some masters are very professional and perfect teachers but they feel urge to test affectivity of their techniques. This is very understandable and unfortunately this occurs many times. How ELSE can you know if your techniques are ANY good? The problem is not to be found in fact that they want to test their skills but in fact that they use there students to do this.. The students who are already convinced of affectivity of techniques and impressed by teachers authority usually don't resist techniques. off course this will make techniques work perfect. If they dare to resist than there are 2 possibility's: 1) technique works just fine. 2) technique must be forced.

This is cause of technical quality going done drain. when USinG a lot of physical force most techniques can be forced upon a weaker opponent but onLY by superior technical skill you will be able to EXECUTE your technique on everyone. A perfect technique needs a balanced use of skill, speed and force.There is no need to be a superman to be a great master. The best way to test your techniques is to do this with someone of your same skill LEVEL/grade. This apply's for both students and teachers alike. Both will learn a lot from this type of training.

How can you bring R-factor in your training as a student?

one of problems is great amount of techniques to be found in Genbukan Ninpo Bugei system. We have over 300 techniques from 10th kyu up to 1st dan. How do you cope with this? First of all you must understand that as a kyu grade you are learning to write and read so to speak. ( kyu waza) some of kyu waza are taken out of their context, other look useless in true cases. Other look like old fashion and last group of techniques seem to be very effective. Which one do you train? The answer is very easy:

All techniques must be trained...

Useless and old fashion looking techniques will teach you concepts or moves that will result of highest importance later in your training. Out of effective techniques you can take 15 or 20 techniques and repeat them thousands of times Until they become a reflex. This is what I call your F.H.T.C. box (first help in true cases) Training basic form though is not enough. Try to do your techniques in another form. Against a body grab, wrist grab, attack from different sides, sitting on floor or in a chair,. etc...

Soon you will be very skillfully in defending yourself. But a warning is in place here: This training must only be done under a master instructor with many years of experience. If I have enough with 20 techniques , why must i train hundreds and hundreds of techniques?

Because techniques are not final goal. They are only a way to... We use them in same way we use mathematic formulas to solve complex questions and get to core of technique. Those 20 techniques won't save you when confronted with a specialist. Especially noT if you don't understand underlying principles behind each and every technique. Ma-ai, metsuke, kuzushi, etc... are only a few of them Every technique and kata you learn will teach you a lot about essence of combat. to discover them you need a good teacher and lots and lots of training. 3 hours/week is not enough. You need daily practice to be able to discover secrets within techniques. Every discovery will make R-factor go up and up.

During all these century's way to make war has changed enormous but CLOSE combat, man to man fight is still same. A punch is a punch and a kick a kick. We didn't grow 3 arms or legs suddenly. The same principles and concepts discovered in century's of wa and man to man combat are still actual and highly effective. The world changes but man is still same man he was 2000 years ago.

On a Wednesday afternoon in May I followed directions given to me to meet team at Shanghai Teacher's University on Guilin Road. The field where team practiced wasn't actually a baseball field. It was a general-purpose field used mainly for soccer and track exercises. I have quickly come to understand that space limitations in Shanghai, similar to most parts of China, make it so that facilities have to double up on their usage. It was amusing to me to watch as we set up for a scrimmage. The areas where right and center field should be was filled with a mix of people, including a few of our people playing those positions, and soccer players who were not in least interested in what we were doing, especially since they were fully engaged in their own game. As fly balls dropped among them, some of soccer players would pick balls up and toss them back, while others would, with a demonstration of irritation, kick them out of way. Fortunately for soccer players, none of them were hit.

Many of baseball players were not so lucky. A healthy fear of hard baseballs traveling at high speeds seems to be second nature for most Americans, as if we are born with an understanding that if a ball is fouled off into someone's face, it's going to hurt like heck at best. Although most of them didn't understand what I was saying, I attempted many times to tell those watching action to back away from batter and catcher. During one ten-minute interval, I saw three people get hit hard in face or head by baseballs. Throughout whole practice there were constant near-misses as well.

On-deck hitters kept with Chinese custom for preserving one's place in line by crowding behind person in front. That approach is okay for local McDonald's. In fact, if you don't push your way up in line, you will find yourself standing in same place for a long time, with person after person jumping in front of you. However, when person at front of line is swinging a bat, a different set of rules should apply.

During first practice with college players, I was invited to pitch to team as they scrimmaged. It soon became apparent that there were various skill levels represented at plate. I was reminded of something I saw in Little League (where kids are usually just beginning to learn how to react to balls thrown towards them) when a particularly nervous batter accidentally stepped in front of plate, opening up towards ball so that it hit him directly in stomach. Fortunately I was only throwing about 70 mph, so no major damage was done, except that player was likely quickly cured of any interest he had in new American sport. After that incident other players warned me when I was pitching to someone who was new, so I could slow it down enough for them to take some solid cuts.

In a country where sport hasn't really caught on yet, it amazes me that these players respond so well to difficulties of learning baseball. It is obvious that many of these people, girls and guys alike, have developed a love and even a passion for game. Before their season started in June, they practiced on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Most practice sessions last five hours or longer. During time I have participated with them, I have seen their skills improve, with arm strength increasing and fielding and batting capabilities doing same.

So when Olympics come to Beijing in 2008, what can we expect from Chinese team? Will it be somewhat of an embarrassment, like Greek team's performance in 2004? Or will home team have a chance to compete? My personal opinion is that competition level doesn't exist in China now for national team to compete with likes of Japan, Taiwan, U.S., or Cuba. However, if they can get enough exposure by playing outside of China, they might just pull off a medal. As for long-term outlook on baseball in China, comments made by someone who has more experience with system, as an investor and active baseball supporter in China, give a pretty good take on subject. When I mentioned to him that I was considering opening a baseball retail store or batting cage in Shanghai, one of founders of CBL told me that it wouldn't be a bad idea if I didn't mind starving for a couple of years. A few years from now however, he said, a much different scenario is likely to exist, with baseball possibly becoming what it is in Taiwan.

[This article, written by Richard Robbins, was originally published online at http://www.robbinssports.com/articles.]