He just said what you thought

I ran into the mother of one of my little guys at the Home Depot. She, like many parents, likes to reinforce the lessons we give the kids about values. They were talking about how we taught them that a karate persons's best weapons are a handshake and a smile.
"Yeah", he said, "You can hold him while you kick him in the shin."

Flying lessons = karate lessons

The National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) is the professional group for Certificated Flight Instructors (CFI) I belong to. I get an e-newsletter from them and this week it had a short and to-the-point article about student preparation. Apparently they have the same problem we have in getting our students to study. Sure, that's a problem anyway but flying lessons and karate lessons are not mandatory courses of study. They are electives, and they are luxuries.
I couldn't really understand how a person could spend the time and money on lessons and not study. Later I learned the reasons and classifications of students, etc. All that aside, the student is there with the instructor and just doesn't know the stuff.
The article states that you should let your students know you expect them to be prepared. You would think that's a given but it's not. Beyond that, the author states that your should let the student know that YOU prepared for the lesson. I totally agree.
I have all the instructors at the Ft. Myers school prepare lesson plans. They actually use them. And if you want to know how they work in their schools feel free to contact Kyle Zwarg at 239-481-9947 (K Zwarg's Karate) or Mike Squatrito at 239-543-0007 (Gulf Coast Kenpo).
I have been known to say, when I teach, such phrases as "When I was researching this" or 'When I reviewed my notes". The guys know I don't come in unprepared. I don't get in front of a seminar group and say "What do you guys want to work on?" like I've heard in the past. There are times when that may be appropriate, though.
The teacher/student thing is two-way. You expect them to prep and they should, too. Like the Boy Scouts, "Be Prepared".

This is the place

This is way overdue. I was sent this photo of the judo school I started at way back in 1967 last year and I've been delinquent in posting it. My friend-instructor/owner's son, Dave Zorich, sent it to me. Dave and I have met at the school in 1976 and reconnected some years ago. He still lives in Chicago with a wife and family.
The school was at 85th and Stony Island Ave on the South Side. I used to walk there almost every day after school, so I was a regular. I'd go on Saturday, too. Dave and I became buddies. He reminded me that it was he and I who gave that sign a fresh coat of paint. It was a long walk, too - about 2.5 miles each way (uphill both ways!) - which is a lot for a kid.
That school held a lot of great memories. It's where I met Carole Wolken, my first real Judo teacher. She's living in Tucson. I learned the physical and moral principles of judo there. As we got a little older, Dave taught me one of the really important lessons that I teach. That is, don't let judo people get their hands on you. I had gone off and learned some kenpo and came back to visit. Our family had moved so I couldn't train there anymore but I did go back to visit. Dave and I got on the mat to "compare" the styles. When he approached to grab I kicked him. Not hard, but I hit him and he was surprised. Then we hooked up. He hit me with a footsweep and went into an armlock with lightning speed. I had to tap-out.
Thus, the lesson.
Dave and I have maintained that mutual respect for each other. He attained at least a fourth black in Judo, and is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do as well. He attends my Chicago seminars whenever possible. He's teaching, too.
(Here is some trivia. You can't see it in the picture but the little office to the right, next door, is where Jesse Jackson's Operation Push started.)
So, to Joe and Dave Zorich, Carole, and the rest of the Shindo Kan bunch I say thanks for everything. You were the base of my experience and it meant more than you'll ever know.

The wierdness continues

The people who have worked with me in my studios over the many years can tell you some stories about some pretty strange and funny stuff. Just read my musings (rants)on my website for a sample. Well, even though I sold my school, the wierdness continues.
Last week I got an anonymous letter in the mail, postmarked Louisville, KY. The writer believes they have a degree of precognitive ability and proceeded to outline a few instances in which they were correct in their foretelling of danger or bad stuff happening. Needless to say, there were deaths and collapsing bridges described. I was told that my name had popped into their head and that they felt a need to warn me to be careful.
OK. I'll go for that.I'll keep looking both ways before I cross the street and pre-flight the airplane extra carefully. They said I could take it as a joke and hopefully, not as a threat. Ok, I'll buy that too. But they got a little too broad when they wrote that nothing bad was likely to happen to me but to one of my family, friends, co-workers, etc. I told the other pilot I was with in the airplane about it and he laughingly said he wished I hadn't told him that.
I know an awful lot of people. I hear about injuries, sickness, death and other bad stuff frequently. I just have to wonder about this person, who admits they sent me a form letter, and what drives them to send these letters out. Sure I understand they may be genuinely concerned for the welfare of their fellow human beings but on the other hand they may just be screwing with me. I'll keep you posted if there are any developments.

The doctor is in

Marc Rowe sent me a long article on girls and concussions. It was actually a little too long to post here so it's on my site in the articles section. What they're finding is that females don't withstand concussion causing impact as well as males. The effects are more severe and long-lasting. There was one comment that really jumped out at me, though.
They said that helmets would certainly help reduce the severity of the impact and its results but they were not sure that the wearing of a helmet would not ratchet up aggressiveness in play. Huh, you think they'd hit each other harder because they're protected? No kidding!
Back when the dipped foam safety gear showed up in the early 70's that was precisely the argument Ed Parker made against gear. He was convinced that the gear would make people think they could tag just a bit harder, and that's pretty much what happened. It was quite a controversy for some time. As you new people can see, the gear manufacturers and lawyers won out because most competition today is done with safety gear. And people still get hurt. They call it by other names, too, besides safety gear. Contact gear for one, which is probably more accurate.
When I had my school the insurance company mandated sparring with the gear because it's an industry standard now. But you can do self-defense all day without it. Some schools have the guys wear mouthguards and hand pads. That's probably a good idea. The gear has gotten better in construction and design so grabbing is not as much of a problem as it was many years ago. And it lasts longer. I had a pair that cracked the first time I made a fist.
Anyway, read the article on my site. Click resources, the articles and it's at the top.

Three P's

I was taking some annual refresher pilot training and took a course on Aeronautical Decision Making. What's that got to do with karate? Lots.
I've found in my life experience that many of the other activities I've been drawn to require the same decision-making processes as Kenpo. Why is that? Because we're human and we need this stuff. Some of our activities are more risky than others and the method of risk evaluation is more formalized. We are taught risk analysis and mitigation/prevention as kids when we learn to walk our bike across an intersection or look both ways before crossing a street.
In learning to ride a motorcycle I was taught SIPDE - scan, identify, predict, decide, and execute. In aviation it's Perceive, Process, and Perform. In Kenpo it's the eight considerations of combat that give us a handle on this but it's not organized the same way.
I thought I'd tease you with this because the meat of this will be in the Members section of my website. That's where I have full articles on aspects of Kenpo and instruction methodology. I add to it monthly at least, and more often at times. My aim is to have my Kenpo Instructor's Handbook published in there instead of as a book, along with other technical articles that I write and publish nowhere else. See http://www.leewedlake.com/index.asp?PageID=29 for info.

What goes around, comes around

An e-mail arrived in my website inbox yesterday. I was happy to see it was from the flight instructor who trained me for my instrument rating back about 20 years ago. His name is Stirling and he asked if I might be his "prized student who also taught karate". I'd lost touch with him many years ago when he went off to fly for American Airlines. He's back in Chicago and flying routes to the Orient on a Boeing 777.
When I was a new private pilot and working on my instrument rating Stirling would jump in the airplane with me and give me the dual instruction needed and never charged me a dime. After I passed the test I gave him a token gift as a thank you. He says he keeps it in his office, reminding him of "Something I did right in my life long ago" and that it inspires him today.
You just never know when something "small" you do will have such impact on a life. I occured to me that with all the volunteer time I give today as a flight instructor, it's a return on the investment Stirling made in me. Today I am providing volunteer instruction a man with the Naples squadron of the Civil Air Patrol who will be an instrument instructor.
What goes around, comes around.