Go Kan Ryu

General chat on non-martial arts talk such as wine, food, travel and so on.
Wado heretic
Posts: 94
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2011 7:29 pm
Location: United Kingdom, England, Shropshire

Re: Go Kan Ryu

Post by Wado heretic »

Yes; probably for the best as we are simply recovering ground covered elsewhere in another topic. Agree to disagree and call it a day.
R. Keith Williams
d.carter
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 5:49 pm

Re: Go Kan Ryu

Post by d.carter »

I know this is a very old topic but I stumbled across it today and wanted to reply.

What university did you go to? Because having a club where the president gets to decide if they 'accept' people, sounds like the worst thing possible for a university society.
Being so elitist surely couldn't have helped you guys recruit new people or even seem inviting to people to want to try karate.

I won't hide anything, I trained with GKR for nearly 15 years by the time I came to uni, and my instructor let me keep my Dan grade under the university club. I then went on to have a massive competition year bringing home 17 medals, including a silver at BUCS.

I hope that since this time your opinions on karate and letting people train with you have changed, and you have realised that turning people away just because you don't recognise their style is absolutely ridiculous.

Cheers.
laurie
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2011 5:01 am
Location: Canberra, Australia

Re: Go Kan Ryu

Post by laurie »

Being so elitist surely couldn't have helped you guys recruit new people or even seem inviting to people to want to try karate.

Without having any horse in this race, might it be possible that recruitment isn't high on the list of priorities for the society? It seems that WH's society is focussed on 'traditional karate' (however one wishes to define that) - would you say that GKR falls within this general categorization? If someone turned up wanting to add thai boxing into the mix then it would seem fair enough to say "sorry, we can't cater for your expertise under our umbrella but we wish you all the best". Deciding where to draw the line is always going to be a bit fuzzy and somewhat arbitrary but I wouldn't describe it as "absolutely ridiculous" to have to make a judgment call on what's in and what's out.
Laurie B.
Canberra, Australia
d.carter
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 5:49 pm

Re: Go Kan Ryu

Post by d.carter »

Hi Laurie,

You may be right and I may have overlooked the fact that some societies do not wish to grow and like keeping their own little bubble, which I have no problem with.
I simply made this point due to the fact the society I am a member of, is always looking to get new guys in Karate!

As for your other point, I would say that yes, I do feel that GKR falls within to the realm of 'traditional karate' (Although, can you even quantify what that is anymore?) Performing GKR kata in 'traditional karate' tournaments has served me very well so far.

I feel your use of Muay Thai practitioner as an example is a bit out there, because they are entirely different martial arts. Whereas (mostly) Karate is Karate.

I must say that I dredged up this thread more due to being annoyed with seeing it, rather than thinking through a reasoned response!

Thanks for your reply!
Wado heretic
Posts: 94
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2011 7:29 pm
Location: United Kingdom, England, Shropshire

Re: Go Kan Ryu

Post by Wado heretic »

Apologies for not replying to this personally until now; I rarely log into these forums any more. I can more often be found at karate forums these days. A lot has changed since this topic was originally posted; I graduated from the University in question two years ago and am no longer involved with the society in question. I do not even practice Wado-Ryu anymore having moved over to Shorin-Ryu, and focusing somewhat more on my kobujutsu these days.

My personal opinion has not changed, whether I am stubborn on this point or not I am not sure. My issue with that particular individual was not his style per se, but the quality of his karate, and yes we did consider ourselves to be a traditional in the sense of established systems we were familiar with and we could adopt for. We were a society of equals in that we had a round robin approach to session leadership, and we all paid equal maintenance and the point was to have people to train with. If you could not carry your weight, or we just could not find a way to make you fit, then we did not want you. We were not interested in competition or any of that; we just wanted to have a group of people who could train together. I was an initial point of contact officer, and would have the initial call on whether someone could come and try training alongside us or not, but it was up to the standing members whether they could stay or not.

I run my current club on a similar philosophy; I do not need the money, I run a club so I have people to train with, and I enjoy the experience of training with others. If I do not think a person is right for the club, or if after giving them a chance they seem to be a disruptive rather than positive influence I will tell them they have not passed muster. I do not need the money, and I prefer to train with people I like, and who pull their own weight; I put up as much money for space rental as I ask of those who attend. There are seven of us including me, and this is more than enough to pay for the space we rent, and to pay for the amenities we need to look after our equipment, and to put into a fund to buy new equipment. I would rather train with people I like, and who I do not have to drag along than teach whoever walks in with the money to pay me. My karate is not a business, I will not turn it into a business, and I have standards I am not going to change just to accommodate more people getting into karate. I train with people with cerebral palsy, schizophrenia, people who have had hip replacements so it is not about physical standards; it is about the mentality. They help clean the space we rent before and after training, I have helped them all construct a home training space, they all have asked for and follow solo training programs I have helped them devise, and we all make sure to bring extra water and first aid gear just in case.

I do not need the money, and people come to me to train, I do not go to people asking them to come train with me; I have standards, my group have standards, and you match them or we tell you to leave. This, I concede though, is not an approach for everyone and especially not for commercial clubs and dojo. There are plenty of other clubs people I do not accept can train at, and if they are serious they will find them, and it is no skin off my nose. I am answerable only to those who have put the time in to deserve that accountability, and have shown respect to the time I make to work with them.

As posted earlier in this thread, feel free to disagree with me, and I am not going to argue with your disagreement. Just felt that I should at least post to explain in depth the logic, and to perhaps offer an update on this.
R. Keith Williams
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