school fee. As I taught for free, they wanted to explore if they might train with me.

I choose to give they a try, explaining that I expected them maintain the Uechi studies but not during class time. Instead, they could do that before or after class.  I did not want them to lose what they had accomplished.

And they were good, taking to the Isshinryu system very quickly.

One day Tommy, before class, observed me performing the Uechi Sanchin kata. It was something that I had picked up along the way. Then I had him do Uechi Sanchin alongside me. After a time that became something he and I did together before class. While watching him perform the Uechi Seisan kata, I requested if he might teach it to me.

Uechi Seisan was similar to the Isshinryu Seisan a little bit, yet very different at the same time. Add another study to my plate, Of course I continued to work on it thereafter.

Years passed and Tom became one of my early black belts. 

Then one day Tom told me one Saturday morning he planned to visit the Uechi Shack of George Mattson, the most senior American Uechi instructor.  It meant about an hour drive for me, but I remember being excited. When we arrived there, and Tom explained who he was he also got permission for me to visit and work out with the class.

I joined in with their opening workout, but after a while they began to work on the Uechi kata, and I was left standing at the side of the classroom observing. I heard the black belts there talking about Tom and that they felt he should receive black belt testing. I knew Tom would find that interesting.

Of course, after a while I felt left out of the class. Then when they announced they were now going to work on Seisan kata, I saw an opening to have a little fun. I approached one of the instructors and asked if I could join the group for Seisan.

Perhaps smiling inside, he agreed, and I was asked to line up in the last row.

Well, they called off Ueichi Seisan technique by technique, and I did all of them.

They were amazed than an outsider, Isshinryu at that, could know and perform their form. 

I had a lot of fun with that.

It was a very good school. I learned a lot about how they taught from observing that class. Tom had fun but was disappointed that George Mattson was not there.  He was not seeking a promotion, just wanted to meet George. And he was a very good black belt in my program.

And I did have some fun, bursting another bubble.

Lesson - Never Assume.