Interest in IUKF "Titles"

Dear Sensei Mattson,

I enjoy your newsletters very much and I have a couple of questions for you if you don't mind. We are setting up standards for titled instructors (Renshi, Kyoshi, Shihan) for our organization and I would be very interested in the standards you use in your organization. Would it be possible for you to send me these standards? Also, how do I go about ordering your pending new book? I have greatly enjoyed your other books and I'm sure this one will be terrific as well.

Take care and kindest regards. By the way, I don't know if you remember it or not but I had written you when your pet died a while back that I had an elderly pit bull myself. Sadly, she died a couple of months ago. It was very hard and she is greatly missed.

Take care.

John Shipes

OSMKKF US Director


Hi John:

Thanks for the note and kind words.

IUKF has a “titles” committee that works with students who have been recommended for their different “masters” degrees. In a sense, we have patterned our “titles” on the advance degree programs in universities. . . with the exception that all our “titles” relate to the betterment of our Uechi-ryu.

The Shihan title relates to the teaching of our art and is predicated on a person’s ability to teach. Usually, this means an extensive “apprentice” program followed by an “internship” supervised by the individual’s teacher.

The titles of Renshi, Kyoshi and Hanshi are basically honorary award, given to senior practitioners based on work or services that have measurably helped the Uechi-ryu community. This can take the form of a teaching method, thesis on an important subject or other “life experiences” accomplishments the individual has performed. The Titles Committee’s job is to help the candidate determine which avenue to take in presenting existing work or future work in a form that will be acceptable to the committee. Once this requirement has been completed, the committee submits the name to the board of directors and the title is awarded at SummerFest.

There are minimum rank and years studying as well as minimum age requirements involved.

Hope this helps.

Best,

George Mattson

==============

News From Rob Kolenc & his Journey

Dear friends. How are you all doing? I haven't seen many of you for a while and I feel badly about that. In my defense, things have been going at breakneck speed around here and it took all I had to keep the wheels on and just see the kids now and then! 

2008 was really crappy. No other way to say it.  I got some kind of arthritis bug that my body is stil trying to clear. My buddy John was diagnosed with cancer right after he came back from his honeymoon, and then the economy went south! At this point, I think we've cleared all the bad karma out of the system.

It is definitely time to look forward, reframe to a positive attitude, appreciate all the good things we already have in our lives and HAVE SOME SERIOUS FUN! So I'm leaving on Thursday for my dream motorcycle adventure ride - riding the Ice Roads of the Yukon and Northwest Territories up past the Arctic Circle and onto the Arctic Ocean. I'll be taking a lot of pictures and movie clips and posting the story on my trip blog over the next month. I think I have some real challenges ahead of me riding in that cold, but I think I have the right gear and team in place to pull it off. 

If you think you'd have fun tagging along with me as my "virtual passenger", I will have a helmet cam in the passenger's seat for you and I will be posting pictures to my blog. I invite you to check out the trip websites below. Also, feel free to pass this on to people that you think might enjoy it. 

I hope you're all well and thriving at least mentally if not financially (grin). DO keep in touch. You're the folks that I care about but don't see often enough!

Cheers!

Rob

P.S. The ride's official website >> punchcancerintheface.com

To see the trip blog, stories and pictures, updated every few days starting Thursday go to this website >>  Canadian Arctic Winter Ride; Ice Roads and the Dempster Highway - ADVrider

More WinterFest feedback. . .

hi,

it taking me a while to get this out had family in town right after winterfest. winterfest was alot of fun. my experience there may be a lil unique to others cause it was a refresher for me, i hadn't study uechi-ryu since the age of 12. but everyone made it very comfortable for me and help me follow along in the seminars. i liked to specially thank Sensei Darin Yee, who spent some one on one time with me. while the class was doing a practice drill to a kata i didn't fully remember, he work with me individually on the kata, and throughout the weekend whenever he had time. i exspecially enjoyed the grappling seminar. i currently am studing judo and it was nice to uechi using other techniques that fit there art to make them better martial artist. so thanks, i was alot of fun & hope to try get up there to train with you again.

steven gower

More WinterFest Critique

Dear George, 

this what my first Winterfest and, after having such a good time and learning so much, I know I will be back for more WinterFests.  What a great place to train, right in the heart of Mt. Dora in the most beautiful and quaint town. 

One of the things I really liked about this camp compared to SummerFest was the intimacy of training with fewer people.  This allowed more one on one with the instructors, who were each so willing to stop and answer questions or break down a move.  Each instructor was very knowledgeable and great fun to work with…egos left at the doors, as always.

The variety of seminars was wonderful, including learning a great Bo kata with George and Joe; amazing and effective ground work (plus) taught by Roy Bedard; some intense stretching with Jerry; an interesting variation of the wauke block by Darin Ye; an awesome new kata shown and learned by Fedele; and (of course) working with George.

I liked George’s variation of the soft arm pounding, almost like sticking hands.  Very cool!  Plus, I learned a better way of blocking I had not used.  If I was closer to you, I would be sneaking over to train every chance I had. 

I will have to admit missing a bit of the seminar.  My head was elsewhere, getting ready for a Dan test, so please accept my apology for leaving out anything.  This brings me to another great learning experience I had at this Winterfest: learning how to make my worst my best.  I will have to admit that I was totally out of my comfort zone, having to test with George’s student, Tim…someone I had never worked with. It taught me about myself and enabled me to practice adapting with a different timing and slightly different application difference.  It was a great experience and one that I am thankful for.  Tim was a great partner, easy to work with, and he made me look good. 

As far as what I would like to see, I think it would be good to have a larger soft area to test on.  As I was doing my designated kata, I ended up having to transition from a raised hard foam mat to a wood deck in the middle of the kata, which breaks the flow of the kata. 

I would love to see more ground work, especially for me as a woman.  I feel like that is my Achilles heel and could greatly benefit from this.

I missed fellowshipping with some of the others after the seminar.  We were limited to how many people could fit in the restaurants and some ended up going in different directions for dinner.  How about a small party or place we can all get together after dinner on Saturday night? 

All in all, I had a blast.  Thank you George, Susan, and all who made this possible.

…I’ll be back.

Best regards,

Vicki

WinterFest 2009

George I

Thank you for the invitation to Winterfest.  Once again, it was a great time.  Saw old friends, made new friends and enjoyed some really good training.  All the seminars were very interesting and informative.  I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend.  Keep up the outstanding service to the Uechi community.  I look forward to next years Winterfest and hopefully I can make to your Summerfest.

Thank you again,

George II

AKA George Schriefer

MRAP Brings Father and Son Together in Iraq

30 Jan 2009

John Carria Jr. of SAIC and son John Carria III.

Mention Iraq in American households and one of the last things on anyone's mind would be a family reunion.

You haven't met the Carrias.

John Carria Jr. of SAIC and son John Carria III enjoyed a one-day reunion of sorts when son visited father at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Speicher just north of Baghdad in October. What brought them together was a common chassis, if you will: the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle, or MRAP.

Father Works in Iraq, While Son Serves in the Army

Shortly after joining SAIC one year ago, the elder Carria deployed to Baghdad in February as the Joint Logistics Integrator (JLI) MRAP liaison officer. His duties run the gamut of logistical support required by the MRAP Joint Program Office.

Carria's son, an Army second lieutenant, also arrived in Iraq in February, deploying four hours north of Baghdad to FOB Summeral with the 101st Airborne Division. He and his platoon of 50 soldiers became intimately familiar with the MRAP from the five to six missions a week they ran in them, several of those under fire.

No one was hurt, a blessing Lt. Carria and his men attribute in large measure to the MRAPs that carried them into harm's way. Despite some of the complaints heard about the vehicles regarding their maneuverability and visibility, soldiers like Lt. Carria and his troops like them because they fulfill their primary obligation: protecting troops in the line of fire. "They wish they had more MRAPs," his father said.

That's all the motivation — and job satisfaction — for which his father could've asked. The former Marine logistics officer takes the long hours in stride because the people benefitting from his labors aren't just like family, in some cases they are family.

"I took the job because it was a good opportunity to work for SAIC and support the war on terrorism at the same time," Carria said. "The added bonus was having the opportunity to serve there the same time as my son."

Taking the Job Personally

The Carrias bring new meaning to SAIC's penchant for taking the job personally. "Secretary [of Defense Robert] Gates meant it when he said the MRAP was his number one acquisitions priority and we're honored to be a part of that effort," said Mike Gray, MRAP JLI deputy program manager. "But it's not often your job takes on such a personal tone as it has for John."

Lt. Carria's division returned to Ft. Campbell, Ky., in November. Their desert reunion notwithstanding, his father is "very relieved that [Lt. Carria] is gone."

Carria returns home in June to his family in Virginia.

The MRAP logistics contract is valued at more than $100 million per year. The Logistics & Engineering Solutions Business Unit and Systems & Technology Solutions Business Unit were recently reselected for a 30-month contract renewal.

— Written by Regen Wilson

Anyone know David Nishimoto?

Mr.Mattson,

I've been reading the articles on your site, thank you for mainting such a nice collection.

I am wondering if you have information for me on David Nishimoto? I am curious about his teaching, and where/when he instructs.

 

Thanks,

jenn

Hi Jenn:

 

I don't know David. He has been a regular contributor of articles and has written to me from time to time. I don't have his email address any longer. . . lost in a recent computer meltdown, but you might check out the articles section and his articles. He may have included some way to contact him.

 

Best,

George