Quick update on tonight’s Isshin-ryu class… (It’s late, so this must be brief…)
The upside to tonight’s sparring? Blocked a punch for the first time. (Normally, I just evade… Or, uh, eat them on purpose!) Not really… : )
The downside? Dislocated my left shoulder. It’s been probably six months or so since it’s gone out like that. Unfortunately, it took me a few seconds to get it back in, so we had to stop the fight. It would have been bad had it been a real fight — normally I can get it right back in.
But, I hid the pain like a champ, jumped right back in, and even sparred a later opponent. And I don’t think anyone even knew I dislocated it, just that I hurt it or tweaked it a bit. Captain Eaton would be proud.
Sigh… Well, maybe not. He was around gunfire the other day. Unarmed. And with his kids. (Not by choice, mind you, but he still got them down and to safety, and once police arrived, had them get back to practicing tennis… No joke.) Dang it… Keeping up with your mentors is an impossible thing to do…
Stan R. Mitchell
Oak Ridge, Tenn.
stanrmitchell.com 
Dislocated shoulder? Ouch. And going unarmed sucks. Try to do that as little as possible.
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He lives in D.C., so it’s not an option… : (
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Yikes! Daughter Sandy lives in DC (a director in the Dept of Education, located in not the best section of town). As far as I know, she doesn’t pack heat. Better not. More likely to shoot herself in the foot than any attacker.
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Isshin-ryu has some really good dojos. Good choice of style, Stan.
Take care of that shoulder, man. You might need it. 🙂
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Thanks, Tim. I love the style, which is weird in that I looked at it a few years ago and was totally unimpressed.
Then about six months ago, my elbows were hurting me from all the punching I was doing, and I remember that they purposefully only extend punched 95 percent, so I started looking at Isshin-ryu again and was stunned at all the things I had overlooked.
I’m definitely in love with the style now.
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