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[kanku]

thank you for agreeing to this Senshido!
The idea now is for other members to ask Senshido questions and for him to answer them.

Originally Posted by hasbeen

thank you for agreeing to this Senshido!

q) what is the most brutal thing you have seen bernard do?

q) do you teach any other m.a?

q) what gives you the greatest pleasure in teaching?

q) do you think Tam can win a British open?

q) you are obviously very popular in the m.a world what advise would you give to other people who are, shall we say, not so popular?...

[StarKodama]

Well, I guess a basic self-introduction would be really helpful... I have no idea who Bernard and Tam are....

[kanku]

Originally Posted by StarKodama

Well, I guess a basic self-introduction would be really helpful... I have no idea who Bernard and Tam are....

osu+sorry Starkodama.....my fault.

Bernard is Bernard Creton 8th dan.....6th in the world open before the split, renowned for being a "different" person in a gi than out of one. Combat magazine once said on it`s front page that the only thing to stop him for sure was a bullet!

he was an instuctor with the b.k.k before splitting.

"Tam" is Thomas Conroy, one of Senshido`s up and coming fighters, who apart from knockdown also turns his hand to muay thai and is fighting k1 this month.

[StarKodama]

Originally Posted by hasbeen

osu+sorry Starkodama.....my fault.

Bernard is Bernard Creton 8th dan.....6th in the world open before the split, renowned for being a "different" person in a gi than out of one. Combat magazine once said on it`s front page that the only thing to stop him for sure was a bullet!

he was an instuctor with the b.k.k before splitting.

"Tam" is Thomas Conroy, one of Senshido`s up and coming fighters, who apart from knockdown also turns his hand to muay thai and is fighting k1 this month.

Thanks!! I'm looking forward to senshido-san's answers to those questions...

My question is boring, but.... what do you do in your free time, when you're not doing karate?

[senshido]

Originally Posted by hasbeen

thank you for agreeing to this Senshido!

q) what is the most brutal thing you have seen bernard do?

q) do you teach any other m.a?

q) what gives you the greatest pleasure in teaching?

q) do you think Tam can win a British open?

q) you are obviously very popular in the m.a world what advise would you give to other people who are, shall we say, not so popular?...

let me first thank hasbeen for asking me to be part of this.. Osu

a)Probably the most brutal thing I saw Bernard do was during blackbelt grading fights in Denmark, it was alleged that this particular guy going for his Shodan was bullying some of the lower grades at his club (no idea if that was true) anyway the fights were not for the faint hearted under normal circumstances, but this particular guy was taken apart piece by piece, smashed all over the hall, he was knocked down by the heavy mob at every oportunity, every time you looked at something else you would hear this pitiful yell and he was on the floor again, blood all over the place.
I'm pretty sure it was at my first Summer Camp and didnt really know what to expect anyway, so at the time I thought this was normal, thankfully not!

Just for information, anyone going for shodan had to complete 30 fights, nidan 40 fights and sandan 50 fights. I still continue with this fomat today


a) I have taught kick boxing but my heart is never really in it, I taught it as a favour to my students who fancied giving it a try, (I was graded 2nd dan kickboxing with Bernard but that was about 1997ish).
My Brother runs a kick boxing club though, so any one who wants to have a serious go trains with him, some of you who have been to regional BKK tournaments etc might have come across him.


a) My greatest pleasure in teaching has to be seeing my Students progress, I am a firm believer in giving back and love teaching.
I am a very emotional person and seeing any of my Students do well brings a lump to my throat.


a)Can Tam win??... good question, .. just for information on those who dont know him....he has been with me since I moved back to Scotland in 2002 but was a Student of my Brothers before that. He is currently a 2nd Kyu Kyokushin and a 3rd dan kickboxer.
I would like to think he can win, his best effort so far has been the last 8 (last year). My personal view is that he is diversifying too much at the moment, he is training with me only once a week, kick-boxing once a week, boxing once a week, and MMA once a week. I need to get him to channel his energy in one direction for a while, his conditioning let him down last time, he was getting hurt too easy when a bit more body conditioning would have helped.

[senshido]

I'm still thinking about the last question... will be back soon

[senshido]

okay, back now...Nix is gonna shout though I havent merged my posts.. Sorry Nix!

a) very popular in the MA world??? not too sure if thats accurate but I like that!!.. I might not get out of the door later!!
I try to get along with people but will say what i think if it is warranted.. at least if I think its warranted.
I think the most important thing is not to be too far up your own backside, you have to be able to not take yourself too seriously all the time.
My Students will tell you (I hope) that I,m never serious for very long, I am a very easy going person until someone annoys me on a personal level, if someone cant grasp something in the dojo, then thats no problem, I'm not going to scream and shout at them (unlike some dojo's I've been in) its not a life or death thing and should be treated as such. As a wise man once said (Dent I think) karate is part of my life... its not my life.

[kanku]

more questions for Senshido, he`s waiting!!

[senshido]

Originally Posted by StarKodama

Thanks!! I'm looking forward to senshido-san's answers to those questions...

My question is boring, but.... what do you do in your free time, when you're not doing karate?

sorry, StarKodama I didnt notice your question until now.

I dont have a lot of spare time, I run my own Karate Association which has a few clubs around the country, so If I am not teach or training, I am doing paperwork etc or organizing events.
I also work full time as an electrician, So if I'm not doing any of the above, I like to just chill and go out with my lovely wife and have a nice meal and a few drinks..

[Nix]

Q: It is my impression that you are a bit "lonely" up there, meaning that there are not many other knockdown schools around, let alone anyone from your own organization. Is this true, and if so, how do you handle it?

[sandman]

Osu!

Senshido, can you tell us a bit about your dojo(s)? How does a typical class go in your dojo? And can you share a bit about your background in karate? Like how long have you been training in karate, who have you trained under / with, and what got you started in kyokushin?

Osu!

[senshido]

Originally Posted by Nix

Q: It is my impression that you are a bit "lonely" up there, meaning that there are not many other knockdown schools around, let alone anyone from your own organization. Is this true, and if so, how do you handle it?

Thanks for the question Nix
You are spot on with your impression, I have no other knockdown clubs within a hundred mile radius, which is a pain, and they are all different organisations.
We do have our own knockdown tournament just for our guys in Scotland to prepare us for the tournaments down South.
We do have to travel a lot, all the big tournaments are in the south of England, so we head down 2 or 3 times a year, which is about an 1100 mile round trip each time.... I only moved back to Scotland (after living down south for 20 years) 7 years ago so we are slowly building things up here and hopefully as we get more dan grades we can spread our wings a bit.
What we do have here is great terrain for training, if you get a chance pop on to my website and have a look at the training pictures www.kskscotland.com

Thanks

[senshido]

Originally Posted by sandman

Osu!

Senshido, can you tell us a bit about your dojo(s)? How does a typical class go in your dojo? And can you share a bit about your background in karate? Like how long have you been training in karate, who have you trained under / with, and what got you started in kyokushin?

Osu!

Osu sandman,
I have 2 dojo's in Scotland, one in Oban and one in Lochgilphead, both in Argyll on the west coast. The Oban dojo is a full time dojo that I share with my brother (kickboxing), a boxing club and a Shukokai Karate club, I will try to post a picture soon of that dojo, its completely matted and has hanging bags around the edges and a couple of makiwara on the wall.
The Lochgilphead dojo is a hall in the local sports centre that I hire from them a couple of nights a week, this is also where we hold any tournaments etc.
I didnt start karate until I was in my early twenties (about 25 years ago), I had done a bit of boxing before that, only amatuer stuff.
I joined Bernard Cretons karate Jutsu organisation (basically Kyokushin under a different name) and from the start couldnt get enough of it.
By the time I got to 4th kyu I was training 5 times a week in the dojo along with 5 days a week in the gym.
My Instructor was the then Senpai now Shihan Wayne Mortimer in the Cardiff dojo. Wayne was (and still is) a very unforgiving Instructor and demands 100% all the time (I wouldnt have it any other way), I became his assistant Instructor round about 1990 and was there until I opened my own dojo in 1997. I did most of my fighting in the mid to late 90's, I was part of the Karate Juutsu British Knockdown squad, and got quite a few good results.
I left that organisation in 2001 (politics) and started on my own.
I trained with Steve Crane who joined me from the IKO1, Steve had been part of the British Team at the World tournament in Japan in the early 90's.
As to why I started??.. It was always something I wanted to do, but there were not many oportunities when I was growing up at home, it wasnt until I moved to cardiff that I had the chance to look out some different clubs/styles and give it a go.

Osu

[senshido]

sorry sandman... I wish I would read slower and catch the whole question first time!!

A typical class for me is warm up, usually some kind of circuits involving push-ups, sit-ups and squats, the other excercises vary but these three are alway there, then some stretching followed by kihon.
what we do next depends on what is coming up event wise... if there are tournaments coming up it will be pad work... followed by sparring
otherwise it will be ren-raku, kata & sparring, pretty standard stuff.

[vapor]

I'll ask a question...

Regarding students that you have looked after, what are some of the things that they have done to surprise you? (could be positive, or comic)

vapor

[tmd]

Hi Senshido, you really are out on a limb aren't you, last time I was in Scotland (Dundee & Glasgow) I plugged you post code into my Tom Tom and I was still 2.5 hours away!

Question) A life times achievement is made up of little steps, you have some great ones behind you but what are the next two or three runs you are aiming for?

[senshido]

Originally Posted by vapor

I'll ask a question...

Regarding students that you have looked after, what are some of the things that they have done to surprise you? (could be positive, or comic)

vapor

I've been thinking about this question for a couple of hours, (I saw it on my notification earlier) and I havent really been surprised by anything that my students have done, I have been proud of a few achievements, a few of my Students have won national championships, none at knockdown yet although, these were all clicker and kata.
I did have a guy once though that when I was showing them how to do Keiko uchi (chicken beak strike) he started flapping his arms and making clucking noises walking round the dojo, surprised??? maybe thats not the right word.. although I had to laugh.

[senshido]

Originally Posted by tmd

Hi Senshido, you really are out on a limb aren't you, last time I was in Scotland (Dundee & Glasgow) I plugged you post code into my Tom Tom and I was still 2.5 hours away!

Question) A life times achievement is made up of little steps, you have some great ones behind you but what are the next two or three runs you are aiming for?

Aye we are tucked away in our own wee world up here, although anyone is always welcome... see my site for summer camp details www.kskscotland.com .. thats not really advertising as its free!!

My current goal is to expand Kyokushin Karate in this part of the world. I have been back here for 7 years now (I was born and brought up here and moved away for 20 years) and I am getting to a stage where I have students ready to maybe teach, and as I have quite a big catchment area (about a 50 mile radius) we could start to open a few more dojo's in the near future.

Another goal is to get one of my guys to win the British Open, but thats maybe a few years away, I have a few very good teenagers, who will be ready in a couple of years, so look out!!

[tmd]

Originally Posted by senshido

Another goal is to get one of my guys to win the British Open, but thats maybe a few years away, I have a few very good teenagers, who will be ready in a couple of years, so look out!!

Ditto - race ya!

[Dent]

Osu! Senshido,

In bringing Knockdown to a new area, what are the biggest challenges you've had to meet, and how did you beat them?

Osu!