Not just guys

Seems like it's not only a problem with male teachers...

Story:
A lesbian karate coach abused a teenage girl after telling her: 'Sex is like Nokia - connecting people.'

The 37-year-old mother-of-three, bombarded the 15-year-old with texts and e-mails and assaulted her after she ran away from home.

The girl's mother started to worry when Strike, who is separated from her husband, brought her daughter home hours after her karate lessons had finished.

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33 years (quite) old

"Quite old" a 33? Sheez! People are starting in martial arts well into their 60s and 70s.

Story:
Lucio Alejo Jr. is an electrical engineer and hands-on businessman who owns Alecto General Technology Corporation,

Like other typical CEOs, Alejo loves playing golf whenever he feels like going to the greens with his regular golfing buddies.

Alejo’s first love, however, remains Aikido, the Japanese martial art popularized by Hollywood actor and seventh dan black belt Aikido practitioner Steven Seagal when he came out with his movie debut in 1988.

Now the holder of a fifth dan black belt, Alejo started learning Aikido in April 1983, and immediately got hooked on the martial art.

Alejo was actually a late convert to the martial art. He was already 33—quite old to get into the more aggressive martial arts like Karate, Taekwondo and even Judo. Thanks to his workouts, however, his body was able to take all the rolling and falling, required skills for the safe practice of Aikido.

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A 'Brasillyan'?

Seems this guy has lost more than a couple of matches...

Story:
A 43-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter who allegedly tried to open the emergency door on a cross-country flight may undergo a mental health evaluation after making incoherent statements Thursday during a court appearance.

The man spoke erratically in Portuguese during a brief hearing Thursday in Loudoun County General District Court. An interpreter was only able to convey some of de Oliveira's comments, which included multiple references to ransom and money.

Authorities said de Oliveira competes in jiu-jitsu competitions, and one of the passengers on the flight said de Oliveira was wearing jiu-jitsu patches and military-style clothing aboard the flight.

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Karate spirit

You must really have a heart of stone if a story like this can't move you.

Story:
Fear and doubt never had a chance. Not from the minute Sam Flores laid eyes on 8-year-old Cole Massie wrapping both arms around a handrail at the Glendale YMCA and inching his way up the last 16 steps to make it to his karate class on time.

Those steps were supposed to be Flores' way out of this dilemma - the fear and doubt he was feeling.

The fifth-degree black belt sensei - a master karate teacher - feared no man. But he had come to fear this little boy with cerebral palsy who wanted so badly to learn karate.

For hours, Cole would sit in his wheelchair in his room watching pirate movies on TV and practicing karate moves to help the good guys win, says his mother, Michelle Massie.

For his 9th birthday, he wanted only one thing, he told her. Real karate lessons.

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Murder scheme

Canada -- Ronda Black made an attempt to kill her husband Keith, but she told a Supreme Court judge Friday she couldn’t go through with the plan to poison his mashed potatoes.

Ronda said she had been told by family friend Howard Steadman that Keith had contracted someone to murder her, but she decided to do him in first.

On Friday, she testified to the near-bankrupt financial situation the couple faced due to declining enrolment in his taekwondo school and the free-fall deterioration of their marriage.

She said Keith was having an affair, possibly taking drugs, was emotionally abusive toward her and exhibited strange behaviour. That included shaving his pubic area and sitting on the floor in tears as he talked to himself.

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Maroteux

Roland Maroteux is something a mythical figure within European budo.
Skilled in aikido, Hakko ryu jujutsu and aikijutsu, he has trained many years in Japan unders various masters.

It seems his primary art these days is Takeda aikijutsu, of which he is an official 6. dan, shihan.

In this clip he shows various techniques from the style. As you can see it is the major inspiration for aikido, although much more combat (battle) orientated.

You can view/download the clip here (flv file, 13.59 MB)

Get the player here if you need it (small file, fast and easy install).

Multiple charges

A veteran Toronto firefighter faces multiple charges after police descended on an east Toronto home yesterday with a search warrant.

Police say a man was involved in the "active distribution and possession of child pornography." They identified a suspect in June during a Toronto police probe into online child porn, whom they say was involved in the distribution of child porn since January.

The 45-year-old acting captain at a downtown fire hall with 19 years experience, and a martial arts enthusiast, has been charged with two counts of possession of child pornography, making available child pornography and accessing child pornography.

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The "Bikini killer"

French national Charles Sobhraj, dubbed the "Bikini Killer" over a string of grisly deaths in the 1970s, has said he is confident Nepal's highest court will overturn his life sentence.

"Many of the judges and police officers know this is a false case," Sobhraj told AFP Tuesday in the prison visiting room before guards cut short the interview.

Sobhraj has been linked to a series of murders of young female backpackers in the 1970s and was arrested at a casino in Nepal in 2003. He was found guilty of killing US citizen Connie Joe Brozich on the outskirts of Kathmandu in 1975.

The 2004 conviction for Brozich's death rested largely on evidence that Sobhraj and his lawyers claim was fabricated.

Looking well-muscled and younger than his 63 years, the martial arts and self-taught legal expert Sobhraj believed recent political changes in Nepal could work in his favour.

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A 'peas-keeper'

Jaime "Taboo" Gomez has a metaphor to explain why Black Eyed Peas is a different kind of hip-hop hybrid.

"If hip-hop was a movie, people come in expecting 'The Terminator' and 'Wild Wild West,' " says Gomez. "But Black Eyed Peas is 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.'

We're not about explosions, hardcore, shock value, thugs shooting people on the block, or pimpin' bitches. That's what the hip-hop stereotype is. We're crazy martial arts. We're still tough, but we won't shoot you down, we'll kick you down."

When he was 12, Gomez came into contact with the skill that would help pay the bills later in life. "A friend's father asked me to learn Jeet Kune Do," recalls Gomez. "But he told me, 'I don't want you to fight, I want you to incorporate it into your dancing."'

He did, and since joining forces with will.i.am and apl.de.ap in the mid-1990s, Jeet Kune Do has figured prominently in Gomez's BEP work.

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Savate

Here you have another old and interesting clip of a "high kicking lady."

From what I can see it shows Savate ("French boxing"), and it is from the 1930's.

It also shows a little of what I believe is called "Parisian Stand-up grappling" (Lutte Parisienne)

The written comments are great :-)

You can watch this really cool clip here (2.43 MB, wmv format).

You'll find lots of other interesting clips at your-martial-arts-resources.com

Rock'n chi?

Hey, why not? I guess the Grumpy One needs to slow down doing his "Walk on the wild side".

Story:
Lou Reed is writing and recording music for martial arts -- a soundtrack, if you will, for Chen-style tai chi, of which he is a loyal practitioner. Typically this music is of Chinese origin, but Reed's goal is to change things in that world as he did in the rock 'n' roll realm four decades ago.

"I'm making it under my name -- it's energy music," said Reed. "I was trying to make music that would give the energy of rock, but you would be able to put it into a martial arts (setting). I just wanted to do it. We're always doing it to this Chinese music, and I thought it would be great to do this."

Rock 'n' roll tai chi? How far he's come since "Sister Ray," "Heroin," "Venus in Furs," "The Black Angel's Death Song" and lyrics such as, "It's hard being a man/Living in a garbage pail."

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No match

What do you mean - the police didn't back down despite of a guy apparently knows "krotty"! I'll bet you he even was an expert...

Source:
An 18-year-old Corning man who decided to take on Corning police officers Friday night found out he was no match for them, despite assuming a karate stance.

The young man ended up in the Tehama County Jail on booking charges of challenging to fight, battery on a peace officer and of resisting arrest by use of force or fear.

Police responded shortly before 8 p.m. after receiving a report of a fight involving several individuals. The police report said the officers arriving contacted Wilson as he was walking away and attempted to talk to him about the incident.

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Caught them easily

Four robbers met their match in a teacher of martial arts and his young student this weekend.

The crooks, in their 20s, robbed a woman of her handbag on a riverside street in Chengdu of Sichuan Province and ran away.

Hearing the woman cry for help, the teacher and his 13-year-old student rushed at the robbers, caught them easily using their kung fu, and handed them over to police.

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Touching...

The owner of a Newport News martial arts studio was arrested Tuesday on charges of making sexual advances toward a teenage employee.

The 58-year-old man teaches karate. He is charged with attempted sexual battery.

A 15-year-old girl told her mother that Hooper tried to kiss her while she was working Friday, and that she pushed him away. The mother called police.

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Flight attendan(t)

Here are the words of Sandy Berry, an American Airlines flight attendant : After Sept. 9, 2001 I was supposed to go to Paris the following Friday. I did not go. The company did not make you go.

I finally went back 10 days later. But I was scared. Flying home from my Chicago base, a Middle Eastern-looking guy sat beside me. I felt bad for how everyone stared at him, but I was twitchy, too. When he turned off my reading light, I raised my pen like a knife and said, "That's my light! Leave it alone!" That's when I realized I had to do something.

Suddenly we flight attendants were the last line of defense, because that cockpit is never opening again. But we didn't get extra training, not even plastic handcuffs and tape, until later.

So in January 2002 I called a martial arts school in Moon. My fellow flight attendant and friend Dot Sawyer and I took a self-defense class, then started taking tang soo do. We loved it.

By that April, I'd learned enough that I could go back to work. I had some control again. It was gnarly, but I have stuck with martial arts, and after four years, this July, I received my first-degree black belt. Me, who only thought of belts as fashionable. Now there's no doubt in my mind that I can defend myself and take someone down.

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More 'sue-do'

The case of a 56-year-old martial arts instructor convicted of sexually assaulting one of his students now has legal implications for both the town and its school district.

Both have received notices of intent to sue on behalf of the victim of the man, who taught at both the community center and at Newmarket Junior/Senior High School before he was charged last year with felonious sexual assault and child pornography involving a then-14-year-old girl.

The crimes for which he's already been sentenced occurred in the course of about a year, according to court documents, beginning in May 2004, about two weeks after the victim confided in him about some family issues. It continued until May 26, 2005, a day before the victim's mother discovered sexually explicit text messages from the man on her daughter's cell phone and notified police.

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Even more experts

Two years to become "experts in martial arts" (and a host of other equally deadly things as well). Sure... Why not? Not!

Story:
China -- Ten months after its establishment, Beijing's riot police squad, known as the Special Police Force (SPF), has become China's strongest and best-equipped police unit, according to a senior minister.

The unit's 970 members have been selected from different departments under the city's public security bureau, such as the patrol brigade, and criminal investigation and security check departments.

They will undergo at least two years of intensive training and become experts in martial arts, counter-terrorism, riot control and hostage rescue.

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Electronic scoring system

Seoul, Korea -- The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) said Monday that it will introduce the electronic scoring system as early as May 2007 during the 18th World Taekwondo Championships in Beijing.

"The introduction of electronic gear is expected to greatly enhance the image of taekwondo and the WTF, as it can reduce the likelihood of controversial judging decisions," said WTF President Choue Chung-won at a news release here.

"The use of electronic gear can make judging at taekwondo competitions more objective and transparent," Choue said, describing the move as "a milestone in the history of taekwondo."

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The world's youngest

Is this where we all should do our ceremonial "wow!"? Mark my word, this quest to have "The World's Youngest Black Belt" (the "Wow, look ma, I'm a deadly black belt!" syndrome) is gonna end with a Diaper-Dan™.

"He can't walk, he can't talk, but he's one deadly black belt toddler!"

Why not hand out black belts to pregnant women, to make their new-born an "Instant Black-Belt Member™?

Or better yet, why not just hand it out to everyone, so that parents planning to have a kid in a few years time can say that "we definitely have a black belt brewing here!" Not born yet - can't get any younger than that?

Now, excuse me while I go and call in sick...

Story:
Seven-year-old Tanner Gallego of Layton, Utah, is accustomed to smashing boards and making rubble of bricks to amaze his friends and family. But simply crushing raw building materials is not enough to become black belt in karate.

Recently, the 80-pound schoolboy completed a gruelling seven-hour examination to become the youngest black belt in the world.

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A little kip up

Melvin Fowler is lying flat on his back when suddenly he swings his legs up, vaults himself straight into the air without using his hands and lands in a standing position.

It's an acrobatic move that is common in martial arts, break-dancing and gymnastics.

It's uncommon for offensive linemen.

"It's a little kip up," Fowler said. "It's a martial arts thing. Back in the day when I was younger, I did jujitsu. I finished when I was a freshman in college, and I did karate when I was little. You bend your legs and you spring up."

Easier said than done when you're 296 pounds, like Fowler. The move is an example of the athleticism the Bills were seeking when they signed Fowler to a free-agent contract in March and made him their new starter in the middle of their offensive line.

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