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Post by andyupton on Jan 13, 2011 19:18:20 GMT
I remember a GKR representative knocking on my door. The conversation went something like this : GKR : "Hello, have you ever thought about joining our Karate club. We have a new club starting soon not far away." Me : "Well, I already practice Shotokan Karate" GKR : "Oh really, what grade are you ?" Me : "Black Belt, 4th Dan." GKR : "Oh. Are you an instructor ?" Me : " Yes, for the past 20 years" GKR " OH. Well, goodbye then" ;D I thought he was going to offer me a job !!
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Post by westbfella on Jan 14, 2011 18:18:02 GMT
The salesman in me would have tried to get him to come to my class.
I reckon I would have signed him up for 3 weeks
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Post by fujicolt on Jan 15, 2011 16:00:23 GMT
Do not misunderstand me - Andy Upton is a fine and very powerful Karateka and a really nice man - BUT he is one huge lump of a lad and i imagine the GKR fella kakked himself! Nice one Andy i LOL at the thought of the poor guy scurrying down the road
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Post by fujicolt on Jan 16, 2011 8:16:36 GMT
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Post by andyupton on Jan 16, 2011 10:54:40 GMT
Do not misunderstand me - Andy Upton is a fine and very powerful Karateka and a really nice man - BUT he is one huge lump of a lad and i imagine the GKR fella kakked himself! Nice one Andy i LOL at the thought of the poor guy scurrying down the road Ah Steve - you flatter me ! ;D I admit - yes, I am a "big lump". I wish I was just a little lump, but there you go ! ;D
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Post by fujicolt on Jan 16, 2011 16:15:07 GMT
Andy, I know you have been the student of a very capable Karateka of smaller stature (the fantastic Frank Cope) - but trust me being a good big un will always have advantages.
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Post by Paul Bedard on Jan 16, 2011 16:16:43 GMT
On the e-bay thing, you`ve got to be f#*#*ing kidding me. I guess that it was a matter of time. Paul B
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Post by fujicolt on Jan 16, 2011 16:32:52 GMT
we all chipped in and order one for Kensei, Paul - you owe me 10 dollars LOL
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Post by Dod Watt on Jan 16, 2011 17:57:43 GMT
I wonder if there is a buy it now price Steve, may be he'll combine postage for more than one
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Post by superjock on Feb 4, 2011 1:27:25 GMT
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Post by fujicolt on Feb 4, 2011 13:58:17 GMT
sorry andy - channel 4 has blocked that clip for viwing in the UK
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Post by kensei on Feb 4, 2011 14:28:15 GMT
we all chipped in and order one for Kensei, Paul - you owe me 10 dollars LOL LMAO, I think I would "Kak" if that showed up in my mail box. I have seen classes here in Winnipeg were you train hard for a year and get your black belt, I have seen were you can send in video to a "reputable" instructor in the states and he will "grade you" as long as the proper payment comes with the video....but this is a first. Hell we had instructors who showed up in the USA and Canada after the war who had pre signed 3rd dans that they were given as long as they promised to keep training...... my only question...does it come with a nice Obi or is it just the pretty certificate...My obi is getting kind of old after 20 years of hard training under this one it is worn a bit.......
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Post by fujicolt on Feb 4, 2011 15:02:20 GMT
I was offered a Dan promotion just to move to thier organisation - but there is still hope another group asked me to join them and insisted on long negotiations and discussions beforehand so that we were all comfortable with everything if i did move. there are still fine orgs out there.
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Post by superjock on Feb 5, 2011 0:05:22 GMT
Yea I hummed and heyed about joining orgs, &*9%$ NZ was up there but the feed back I got was that you and your students pay a fee and the bossses use it to go on hols to Okinawa/Japan. Oops I mean study tour.
The other side was just about every bloody club I joined wanted me to go back to white belt, fair enough if it was something new but when you have trained for 20+ years.........................There are good style based organisations (a few on my club FB page) but I didn't want to be style bound or have a painting by numbers type of club. I came close to joining Harry's Seijinkai as there is freedom enough to hang yourself with. But when he visited a couple of years ago he asked me why join anybody............I couldn't answer that apart from how do I dan grade anybody when I'm only first dan (I will never grade myself). Experience with other styles clubs has confirmed my opinion that grades are not worth Jack outside your own organisation. I'm graded 1st dan under KUGB an internationally acclaimed association but hey back to 9th kyu you go Buggerlugs we want your grading fees. I don't charge for gradings.............also if I don't think somebody is ready I will not invite them to grade. I do advise them what I want to see. It's the training for the grade that is important to me not the grade itself.
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