Originally posted by lukster
Practicing katas, etc... are good for physical conditioning and helping with reaction time. Martial arts can only make one a better fighter though if fighting is practiced. Skill can be learned but talent and instinct will almost always separate the losers and winners in a physical fight.
that is correct. if you are participating for stretching, balance , exercise then any dojo will do.
if you want to learn to fight then you must train where fighting occurs. our students who choose to participate in saturday morning fighting must have attended at least two classes during the previous week and then they qualify to participate for kumite. during kumite the students spar continuosly sometimes 1 v 1 other times 1 v multiples. they must spar against people larger or smaller, male or female. no respect is given to size or gender.
kumite is full contact and blood flows. there is an off duty paramedic at every session.
saturday kumite is where we allow neighborhood kids to attend and fight if they want to. it is our most popular class.
the kids that earn belts in our dojo are well prepared to meet the realities that they may encounter on the streets.
the only rule we have about kumite is that a student must attain his or her yellow belt before being invited to participate.
our dojo is located in a tough working class town and in a tough neighborhood within that town. most of our students are from that neighborhood. most of these kids already kick bellybutton when they arrive. some of our students come from more affluent communities but are the children of parents from that town. those parents want their sons and daughters to be somewhat tougher than the kids they go to school with.
anyway in case anyone is interested here's the website for the international HQ
http://www.sanseigoju.comhttp://www.houseofdragonsdojo.com/home.htm
