Kyoshi Martin Clinic

Updated 10/9/08

Date/Times
Updated!
Oct. 24 - Friday - 6:00 to 7:30pm. A one-and-a-half hour session for Junior students. This will take place at the House of the Samurai in Londonderry, NH. Cost is $20 - parents are welcome to stay and watch.
Oct. 25 - Saturday - 12:30 to 4:30pm, immediately following the Black Belt promotion ceremony (to which you are also invited). A four-hour clinic for Teens and Adults. This will take place at the House of the Samurai in Londonderry, NH. Cost is $40.

The "Karate Family Reunion" is expected to occur following the Adult Clinic on Saturday.

Clinic Concept Kyoshi Martin first introduced me to the idea of this clinic as follows: "Hanshi Bernard and I are going to hold a mind-changing clinic on the thought processes and methods that will simplify how to insure a higher percentage (85 to 90%) chance of winning a confrontation - whether in competition or on the street to defend yourself (as a last resort, of course)."
As we continued to correspond, Kyoshi described it thus: "Let me run by you how I envision the clinic to be handled...

"I have an outline that I have compiled which details the thought process, starting before entering the ring or before an altercation has escalated into combat. It also covers how to go about tailoring each student's best attack or defense to his or her own strengths and to compensate for aforementioned student's weaknesses. The outline is my guide to keep things in order, so each section builds on the one before. Each section of the outline requires a lot of explanation, so that there will be no doubt what is meant. There are also some drills; some with partners and some without. Mostly it is a profound lecture on how to eliminate thoughts from the mind: things that the opponent cannot do from the position he has assumed and, conversely, what position (read stance) you have chosen. There are many, many such building blocks that, taken in sum, create an almost sure victory by reducing to the lowest number the amount of things that the mind (the controller of the body) must deal with and make calculations about.

"I also spend time explaining, in detail, what fear is and what exactly courage is. I have never given this outline to anybody; its value could not be overestimated. It is all of my accumulated knowledge and insight to give the opponent almost no chance. There is so much information imparted about each section of the outline that I propose that the chief instructor from each school attending not join the students on the floor but be seated with note book and pen to take notes that will jog your memory when the instructors refer to the golden outline which, for the first time, I will share by giving a copy to the head instructor of each school to share and copy for his or her instructors to refer to."

I have spoken to Hanshi Bernard and we are in the process of pursuing the possibility (how's that for alliteration!) of having a DVD made of the seminar as a resource for participants. This would eliminate the need for head instructors to sit out and take notes from the sidelines.

Who May Attend? I have asked this of both Kyoshi Martin and Hanshi Bernard. Kyoshi's response was: "I think any student who has participated in freestyle even if young will really benefit from the knowledge, for instance, of how to properly build a combination from scratch for them and why." Hanshi has since organized a separate session for Junior students on Friday, the 24th. Teens and Adults may attend on Saturday the 25th.

Reunion Concept The Sunday session is meant to be a reunion of Kyoshi Martin's students (including Hanshi Bernard), their students, and their students' students! In Kyoshi's words, "It will be a day off; talking and catching up with what has happened over the last 30+ years. That means no gi's and no training - just hot dogs, hamburgers and soft drinks." He has expressed a desire to meet Hanshi Bernard's students, and to have us and our students meet his other students. As he told me, "This is a chance for later generations to see and hear the people that until now have only been stories and ghosts from the past."
Kyoshi notes, "I also will have many amazing things to tell all who attend about Hanshi Bernard that I'm sure none of his students know about. Hanshi Bernard has never been a braggart, so it will be up to me to inform all of you of some of his outstanding achievements that were truly shocking at the time!"