Not a sport for the weak of heart.

"If they don't like it they should take up ping pong"

After I missed a month of practice because of a knee injury this same coach looked at me when I walked on the mat and told me the "dance studio' was down the hall.

BTW he was there when I injured my knee ...

Lets face it sports by nature are competitive events in which the primary purpose of the contest is to WIN. It might not be the noblest purpose but it is the primary.

As a teacher/coach for many years I have seen this primary goal modified at lower levels of competition. Many little leagues and pop ...

There's no rationalization that could excuse this coach for what he did. An what he did was to set out in a planned manner the embarassment of a boy.

1. He thought of the idea for the award
2. He special ordered, bought and paid for the award
3. He encouraged the boy to attend the awards ceremony ...

Congrats go out to Reality's Joe Lauzon. Joe's fight in Lowell on Friday Night ended like many of his other fights... with Joe's hand raised. He fought a very strong well trained opponent in front of a great crowd and ended the fight raining down punches from the mount.

One would think that he ...

Good luck in your fight this weekend. I'll be there to root you on.

Mike

I want to thank you for the invitation and I wanted to let you know that I enjoyed working with you and your students. It was really nice to be welcomed with open arms by such a talented group of hard working martial artists.

Joe L

It would be great if you could talk this up. There hasn't been a whole lot of advertising. It would also be great to have more local tournaments to showcase the local talent.

A correction from above. http://people.brandeis.edu/~timcraig?ECBJJ.htm

Just a heads up to any New England grapplers looking to compete the East Coast Brazilian Championships will be held on May 1st 2004 in Waltham Ma.

Complete info can be found at http://people.brandeis.edu~timcraig/ECBJJ.htm

Mike

Great points on people with disabilities, health issues, and of course older martial artists. In no way would I any disrespect anyone that falls in this group. God protect us from the first two and grant us the opportunity for the third...

Fred

You are certainly right, nobody should feel alienated from doing something they enjoy.

My next question is... Is it reasonable for someone in a martial art to have high expectations (including rank) without the physical sacrafice of the difficult training you mentioned. (not just grappling ...

Fred

You are absolutely right. Because of the physical nature of grappling and the close contact some people will be less than eager to participate. (Kinda they way I felt when I 1st did body conditioning with T Rose). I found this to also be true of full contact fighting in the form of kickboxing ...

There certainly hasn't been any disrespect in this thread that I have seen. Just the opposite, I see this thread as a healthy awareness of ground fighting need and effectiveness.

Creating a program to make Uechi students more familiar with the ground is certainly a do-able thing. I mentioned in a ...

I love the fact that this converstion is going on. It shows a willingness to incoporate effective ground fighting skills into a curriculum that is a striking art. Whether or not these skills become part of the testing procedure seems to be in debate. What doen't seem to be in debate is that they can ...

Joe L

Congrats on your NHB victory. I just read the writeup on the eightman tourney you won...very impressive victories over some of New Englands top grapplers. I have a feeling we will be ordering pay-per-view to watch your fights in the future.