IIKA Newsletter Chairman: JC Burris President: Tommy True Board Members: Phil McElroy, Jim McDonald, David Gabbard, Kelly Markham, Carol Burris, Jerry Smith, Mike Lewis, Don Bordinger, Sandra Strong Honorary Board Members: Maurice Msarsa, Bruce Guillaume Subject: IIKA Masters Council Report Release Date: Sunday April 19, 2009 The IIKA has completed its first Masters Council – and what an event it was! As you may recall, the Council has been designed for master-level IIKA instructors to travel to member dojos, host seminars/clinics and referee’s workshops in an effort to maintain our mission involving the practice of traditional Isshinryu Karate and further enhance our association on behalf of our membership. Council members are also responsible for providing insight and suggestions to the IIKA Board to address the needs and issues of our members. While participation is allowed for Go-Dan levels (since they are being prepared to assume future roles as Roku-Dans), they will not participate as official Council Members as Council membership is restricted to Roku-Dans and above. On a very special note, the IIKA Board would like to extend our appreciation to David and Julie Gabbard for hosting the seminar in their dojo in Tullahoma. It is truly a site to behold and one of the nicest, most well equipped dojos we had ever seen. It was a real pleasure to have an opportunity to workout in such an advanced facility. The intent of this first meeting was designed to be an overview and introduction of the Council’s mission within the IIKA. In that context, Mr. Burris outlined the Council’s emphasis, discussed the direction of future seminars, and explained his expectations for Council leaders. Moving from the welcome and introduction, the workout began with instruction and comment by Mr. Burris pertaining to Isshinryu philosophy regarding power, setup and delivery. He discussed and demonstrated, in great detail, correct body positioning for weight distribution, body shift, momentum and center of balance in order to deliver speed and power effectively. With that discussion, he worked proper weapons execution into the demonstration and the way body positioning pertains to effective striking capabilities. He reminded everyone that weapons training (especially the Bo) is particularly valuable on the street in a self defense situation. (Remember, correct knowledge of the Bo effectively translates to a 2 x 4, broom stick, pipe, golf club, mop or any other similar item you can lay your hands on in a fight.) He stressed that while speed is an ingredient in Isshinryu weapons practice, it’s the power that comes from correct body mechanics that makes the weapon effective. (He also reminded us that the same is true with all of our empty-hand techniques.) From there, the day turned to evaluating ways we could enhance our judging skills. Here, Mr. Burris spent the remainder of the day looking at both Kata and Kumite. On Kata he discussed ways to evaluate a competitor’s performance more objectively, while simultaneously making scoring less cumbersome on the judges. He cautioned everyone to remember that Kata variations exist among dojos and not to penalize a competitor for running a Kata in a manner contrary to the way we might have been instructed. At the same time, he made it clear that the Kata must still be performed with power, eye focus, head movement, balance and set up commensurate with the competitor’s rank level. When it came to Kumite, we divided into rings (complete with competitors and judges) and worked on rules issues, judge’s positioning relative to the competitors, movement, scoring and ring control. During this part, many questions surfaced among the group regarding entry into the ring by outside instructors, spectators, etc. Mr. Burris pointed to the IIKA Rules to remind everyone that only two viable reasons exist that permit an outsider to enter a ring: 1) a rules violation or 2) an injury. Beyond either of those two occurrences he made it clear that anyone wishing to enter the ring should either first ask permission to enter or approach the side of the ring or ask the Center Judge to come over. Mr. Burris said that in either case, respect should be observed by those in and out of the ring and that the person running the ring has control, regardless of rank. More questions and answers helped to close-out the day as everyone who attended went away with a lot to think about and work on back in their respective dojos. As always, the camaraderie was great and the information was invaluable. Our thanks to everyone who attended. More regional Masters Council seminars are coming soon…so stay tuned! Sincerely, IIKA Staff