Testers in the Pciture: (Standing) Jen Johnson, David Tieben, Brian Mckenzie, Ethan Bennett, Brandon Sheffler, Miles Bennett, Brandon Rodriguez, Hope Colacino.
Testing Board Members in the Picture: (Sitting) John Lamothe, Amanda Bennett, Allen Bennett, Richard Bennett – with Shawnette Adams helping us with scoring and calculations.

Brandon Rodriguez: Testing for his junior black belt. Join Date 5/2/2007. Brandon was one of the first students to join the Erie dojo when it was still through the rec department – even before the Erie Community Center was built!

Hope Colacino: Testing for her 1st degree black belt. Join Date 2/4/2008. Hope is one of the first students to join us through the Erie Community Center and then transfer to the new dojo when it opened in 2009.

Brandon Sheffler: Testing for his 1st degree black belt. Brandon first started Uechi Ryu at the Boys and Gilrs Club in Loveland under Sensei Brandon Broderick. He then transferred to the new dojo in Berthoud at the Wildfire Community Arts Center in June 2007.

David Tieben: Testing for his 2nd degree black belt. Join Date 1/7/2008. David was our first black belt through the Erie Community Center. David still trains at the rec center, but also helps run classes with Kyoshi Allen Bennett.

Ethan Bennett: Testing for his 4th degree black belt. Ethan started at the age of 4 yrs old. He currently helps run classes at the Berthoud Wildfire Arts Community Center.

Miles Bennett: Testing for his 4th degree black belt. Miles also started at 4 yrs old, and currently still lives in Michigan. Miles was flown out here to test with the family, but he also runs classes for Master Thompson at the Association Headquarters in Kalamazoo, MI. He also runs karate classes for the Kalamazoo Community College.

Jen Johnson: Testing for her 2nd degree black belt. Jen received her Uechi Ryu black belt while stationed in Japan back in 2000.

Brian Mckenzie: Testing for 1st degree black belt. Brian originally trained under Sensei Glenn, who’s lineage currently traces back to that of Master Thompson and this association.

Testing Outline:

If you are not familiar with what students are graded on what is on the test -

section 1: Sanchin 20/25 to pass
section 2: Rank Kata 12/15 to pass
section 3: Bunkai 8/10 to pass
section 4: Dan Kumite 4/5 to pass
section 5: Techniques 8/10 to pass
section 6: Conditioning 8/10 to pass
section 7: Oral Exam 4/5 to pass
section 8: Free Fighting 16/20 to pass

All students testing under the age of 15 yrs old are only eligible for junior black belt level. Once they are 15, they are allowed to retest for full shodan. Until recently, the minimum age requirement for shodan was at least 16 years of age. All karate students tested by the Bennetts Karate Dojo are members of the Uechi Ryu Kokusai Kyokai (International Uechi Ryu Association) under Master James Thompson, Hanshi – 9th Dan.

-Richard Bennett

Frederick CVRC Students
Max Dezonia – Green One
Jamie Lee – Green One
Nick Scohy – Yellow One

Erie Community Center
Monica Chen – Brown Belt
Cadmon Plain – Green One
Samuel Brende – Yellow Two
Hall Edmonds – Yellow Two
Caden Gundrum -Yellow Belt
Simon Holstein – Yellow Belt

Hyland Hills Rec Center
Timothy Yang – Yellow One
Abriam Gabrielle Tovar – Yellow One
Heather Fennert – Yellow One
Jamie Munoz – Yellow Belt

Bennetts Karate Dojo
Scout Thompson – Yellow Two
Surf Thompson – Green Belt
Warren Bartlett – Yellow Two
Harrison Bartlett – Yellow Two
Braden Mckenzie – Green Two
Connor Mckenzie – Green Two
Ryan Mckenzie – Green Two

Special thank you to our testing board members for helping out:
Kyoshi Allen Bennett
Bill Haggard
Ethan Bennett

Congratulations!

Karate Testers:
Abigail Deyoung – Brown Belt
Autumn Pisarski – Brown Belt One
Steve Pisarski – Brown Belt
Andrew Taylor – Yellow Two
Kyan Beamer – Yellow Belt
Evan Schram – Yellow Belt
Jackson Small – Yellow Belt One

Kyoshi and Sensei Amanda were back in town, so thanks to them for being on our test board. Also, a big thank you to our leadership students Braden Mckenzie and Brandon Rodriguez for being people’s partners on this test.

Congratulations!

Karate Testers:
Zack Glover – Yellow Belt
Teagan Plain – Green Belt Two
Matthew Gabel – Yellow One
Nick Scohy – Yellow Belt
Joshua Nuss – Yellow Belt
Ryan Hall – Yellow One
Caroline Smith – Yellow Belt

Since a lot of students missed this test, we are planning on having a makeup test later on in the week for them.

There were no students testing for Aikido this month.

Congratulations to everyone!

This is a picture taken of one of the classes at the Erie Community Center 2008

Because of the class size problems and potential interest the community of Erie had in Uechi Ryu, I decided to take a leap and open up a karate school in Old Town Erie. The location I choose wasn’t necessarily the best considering not many people go into Old Town unless they want to drink or go to the post office, but it was the cheapest place I could afford. If you didn’t know, the building is 1000 sq ft total with about 650 sq ft of floor space that we work out on. In the beginning it almost seemed too big. But as many know from the classes now its hard to fit 20 kids in that room let alone 20+ adults. When I moved to the new location, my father – Kyoshi Allen Bennett and my step mom Shihan Amanda Bennett kept teaching classes at the rec center. Unfortunately, since the prices of classes went up and the dates and times changed only about 16 students moved with me at the start. Over time about 10 more transferred through the course of that year, and after 3 years about 20 or more new and old students made their over to the main location from the rec center.

Beginners and intermediate class at the beginning of 2009

I remember hours upon hours of sitting at my desk waiting for students to show or people to stop in and sign up during that first year at my new location. Even though I had about 5 classes scheduled for the day, only enough students for 1 or 2 classes would show up. Over time these classes filled and the population of the dojo increased. Every year the student base just about doubled. In the 2009 the student population went from 16 to over 30. In 2010, from 30 or so to more than 60 and to over 100 by the end of 2011. The dojo now has 3 separate classes for 4 – 6 yr olds throughout the week, 3 classes for 7 – 12 yr old beginners and intermediate students, and 3 classes for adult and advanced students. In 2010 we started an Aikido program that is currently growing, as well as a kobudo class.

Group picture of our students in 2010

If we include Aikido, Karate, and Kobudo students at the dojo, our new and old black belts, as well as the students at the 4 other rec centers that we teach at in Erie, Berthoud, Frederick, and Westminster we now have nearly 200 students total. The importance of having 100 students at the Bennetts Karate dojo is that the total population of the school will waver below or above 100 at a constant rate. At a business level it is shown at most commercial martial arts schools that this 100 student level is a necessary goal to reach because the total number of people that stop their training equals the total number of students that begin their training.

With the Erie Community Center as a feeder to the school, the constant growth in the city of Erie, as well as our 4 – 6 yr old students transferring to older classes over the years the only thing I can see is the growth of the school. Maybe in a few years we can reach 200 students just in Erie.

Where are we going
New Space: I have a lot of plans for the new karate school. The kind of space could potentially be different than what you are used now. Since I need bigger space, but do not want to pay double the lease price I most likely will be looking for an industrial unit rather than commercial.

Birthday Parties: I get calls at least once a month about hosting birthday parties with a karate theme. Unless these people do not rent space at the rec center, I generally turn them down. With more space, I would like to have a separate area to host birthday parties and have classes.

Larger Class Size/More Teachers: We have more and more black belts that are coming to the dojo that wish to teach, or will be black belts by the time the new karate school opens. This will lead to having multiple instructors leading each class. This means better control on classes with larger numbers of students.

Tournaments: A large student base means the possibility of running tournaments either open or dojo only. Uechi Ryu is not registered with a lot of karate tournament circuits like the JKF, the WKF, or the NKF. I do not even think Uechi Ryu is registered with the AAU. One of the tournament circuits Uechi Ryu is registered with is WUKO and the Uechi Ryu World Cup. We hope to be certified (some of us already are) with these organizations and run these kinds of tournaments in Colorado.

Equipment: I hope to have a section of our new space dedicated to selling martial arts equipment such as uniforms, weapons, belts, patches, t-shirts etc. Currently I can do that now anyways, but because the space is so small, there really isn’t a lot of room to set anything up. Currently we can sell martial arts equipment for companies like Bold or Century – but we also have access to help people order from Meijin and Sureido.

I appreciate the dedicated few that are still students of mine from Erie that started with me in the green building, as well as the dedicated students that came to the Erie Community Center which allowed me the possibility to even open my current dojo location. I also appreciate all the students that are still coming to the school now even though the class sizes have gotten pretty large recently. I also appreciate the teachers and family members that are helping me run classes now. I know that if everyone sticks it out this year and tries their best, it will get better and better.

Thank you – Richard Bennett

Karate Testers:
Micah Byrum – Yellow Belt
Leah Sirota – Yellow Belt
Robert Marquez – Green Belt
Cameron Schmidt – Yellow Two
Eric Merchant – Yellow One
Heather Fennert – Yellow Belt
Max Dezonia – Green Belt
Layla Diaz – Green Belt
William Martindale – Yellow Two
Ryan Lou – Yellow Belt
Dan Megenhardt – Brown Belt

We had to have a makeup test this month because a lot of students ended up being out of town for the Saturday test. We only do something like this if 3 or more students are going to be missing.
Makeup Karate testers:
Cana Peirce – Green Two
William Ledden – Green Two
Austin Wood – Green Belt
Noah Steinbrecher – Green Two

Aikido Testers:
Connor Mckenzie – Green Belt
Jackson – White Two
Kayla Davis – Yellow Two
Hailey Davis – Yellow Two

Thank you for coming and congratulations!

Also, thank you to our black belt testing board that helped for our main test and/or makeup test:
Shihan Allen and Amanda Bennett
Sensei Ethan Bennett
Sensei Bill Haggard

In the beginning we did not expect such a high turn out, as the rec center apparently did a poor job of advertising for the dojo.  The original goal was to increase beginner enrollment for the dojo by utilizing the large customer base from the rec center.  As time continued and enrollment looked small for our summer camp, a few families of the students and some of the instructors began to advertise at the dojo and to friends.  By the time the summer camp began, 19 students had enrolled.

Material covered during the summer camp was similar to the material taught during regular classes.  Classes began with junbi undo (warm ups) and hojo undo (techniques).  Our 4 – 6 year old students did a great job following along, and received a good introduction to what will come as they get older.  Beginners and yellow belts worked on new material including sanchin, pre-arranged kumite 1 and 2 with partners.  Advanced students got to work on dan kumite, their kata, and bunkai.  Some of the sessions were set aside for students to work on basic Aikido drills such as falling, rolling forward, and rolling backward.

One of the days we were able to have an arts and crafts day.  Sensei Richard was able to find mostly everyone’s name in Japanese and had them write it out in hopes that everyone would be able to memorize it at one point.  We also decorated what was hopefully something resembling a picture frame so that pictures of themselves could be placed in them as a way to remember their time at the summer camp.  We also worked on origami cranes, which Kaety Jackowski helped everyone with, however, many of us were not able to finish in time.

The final day was a review day, but also a demonstration to the parents as to what everyone had learned and what we were all working on.  This last day was also our testing day, which replaced our monthly test for August.

Congratulations to everyone that passed their test!

Since the interest was so high from existing students, Bennetts Karate plans on having a second summer camp in 2011. The format will be different, and should be able to accommodate all of our students, regardless of age or rank.  We also plan on having special guests and specialty classes available.  The Summer Camp next year will most likely be at the Bennetts Karate dojo but will incorporate all of the recreational centers.

Thank you for your interest and we will continue to grow!

Daniel Sher started Uechi Ryu Karate in October 2005 at the Frederick Carbon Valley Recreation Center.  Originally he trained under Kyoshi Allen Bennett and Sensei Amanda Bennett, but later became a student of Sensei Richard Bennett after the Frederick school was left to him in 2008.  At 14 yrs old, and 4 years later, Daniel Sher received his junior 1st degree black belt.  Full black belts are only awarded at the minimum age of 16, so Daniel will have to test again for his full black belt in 2 years.

The black belt test was scheduled to be on November 16th, but had to be rescheduled to November 30th instead because of weather complications and various black belt testing board members becoming ill.  The test began at approximately 2pm and lasted about 40 minutes.  The black belt testing board members included:

Sensei Richard Bennett
Kyoshi Allen Bennett
Sensei Ethan Bennett
Sensei Bill Haggard

Special thanks also to David Tieben for helping us score the test, and to Aaron Haggard for being Daniel’s partner on various testing items.

Karate used to have techniques similar to Aikido practiced all the time.  As Okinawan karate became more influenced by Japanese culture, these kinds of techniques were changed or removed from its core.  I have heard many different names for these old forms like Tuite, but Uechi Ryu in its entirety no longer practices these techniques in a formailized manner.  Systems like Goju Ryu still practice Tuite techniques.  In Uechi Ryu Karate-Do Kokusai Kyokai under Master Thompson, we ptracice Aikido as a way to go back to the roots of Okinawan karate, and learn techniques that would be lost to us otherwise.

Where is the Aikido in Uechi Ryu?
In Uechi Ryu, Aikido is all around us – in just about every technique that we do – and has applications on every circle block, cat stance, or wauke strike – plus on every sanchin step that we take in our kata.  Circle block to Ikkyo is something I have seen pictures of Goju Ryu masters such as Morio Higaonna demonstrating at the Budokan, and something I’ve seen at practically all Uechi Ryu seminars that I participated in.  The technique similar to Ikkyo traces it’s origin back to the Kung Fu systems in China – like Tiger.  And as we know, Five Ancestor Fist and all related systems such as Pangainoon, Uechi Ryu, and Goju Ryu contain Tiger Kung Fu in it’s lineage.  Kyoshi Allen Bennett, my father, met the great great grandson of Shuu Shiwa (forgive me if I do not know the exact amount of “greats” to use), quite a few years ago.  His great great grandson specializes in Tiger Kung Fu, and demonstrated many techniques on Kyoshi Bennett during their time together such as – Ikkyo from a circle block.

The beginning of Sanchin – double nukite strikes (spear hand) forward grab and pull upward to the guard position, or twist upward into the guard position depending on your background.  This is also an Aikido technique from a double arm or single arm grab.  The same kind of attack can be defended by a circle block among others.

The two handed movement into the low stance at the end of Seisan, right before the jump back, is also an Aikdo throw.  This throw is practiced in the Aikido warm up exercise sai0-undo.

The take down in Dan Kumite uses an Aikido technique similar to the cat stance in Seichin kata.  The twisting of the forearm with one hand in a circular motion, while rolling the shoulder with the other hand acting as the fulcrum is similar to a variety of joint and jo techniques practiced in Aikido.  Manipulating the leg joints for the take down is just as important and the arm joints for the take down if it comes down to that – because it is possible to do the take down effectively with just the arm or just the leg.

Relationship Between Aikido and Uechi Ryu
Many, if not all, Uechi Ryu students have a hard time separating hard from soft in karate.  They want to strike the person as hard as they can, or block as hard as they can.  Sometimes they act like robots, without any fluidity.  Student’s move back and forth like a two dimensional video game characters rather than using 3 dimensions, moving side to side or in circles.

Aikido brings the natural movement of the body into the spot light more than conventional karate practices can.  Students lose themselves in the opponent and react in the heat of the moment rather than as they would naturally, as if nothing were wrong – or as if anyone was trying to harm them.  Circle blocking is easy, it flows into the opponents attack to become one and the counter attack moves together with the block to create one solid movement.  This kind of philosophy is the essence of Aikido, but is also an intricate part of what karate teaches as well.

What Does Aikido Teach for You?
Aikido teaches a lot of practical real life applications to their techniques, which is probably why many law enforcement agencies end up learning Aikido or forms of it like Koga.  Aikido also teaches ways of falling and rolling which can help us on a daily basis while playing sports or slipping on rollerblades.  Aikido is also a non-violent way to defend yourself, in case you do not want to hurt your opponent or are required not to hurt individuals by your profession.

Our Aikido classes are currently Saturdays from 1 – 215pm, but will most likely change in January 2010 – so keep updated on the website for that information.

Friday 11-13-2009 @6pm, Westminster MHK
Bokken, Jo kata, Two man Jo routines, Jo take away and throws

I saw a group doing this at the Budokan in Naha, Okinawa and it was pretty cool.  Jo is a requirement for black belt in a lot of Aikido organizations, so this might be one of the only times to learn such a thing first hand from an expert.  I think Jo, and Bokken defenses and attacks are pretty awesome and I suggest everyone to at least be able to see this.  This is one of the seminars that I will try not to miss.

Saturday 11-14-2009 @1pm, Erie at Bennetts Karate
Aikido basics, techniques, and Aikido with connection

This will take the place of our regularly scheduled class for Aikido on Saturday.

Sunday 11-15-2009 @2pm, Erie at Bennetts Karate
Aikido techniques, martial movement.

This seminar will take place after our bi-annual black belt test.

Monday 11-16-2009 @6pm, Westminster MHK
Aikido sensing and feeling, Martial arts with no mind, Movement for center.

All seminars should last a few hours, and costs $20.00 per person, per event, to participate.  Students and parents can show up and watch for free.  Steve Kellum was here a few years ago and helped us out with the black belt test for Joe Murrah.  He also did Randori with me and a few of the other black belts.  Randori, in terms of an Aikido setting, is when a group of individuals attack someone however they want, while the goal of the Aikido student (or teacher) is to use their knowledge of Aikido to parry, dodge, or subdue their assailants.  Its bad to kick, because you will definately get knocked down!

Steve Kellum is a 4th degree black belt in Uechi Ryu and was one of my teachers when I was growing up.  He was also one of the senpai students at my father’s dojo in Grand Rapids Michigan.  I tested for my 2nd Dan with him at Master Thompon’s dojo when he tested for his 4th Dan.