Hi I am new here :)

[Daniel]

Hi, I am Dan. Nice to meet all of you. I live near DC and was fumbling about in cyberspace when I came across your group.

[rawnshah]

Hi Dan,

Tell us about yourself and your martial arts interests.

I like to encourage all our folks to talk about themselves so people get to know each other better here.

[Daniel]

Well, I think I am kinda boring, so anyone feel free to skip to the end :)

I am a part of a now medium sized club outside of DC. Its an all inclusive weapon sparring club (UNOFFICIAL chanbara), and I am one of the people who, with previous Kendo experience, chose to use more of a JSA approach. Its quite a diverse group, european, chinese, and of course good old Kenjutsu. Weapons range from knives, short sword and shield, kats, longswords, naginata, bo, jo, nunchaku, and one Sifu who shows up once in a blue moon with a 3 sectional staff.

Methods of sparring are chanbara style, wood, bamboo (fukoru shinai etc) and for the more experienced people, other things are agreed upon.

My experience in the martial arts is mostly european and chinese, but I have not found a better and more natural approach to swording than Kenjutsu. I have quite a unique outlook on martial arts in general. Probably because of my diverse journey which spans about 2 decades. Members of my club, including myself, have competed and won many of our local tournaments, most recently (not so local to DC) was the battle of atlanta, where we had club members place first in 2 divisions and second in the other.

In about a week some of us are making the journey to Ohio to compete in the 'Arnold Classic'. Mostly in weapons sparring and combative sword. We hope to yet again prove ourselves! I have been thinking of moving on, however, to further and deepen my training. Battle is a great medal to wear and all, but I feel maybe its not the only path on my journey. I was looking into different dojos out here in the dc/maryland area, but my search is proving futile. Between the TKD kiddie studios and mma knucklehead gyms, there is little room for much else. Any ideas?