> > > Veni Vidi Vici!
> > >
> > > -Ka"Latin: I came, I saw, I conquered"z!

> Ooh, I just saw this post. Congratulations!! What style of karate is it? I did Shotokan for a few years, ages ago, but never got to any level worth mentioning.

This would be Wado-Kai. I don't know if that really means all that much, as I doubt you know all the different styles but basically the style is something along the lines of:

1. "Forget this medatation suff, this is the most effective way to put power into your fighting and technique by putting your entire body behind every move. Force, you remember, is mass times acceleration..." and
2. "Remember, FOCUS your techniques -- NO contact to the head (for my belt, I have to get within about centimetre for it to count, not much room for error), LIGHT contact to the body. We don't want anyone hurt in this class." (The most major injury so far I think is a sprained ankle)

And, for our specific club (as in, stuff that isn't part of Karate), we also do things like:

3. "Most action films do things like jumpy-kick things and such. This, however, makes it hard to get power. Let's try some of these movie techniques and see which ones work and which don't!" and
4. "Karate is good for medium-range fighting distances. Most people on the street don't know Karate, and most'll probably try grappling. Let's learn how to grapple, including things like one-hit knockouts, how to keep a person from moving without much damge to him/her, and how to break various bones in the body." with the occational "Okay, what if a person has a gun. Let's say he wants you to move somewhere so he's close by and behind you. Let's try it with this elastic band gun! (we 'survived' about 40% of the time...)" and the occasional "Okay, some guy wants your wallet and has a knife to your throat..."

Is is tough and it takes a lot of work to get good, but it is pretty fun too!

-Ka"Plus it's my only source of exercise"z!