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From a body guard training website:
I am reminded of an incident that occurred at the Aspen Academy of Martial Arts in 1974 which resulted in a small personal conversion. The incident involved Sensei Koichi Tohei and Fred Degerberg, an old friend of mine and an outstanding martial artist. The encounter occurred during a training seminar on Aikido at the Academy;
To illustrate his point, Tohei picked out a big guy in the group...it happened to be my friend Fred Degerberg. Tohei asked him to stand and throw a punch; Fred paused a moment and repeated the request, "you want me to throw a punch at you?" as if to ask, are we punching for real?
Now, Fred Degerberg trained for many years as a boxer prior to taking up the study of the Eastern arts, his teacher was a heavy weight contender and an excellent trainer. The result of the many years of training was that Fred had a lighting fast Jab. But the request was begging for an opportunity, so Fred obliged. He threw three jabbing pulses in the direction of Tohei's head, (intentionally not making contact) and set up for the Right Cross. Tohei immediately threw his hands in the air and exclaimed, "no..no...no throw a real punch." Fred Degerberg is not a complete spoiler, so said in a moment of insight, "Oh, you mean one of these." He obliged by dropping into a deep Front Forward Fighting Stance more familiar to the Japanese systems and launched a Reverse Thrust Punch. The hand was caught and Degerberg went to the mat, and I said, "aha ha...this is a Dance that I am all too familiar with in my own system."
I am reminded of an incident that occurred at the Aspen Academy of Martial Arts in 1974 which resulted in a small personal conversion. The incident involved Sensei Koichi Tohei and Fred Degerberg, an old friend of mine and an outstanding martial artist. The encounter occurred during a training seminar on Aikido at the Academy;
To illustrate his point, Tohei picked out a big guy in the group...it happened to be my friend Fred Degerberg. Tohei asked him to stand and throw a punch; Fred paused a moment and repeated the request, "you want me to throw a punch at you?" as if to ask, are we punching for real?
Now, Fred Degerberg trained for many years as a boxer prior to taking up the study of the Eastern arts, his teacher was a heavy weight contender and an excellent trainer. The result of the many years of training was that Fred had a lighting fast Jab. But the request was begging for an opportunity, so Fred obliged. He threw three jabbing pulses in the direction of Tohei's head, (intentionally not making contact) and set up for the Right Cross. Tohei immediately threw his hands in the air and exclaimed, "no..no...no throw a real punch." Fred Degerberg is not a complete spoiler, so said in a moment of insight, "Oh, you mean one of these." He obliged by dropping into a deep Front Forward Fighting Stance more familiar to the Japanese systems and launched a Reverse Thrust Punch. The hand was caught and Degerberg went to the mat, and I said, "aha ha...this is a Dance that I am all too familiar with in my own system."
. I'm not accusing you of stretching the truth...aw hell, yes I am.
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