My Sensei

On June 12, 1972 I stepped into Sensei Hodgkiss's dojo located at the Lower Bucks County YMCA in Fairless Hills. I followed him to the Salvation Army in Appletree, to Truman High School in Bristol, to Gallee Village on Penn Valley Road, to his dojo's in Newtown. I missed one class from the time that I started till shodan and that was for a good reason, it was a Led Zeppelin concert. I watched, I listened, I read every thing that I could get my hands on pertaining to the martial arts. I trained with the best and some famous martial artist's, yet none compare to Bill. He was my guide, a mentor and an inspiration to me on my journey of a thousand miles. He has moved on now, a little bit ahead of us, a little further down the path. God Bless and Rest in Peace Sensei. You will be greatly missed.

My New Black Belts

Congratulations Brian, Emily, Owen and John! I am very proud of each of you. Job well done!

Jissen Magazine

This is a great site. I downloaded vol.5 and printed it. Very, very good. Check it out and let me know what you think

Our Friend

This is our friend and classmate Dennis LaRossa.

Dennis is engaged in a battle with a serious illness and I wanted to put this picture up on our blog just to remind everyone to keep him in our thoughts and prayers.

I'm with you Dennis. I think about you every day.

Judging Kata

This is a copy and paste from my saved doc.

CRITERIA FOR DECISION

1.The Kata must be performed with competence, and must demonstrate a clear understanding of the traditional principles it contains. In assessing the performance of a contestant or team the Judges will look for:

a. A realistic demonstration of the Kata meaning.

b. Understanding of the techniques being used (BUNKAI).

c. Good timing, rhythm, speed, balance, and focus of power (KIME).

d. Correct and proper use of breathing as an aid to KIME.

e. Correct focus of attention (CHAKUGAN) and concentration.

f. Correct stances (DACHI) with proper tension in the legs, and feet flat on the floor.

g. Proper tension in the abdomen (HARA) and no bobbing up and down of the hips when moving.

h. Correct form (KIHON) of the style being demonstrated.

i. The performance should also be evaluated with a view to discerning other points.

j. In Team Kata synchronization without external cues is an added factor.

Gmail - Street Survival Newsline: Computing suspect speed in officer attacks - garymcampbell@gmail.com

This one is for Tim. We were talking about this in class today. You might find this article interesting.
Gmail - Street Survival Newsline: Computing suspect speed in officer attacks - garymcampbell@gmail.com

Date for the Adult has been changed.

Sensei Hodgkiss called today.

The date of the 2009 Adult Tournament will be on the 25th of April.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, but look at it this way we have an extra week to practice.

Changing minds and persuasion -- How we change what others think, believe, feel and do

I posted this site some time ago but it is worth a second look. Check out the section on body language. Especially the sub section aggressive body language. Great stuff for self defense.
Changing minds and persuasion -- How we change what others think, believe, feel and do