Rick Scoppe

Congratulations to Karis Johnson for earning her yellow belt Saturday, Oct. 26, during a 90-minute exam before three examiners – one seventh-dan along with a pair of fifth dans. The exam included Shuri Ryu’s required physical standards, including 500 front kicks and 300 situps along with punch-backfist for five minutes and 75 overhead strikes with […]

Just returned from three-day Shurite Bujutsu-Kai All-Curriculum training symposium in Dallas, N.C., at the Ormaza Martial Arts dojo. The symposium schedule focused on three tracks – Shuri Ryu karate, Shurite Ju Jitsu and Baguazhang/Xingyiquan, which was taught by sifu/kyoshi Paul Cote (see attached photo), who was a direct student of Robert Smith, one of the

Just finished up two-day Filipino Martial Arts seminar by Gat Puno Abon “Garimot” Baet, who is head of the Gairmot Arnis Training System. More than a dozen hard-core students attended the seminar at KORE Wellness near the Fairgrounds that was hosted by Torio Martial Arts. “Gat” worked a variety of drills that included the system’s

Just an early reminder: Shuri Ryu O’Sensei Robert Bowles will host his annual Kobudo seminar Nov. 2 in Fort Wayne, Ind. Below is the flyer for the seminar, which also will be available via Zoom.

We just returned from East Peoria, Ill., where we attended the 11th annual Kagami Biraki Gasshuku, also known as the Renewal of Spirit Seminar, which is put on by chief instructor Joey Johnston and his brother, Tony, along with students from the Academy of Okinawan Karate, among others. It was a great event with plenty

We’d like to welcome two new students, Karis and Sam Johnson, who are in their second month at the school and moving right along in their training. Sam trained in Shuri Ryu under Sensei Becky Harris, who, like the staff at our school, was a student of Hanshi Ridgely Abele. Sam earned his black belt

Congratulations are in order for fifth-dans Thomas Seastrunk and Charlotte Bryant, who recently passed their Renshi exams for weapons (kobudo) in Shuri Ryu. Our system has separate tests for empty hand and weapons, with Renshi being the fourth level of six [the first level, Gakusei, is for kyu (under black belt) level and junior level

And thanks to Mrs. Sheridan (and Piper, her cute little doggie, for offering moral support) for the photos we’ve included. If you want to see more photos, go to Mr. Sheridan’s Facebook account: Sheridan Martial Arts. Enjoy!

Just returned from four-day trip to Muncie, Ind., where we (Charlotte Bryant and I) trained with Shuri Ryu Chief Instructor George Sheridan and some of his yudansha (including Cody Jones, Larry Hawkins, Lisa Privett and Brian Johnson). It was excellent training. We learned a lot, working on both weapons as well as empty hand, including

Sorry, I am not the best blogger around. I will try to be better. We’re continuing to train, although I have been slowed because of a (left) knee replacement. I am eight weeks out from surgery. Doing well, probably better than most but still obviously not 100 percent. Surgeon says it’ll take 8 months of