Rick Scoppe

Just returned from a two-day seminar on Baguazhang and Xingyiquan in Concord, N.C., under Sifu Paul Cote and one of his senior students, Martin Elvidge, at Sidekick Karate of Concord. Tip of the hat to the dojo’s leader, sensei Christopher Alexander, for hosting the seminar. We worked on a number of techniques during the Saturday […]

Our school held what we hope will be the first of many Seitei Jodo seminars Saturday, with 13 students taking part under the watchful eye of Atlanta yondan Adam Sandor and Columbia nidan Andy Wells. We worked the system’s first four kihons along with its first two kata, and a variety of drills, during the

Congratulations to our new Shuri Ryu nidan, Sam Johnson, who completed a three-part exam Saturday – and we beat the snow that is leaving our area with more than just a dusting of the white stuff. Johnson began his formal testing – he’d been under scrutiny for some time in the lead up to his

Three Shuri Ryu students were promoted Saturday, Nov. 8, after a two-hour exam that included a physical exam (1-mile run, 500 front kicks, 5-minutes punch/backfist, 300 situps) along with a technical exam that included stances, blocks, punches and kicks as well as various waza (ippons, kihons, taezus) along with kata (Tai Kyoku I-2-3, Wansu, Anaku,

Just got back from Fort Mill, S.C., where more than 200 martial artists took part in the four-day Shurite Martial Arts Conference. It was, as usual, a great event, with multiple instructors teaching multiple arts, ranging from karate and kobudo to arnis, jujitsu, knife and gun defense, Tai Chi, Bagua, Hsing Yi, Wing Chun, Jeet

Just returned from Fort Wayne, Indiana, for our annual International Shuri Ryu Association training seminar, which began Thursday afternoon with a training session at the hombo dojo of O’Sensei Robert Bowles. We had 15 senior karateka attend the training, which was great and focused on the Sente Exercises (empty hand) along with Sanchin, Sanmitsu and

Here’s a photo of the group from today’s (March 29) test, including those who oversaw the test.

Today, March 29, we tested three students – Karis Johnson for blue belt and Emily “Oak” Boyce and her 5-year-old son, Daniel, for yellow belt. All three passed, performing well in both the physical test (1-mile run, 500 front kicks, 5 minutes punch/backfist, 75 overhead strikes with 10 or 15 pound weights – 2 pounds

It is hard to believe, but today marks 15 years since the passing of Hanshi Ridgely Abele, who was not only a great Karateka but great human being who touched countless lives during his life. Hanshi Abele was my teacher for more than two decades, and I learned something every day I trained under him