NYC-HAPKIDOCAST

Will's intro to basic judo throw

2012-01-21T11:45:00.001-06:00

Will and phil learning the movements for a basic under the arm judo throw. Never doing this type of technique before can feel really awkward. But once you can master the timing and body position it can be fun and addicting.

Class postings Staten Island and Manhattan

2011-11-26T23:21:00.004-06:00

Classes:

Manhattan Midtown Mondays 5:30-7:30pm

Staten Island Thursdays 7:30pm-8:30pm
Great Expectations Dance center
1754 Victory Boulevard Staten Island, NY 10314

Contact:
Scott Williams
718-448-1274
waynewilliams4@gmail.com

for class information

2 Boroughs to choose from

2011-11-19T19:08:00.003-06:00

Mid-town Manhattan
Mondays 5:30pm-7:30pm

Staten Island
Thursdays 7:30pm-8:30pm

Contact: waynewilliams4@gmail.com or call 718-448-1274 to register for classes or more information.

New Class being offered now on Staten Island

2011-11-06T20:21:00.003-06:00

Thanks to space opening up at a local dance studio with mats, I have decided to start offering a class on Staten Island. I will still offer a class in Manhattan but now it will be on Tuesday nights at 5:30pm. Thursday nights will be at Great Expectations dance studio on Staten Island at 7:30pm - 8:30pm

Thursday night workout

2011-10-29T18:37:00.005-06:00

Thursday night workout

As Will and Phil continue working on the orange belt list I decided to work on some groundwork tonight. First from being tackled from the front. Having the defender go to the ground backfalling into the guard and sweeping from the guard.

We then went thru some of the basic "tackle" Takedowns.
Hooking the leg, double leg w/arms, Hip/chest press.

After doing the leg hook tackle applied the nerve grind finish. Not meant to be a pinning finish but more of just a sudden burst of pain to help distract while you stand up. Even tho explaining this I had the guys try to pull their leg out while having it applied and they agree, it makes the pain that much worse.

The good looking crew in Manhattan.

Not sure of the outcome yet but I am currently in the works of starting a class on Staten Island. In the past I had visited a Jujitsu club that was just a short walk from home that worked in the back of a local dance studio. The current instructor has decided to retire and depending on what I hear about availability I will hopefully be able to start another group close to home.

Great Uncle Paul, Fire Safety Director and Hapkido workout

2011-10-01T17:33:00.005-06:00

This past week we found the lost of my Great Uncle Paul. He was my Grandma Lorena Williams brother. Paul served in the Army from July 1952 to June 1955, in both the 111th CIC Detachment and the 503rd CIC Detachment. He was discharged as a tech sergeant.

He worked 19 years at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville Ala., working in NASA's moon landing and space shuttle programs. He retired in 1981 and returned to Mount Pleasant. He previously worked two years in Germany in the Refugee Screening Program and for four years was in Cargo Aircraft procurement at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.

He volunteered for 30 years at Midwest Old Threshers, where he worked as the development officer raising funds for the Old Threshers Foundation and accumulated 50,000 hours of volunteer service.

http://www.oldthreshers.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.highlights2010

He was always an important part of our family and will be missed allot.

This week I also took my second written test towards Fire Safety Director certification. Only this time it was at the fire department in Brooklyn. I had to take a 100 question test on a touch screen computer. I got to the point of having 12 questions left and the computer monitor decided to quit. It just went black and I had the terrible feeling I was going to have to start all over again. But luckily they were able retrieve my information progress and just move me to another work station. Now I just have to wait for the fire department to review my past experience's and schedule a onsite test. This is where the fire department comes into where I work and drill me on all of the procedures and fire systems of the building.

Due to the Jewish holidays this week work was pretty quiet and we had Hapkido workout Thursday night. Below is Will doing to some 4 direction Falling and Ki No Ki breathing.

(The author below refers to Ki no Ki as Dan Jun breathing)

Dan Jun breathing is practiced through a prescribed set of slow moving exercises accompanied by controlled, forceful deep breathing. Each breath is drawn in through the nose and expelled through the mouth. Rather than trying to fill the lungs by expanding the chest, you should expand your abdomen. This practice allows you to concentrate on your dan jun area and to fill the lower third of your lungs, which are often not filled by regular deep breathing.

The physical movements that accompany the breathing include stretching the arms above the head in front of the body or out to the sides. Most movements are performed in a stance similar to horse riding stance, with the knees slightly flexed. With each repetition, inhaling usually occurs as the arms move in toward the body and exhaling occurs in synchronization with the arms pressing away from the body. In changing stance, practitioners generally stand up slightly as they inhale and lower their stance as they exhale. There are many variations of dan jun breathing that are best learned from a qualified instructor.

Thursday night workout.mp4

Random shots 09/14/11

2011-09-16T17:22:00.006-06:00

taking a break from the white belt wrist attacks, letting the guys tryout a few attacks against the wall

Using the wall to slide away from your attacker and draw them off balance

Until you can perform your technique or escape

But then we went back to the white belt list and ended the night with everyone's favorite- Ball and Chain!

Wednesday night workout random shots 09/07/11

2011-09-08T20:25:00.004-06:00

It's not the size of the mat but how you use it.

Any questions regarding class times and schedule contact waynewilliams4@gmail.com

wavedrill.avi

Thursday night workout random shots

2011-09-01T19:36:00.005-06:00

William and Andrei working on windmill

Getting There!!

Wednesday night workout random shots 08/24/11

2011-08-24T19:41:00.005-06:00

Basic Escapes

Basic finishes

Any questions about the classes please contact me at waynewilliams4@gmail.com

Wednesday night workout

2011-08-17T20:21:00.003-06:00

The guys being introduced to defenses from the ground

Any questions please contact waynewilliams4@gmail.com

Wednesday night workout

2011-08-10T20:39:00.003-06:00

Had to make some changes to the workout schedule. Plus I decided to add random snapshots of workouts as things change for the Hapkido class.

As always if any questions regarding class times and location contact me at waynewilliams4@gmail.com

Class posting and Summer Camp

2011-05-15T07:21:00.004-06:00

NYC HAPKIDO

Midtown Manhattan on 5th Ave.

Thursdays 6pm-7pm
Saturdays 2pm-4pm
$10 a class

email waynewilliams4@gmail.com for more info

If interested in taking a trip to Iowa over the 4th of July weekend

Class Posting. Come Join us!

2011-04-16T11:41:00.003-06:00

NYC HAPKIDO

Midtown Manhattan on 5th Ave.

Thursdays 6pm-7pm
Saturdays 2pm-4pm
$10 a class

email waynewilliams4@gmail.com for more info

Operation-Tomodachi

2011-04-02T10:53:00.000-06:00

From the JapanProbe blog:

The Japanese media has not been ignoring the relief work that thousands of American military personnel have been performing since the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. I’ve seen reports about it on every major Japanese TV network.

Here is a summary of the most positive TV report I’ve seen so far. It features Fuji TV journalist Yuki Ando reporting directly from the scene of the action:

At Misawa Air Base, she sees boxes of food and supplies that will be sent to disaster victims. There is also a large crate that contains radiation detection equipment. Americans who are preparing the supplies and performing maintenance on aircraft say they are very happy to be participating in the relief operation.

Ando visits the USS Tortuga via helicopter. Upon arrival, she is checked for radiation – they find no significant levels of it. The Tortuga is a dock landing ship, assisting in the delivery of American and Japanese military vehicles and supplies to the disaster zone.

Her next stop is the USS Essex, an amphibious assault ship. Its helicopters and landing craft are constantly making relief trips. Its landing craft have helped transport Japanese workers and their maintenance trucks to Kesennuma Oshima Island, where they are helping to restore electricity.

About 8 and a half minutes into the clip, we can see Americans delivering supplies to people in Miyagi prefecture. They’ve also brought toys for children. The kids seem really happy.

Back in the news studio, Ando stresses the enormous scale of the American military effort. Over 18,000 personnel, 19 ships, and 140 aircraft! Her experience has left her very impressed.

There have been a lot of reports about medical facilities in the disaster zone being overwhelmed. Having seen the hospital facilities on the Essex, she thinks it would be a good idea to utilize them. The Americans told her that they are ready to offer such assistance, should the Japanese government request it. Her general impression is that the Americans have the means to provide additional help and are eager to do so.

Ando says that she believes the generous American aid is not being given only because Japan and the United States have a treaty of alliance. Co-anchor Taro Kimura agrees, but he sees Operation Tomodachi as the biggest-ever joint operation by the American and Japanese armed forces. Its success is a major step towards improving U.S.-Japan relations.

2011 so far...

2011-03-05T07:16:00.007-06:00

So I have been really bad about updating the blog but hopefully I can get a little better at it. Right after my last post Mary and I were on our way back from Chicago for Christmas with her parents. We had to drive since New York was having a major snow storm. While we were on the road one of my coworkers called me and told me that another of our coworkers was home shoveling snow for himself and some neighbors when he had a major heart attack and died. Charles Daughtry was in his 50's but the stress of his life had taken it's toll and he apparently overexerted himself. He will be missed. But it was a good example to show that you need to take care of yourself, and exercise to stay healthy.

At work there was a shuffle of schedules and now I come to work an hour earlier and leave earlier. It's nice to be able to get off work earlier but unfortunately it has made going to the karate class with Sato sensei during the week a little harder to do. Now I have 2 hours to wait around till classes start plus given the fact it's so late by the time I get home, and now that I have to wake earlier to be at work it's just a little tough.

With the help of Eric and Andrei. I have been able to keep Hapkido going. We have cemented a schedule of Thursday nights and Saturday afternoons.

(unfortunately, I will be losing Eric soon as he is going to be moving to Paris soon)

We are still working out with the small mats for now. Andrei has some nicer ones we are waiting to move from New Jersey. Since the building we are working out at is on the market to be sold I have held off advertising classes. But I'm hoping to be able to work something out soon. Right now as long as you are from any of the Iowa Dojangs or Sato Sensei's Dojo I don't charge but any outside beginners are $10 a class.

Luckily Igarashi Sensei has moved to New York City from Washington DC. He is associated with Sato Sensei in the Shinkyokushin Federation. He has started a Saturday class as well which has worked out nice for me. As long as Mary allows me :P, once I am done with Hapkido workouts I can walk over to the Karate workout and practice for an extra hour. I am still hoping to make it back to Sato Sensei's class here in the future.

Overdue update pt2

2010-12-31T08:55:00.002-06:00

After the Montreal trip, Mary and I headed back to Iowa for Thanksgiving to visit family and friends. On the Hapkido side of things it allowed me to visit the Iowa City Dojang.

(sharing some of my favorite side wristlocks)

(visiting the club gimps) :P

It was great visiting the old club. But it was also sad. Due to changes at the college. the fieldhouse in Iowa City has gone under some changes. Before you could walk into the gym with no problem and go right up to class @ S511. Now they have the fieldhouse more locked down and you have to go thru security and pay a daily fee if you do not have an account set up. From what I have been told this has really hurt not only the Hapkido club but also Judo, Brazilian Jujitsu, and Aikdo in attendance. Furthermore our room S511 the room shown above is going to be torn up and changed into putt putt golf. All the martial arts classes are going to moved down a floor into smaller rooms.

I don't really consider myself very religious but for years S511 was my church. A place where once you walk thru the door nothing else exists and you can find peace. When you think of the years spent coming to that room week after week, the many different people and friends made in that room, it's just a little sad that it will no longer be there as it was... but I guess everything has to change after time..

Overdue update

2010-12-30T09:38:00.000-06:00

It's been a pretty busy fall this year. Still liking my job. I can't believe it will be almost a year working there and being in New York in just a few months. Still working out in Shinkyokushin Karate. The weekend before Thanksgiving I was able to attend a Tournament in Montreal. It was a real good experience and saw some great fights.

Last Day of Vacation

2010-11-28T11:53:00.002-06:00

Being lazy on my last day of vacation in Chicago waiting to flyout to New York later this afternoon. Found a website to make GIF animations so I just thought I would play around.

I will make another post with info on the rest of the trip once we get back home!

GIFSoup

The different Origins of Hapkido

2010-10-31T08:54:00.007-06:00

So as you can guess I like to pick up and collect books on Hapkido whenever I can because there are just not many books actually done on the art. Of the books that I own it always amuses me on the authors take on the origin of Hapkido. ALMOST all give credit to Choi Yong Sool and his time in Japan with Daito Ryu Jujitsu.

Hapkido- Marc Tedeschi

Has Choi taken to Japan as a child laborer in 1912. For the next 30 years Choi studied Diato Ryu Aiki Jujutsu under Sokaku Takeda until Takeda's death in 1943 when Choi returned to Korea.

Hapkido Korean Art of Self Defense- Scott Shaw

close to the same description of Tedeschi instead says it was 1910 and focused more on Choi being a manservant to Takeda until his death in 1943 and returned to Korea and blended Diato Ryu with the Tae Kyon arts

Hap Ki Do- Master Choe

good book but gives no history into the art only his own Biography

Korean Hapkido ancient art of masters- Kwang Sik Myung

In this book Choi gets the Mas Oyama treatment. He is not taken to Japan as listed in the first couple books. But at the age of 9 he goes off to the mountains to learn the art of the Hwa Rang Do. He returns from the mountain after the occupation of Korea by Japan and teaches Hapkido to his students who then went off to popularize the art.

When I first moved to NYC and was looking for different Hapkido schools I did some searching on the internet at different schools and found the same also:

http://www.thehapkidocenter.com/about/index.html
History of Hapkido

According to legends that are thousands of years old Hapkido can trace its beginnings to the ancient Buddhist civilization. The Buddhists performed extensive research into the workings of the human body (i.e. pressure points) and this compilation of medical knowledge helped from the basis of Hapkido.

This reliance on medical research helps differentiate Hapkido from other martial arts. Hapkido makes use of over 650 pressure points found within the human body allowing practitioners to successfully defend themselves against attackers of any size without reliance on brute force.

From ancient beginnings, the art of Hapkido spread with the expansion of the Buddhist religion. The highest level of the art was practiced by residents of the Sho-Lim temple under the reign of the great monk, Dar Ma. Historians who study martial arts generally agree that Hapkido knowledge was transmitted from ancient China, spread south to Korea, and finally across the sea to Japan.

The Japanese form of Hapkido is called Aikido. The Aikido is restricted to the use of hands to perform twisting and throwing techniques to subdue an opponent. Traditional Hapkido includes hand strikes and kicks as well as twisting and throwing techniques.

The Hapkido Master is also trained in the proficient use of several weapons, including the sword, the cane, the staff and the short stick. In Korea, the art of Hapkido has been practiced for 2,500 years, since the time of the Shil-La dynasty. For most of this time, however, the knowledge was limited to members of the Korean Royal families and their nobles. The practice of Hapkido was restricted from the general public until the last hundred years. The relatively recent emergence of Hapkido is the main reason that there are very few legitimate Hapkido Masters today.

From Iowa Hapkido website:
www.iowahapkido.org

One of Takeda Sokaku’s students was the founder of Hapkido, Choi Yong Sul (1904-1986). He was born in Korea, but was kidnapped at the age of eight by a Japanese merchant and taken to Japan (this was during the period that the Japanese occupied Korea). Choi ran away from his kidnapper, begged in the streets of Osaka until he was caught by the police and lived for two years in a buddhist temple. However, he spoke Japanese poorly and was teased and beaten by the other children at the temple, so the monks sent him to live with Takeda Sokaku, the Daito-ryu instructor. It is not clear what status he had in the Takeda household, whether he was adopted by Takeda or simply worked there as a servant. What is clear however, is that Choi learned many if not all of Takeda’s techniques during the thirty years he lived with him.

Choi returned to Korea after Takeda committed suicide by starving himself in 1943, when it became obvious that Japan would lose the war. Choi and his family supported themselves for several years by selling rice cookies until they had saved enough money to buy some pigs. In February 1948, Choi was standing in line at a brewery for grain to feed the pigs, when several men tried to take his place in line. Of course, having practiced Aiki-Jujutsu for thirty years, he effortlessly defended himself against the men. The manager and son of the owner of the brewery, Suh Bok Sup, was a first-degree black belt in Judo. He was so impressed with Choi’s demonstration of skill that he asked him to teach him what he knew.

The two men opened a dojang together in 1951. Choi called the martial art he taught by several different names before deciding on “Hapkido” (The Way of Coordinated Power) in 1958. During this period, Hapkido was influenced by the previous martial arts experience of Choi’s early students. For instance, Suh’s Judo background led to emphasis on defenses against wrist and collar grabs. One of Choi’s more well-known students was Ji Han Jae, who studied with Choi until 1956, when he broke away to form his own school of Hapkido, which emphasized kicks and weapon techniques to a greater degree. These and other students added what they knew to the pure Aiki-Jujutsu (mostly joint locks, throws and chokes) taught by Choi.

To a student wanting to learn martial arts most will probably say it doesn't matter when, where, or how a martial art came to be and for the most part they are correct. As long as the school they find are a good fit for them and they feel safe and are able to learn ways to better themselves should be the first priority. But for someone like myself who likes to know the history behind such arts it is kind of funny how some martial arts tend to be allot like religion. The legends and stories are passed down from person to person and you have to just have faith in what to believe :P

Central Park and Rockaway Beach

2010-10-10T18:18:00.003-06:00

So with Fall starting to move in on us. Mary and I have been trying our best to get out and enjoy the nice weather while we can. Last Saturday was our first trip into the heart of Central park. Mary had a couple of friends visiting the city so we met up with them and their little boy.

and their energetic little boy..Henry

We had a really nice visit and it was a beautiful day. And what added to the day was our Hapkido friend Amanda coming to the city to go out to supper with us while Amy and Perky visited family.

Afterwards we all met up with Amy and Perky again and hungout on their rooftop drinking wine, and whiskey.

This Saturday Mary and I headed to Rockaway beach. It was a little on the cool side but we figured it was only going to get colder and we should take advantage of it. It was really nice to be out on the beach with hardly anyone else out there. The wind was blowing so I figured I would get the kites out and fly a little. I tried to get the 8meter kite up but the wind was just not cooperating. So I pulled out the 4meter and had a good flying session.

See ya,

Iowa Hapkido members in and around NYC

2010-09-26T14:49:00.005-06:00

With Andrei moving into the city it has added to the list of members from the Iowa City dojang that are currently in the NYC area. I am hoping to get everyone in class at some point at the same time to be able for each other to meet and swap stories. Working out at the Iowa City dojang for 16 years allowed me to work with all these individuals but they have not all met or worked out at the same time.

Laura (blue belt) (with her husband Raf and my wife Mary)

Eric(brown belt from Iowa City and Joe from NYC)

Andrei (Brown belt) and I

Amanda (Brown Belt) and I. (Amanda works outside the city but her husband is one of our black belts and is planning on joining us on Saturdays when he is in the area)

Iowa Hapkidocast ep.36

2010-09-26T13:16:00.000-06:00

Just a mashup of working out Saturday with Andrei. In the near future we will have some more people plus some bigger sets of mats that Andrei owns so we can do some more advance throws!

The Martial Bo singing superstar

2010-09-26T12:10:00.002-06:00

So it has been awhile since I've posted anything. My plan was to do a small post everytime we had a visitor from home. But with my schedule and lack of free time it just really fell thru. Work is still going good. I am still working out in Shinkyokushin and just received my orange belt. Hapkido is still going ok, with the heat wave and only teaching my coworkers and Iowa City alumn we have had to take breaks from having class. But we are starting having workouts again and hopefully will keep the momentum going.

I logged into youtube witch I had not done for a while and saw our Alumn Bo who is currently living in China. As we all predicted he is obviously working to be a superstar!

not one but 2 visitors

2010-06-27T19:15:00.009-06:00

This weekend was another of our weekends where we hosted some friends visiting the city. The weekend started off on Thursday night when Iwata Sensei taught Karate class for Sato Sensei. It's always great to see the different ways the arts are interpreted by different instructors.

And of course it was hot so we hit the bar!

On Friday afternoon my Friend Kenny arrived on Staten Island. He came into the city to see where I work and we walked around Times Square a little before heading back to the island. Once back on SI Mary picked us up and we had dinner at the Burrito Bar. When we got home Mary received a phone call from her friend Sandy who was going to have time off and wanted to travel to the city to see us. (Sandy if you read this I'm sorry) Sandy is nuts.. She lives in Boston, called on Friday night around 10pm. Drove to Staten Island that night, got to our apartment around 7:30am, took the bus downtown to go to one of the museums, then meet up with us to take in a Broadway show at 2pm.
Since Sandy came into town we decided to go see Memphis.

It was a really good show, I guess that's why it won awards at the Tony's. After wards we headed to St.Marks and ate supper at Cafe Orlin.

I had a lamb pita that was really good. We walked around a while at Battery park waiting for the ferry. Then headed home.

Mary and Sandy

Kenny and I

Once we got back to the island there was no way to convince "Crazy Sandy" to spend the night and she decided to drive back to Boston not long after getting back to our apartment. She left around 10pm and Mary got word from her that she unfortunately hit traffic leaving the city and did not get back to Boston till 7:30am. Next maybe she will listen :P

It was really good seeing both Sandy and Kenny and Mary and hope to be able to make the trip to both Boston and Woodby Island in Washington state really soon.

Father's day weekend

2010-06-20T21:01:00.004-06:00

Happy Father's day.

Mary and I are not going to be traveling for a while so her parents decided to make the drive from Chicago to visit us this weekend. We had a really nice visit. After work on Friday we went to our favorite pizza place "Goodfellas". I slept in on Saturday while Mary and her folks went to the local farmers market.

After breakfast we all hopped a ferry for Manhattan. Bob and Judy wanted to see the progress on the world trade center and where I work. I went to have Hapkido class.

We were unfortunately a guy short. One of our guys got into a small fender bender with a cab on the way to class. And of course it was the guy in charge of the mats. So we were slightly limited to what we were going to work on.

But we did some knife defenses and some sparring and was able to have a good workout.

After the commute back home we had some delicious steamed and sauteed flounder that Mary and her folks got at the farmers market.

Sunday we all took it pretty easy and went for a small drive to try to find where Mary's dad had actually lived on Staten Island when he was younger and thinking of becoming a priest. Once we got back we went out for a nice meal at Sing Bo, then it was time to call my parents and wish my dad Happy Fathers day. Hopefully if things workout they will be able to come visit over the Fourth of July weekend.

(Mary's parents had requested that no pictures of them be put up on the blog,,, :()

Another good weekend /Karate and Street fair

2010-06-13T15:48:00.003-06:00

If viewing on facebook you may have to click on "view original post"
to see the pics and videos

This weekend found me by myself due to Mary being at a conference in
Ann Arbor, Michigan. She left on Wednesday morning was not going to
return till Sunday.

We did not have our normal karate class on Thursday night due to a
special event with the Iwata dojo. On Friday night the Sato dojo was
invited to help with a couple members who were testing for their black
belts.

Allot of members from our dojo was gone but we had a great turnout of
guest instructors and black belts.

The members testing had to do a 15 man kumite. 15 2min rounds with all
the guest karateka.

I drew number #9 slot since I am just a white belt in this style. No
body took it easy on the testers. Seijo the member testing from Iwata
dojo is a very strong fighter. Since I am just getting used to doing
striking and kicking I thought to myself if he grabs me I better do
what I know and throw. When we got into a boxers clinch I turned my
hips to throw and ended up getting thrown myself :p luckily I am not
to rusty from Hapkido so I was able to fall on the hard wood floor
without getting banged up and finish the fight.

It was a really fun evening and we went out for beers after wards to
the Blaggard pub.

My plans was to go back downtown on Sunday and there was no Hapkido
practice planned so I just hung out on Staten Island Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday I decided to go to 86th street and Broadway to checkout a
Japan block fair. It was pretty interesting and had some really
enjoyable performances.

The first show I watched was a lady tap dancing to
flute and Japanese banjo.

PIC00003.AVI
Then there was a taiko drum troupe. The kids were really good and put
on a good show.

PIC00007.AVI
Then there was Remi..

I'm still not sure what to make of this I have
read a out maid cafes in Akibara Japan but I don't see why this as big
as it supposedly is. I felt kinda of bad for her. She would talk in a
really high cutesy voice with allot of energy trying to get energy and
reaction from the crowd, but almost everyone (me included) just kind
of stood there with dumb looks on our faces.

Then there was a dance group that was really entertaining. They put
allot of work into their show and had to hot in the sun up on stage.

PIC00012.AVI

By that time it was getting close for Mary to be getting back from
JFK. So I grabbed some cold Udon noodles from one of the vendor booths
and hopped on the train to meet my weary travelor wife at the
ferry terminal.

With all the family and friends we have lined up to visit the next few weeks it should be really interesting...

Sister in-law, Hapkido/Shotokan, and Thai food (or a busy Saturday)

2010-06-06T09:32:00.011-06:00

This Weekend marked the beginning of allot of busy weekends Mary and I are going to have over the summer. With already quite a few family and friends coming to visit NYC.

This weekend we had Mary's youngest sister Peg (aka: Mumbles) :p

It was a pretty warm weekend. On Friday I got off of work and headed straight to Staten Island where we went to one of our local restaurants.

Saturday's plan was the girls were going to go downtown with me and go to MOMA museum to look at art and stuff like that.

We had a nice ride on the ferry. It was good to sit outside as hot as it was. The NYPD got called to the saloon deck during the trip. Whatever they were called for was taken care of by the time the boat docked and we went downstairs.

We then hit the subways for Midtown

Once downtown we split up they went to moma while I went to go workout. Saturdays I have been having Hapkido classes with a couple of the guards I work with and a brown belt from the Iowa City club. This afternoon another guard was joining us who has done Shotokan karate for 20 years. He wanted to come check out what we were learning but also do some Karate for 30 minutes or so. It was a good hot workout.

Hapkido (chicken wing)

Then take down:

then Paul took over:

we ended with some kicking and blocking drills.It was a good way to end the workout. Paul is very adamant about his style of Karate which is Shotokan. We both respect each others styles but Paul has a really hard time grasping that Hapkido is a soft style that focuses on movement and not punching and kicking someone to loosen them up before doing a throw or lock. As you know I have doing Shinkyokushin karate a couple of nights a week and I can say so far I am still really enjoying the class and people. I don't think I will be making the switch to Shotokan anytime soon.

After the workout I had a couple of hours to kill so I walked around till I found a little bar where I could make camp till the girls were down with the museum and church.

Once the girls were free we headed to the village where we met up with a couple from New Jersey that Peggy knew. We went to a place called "Holly Basil" It was good Thai food. I am not sure why but it seems like every Thai food place I go to an order of Pad Thai is always just not enough for me. I'm always tempted to get a double order but then it is too much...

We went out for coffee afterwords than headed back to the Island where we all crashed.

One down and counting.. :P

SATURDAYS SURF SHOP

2010-05-22T13:26:00.001-06:00

Since no workouts planned this afternoon and Mary still having to work. I decided to hit downtown and checkout a place I had heard about in SOHO. Saturdays surf shop is basically a coffee shop with a surfers theme. They have some boards and wetsuits you can buy but the main draw I could see is the internet access and backyard patio. I`ve been to a couple of actual surf shops and it definately has that feel with benches and hardwood patio tucked away from the street so you don`t feel like your just outside Chinatown. I may not buy a board from here but I will probably come back.

The Martial Bo

2010-05-22T07:41:00.003-06:00

(if viewing on facebook you may need to click "view original post" )

Just wanted to share some of the videos that one of our Hapkido alumns has been putting up on youtube.

Bo was back from China and participated in the Iowa State University Hapkido and Judo demonstration at 2010 Celebrasian Festival in Des Moines Iowa on May 15th.

and Bo demonstrating some of his high kicks and some Hapkido

Check out "themartialbo" channel on youtube for our future martial arts action star!

Shinkyokushin and Hapkido

2010-04-13T19:44:00.002-06:00

Just a quick update as to what all is going on. I am still enjoying the job very much. It's amazing how if you have a flow of people like you do on 5th Ave it's hard to get bored. I am still also really enjoying working out in Shinkyokushin Karate. One of the things that has really kept me in this the past few weeks is how similar the Japanese instructor is to Master Drahos who I started under in Hapkido. Basically in their views of martial arts and their love of beer. The group has been great to workout with. The only downside is the commute coming home after class and not getting home till around 11pm.

On the Hapkido side of things unless things fall apart I will be taking Hapkido underground so to speak. At least once a week I will be training 2 of my coworkers and a past member from Iowa in a spare room in the building I work at. Even tho I am enjoying Karate it is really hard not to grab someone when we are sparring. So I figured this will let me get my grabbing fix and we can see where I can take it from there.

Sato Dojo

2010-03-23T20:32:00.003-06:00

So with work going pretty good so far. I decided if I am having a hard time finding a place with mats to start up a Hapkido class, I better at least workout in something before I start getting the infamous budda belly with not working out and still drinking all the left over wedding beer.

As you know from my previous posts I am not a fan of dropping over $100 a month for working out no matter what style you founded, or what your name is. I was thinking of doing Kendo but the more I looked at hauling around all the Bogu (armor) and Shinia (sword) on the trains and work it just seemed like a little much. So luckily I had picked up a copy of a local magazine call "Chopsticks". It basically is a magazine that deals with everything Japanese in New York City. From the magazine I went to there website and happened to look at different postings they had for Japanese instructors. That is when I found the listing for Sato Dojo. Sensei Sato is basically doing what I had hoped to do with Hapkido. He teaches small classes in one of the many and local dance studios. He teaches Shinkyokushinkai (or as he referred to it as "knock down karate")

(from his website Satodojo.com)

We enjoy our traditional Japanese Karate training which is rarely practiced in the schools or gym classes in the United States.
Our Club is recognized as an official school of the Workd Karate Organization (Shinkyokushinkai). Please visit the link below to learn about this organization.

http://www.wko.or.jp/

Since it is a pay by the class no commitment, plus I figured I would should probably try to get back out of my comfort zone and work on something cardio and different from the grappling arts that I am used too. I decided to give it a try.

I always thought for a guy my size I was pretty flexible. Was I ever wrong...after an hour of basic punches and exercises, then 100 squat jumps, then stretches. I felt like I was 100 years old and decrepit. But it was definitely a good workout that you do not feel like you got trashed doing. My plan so far is to keep working out with this club for as long as I can. I still have people who want to do Hapkido that I figured we may have to just do the park or beach workouts.... but we'll see. Until then I will keep you updated.

One thing I still find funny is when Sato Sensei when wanting to demonstrate a technique told me to punch him as hard as I could in the solar plexus. At first I was hesitant but he said to do it. So I gave it to him. Now to my credit, I did make him take a couple of steps backward. But otherwise he just looked at me like nothing had happened and he would say "good" do it again..

This should be fun,just as long as I don't get my teeth knocked out. :P

Employment and Zatoichi

2010-03-21T10:57:00.003-06:00

So I have finally finished my first full week at my new job. I have to say I really enjoy it. For those who don't know I am working security at one of the foreign banks downtown Manhattan. I really feel lucky getting set up with the company I'm with. Looking at all the job ads I really could have ended with something miserable. But I have the exact schedule that I had with my old company KCI 9am-6pm and did not take the hit in pay that I was expecting also. So, so far (knock on wood) things stay on the up and up.

A couple of nice pluses is I am finally getting a little bit more networking done on getting a Hapkido group started. I have a couple of coworkers who have stated once I find a place that they want to work out me. I am thinking now that the temperature is staying around 70degrees and with the beaches in some of the Burroughs maybe I would start out just having some outdoor classes in the sand close to the water.

Unfortunately with my schedule my plan on attending the Korean Sword class is not going to work out. The class starts at 6pm the same time I get off work and where it is only an hour class by the time I got there it would all be over with. So I guess it just means I will keep visiting different schools and working towards my own.

Zatoichi

If you have checked out some of my past posts I am a big Zatoichi fan (the blind Samaria) I just saw that they are coming out with one more entry into the remakes. Supposedly the last one but we will see:

The last couple of remakes:

Ichi 2008 (with a woman Ichi)

Trailer for 'Beat' Takeshi's adaptation of "Zatoichi". Beat Takeshi is very popular Japanese actor famous for his Yakuza (gangster) movies and if you have ever watched MX 3000 the Japanese obstacle course show dubbed comedic ally into Engish he is one of the main hosts

And finally the original and best Shintaro Katsu who portrayed Ichi for over ten years in both films and tv.

The last one made in 1989 before his death

A good collection of Shintaro Katsu fight scenes

Plus Shintaro Katsu was also a popular singer. He had allot of albums. For those who were at the wedding if you knew what to listen for you would have heard 2 of his songs played at the reception. :P

Orientation and Siljun Dobup

2010-03-05T13:22:00.004-06:00

I headed into Allied Barton to do my orientation and was hoping to find out what my schedule was going to be and what part of the city I was going to be working in. The class was rather large due to the numbers they are currently hiring. The plan of the day was supposed to be to go thru orientation and get the last of the paperwork out of the way then meet with the recruiter who sets up your placement with the right account manager. Unfortunately the account manager my recruiter was going to set me up with had to be in meetings the rest of the afternoon so I have to go back on Monday morning to meet with them again and hopefully get the ball rolling soon.

Since I was down in that area anyway I decided to try out and take the first free class of a martial art that I found on the internet.

Since I am having a hard time finding a facility with mats I have been looking at different schools and styles including some Kendo schools. After looking at one of the Kendo (actually Kumdo) schools I noticed one of their instructors was teaching a Siljun Dobup class downtown just outside of Korea town.

Siljun Dobup is a Korean art that supposedly fuses Japanese Iaido and Korean sword forms. I thought it looked interesting so I checked it out. One of things that drew me to it was that there was no monthly commitment to dues. With so many schools I am finding that charge over $120 a month it was nice to see classes that you can pay per class without dropping a large sum for something your not sure if you want to do or not. Plus the class is only offered once a week so I figured if I like it, it might be nice to do on the side whether I start teaching Hapkido or find something else to workout in.

I never really considered Iaido before because it never really looked like much of a workout, plus allot of Iaido styles concentrate so much on drawing the sword from a sitting position on your knees. Suljun Dobup appears to be fairly new, but concentrates more on the standing forms and cutting. The class was only an hour but I was pleasantly surprised. There were two other people that were starting the same time I did so we all worked on drawing the sword, doing a downward cut, and re sheathing the sword. Just doing that, concentrating on the stances, and movement of the sword it was a nice low impact workout. (plus very minimal on the knees :). Ever since when I was a white belt in Hapkido and chipped my tibia falling for an inside breaking balance and knocking knees with my partner, I just have a really hard time sitting on my knees. Especially on hard wood floors.

The people were really nice and I hope my schedule allows me to go back. Like I said before I would still like to either teach or do more of a self defense workout. But for a once a week thing that I don't have to commit to, I really liked it.
(for more info on the style visit)
http://www.kendoacademy.com/whatsiljundobup.htm

Fire Guard Cert.

2010-03-02T19:07:00.006-06:00

So a couple of weeks ago I decided to take the courses to get my New York State security certification and part of the course was to get your Fire Guard certificate. The course basically was just a prep course and you still had to go to Brooklyn and take the test. So that is what I did today, got up, had my bagel, and headed to Brooklyn.

The center I had to go to looked like it was basically a testing center for the NYFD but it really felt like I was at the DOT. Sign in, take a number, go to the window when your number is called, sit down, go to a different window when your number is called, sit down, take a test on a computer, sit down, take your pass/fail results and go home. I passed with a 92% for the f-00 cert, which enables me to apply for any fire guard job position(there are certs for Marina,shelters,theaters,etc,etc,the f-00 covers all of them). Once hired I take the address that I will be working at back to the center in Brooklyn and they give me a certificate of fitness for the job and address that I would be working at. I may never use this, but the school I went to for security had everyone go thru it because depending on the placement you get if the assigned place realizes your a fireguard and lets you list them as the address to be a fireguard you can apply for a fire directors positions after 3 years of being a fire guard. And from which I have seen so far the starting pay for them is pretty nice.

So after taking the test I hopped back on the train to go stumble around Chinatown for awhile. I wanted to visit a martial arts store I had been to in the past. It took a little while to find it again but I found the signs for it "BLT" hanging up on Mulberry street. But could not find the store front or any doors for it. I went into the store underneath the sign to ask if they would know how to get to the store. The lady inside said that they were no longer there. But a couple of floors above you could see uniforms hanging in the windows and the sign still there. When I got home a checked the website and it is still up so...who knows. www.bltstore.com. This place also apparently had studios to rent. So I since I could not speak to anyone I just had to send an email and hopefully I will get a response.

So headed back to Staten Island. I walked down to the ferry and it was rush hour. The boat looked like it was going to be pretty packed so instead of trying to fight for a seat inside I decided to grab one of the benches on the back of the boat. The weather was actually pretty nice and I found I had a great view going back over the water to the island.

full collection wedding pictures

2010-03-01T10:43:00.000-06:00

Finally got all the wedding pictures up online for people not on facebook.

Wedding 01/16/10

Sunday Brunch on the upper west side

2010-02-28T17:05:00.003-06:00

(Left to right- Jess,Eric,Me,Laura,and Raf)

Sunday found Mary and I heading downtown to meet up with not one but two of our hapkido alumni(Laura and Eric). We traveled up to 81st street to Calle Ocho but we waited to long to make reservations. So we walked around a lil while till we found a nice little restaurant a couple blocks over. After-wards we all walked over to Central Park to look at all the snow.

On the job front I am still waiting till Thursday to go in for orientation. Getting a little anxious to start working again....And to get my schedule figured out so I can start working out again...

More and more paperwork...and Fighthouse

2010-02-22T20:05:00.005-06:00

So I was to report back to the school that I took the courses for my security certification for job placement. As it turns out their job placement is to do an interview to see which companies that they provide security to send you. Luckily I dressed up for the placement cause as it turned out the gentleman at the school sent about 5 people home just cause he felt they were not dressed right for a job interview.

My interview with him went pretty good and he sent me off to a security company call Allied Barton. Which after wards I realized that the courses I took was just the certification to be eligible for my security license. So now after signing a bunch of paperwork, taking the drug test, and waiting for the background check to pass. I have to go back in a week to get fingerprinted and go thru orientation. But they said (hopefully) I should be working soon.... I hope...

So I was done around 3pm and decided to head out and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

I had to go up to 34th street for Allied Barton, so I decided since I was in that neck of the woods I would check out a gym I was looking for teaching Hapkido.

The Fighthouse: http://www.fighthouse.com/

this is so far one of the few studios that I have found that you can rent by the hour with mats for martial arts. There are actually allot of dance studios available by the hour that would be allot cheaper but no mats. So goes my dilemma. The fighthouse looks like they have some good classes available and space but I'm not sure yet about the prices. I emailed the gym earlier about starting a hapkido program and did not get an answer. So I emailed again and just mentioned about rates for space with mats and the answer I got was it would be $12 an hour per person that I brought in with me. Ouch. The dance studios that just has hard wood floors you can get the whole room for just one rate of $15 an hour. As long as you could get at least a couple of students you could probably cover the cost of the room. But to charge them $12 to just be in the gym and then expect anything else on top of that I would just feel guilty :P

So I decided since I was close I would physically just go in and try to talk to someone face to face to see if that is actually what the cost was going to be. I looked up the address on my phone, when I got to the building if you did not have the address you would totally miss the gym. There is no signs or anything (that I saw anyway) telling you where the gym was. But as it turned out it was on the second floor of a building. It was a nice large area with different spots for different types of workouts. They even have their own boxing ring. When I asked the gentleman at the front desk about any options of teaching there he wanted to know what my schedule was going to be. After explaining that was still up in the air. He left it as once I find out how many students I will have and what time of day or evening I would be working out..then he could give me a price of what it would cost to have a class there. They way their schedule already looked with their BJJ and Muay Thai classes that it would be pretty tough to have anything between 7pm and 9pm. SO hopefully I can start working here pretty soon so know what my schedule is going to be so I can maybe schedule and get something going...or at least maybe figure out a way to start a class in one of the cheaper studios.....

On Saturday night Mary and I headed downtown to the village to check out one of her coworkers who plays drums in a rock band. We ended up going out to supper with a couple of her other co workers to a nice little Cajun restaurant then headed over to the Lit Lounge. The band her coworker played in was called "The Russians"

Security Certificate and Seido Karate

2010-02-20T14:22:00.004-06:00

Thursday was my final class for getting my New York State Security certificate. I am supposed to go back to the school for job assignment on Monday. Thursday was just a half day with a couple of topics then a test. After getting 100% on the test and being done at noon I decided to head uptown to check out some more martial art schools.

This trip found me at The World Seido Karate dojo on west 23rd street.

It is really nice to visit the local professional schools in the area. This was a very nice location. When you enter the school you go up one floor on the elevator and it opens into their lobby and reception area.

The gentleman behind the desk was very helpful and welcoming and explained that they had two floors for training and I was welcome to watch the yellow to black belt class downstairs or the white belt class upstairs that was going on at that time. Being 1pm on a weekday I was really surprised at the number of students that they had working out. And what was also a surprise was the age of the students. Sometimes when I see a karate school I think all I am walking into is a day care for kids. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that I fell right into the middle of the age group of the class that was working out.

I sat and watched the advance class until the end when one of their black belts came over and sat with me asking if I had any questions and how the school worked. It seemed like a very nice and laid back club even tho respect and courtesy you could tell was really something you could tell everyone performed. The black belt that sat with me was an older gentleman who just got done teaching the white belt class. Everyone who walked by or had to speak to him gave him a bow and a nice loud "Osu". The black belt then asked if I would like a tour of the rest of the dojo so he took me upstairs to the other workout floor that also has gym equipment. They way it is set up once you pay your monthly dues you can train an unlimited number of classes plus take yoga or pilates or just come in and lift weights as long as the Dojo was open. The monthly dues ran $120-$150 depending on how you paid which is what I am finding to be the norm for any school no matter what martial art style that offers more than just a class in the evening a couple of times a week.

When I stepped out the door to leave to head back to the station on Broadway I looked up and low and behold their was a KCI truck!

(this was the exact type of truck I drove in Iowa when we did not use the vans)

I wanted to run up to the window and ask what center they were out of but figured they would probably think they were getting carjacked and try shooting me :P

The only downfall I could see for me with this school (or any school in this location) is the commute. If I end up with a normal day shift where I have to be at work at 8am means getting up at 5:30am to get ready, catch the bus to the ferry, then ferry to Manhattan. So doing that, then working a full day then working out in Manhattan till 9 or 10pm means getting home late amd getting up early again. So not sure yet if that's is what I want to do or not.

I will definitely wait to see what my actual schedule is going to be before making any decisions, but as far as evening classes during the week go I am going to check out a few more schools on Staten Island before I make up my mind.

PBR and Kendo

2010-02-12T20:22:00.005-06:00

So, mainly unpacked and working towards getting employed. After reading of all the people who cannot find full-time work in New York I decided to start looking at Security work. I saw a few offers for working corporate security in the financial district so I decided to apply and figured it would be better than sitting on the couch at home. In New York state you have to be licensed to work security so I am currently taking the required 8 hour course, the 16 hour (OJ) training, and the fire guard course. I took the fire guard prep course on Thursday so now I have to go to Brooklyn to take the actual test to get my fitness certificate and license. Next week I take my security classes then will supposedly get assignment to work. Not sure if it will be days or nights but like I said before, I would rather work than sit at home.

As far as martial arts go I stopped in and worked out with the Niandoryu Jujitsu crew that is just a few blocks from our apartment last Thursday, but I wanted to check out more schools in the area. So yesterday like I said I completed the fireguard prep course. It was over around 4pm and I had planned on checking out a local Kendo school in Manhattan not far from the financial district. But their classes did not start till 7pm so I had some time to kill. So I decided to stop into my new favorite bar the Patriot.

It is probably what some people would consider a dive bar but I actually enjoy it. Who would of thought that a bar around the financial district would have $2 cans of PBR. I know it doesn't sound that spectacular but add that to the music they play which is everything from the Doors to Charlie Daniels and it is home sweet home. Plus the wait staff is great. I have never been to a bar where the waitstaff hands you your order and just say "hey, don't worry about it, It's on me" and they were not doing it with just the $2 PBRs, they were doing it for everyone, at least it seemed, just randomly they would give out a round or order for free. I thought that was really cool, and they definitely won my business.. :)

After a few rounds I went to check out the Ken Zen Institute where they teach Kendo.

I was a little mad at myself cause I wanted to get there early enough to talk to people before class but I got turned around with the address trying to find it. (maybe the 5 or 6 PBR's had a hand in it) but by the time I found it class was already 10 minutes in. The school immediately gets good props for just how clean and nice it was inside. Plus I stood in the lobby for almost a min, when the head instructor Sensei Ebinhara instructed one of the students to run over to give me a brochure and invite me to a viewing area to watch class. They had a very nice area upstairs with chairs and windows to look in and have a very nice view of the room and class. They had a very nice size group. The room I would consider skinny but very long and nice and clean. Once I see what my work schedule is and if I decide to do Kendo I will definitely consider this school. (plus as I found out it is only 1 block from the Patriot bar :P )

(video featuring Ken Zen Dojo)

If you have read my previous posts. One of my pet peeves is when you are a new student looking at a Dojo, or Dojang, if you have someone come in to watch a class and are interested in training with you, just letting someone stand there and not make any effort to at least ask if they have any questions or would like some info on training to me really reflects on the type of school you run and is very rude. If you do not want new students your door should be locked or you should just go ahead and ask them to leave. So far I have only came across one school that has done that. Everyone else has been either very friendly or has been honest with me and told me to get lost :P. I stopped into a Karate dojo on Staten Island called "Tokyo Karate" just to ask of their rates per month. I had seen their website before and was interested. They had a good size class currently working out and the gentleman at the front desk promptly told me that they are a private school and and I could only workout if a member invites me. I could not stay and watch I basically (very politely) was told to leave. I respect that allot more than if I had come in to see a class and was allowed to just stand there wondering what was going on. But like I said ..it's just my pet peeve...

Trying to decide what to do martial art wise has been pretty challenging. Not knowing what my schedule is going to be yet, not having any luck in finding a place with mats to teach Hapkido, and checking out other schools and not wasting my time or money on something stupid. You have to be careful with some schools I'm finding cause it appears they want you to come in for a "free class" then spring the $280 a month rate on you. I am finding if you are a school that if you cannot be honest with me up front... I don't want to wast my time with you.. That's just me...

see ya

Last Demo

2010-01-30T19:15:00.003-06:00

So I am almost unpacked and just taking an easy day off before starting the job hunt. I had posted some of the clips of our spring demo on facebook. But thought I would post the some on here too. I had unfortunately was getting a cold that week and just did not have the energy to do much for the demo. But here is our intro and my portion where I ended the demo with a circle drill (randori) where the attacks where random and unrehearsed.

Banquet Preview

2010-01-30T13:25:00.002-06:00

Hey Gang,

Just thought I would share a couple of videos from one of our family clubs. This is from the Des Moines Hapkido club under Master Pilch. Every year each club under Master Pak is to make a small video or send in pictures to show at the annual martial arts banquet in Ames. This year the banquet will be Mar 6th 2010.

Des Moines Hapkido Banquet 2008

2010 Banquet Video

Finally here and almost unpacked

2010-01-28T15:52:00.005-06:00

Tuesday morning we packed up Pan and hit the road to try to be in Staten Island around 8pm so we could hopefully miss any of the traffic on the express ways going into the island.

Finally arrived in Staten Island late on Tuesday night. The driving went good except for two occasions where the U-haul truck had decided it was going to lose power and die. No lights or problem with the gauges came on, it just decided it was going to slowly shut down. The first time it happened it started right back up and nothing seemed wrong so we pressed on. 3 or 4 hours later it decided to do it again right when we were getting into heavy traffic into NYC. Luckily Mary and I decided to get hand held radios so I was able to tell her what was going on so she was able to pull off to the side of the expressway with me and not leave me in the dust. Once again the truck died but started right back up. This time the engine light was on but it seemed to be running just fine. So we decided to press on and luckily made it back to Mary's apartment.

We were able to rope a couple of Mary's friends into coming over and help unload the u-haul. Everything went pretty smooth. We had the couch we got from Mary's sister Kitty, it was definitely the hardest part but we were able to get into place.

Now all I have to do is to get over this cold that I have been carrying with me for over a week now and start the job hunting process. I want to start a Hapkido club as soon as I can but I need to find out what my schedule is going to be before I can commit to the time it will take to run a club. But I am hoping to start one very soon or if nothing else join a couple of clubs in the area.

445 miles to go

2010-01-25T19:46:00.002-06:00

Drove till around 8pm then Mary and I decided to call it a day. We ended getting a room at a microtell that takes pets. Mary went to go check out the gym while Pan and I decided to check email. We will try to get a good start on the day so it is not too late getting into Staten Island. Driving the U-haul over the Verrazano or Bayonne bridge will be educational I'm sure.

Fwd:Getting ready to leave Chicago.

2010-01-25T12:32:00.001-06:00

Stopping at Mary`s folks to upgrade to a bigger truck since are taking her sister`s sofa. Now to just find help unloading it in Staten Island...

Going Ronin

2010-01-24T12:42:00.001-06:00

So some may say I have had a couple busy weeks. I`ve gotten married, quit my job, packed up my apartment and started the move to NYC. I will definitely miss my friends and family in Iowa. But it was time to try something different. So after the drive I will have to see what my schedule is after finding a new job so I can continue martial arts. My plan is to teach hapkido but I would also like to take advantage of other styles in the area

But first stop on the way is Chicago

Wrestling legend ‘Dr Death’ Steve Williams passes away

2010-01-01T16:55:00.003-06:00

Wrestling legend ‘Dr Death’ Steve Williams passes away

Thursday December 31, 2009 BY Michael Campbell

December 30th saw another tragic loss to the professional wrestling community as “Dr Death” Steve Williams unfortunately passed away.

Williams, 49, had been fighting a battle with Cancer for several years.

Originally diagnosed with throat cancer back in 2004, he endured surgery and appeared to have beaten the disease, being given the all-clear. However over the past year, it tragically returned and he deterioriated at an alarming rate.

Most readers will probably be most familiar with Williams for his brief tenure in the WWE, where he competed in their ill-fated 1998 Brawl for All tournament. A shoot-boxing event, Williams was expected to win and was slated for a major push off the back of it. However, he was injured, and lost to Bart Gunn and was never afforded much opportunity upon his return.

Williams also appeared in WCW, primarily as a tag team competitor, but is best remembered for his work in Japan. There, he was one of the most successful Gaijin of all time, holding his own at the top of the card in All Japan during their glorious period in the Nineties where the company was artistically, untouchable.

Williams produced bonafide classics against the likes of Kenta Kobashi and Mitshuharu Misawa, and was a regular partner of Johnny Ace. He also was honoured in 1994 with a Triple Crown reign.

Williams continued to wrestle into this year, finally retiring in October, appropriately enough, working a match in Japan.

He will go down in history as one of the best kept secrets in US wrestling during the Ninties, earning a lucrative living elsewhere as a believable, gruff, but bombastic tough guy.

Holiday beat downs

2009-12-29T22:05:00.002-06:00

George came back for a holiday beat down. George is currently in Virginia.

During the Holiday break we did not have normal classes. But we had enough people wanting to workout we arranged to have "request" nights the week of Christmas and New Years. Everyone picked what technique and attack that they wanted to work on or try for the first time.

Last night we even had a brand new white belt student start up and we tried our hand at Ssireum Korean wrestling.

We of course did not have the loop of belt around the leg but it looked like those who were at class had fun trying it with just our normal waist belts.

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If you have not been coming to Saturday classes your missing out

2009-12-16T01:00:00.004-06:00

Well maybe not every Saturday class but if you have not been keeping up with the club you have really been missing out. Korean master Young Gul Son who now resides in Des Moines has been very kind to come to the Iowa City dojang and share his style of Hapkido with us.

Obama and the South Korean president

2009-12-14T22:42:00.002-06:00

Ok, So this really has nothing to do with Hapkido but I found it interesting. It appears President Obama visited South Korea and received as a GIFT a Taekwondo Dobak and black belt from the South Korean president. From different articles that I have read and podcasts I've listened to it really surprises me how people's reactions are split about this. I have heard different reports, one that when President Obama was a senator he had practiced Taekwondo for 4 years and was already a black belt, and other reports saying he was only a green belt. Who knows the actual truth.

I am not really a political person and never really want to get into a political debate. Personally I would rather have a president that shows respect to our allies. I personally do not have a problem with the United States president bowing in respect to leaders of other countries when that is their custom. Here is some links of different news reports and I am just curious what people think...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/11/obama-lee-myungbak-korea-black-belt.html

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/31687

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/11/113_55759.html

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/11/13/2009111300777.html

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/2009/11/novmeber-19-president-obama-shows.php?img=1

http://neveryetmelted.com/2009/11/19/obama-receives-tae-kwon-do-black-belt/

http://www.taekwondocalifornia.com/

Half time video for the Hawkeye womens basketball game

2009-12-10T23:50:00.002-06:00

Hey Gang,

This fall we were invited to 2 halftime shows for the Hawkeye basketball teams. We did one for a mens game and one for a womens game. Unfortunately we did not get the video footage from the mens game. We had allot bigger crowd and some pretty good crowd reactions. The womens game was definitely a smaller crowd with no one in the student section at all unlike the mens. Everyone still enjoyed doing the demo. We are currently in the works of doing a demo show for our local roller derby team in February.

August Interview with the Daily Iowan

2009-12-10T23:00:00.002-06:00

Hey Gang,

Here is the video portion of fall demo where the University newspaper the Daily Iowan came in and did an article on us.

Views from December 09 testing

2009-12-02T01:13:00.002-06:00

Hey gang,

Here's some pics and videos from Tuesdays testing. Everyone did a nice job and worked very hard.

HKD test 12-09

Up next is a demo for the Hawkeyes women's basketball halftime.

See ya

11 19 09

2009-11-19T21:14:00.001-06:00

Getting close to testing time!!!

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Ready for Halloween

2009-10-10T21:13:00.001-06:00

A good place for halloween. Last week I spent mon and tuesday in our Bartonville service center which is located on an old insane asylum built back in 1905. The pic is of the main building. The KCI office is located in an octagon building that still has what appears to be a operating room in the center. Some workers claim to have heard voices and a popular ghost hunter crew "claim"to have a full page of words they heard when investigating....believe it?...or not?

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Thursday fireman's

2009-10-08T19:44:00.001-06:00

Still healing the torn muscle. came into class to snap some pics

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Self Defense Clinic at the IMU

2009-09-30T22:19:00.005-06:00

Hey Gang,

The Hapkido club did a self defense clinic for a very large group at the IMU tonight. Will demonstrated the techniques and did a very good job leading the clinic. Plus we had so many show up from the club to help out!! For the number of people we had it was nice to see so many show up to help teach everyone.

On the injury front...so far still have bruising and swelling in my lower abdomen from Saturday's flying double side kick....I will just keep up with the ice and Advil, if things are not better by the end of the week I guess I better bite the bullet and see what the Doc says.

Saturday classes are up and running

2009-09-26T12:50:00.002-06:00

It was a good thing Will was at class today. For the beginning of class I decided we would start with some kicking. The beginners I had stay with just front snap kicks, knee strikes, and push kicks.

While the advance I decided to blast thru a bunch of different side kicks.
Sidekick, Spin Sidekick, Sliding Sidekick, Flying Sidekick, Then....end it with a flying double sidekick

(not us but example of the kick we were doing)

First few went smoothly actually had one that looked pretty much like the above video except I stayed on my feet. Went for my last one and felt my groin pull when I started running towards the holder. Sucks getting old.....

Spent the rest of the class with a bag of ice while Will led class. Sucks getting old.. :P

Fall white belt classes off and running

2009-09-09T13:52:00.001-06:00

A quick snapshot from my phone on the beginning of the 2nd week of the beginner class. Will, Dustin and allot of helpers are taking care of class this semester. I believe the last head count was just over 20 new students

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Fall Demo 2009

2009-08-28T08:13:00.002-06:00

We had our fall demo for new classes last night. Unfortunately we did not have a big crowd or anyone to take pics or videos for us. But we did have a couple of reporters from the daily iowan. Here is the link if you would like to see what they had to say about us.

http://www.dailyiowan.com/2009/08/28/Metro/12531.html

08/09/09 seminar for Combat Concepts

2009-08-09T10:48:00.013-06:00

I was contacted recently by a new club opening up in Oskaloosa to come do an afternoon seminar. I was able to get Li and David from the Hapkido club to come help demonstrating techniques and falling.

It was a small group that covers allot of different martial arts like Jeet Kune do and kickboxing and edged weapon training.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and have a good time.

It was a 3 hour seminar that we tried to cover falling, some kicks, basic escapes, takedowns with the breaking balance exercises and some locks

The last 20 min we did some Yongmudo style sparring to end the day. So far I believe they are interested in having us come out once or twice a year to do some more Hapkido to expand their falling and joint locks.

They have also had some seminars from some friends of ours.

Garry Riedemann(big guy 3rd from left)

Gary is one of the black belts from the Ames Hapkido club. Who has taken up and is teaching Nami Ryu Aikijujutsu

Here is a picture from back in the day of me throwing Gary at one of our black pant workouts that we used to do with the Ames club

Riding the orange line

2009-08-03T20:54:00.001-06:00

Riding back to Midway on the Orange line after a good supper, 3 bookstores, and allot of walking.

One of my new favorite stops in Chicago

2009-08-03T20:53:00.001-06:00

The Ginza Restaurant. I really like finding small japanese restaurants off the main drag. Mary and I had stopped here before but I really wanted to go back. It's just off Michigan at the bottom of the Tokyo Hotel. Mary had soba and shrimp. I had raw tuna with natto (fermented soybeans) and a few salmon rice balls :)

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For those not on Facebook

2009-08-03T11:07:00.004-06:00

So, an event that allot people thought would never happened occurred 08-1-09....I got engaged.

It was Mary's birthday. We were having supper with her folks. So I hid a ring in a covered bowl on the table and a little ways into the meal it was passed to Mary.

We still have allot to figure out. Especially New York and we would both like to be married in Iowa City, possibly this fall.

Pan was very happy too

This last one had nothing to do with the weekend but I thought it was a nice picture of pan. Mary's folks tried to take him outside when they had one of their meals outside. I guess the little tent worked good for awhile but I guess he started to go for a walk tent or no tent and started rolling it around.

A hungry puppy!

2009-07-19T08:19:00.000-06:00

Taking care of daisy...somebody was starving!!!

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Hindu Wedding in Chicago

2009-07-12T14:05:00.005-06:00

So I was able to attend a Hindu wedding of one of Mary's friends from college Sendhil Revuluri and Venu Gupta. It was held on Norhterly Island (Mig's Field). The wedding was really interesting being strictly Hindu. My uncle Pran (being from India) was very excited to tell us everything we would be experiencing during the event. We were actually only seeing part of it as it actually starts days before the main Ceremony with different dances and dinners. But here is how it played out for us.

1. Arrival of the Groom and his procession (baraat)

The bride and groom are both animal activists so instead of a white horse as tradition calls for. He chose to come in on a Segway

PIC00017.AVI

PIC00023.AVI

2. Greeting of the Families (milni)

All parents and family members meet and wish good prayers on eachother before entering the tent for the ceremony

3.Welcoming the Groom (tilak)

PIC00033.AVI

4.Invoking the blessings of Lord Ganesha

5. Purifying the Ceremonial site (punyaha vachanam)
Done by the priest and the groom and both sides of the parents with Holy water prayers

6. Proclamation and affirmation (sankalpam)
public announcement of Sendhil to wed and memories of past grandparents

7. Tying the knot, part 1 (toranam or raksha bhandan)
Thread tied to the groom by family members

8. Preparing the groom (vara puja)
washing the grooms feet in milk and wiping them off with silk

9. Putting up the divider (antharpat)
So the groom does not see the bride until the priest says the time is right

PIC00039.AVI

10.The entrance of the bride (kanya agamanam and mangal asktakam)

11. Offering the bride's hand to the groom (kanya dhanam)

12. The auspicious moment
the priest says it is ok to remove the barrier (the poor family members who had to hold up the veil to hide Sendhil had to hold it so long you could tell their arms were tired)

PIC00042.AVI

13. The exchange of garlands

14. Blessing the sacred necklace (mangalya puja)

15. Tying the sacred matrimonial necklace (mangalya dharanam)
Sendhil and his sister ties a necklace around Venu to symbolize family ties and history

16. Exchange of rings (sindhoor daan)

17. Lighting the sacred fire (vivaha havan)
a small fire is lit and blessed with different objects

18. Stepping on the stone (silaarohanam)
Venu steps up on a stone to show firmness and strength as Sendhil puts rings on her toes

19. Tying the knot, part 3 (brahma mudi)
the bride and grooms garments are tied to together

20. Holding hands together (paanigrahanam)
holding hands with more blessings

21. Seven rounds of the sacred fire (mangal phera or sat phera)
while tied together Venu has to lead Sendhil around the fire 3 times then Sendhil leads 4 times while on both sides family members has gathered to throw rice as they pass

PIC00050.AVI

22. Seven steps and seven vows (saptapadi)
bride and groom take seven steps and recite vows with each step

23. Sighting the auspicious star (arundhati darshanam)
the couple then leaves the tent with the priest to have the priest point out Polaris and give more blessings

24. Games (vasantha madhava puja)
a ring is dropped into a large pot, the couple does a best 2 out of 3 whoever gets the ring first will be the dominant one in the marriage. Sendhil won but bets were still given Venu will be dominant :P

25. Showering one another with love and rice (thalambralu)
the Indian version of shoving cake in the face. Only you get to dump rice on eachother

PIC00051.AVI

26. Blessings (aashirvaad and recessional

PIC00054.AVI

27. Farewell to the bride (vidai)
in tradition the bride cuts ties to her family and is now householder of her new family

The ceremony was really really long but very beautiful and interesting. Afterwards was a cocktail hour outside

there were enough appetizers for a meal but then the actually meal started

It was all finished up by lots of dancing and speeches. Due to the open bar and lots, and lots of Indian food my stomach was pushed to the limit. One nice thing they had was a photobooth where people could sit and take goofy photos that were printed off and put into a photobook with a note card to the couple. The only problem of this was there was so many people and only on booth so you had to stand in line for a long time.

It was all very great and fun to experience.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-05T09:52:00.004-06:00

fireworks.AVI

Hope everyone had a great and safe 4th of July. Mary and I met up with a couple of her friends for supper then we walked down to the Iowa/Newton footbridge to watch the fireworks. We met up with Matt, Li, and Ben from Hapkido on the bridge to catch the show. It was pretty good this year.

We then walked down to Iowa City Brewery for some beer and hanging out all in all it was a pretty good night!!

Me and the son of Mary's friend Elise and Stephan Strek. Heiko.

Another Tommy Lee Jones commercial in Japan

2009-06-24T13:28:00.002-06:00

Tommy Lee Jones as the spokesperson for Boss Coffee

Sword vs Baseball

2009-06-24T13:25:00.000-06:00

My niece learning baton

2009-05-31T16:48:00.000-06:00

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Sights and sound of Rockaway beach

2009-05-25T19:20:00.003-06:00

After getting home I decided to empty my camera. I had taken some video of the beach and wind last Thursday when I went surfing at Rockaway. I was walking along the boardwalk and found a bench to eat my lunch just took a quick video.

Here is a video I posted before the first time I visited Rockaway in November of 2007

Rockway Beach November 2007

On my way home!

2009-05-25T09:03:00.000-06:00

Decided to drive to JFK instead of taking the trains. 30min compared to 2hours. Much nicer

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Kenka on st.marks

2009-05-22T17:39:00.002-06:00

My favorite Japanese restaurant in New York so far. I had stir fried chicken with kimchee instead of my normal Yakiudon. I make it a must to stop here at least once everytime I visit.

Off to the left in the picture is where they have a cotton candy machine. You get a cup of the sugar stuff, then on your way out you grab a stick and throw the ingredients in the machine and make your own cotton candy.

Checking out Koreatown

2009-05-22T14:04:00.001-06:00

It may be allot smaller than Chinatown, plus allot less English in the stores. But there seemed to be some really nice restaurants that would be good to check out sometime. Even though the prices in the window were a little on the high side....

The ferry

2009-05-22T12:16:00.000-06:00

Waiting for the ferry to go to Manhatten...moooo

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Beer break

2009-05-21T12:07:00.000-06:00

Beer break @ the sandbar in rockaway. (in the last 2 trips to NYC I've heard more lynard skynard than I have in Iowa in a longtime :) )

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A good day

2009-05-21T11:15:00.000-06:00

Just got done surfing, now out strolling the beach by myself relaxing :)

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Surf webcam

2009-05-21T07:56:00.000-06:00

This message is from a Virgin Mobile user. Enjoy.
_____________________________________________________________

If anyone would like to checkout the webcam on surfline.com for northeast/rockaway/90th st. Around 11am today you may get to catch me surfing :)

Clay Williams August 29, 1920-May 11, 2009

2009-05-18T20:42:00.001-06:00

Saturday was a pretty rough day for me. Along with being on call for work. I had to attend the funeral for my Uncle Clay. On May 11th, my great Uncle Clay passed away. Clay was my grandfather's younger brother. We had lost grandpa quite a while ago. Even though I did not get to see Clay on a regular basis it was nice to visit with. Besides just having the family resemblance it was really almost like having Grandpa back. The two really did look, talk and act almost the same.

Clay had been in and out of the hospital for past couple of years. On one of the stays both him and his wife had to be in the hospital at the same. His wife passed away and Clay had to remain in the hospital for a few more days. I ended up working in Geneseo so I stopped up to sit with him. It was not too long after my last trip to Japan so I told him about it and asked if he was ever over seas.

As it turned out he was in World War2 in the pacific. At one point he was a mechanic on the personnel boats that carry the troops to shore when the marines land. As he told they were on their way to one of the beaches to invade and the pilot of the boat Clay was on took a bullet to the head and died instantly. Clay had to jump up and take the controls and direct the boat back to the main ship. Whereas upon getting out of the boat he was told "congratulations" you have been promoted. He was no longer a mechanic for the personnel boat but now pilot and to get back out there...

Later he was stationed on Okinawa when the U.S dropped the bombs on Japan. He told me from his hospital bed. "I liked Japan but we should of never given that fuck'n island back". As you can tell he was very opinionated and had some strong feelings about the war. After the military Clay worked for the armed forces as a civilian contractor. He had been in Korea and Vietnam during the fighting. He retired from the Rock Island Arsenal in 1974.

The service on Saturday was nice and small. The American Legion #1233 gave him Military honors. After the 21 gun salute my uncle Chan went over and asked if he could have one of the bullets. What we did not know was that they normally collect all the bullets, put them in a bag and give them to the family. I did not know that they did this and thought it was a really nice gesture. All of us at the church afterwards who wanted a bullet collected one.

I miss my grandpa and I will miss Clay too, it was always enjoyable hearing him argue with my other uncles especially Chan over playing cards, or whatever sporting event they were betting on because the other was always obviously cheating.

R.I.P.

Finally back to play around on a Saturday

2009-05-09T14:39:00.004-06:00

Between working and getting over being sick feels like I've been away from class forever..

I missed the testing on Thursday but sounds like everyone had a really good time and that everyone did very well.

We had a nice group on Saturday..so we played around some different techniques and some basic kick defenses

Very basic roundhouse sweep

From the pictures from testing I saw the pics of Joe jumping over the pyramid.

So I thought I would keep the fun going and do my own pyramid :P

jumping over

Maybe when I'm over 40 I'll actually grow up :P

Ke-pouk-hpai

2009-05-05T12:17:00.000-06:00

Ke-pouk-hpai (tortoise tablets) I've learning different asian games. Above is a solitare game from Korea. Played in the same manner as majong solitare but with chinese dominoes.

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Iowa Hapkidocast ep.35

2009-05-03T11:37:00.002-06:00

BO'S TURN IN THE "CIRCLE OF DEATH"

Part 2 of the highlights from Bo's second test. Here is what is now being dubbed the "circle of death" freestyle attacks to test the defender to keep going against multiple attackers. Usually done towards the end of the test once the defender is already tired and close to exhaustion

Iowa Hapkidocast ep.34

2009-04-29T21:04:00.003-06:00

Enter the Bo

Hey gang,

Here is part one of some highlights from Bo's return from Hong Kong and testing for his second Dan. I decided I would return the favor and fall for Bo since he was so nice for falling for me and Heidi last year even being jet lagged from coming back from China again. Be sure to watch the end of this clip to see how he paid me back....Thank Bo

Iowa Hapkidocast ep.33

2009-04-26T14:22:00.003-06:00

Part 2 of the demo at Kang's Martial arts in Coralville for Junko's graduation 2005

Pizza time!!

2009-04-25T14:43:00.000-06:00

Testing done

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Bo getting ready for pain

2009-04-25T12:39:00.000-06:00

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Bo's Second Dan test

2009-04-25T12:12:00.000-06:00

Getting cozy in the Ranger with George and Li on our way to Ames.

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IOWAHAPKIDOCAST EP.32

2009-04-20T22:31:00.004-06:00

So I was digging around my cd collections and stumbled across some more footage that I had from past demos. This one was done at Kang's Martial arts in Coralville. One of our black belt members "Junko" had graduated college and was learning Kumdo at Kang's along with being one of our black belt members. She had her graduation party at Kang's Dojang and wanted to share our style of Hapkido with her other martial arts friends.

PART ONE:

Death of Helio Gracie

2009-03-21T13:06:00.001-06:00

So I am a little behind the times, I just heard today that Helio Gracie passed away on January 29th. Not that it really has anything to do with Hapkido. But for myself personally it has always been a small part of my time in the Dojang. When I received my orange belt was about the same time the very first UFC was broad casted on Pay per View and the entire "Gracie/ MMA phenomenon" started. After Royce Gracie "Helio's Son" won the first couple UFC's I specifically remember seeing a magazine cover showing Royce Gracie doing a triangle choke on a standing partner. It looked interesting but I couldn't tell exactly what it as supposed to be doing. After class one evening I went up to one of the Black Belt instructors and asked if he knew what a Triangle choke was. With a raised eyebrow he told me to get on the mat and he put me into a guard position and applied the triangle choke explaining the mechanics behind it. As it turned out, The Black Belt and a few others had actually attended a couple of Seminars with Royce and had purchased training material so that they could learn and workout with each other. The members who were working on the Gracie groundwork would come into the Dojang on Saturday mornings and workout before the regular Saturday Hapkido class. I joined in and really learned allot and enjoyed those Saturday mornings even though it would take along time for me to actually last very long sparring with the other members.

As we were working out, other clubs had also jumped onto the "Gracie" training bus. It didn't take long for everyone to find out about each others workouts and groups and we would occasionally mix and workout with each other to test and see if everyone was learning the same levels or to pick up anything new. It was one of the things that really kept me into Hapkido, was the community that was loosely being built at the time. You had your different "camps" you had your Hapkido guys, your Jeet Kun Do guys, Taekwondo guys, Etc but we got to know eachother and just come together and workout on submissions without any bad attitudes then go back to our own camps.

As the years passed and my black belt instructors moved onto other things in their lives. I had been able to keep a small interest in grappling on Saturdays for a while. Interest from other members would come and go but I would still have fun. This would go on a while until one night a Blue belt from a Rickson Gracie school looked me up after Hapkido one night. He had just moved into the area and was hired to be the power coach for the football team. He was looking for people who would like to workout and that might already know some grappling and from word of mouth talking to other martial arts clubs he was actually directed to come talk to me. I was pretty shocked when he approached me and asked if I was Scott Williams and had heard from others he should come talk to me. I was very interested so we started working out after Hapkido classes in the evenings. Being a power coach he was incredibly strong. Combine his strength with his technique lets just say I never got anything on him :P After awhile we picked up a few more people. Most of the nights we would end the class with sparring and the blue belt would start in the center and we would all take turns rolling(sparring him) for 2 min at a time. He would always stay out and we would rotate in. It was very very impressive.

But just as Gracie jujitsu was growing, and growing so was the competitions for MMA. One of things that attracted me to the art was watching Royce in his first few UFC fights is that he hardly ever threw a punch. He just grabbed, took you down, and choked or armlocked. To me it was an extremely peaceful martial art. But as more and more people started learning the groundwork the more people wanted to compete and become "pro" fighters. We had picked some more people in our group after Hapkido that unfortunately wanted to train to compete instead of just workout. People were getting kicked in the head or elbowed unintentionally but also unnecessarily. It didn't take too long and too many injuries for me to decide that wasn't the way I wanted to workout. The group eventually moved out to Gold's Gym and I went back to just doing Hapkido.

You can say what ever you want about the Gracie family. Whether you like them or think they suck. I personally lost some of the respect I had for them, Watching how some of the extended family acted toward other fighters or always having an excuse for losing a match.

They took something they loved and made it into an empire that changed the face of Martial Arts that had not been done since Bruce Lee. I think what also really attracted me to the system was the structure of the family. The Gracie family tree starting with Helio and going thru the sons, cousins, brothers, all connected not just by blood but by a martial art their family loved.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helio_Gracie

I added this clip just because it shows the "Gracie Train" when Royce would have a fight the entire family would come out and form a line to escort the fighter to the ring. You can see Helio right there in the mix. I also enjoy this clip because Sakuraba is another of my favorite fighters. His style is "Japanese Pro Wrestling" and the way he comes out with two other guys in masks not letting anyone know which one is Sakuraba until the announcement in the ring I thought was great!

This is just a portion of the fight from above. Due to the request of Royce to not have any time limit on the fight like the current UFC/Pride fighting rules this fight went for 90 minutes. To me I don't care if you win or lose. If you can keep going and survive that long you can mark it as a win.

Another alumni visit

2009-03-19T14:42:00.000-06:00

JEN'S ON THE MEND. Jen was back from DC for a quick visit. Li and I met up with her for lunch and coffee.

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Happy St.Patricks!!

2009-03-17T23:17:00.000-06:00

Happy St.Patricks!! Better get back to Hapkido after spring break kiddies or you'll have more than lepracauns and shelelies to worry about!! :)

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2009 34th annual martial arts banquet

2009-03-07T19:49:00.000-06:00

TIF, Li, and Sydny 2008 award winners for 2009

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2009-03-05T20:03:00.000-06:00

Spring white belt testers Joe, Amanda, and Adam

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Alumni Update

2009-02-25T17:38:00.005-06:00

Hey Gang,

Just wanted to share with everyone that I have heard from Tetsuya who is currently living in Japan with his wife Miki

He is coming for a visit between March 1-4th. I have not heard from him in a while and looks like he has been pretty busy. He now has 2 little girls!!

left is "Mitama" (1 year and 10month) and "Kirara" (1 month). I'm sure they will be throwing each other in no time :)

Iowahapkidocast ep.32

2009-02-07T19:37:00.003-06:00

Couldn't post video on youtube cause it's just over the 10min mark. But here is the spring demo footage (most of it anyway). Everyone did a great job!! And we had a great turnout for our white belt class. Let's hope we can retain at least some of them :P

The Hap-Ki-Do Kid

2009-01-26T19:37:00.001-06:00

Hey gang,

Ok, I just had to share this. This is supposedly a British group from the 70's. They actually have a song about a guy who does Hapkido. Pretty simple not much else to the song. Surprise this wasn't number one with a bullet :P

Snow Kiting on Lake Mcbride

2009-01-25T15:44:00.002-06:00

So this weekend was bringing in one of our alumni the Chicago Crippler Carla. Carla and I had made plans to go snowboarding and skiing while she was back on Saturday but as you would know it the weather decided to turn bitterly cold with wind chills getting down into the negative 20's. We both wanted to do something outside so I decided that we should go out to the lake and try some kiting since the lake was allot closer then the ski resorts. Plus we could leave if we got to cold and not be out any money for a lift ticket.

I met up with the crippler around noon and we headed out to the lake. When I pulled into the parking lot I was surprised to see another couple with the same thing in mind. The couple were from Minnesota originally and was surprised to see us as they had not met anyone local who was into "kiting"

Kiteboard.AVI

The wind was not the best, but we were able to at least launch our kites and ride around a bit

You have to have patience when you do this sport I have come to find out.

between line tangles and dying wind it can be frustrating at times.

But as long as you try you get at least get some rides away from the weekend crowds at the resorts

We didn't stay out too long. There was still -15 wind chills and Carla was hung over from the night before.

(Carla showing me she is having a good time in the cold)

I said goodbye to the other kiters after trying another run and running out of wind. They stated as long as the lake is frozen and there is wind they would be found out there so I hope to run into them again soon.

We finished the day with some Village Inn and coffee. We probably could of both taken a nap from being out into the cold but we had two little kids waiting for us at Beth and Brian's so we headed for some food and debauchery :P

Iowa Hapkidocast Ep 31

2008-12-19T17:28:00.002-06:00

HO HO HO at HU HOT

Hey Gang,

Just some clips from a small Saturday class. We had a small turnout which is ok. It is still a good time to get in a workout. We also did some Yongmudo "style" sparring. Due to the level of people who were there on Saturday the techniques they know were limited so we had to keep each round style fairly simple. Like for the throwing round we stayed with only doing Judo Sweeps and the ground portion we made it so you would pin your opponent instead of submitting them. Everyone still seemed to have fun so hopefull as we progress or more advance members come to Saturday class we can go back to the regular sparring.

I also finish with pics from our Christmas party held out at HU HOT and some drinks afterwards at Donnely's.

See ya,

IOWAHAPKIDOCAST EP.30

2008-12-07T16:11:00.002-06:00

Fall 2008 local testing at the Iowa city Dojang.

Last Thursday night we had our testing for the fall for our Hapkido members. We had white belts up to brown belts testing. The test went long which made our members work really hard but everyone dug down and had the heart to continue and not stop. Afterwards we went out for pizza and had a great time.

Next week, our x-mas party at the HU HOT!!

Iowa Hapkidocast ep.29

2008-11-23T16:27:00.002-06:00

Just a Saturday workout:

Now that football season is over with and it is allot easier for members to get to the fieldhouse without having to worry about stepping over passed out tailgaters or just fighting the crowd in general, we can finally start having regular Saturday workouts.

Now all we have to contend with is the Holidays :P

See ya