GMA Open 2007

Congratulations and a job well done to all those who participated and represented our schools. You all did a fantastic job and should be proud of yourselves for working so hard. Way to go! Everyone did outstanding, especially in Self-Defense. You did a great job of showing everybody what REAL Self-Defense is all about. : ) Eojsensei

Gerry the Orange Belt.

Excellent job Gerry. You did good. You've come a long way from the kid I knew long (long) ago.

Keep on working hard to be your best and don't get frustrated. You have a long journey ahead, this is just the first step! Keep it up! Congratulations.

P.S. For those who are interested, I added two links on the right hand side of the page. One is for the Official Fudoshin Kai website. Check it out there is a lot of great info on there and more to come soon. And the other is a link to my YouTube webpage that I will be using to put up videos. Don't forget to check them often because we plan on updating them as much as we can.

:) Eojsensei

Butt-Kickin' Girl Scouts!

Master Yurkin (with the help of Katie) recently held another Self Defense Seminar. This time it was for the Girl Scout Troop 2900 of Nanticoke.

I hope everyone had a good time and learned a lot of great self defense.

From Left to Right- Kneeling: Katie Middaugh, Master Charles Yurkin

First Row: Samantha Garvey, Samantha Becker
Second Row: Marisa Kovaly, Tina Wingler, Darlene Przekop
Third Row: Julie Blair, Jenifer Myslowski, Sandy Kovaly, Danielle Kovaly

:) Eojsensei

Kata 45

New on YouTube!

Kata ShiHiHo HariUke-"Striking and Blocking While Moving."


Wooden Dummy

KATA 25

Women's Self Defense Seminar

Thanks again to all who attended Master Yurkin's seminar. I hope you learned some tips and techniques that could be of use if, god forbid, you ever find yourself in a situation that calls for you to defend yourself or those you care about. We hope to have more seminars and possibly a class dedicated to just Women's Self-Defense in the near future. So spread the word if you enjoyed the seminar as much as we enjoyed teaching it.

Try not to be so hard on Master Yurkin next time!

At least we know the techniques work. :) Eojsensei

We've Got Video!

Here is a quick sample clip of myself and Dan doing some self defense. It was made just to see how difficult it would be to do something like this. I hope to have many more in the future of KATA, SELF DEFENSE, WEAPONS, TESTS ETC. It's not the greatest but hopefully it will get better. I hope you like it. We will be signing autographs after class. HA HA

PG-13 This is a warning for some people that the music is a little "loud".

You can always watch it with the sound off :) Eojsensei

Yellow !!

Sensei Justin Toporcer, Joshua Betz, Caleb Diltz, Master Joe Duda

Congratulations to our two newest yellow belts! You both did really good! The tests keep getting harder and harder, but you keep getting better and better. Keep working hard and remember that you only get better by practicing what you're having trouble with. You both work really hard and it shows. Keep setting a good example for what it takes to be a great YELLOW BELT!

:) Eojsensei

Test Time!

Sensei Justin Toporcer, BETH BARTUSKA(Orange Belt), Master Joe Duda
Way to go Beth! You did a fantastic job on your orange belt test. Keep up the great work and you'll be a black belt before you know it. Because you practice so well in class and pay attention your test was a piece of cake. Now its time to start working hard as a brand new Orange Belt. You did GREAT!

Sensei Justin Toporcer, DAN RUCKLE (Blue Belt), Master Joe Duda Excellent as always Dan! Like I said before you make my job easy. You work hard and give 100% all the time. Time to go crazy now, you're on your way to the big leagues. Now we start getting to the fun stuff. If you could put up with all my blabbing after class you can do anything. Keep on moving forward "one shovel at a time".

You both did great during your tests. The more you enjoy it, and the more you listen and work hard in class, the better you will become without even noticing it. Everybody, from white belt to 10th degree black belt should always look at each class as a test and always give 100%. Keep up the great work everyone! Eojsensei :)

Sweep the Leg!

Here is a pretty funny music video for the band No More Kings called Sweep the Leg. If you never saw the KARATE KID (you should) your going to miss a lot of the jokes but it's hilarious. A must see if your a fan of the 80's. The song is pretty good too! Have Fun. eojsensei :)

Dummy In Action

Here are some clips of Wing Chun. The first one is of a form and some self defense applications. (It's in a different language so I don't know what he's saying, sorry) The second one is pretty much the same form but shown a little better. And the last one is about the history of wing chun and one of it's great masters Ip Chun. Hope you enjoy! I know I will be trying some of these moves out. :) Eojsensei

"Hey, Who's the Dummy?"

Look at the amazing addition to our dojo. It's a wing chun dummy! I always wanted one and now we have one thanks to our very own Dan Ruckle. He made this by hand! I cant believe all the hard work and long hours he put into making this. It turned out excellent! I am so thankful and grateful that he went through so much trouble. I know I'll have so much fun using it and maybe I'll let everyone else use it too... maybe. Thanks again Dan, who knew you could break things and build things with your hands. I'll try to put up some clips I can find about using it. Stay tuned. Eojsensei :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

First I want to wish everyone a great holiday. Santa has been watching and I hope you've been good :) Soon it will be a new year. Time to look back at all the things that have happened and look forward to all the great things to come. Everyone has been working really hard this past year and it really shows. You all are becoming fantastic karate-ka and I'm proud of everyone of you. I also want to thank everyone who went to this years christmas party hope to see more of you next year it was a blast!

Caleb got Student of the Year(Kids) as well as both of his patches. Sonia got Most Improved(Adults) and The Spirit Award(Kids). Katie got Most Dedicated(Adults) and First Stripe Brown Belt. Brian got The Spirit Award(Adults) and First Stripe Brown Belt. Dan got Student of the Year.(Adults) Chris got his Kumade Nobushi Kyokai patch. Sensei Justin got presented his Kumade Nobushi Kyokai Black Belt Diploma. And I got presented with my Shihan Award. We also had some awards for some students who couldn't make it this year. Joshua got Most Improved(Kids) and his Kumade Nobushi Kyokai patch. And Zack got Most Dedicated.(Kids)

There was a lot of other well deserved awards for the students of Mountain Top Martial Arts. Everyone is working so hard and doing excellent. There was also a lot of high rank given out this year too. Master Dixon got his 4th in both Kumade Nobushi Kyokai and Fudoshin Kai. As well as Master Gilbert in Fudoshin Kai. Sensei Darcie got her 3rd in both Kumade Nobushi Kyokai and Fudoshin Kai. Sensei Tommy and Sensei Scott both got there 2nd in Fudoshin Kai. And Sensei O'Leary got his 1st in Kumade Nobushi Kyokai and 2nd in Fudoshin Kai. Whew! That's a lot of rank! All I can say is that I'm very proud and honored to be part of two great systems with such amazing teachers and outstanding students.

I also want to say congratulations to Caleb on his Orange Belt and Dan on his Yellow Belt. You guys both did an excellent job and should be proud of yourselves. You work hard and continue to push yourselves. You are both becoming great martial artists really fast. Keep up the good work. You make my job easy!

I just want to say that (again) I am proud of each and every one of you and we are all like a great big family. Have a happy holiday and a brand new year. Eojsensei :)

P.S I fixed it so anyone can leave comments now. I look forward to hear what you guys have to say.

"SENSEI " JUSTIN !

Finally! It seems like it's been forever. (11 years is pretty close.) Our brand new Black Belt, Sensei Justin Toporcer. After 3 long and crazy days it's finally over, you made it. You rose to the occasion and over came obstacles and no one can take that away from you. Deep down it is all about you and pushing yourself to the limit mentally and physically. Striving for perfection in everything you do. It's been a long journey so far and it is just the beginning. Now comes the hard part of the road towards mastery. It is even harder than the road toward black belt because only you know where you will end up and how long the journey will be. But never be afraid to ask for help if you need it. You have many friends along the way to help guide you. You earned this rank/title, wear it with pride and honor. Never forget where you came from and always look to the future, always moving forward never back. I am honored to call you Sensei. Congratulations! Eoj Sensei :)

FIGHT SCIENCE

Hello Again!
I just got an ad for a martial arts show on the National Geographic Channel called "Fight Science". It's going to be on Sunday, August 20th @ 9PM. I don't get the channel but if anyone does and wants to record it maybe we can have another movie night and watch it. It looks really interesting. It's going to look at all the science behind a lot of different martial arts. There is going to be a lot of great martial artists on it like James Lew,Rickson Gracie...and Dan Inosanto!
You can find out more about it at..
http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/channel/fightscience/

Pretty neat stuff :) Eojsensei

Update!

Hi Everyone sorry it's been so long since I've updated. It's been crazy!
Here are some long over due congratulations..

Great job to Joshua on his Orange Belt Test!

And excellent job to Dan on his Orange Belt Test also!

Our two new Brown Belts, Katie and Brian, did a fantastic job as well. KEEP IT UP! (Picture Coming Soon)

Everyone is doing very well and working hard.Don't get frustrated just keep on pushing yourselves and there is no telling how awesome you can become!

:) Eojsensei

Congratulations Everyone!

I have to say I'm really proud of everyone!

First we have Chris who did a fantanstic
job on his Green Belt test.

I knew you wouldn't have any problems.
Just keep on challenging youself without
being too hard on yourself either.
The next test's the killer! :)

Then we have Dan, Zack and Daniel.
You guys did outstanding at Grant's Tournament!


Dan placed 1st for Self-Defense, 1st in Sparring,
and 2nd for Kata. Zack placed 1st for Kata,
2nd in Self-Defense, and 3rd in Sparring.
And Daniel placed 2nd in Weapons, and 3rd
in Sparring. You guy's kicked butt!

You should be proud of yourselves, you all did
great, especially the two Dans on their first tournament.
And Zack for holding onto his "title".

I'm proud of all my students and I'm so glad you take

pride in yourself and your school.

P.S. I also want to give a "shout-out" to Katie and Brian

who where such good/bad guy's Eojsensei :)

Dan Inosanto / JKD

Hey Everyone.
Dan Inosanto is one of Bruce Lee's oldest students and the one who Bruce Lee wanted to pass on his concept of Jeet Kune Do.He is a brilliant martial artist and really knows how to teach.I found a google video of him talking about various martial arts and ideas.
I found it to be very interesting. It's a little long but well worth it!
For those who didn't know Bruce Lee was a huge influence on me when I started the martial arts, he was way ahead of his time and you can see it in his student Dan Inosanto.
Here is the link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8676886721845918930&q=jeet+kune+do&pl=true
Enjoy! :) Eojsensei