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ARTICLES AND COMMENTARY
RESIGNATIONS
At the beginning or the year I did what a lot of people do and what I always do, I made some resolutions. Only this year, I resolved even further to follow through on them. From the usual of eating less, saving more, and doing some repair work I have been putting off, I resolved to prioritize my time more efficiently. This is a resolution I never thought I would have to make as one who retired in 1995. I thought by now I would be desperate for things to do. In 95 I resolved to spend all the time on the martial arts I wanted to. I saw this as the fulfillment of a dream and a reward for all those years and hours in the health club business. It was also pay back for the time I had to miss out on. At the time, I had four students and no grand kids. A lot has happened since then. My Martial Arts activities have become all consuming, I have eleven grand kids, and last but not least have re-married. Each necessitates time and work if done properly.
Last year was the culmination of what a price we sometimes pay for progress. I served on three different and time consuming martial arts boards, (Hall of Fame, Harold Long Foundation, Isshin-ryu Cross Trainers Alliance), Opened a new dojo, took on a new student that necessitated travel to his dojo, organized and participated in four Jams, attended six tournaments and three major seminars of which I was either one of, or the sole demonstrator and teacher. As you know, I have a web site. I write every article, and with Jason Anzur’s help, record and write about, activities of the ICA and HLF as well. We also have a group we have invited into our midst as “Dragon Tab” holders. This is a vital area to us as it is our friendship and leadership pool of friends. I am also continuing to hone and teach a new system (Dragon Sen-I Jutsu) which takes lots of time and lots of ENERGY. I also must point out, that there has been much political and personal relationship strife during all this. I can’t even start to tell you how much time I have spent just on the computer on behalf of all this.
So it was time for serious
prioritizing. These are my selections and subject to change only under
conditions I cannot foresee at this time. Priorities in order of importance. 1) Marriage: It has had to support the influx of all the above, while exposing my wife to often unexplainable occurrences and circumstances, that have effected me in ways that has put pressure on our relationship. Although it has never faulted, it has been disconcerting for her to see people enter and leave my life either due to my behavior, or them using me. So all decisions are being made now to further solidify a good marriage and keep craziness out of our life via certain aspects of my martial arts life. To anyone just coming in, a lot of this stuff just seems crazy, juvenile and actually in the real scheme of things, unimportant. I’m sure most wives feel this way. Even the ones who have been around for awhile. Unless they too are a part of the problem.
2) Family: This ties in with the marriage. I have had numerous times I had to put family things on the back burner for martial arts activities. Many times my grandkids were here for a visit and I was too busy working on a, “martial art something,” to spend the time with them they deserve. Martial Arts is not to blame. It was my priorities. If Martial Arts defines me greatly as a person and it does, then I want those important to me to see it in a good and positive light. Not something that isolates and sometimes saddens me. My grandkids could care less what rank I am and what association I belong to. My adult family doesn’t either and sometimes wonder why I even bother when they hear about some of the childishness we get involved it.
3) The Red Dragons: I could easily put these guys in the family section. They have given me nothing but enjoyment, loyalty, friendship and a deep sense of purpose. I could easily live out my days just training with them and a few close friends. I suspect in the final analysis, this is what it will come back to, Twelve guys in garage doing what they love.
4) The Red Dragon Dojo: The new dojo has really taken off and has a great number of new people. I have some really good new students, that have begun to make a home for themselves. I can see a few making it to black belt and becoming a Red Dragon tab wearer. I have enjoyed more than I would have predicted teaching new students again. They have done a fantastic job picking up on the Isshin-ryu/Dragon Sen-I teachings. We have had little if any turn over, which is a credit to my instructors and the students themselves. I would like to keep this new group away from some of the goobers my Dragons have had to endure along the way.
We will not go anywhere unless under “special circumstances” (we vote) that doesn’t have at least continuous fighting. I haven’t even bothered to teach my new group point fighting and I don’t see me doing it in the future. We would consider going back to IIKA tournaments, depending on who it is giving it, if it has continuous fighting and we can participate on the referee selections. We are going to venture out to places that offer a variety of events or are strong ICA members. Our Jam here May 8th, will be our first since the old “Dragon Jam” days. It would be great if it were somewhat of a reunion event, for some of the relationships that have run off track since then.
5) The ICA: I will continue to work to give people an alternative training vehicle for themselves and their students, as well as for mine. I will strive to keep it non political and the day dedicated strictly to training alone. I don’t care who likes or doesn’t like who. On this day just like the old Jams, everyone uses training as the common denominator for coming together. That is the way the Old Dragon Jams worked and that is what people liked about them. Well the Old Jam days are back. This is my pledge to you, our members, my students, and especially my wife who has to hear about it later. The Jams have already been excellent. They can be better, with better and broader fellowship.
RESIGNATIONS: WHAT HAD TO GO.
The Harold Long Foundation board seat: The HLF is still a huge piece of my heart. The truth is, it doesn’t need me anymore, as it is on very firm financial grounds with qualified leaders to run it. I also spoke to in my earlier article, that in separating the HLF and the ICA, we were redefining both for the good of each. I explained the reasons behind the change in the earlier article. I won’t do that again here, in the interest of article length and pure redundancy.
The Isshin-Ryu Hall of Fame: I resigned January 22nd, of this year, via email. This was an incredibly time consuming endeavor and also expensive. You’ve got to really want to be on this board to serve, for reasons sometimes known only to the person serving. The board works off and on all year. There are conference calls and bukoo of issues that go back and forth via emails. The board meeting is two days of work. The selection process is brutal and every one works very hard to be fair although sometimes there are hard feelings over the voting. They don’t last as each man really believes in his vote. Only a couple of times have I seen anyone voted down as a selection, for personal reasons or favoritism being shown a friend, or someone else’s friend. It is 95% of the time straight up. That is a high average for this sort of thing. Due to the past economics, the board members have been paying their own expenses other than a dinner. For me that was about one thousand plus, per trip. In addition you pay 2000.00 to join the board and buy your stock. I joined because Toby Cooling asked me to. And because of two close friends and one former friend, who was then on the board. I feel I did my best and provided some productive input. I am also a maverick and had a tendency to stir things up. That has to be distracting to the rest of the board as most are on the quiet side in meetings and somewhat laid back. Next time an issue arises that I don’t agree with, I don’t think they will miss me a lot. Master Carl Martin is our recording secretary and a good one. He used to laugh and say that, “I caused him to have to edit the minutes for profanity, as I created x-rated minutes”. I stayed on for three years. Two years longer than I wanted to. Tim McGhee did a very good job but had to do it by himself, as no one else seemed to have the time to do anything. This gave Tim too much power and work load and burned him out. After his resignation, Master Wayne Wayland was voted in as President, with Sensei Daryn Clark as VP of operations, Master Scott Shamblin VP of marketing, Master Carl Martin Recording Secretary and Master Steve Young, treasurer. The last three years, Daryn Clark has been the work horse, especially last year and the one approaching. He has been the glue. Steve Young has been an answer to a prayer for bookkeeping and financial accountability. Wayne is just getting his feet wet as president, but did a super job on the tournament last year with some misinformation going in. The officers are now elected each year, to prevent anyone from “taking over” the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is in good hands. They do not need me and I don’t want to be needed. I made a recommendation as to who I felt my replacement should be, but they know their needs and will make a good choice. I’m not sure how my attendance at the Hall of Fame will be. It depends on how the tournament is set up and it fits in to our training.
Oddly enough, in March, I would like the ICA to have an informal, (and they are always informal), get together to have a kumite work-out. Many of our members and friends still go to and hold point tournaments, and it is a cross training organization for everybody.
So that is the direction for me; family and training. I owe it to my family, Dragons and friends to keep politics and business out of the mix. Besides, it is more than time to move aside and let someone else have a shot at the boards. I hope others will look in their heart and see if the passion of serving in a board capacity is still there. If not, give someone the same opportunity you got. Don’t be a Goober!!!!
Hope to see many of you at the February Jam.
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