Samuel Mockbee, PBS, The Ultimate Black Belt Test, and Mastery of the Martial Arts

  In my mind, Samuel Mockbee of the Rural Studio is/was THE GREAT TEACHER -- like Aikido's Morihei Ueshiba was/is.

Ueshiba is called "O-Sensei" --which means "Great Teacher" --and Mockbee in his own way is as great a leader to the martial arts community - in fact, to all teachers, as Ueshiba was. 

The article, to the left (link here), announces a new PBS documentary about Mockbee and his work. 

See a trailer for the film, here.

As you may know, I tried to reach Sam Mockbee to offer help and support to what he was doing --as I saw so many parallels to what he was doing with his students ---and what I hoped to do with my own.

The very day I unsuccessfully tried to phone him, I walked into a book store, took an Architectual Digest off the magazine rack, opened it randomly --and came upon Mockbee's obituary. He had died several months before, of cancer. 

I kept calling The Rural Studio and eventually connected with an intern there, Pam Dorr. I told Pam that I was organizing a group of black belt teachers in a revolutionary teacher training program and that I wanted to bring them to The Rural Studio to help in any way we might help ---just so we could study what Mockbee had done. 

That effort has become a 6 year commitment to going to Alabama to help Pam Dorr and the community there. The next project is in April --the link for you to participate and even donate a few dollars to the effort, is here. 

I urge you to seek out this PBS documentary --and to look at Mockbee's work for inspiration. I also urge you to participate in a martial arts tribute to a Great Teacher --and help us with the next Alabama Project. Go here for more info ---there's an down-loadable poster there --and you may call me at 530-903-0286 for even more information. Donate, participate, get involved. 

The people who will be most influential in the martial arts of the future, who will most shape our educational direction and our ability to make meaningful contribution --will NOT be kickers, punchers, and grapplers. Just as I urge people to take their martial arts 'out of the dojo and into the world,' we must also take the world and bring it into the dojo. This is the only way we can make what we do relevant and important in today's world.  

--Tom Callos

Our team working in Alabama!

1000 Letters to Oprah about Judo 9th Dan Black Belt, Kieko Fukuda. Will you Help?

Would you be so kind as to help us write 1000 letters to Ms. Oprah Winfrey --urging her to seek out 96 year old Keiko Fukuda. There is a documentary in the works about Sensei Fukuda's extraordinary life-story, Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful. Here is a clip:

I have not watched the film once, without being moved to tears.

Here is a link to a longer version.

The filmmaker is Ms. Yuriko Romer of www.flyingcarp.net.

Here is the information you will need to participate:

Send a letter to her at the Oprah Winfrey show:

To Ms. Oprah Winfrey

C/O: The Oprah Winfrey Show

110 North Carpenter Street,

Chicago, Illinois 60607

Dear Ms. Winfrey,

Sensei Keiko Fukuda is now a 9th degree black belt in judo, at age 96, and the first women to ever be awarded that title. She was a student of judo's founder, Jigoro Kano --and still teaches classes three times a week. A filmmaker, Ms. Yuriko Romer, is making a documentary film about Sensei Fukuda, "Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful," which may be seen both on youtube and at www.flyingcarp.net.

Remarkably, Ms. Romer first heard about Sensei from your magazine. As time is of the essence, I urge you to seek out Ms. Romer and Sensei Fukuda, as Sensei's story is compelling and wonderful. She is, quite literally, "living history."

Thank you for taking the time to consider this request.

Love and respect,

Tom Callos

--------------

Of course, you may alter the letter any way you see fit. I've already sent an e-mail to Oprah's show --and several people are mining their connections to people they know --who may be able to get through.

Please show and share one or both of the film clips (Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful) to your friends and students, and let's send 1000 letters to Oprah as a show of respect for this icon of martial arts self-discipline and history.

THANK YOU.

Tom Callos

An Open Letter to Mr. Azby Brown, Author of Just Enough, from Jason Gould

Dear Mr. Brown,

An odd series of events has just led me to your book, "Just Enough, Lessons in Green Living from Traditional Japan," which I have just ordered from Amazon.com. I'm writing to thank you for putting these pages together. As a martial artist, I've been recently expanding my definition of "self-defense" to include the concepts ofenvironmentalism, sustainability, conscious consumption, and material simplicity. After all, if we don't take care of the planet, the planet will surely "take care" of us. So, in a very real sense, my small efforts of preserving and protecting the planet are, in a way, self-serving acts of self-defense — for me, for my family, and for my community.

Discovering the phrase, "ware tada taru wo shiru" in your book brings everything together perfectly. I know that I have much more than I need, and that my small actions and choices can make a difference to the benefit of all.

Although I've studied Japanese martial arts for decades, I had no idea that green/sustainable practices were a (necessary) part of life in Edo Japan. To tie my evolving understanding of "environmental self defense" back to my practice of martial arts, and more directly to the Japanese martial culture and period that I am most familiar with — well it's a wonderful way to continue my personal growth and development.

After reading your book, I'll be sure to take and apply many of the lessons of sustainable living in the urban environment of old Edo into my daily living here in modern-day Boston. And I'll be sure to share what I've learned with my karate students, too.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Best regards,
Jason

Sensei Jason Gould
Director / Chief Instructor
Emerald Necklace Martial Arts
95 Everett Street | Allston, MA 02134
www.karateinboston.com
mobile: (617) 230-1973 | dojo: (617) 202-3856

A Call To The Martial Arts Community: No More Black Belts to Children

A Call: No More Black Belts Awarded to Children

After careful consideration and years of deliberation --and most recently, watching some of the most pathetic and sad examples (on YOUTUBE) of black belt tests administered to young children, I am calling on the international martial arts community to follow the Helio Gracie and the Gracie Family's policy of not awarding black belts to children. 

The Gracie policy, as I understand it, is that a child must turn 18 to wear a brown belt --and be 21 before they can wear a black belt. 

I would like to suggest the martial arts community join me and self-regulate by adopting a policy, at minimum, that no child wears a black belt before the age of 18. No junior black belts either. 

We have come to a place in the history of the martial arts where wearing a black belt is virtually meaningless. Compared to the standards the Gracie's have so wisely adopted, the martial arts community's issuance of 2.5 year (and less) black belts to people under the age of 18, often under the age of 12, is shameful and it is destroying the integrity of the rank. 

I am also calling upon the martial arts community to embrace the policy that 5 years consistent training is the minimum requirement for earning a black belt in any style. I further suggest the the idea and sale of "black belt club" memberships be terminated. 

Tom Callos

1825 Black Belt Tests. Another Sneak-Peek Excerpt from My New Book Project

The way to look at a black belt test is not that it is an event that happens in the future, but that it is something that’s happening right now.

Right now, in this moment --and in the next, you are "in" your black belt test. 

By thinking this way, you can become a person living (more deeply) in the moment, as opposed to preparing for some event far in the future. 

Here’s an example of what I mean: As you read this, I ask you to sit the way you would sit if you were testing for your black belt, right now. Breath the way you would breath. Even adjust your expression to the way you would look as if you were, at this moment, testing for your black belt.

Click to read more ...

I am Reflecting on What I Must Be and Do as a Master Instructor

I want my students to feel a sense of debt to me beyond what they pay in tuition for my lessons and services; so I must demonstrate a sense of debt to my students that goes far beyond what they pay me for my lessons and services. 

When I have a difference of opinion and/or a conflict with a student, I want them to act with dignity and respect. I want them to commit themselves to solving the conflict, regardless of what it is, in a way that not only resolves the problem, but strengthens our friendship and our trust in each other. 

Click to read more ...

Sneak Peek at Coach Tom Callos' Upcoming Book. Chapter One. The Black Belt Test.

Rethinking and Retooling the Rank of Black Belt 

I am suggesting that we (the unofficial leadership of the martial arts “industry”) rethink and, literally, retool the rank of black belt. We need to overhaul the idea of what a black belt is and what one does to achieve the rank.

As I understand it, the idea of “rank” in the martial arts comes, for the most part, from military culture, although the idea is likely nothing more complicated than being human. Recognition of rank or privilege or status, whether it comes from being the toughest, the biggest, or the smartest, is something that we see in the behavior of many species of animals, humans included. 

Nevertheless, I have been told that the idea of colored belts to signify and distinguish rank was something that developed in Jigoro Kano’s (October 1860 – 4 May 1938) time (Kano founded the style known as judo in the late 1800’s). But for this argument, it doesn’t really matter who donned the first black belt.

What matters is what it means today.

Click to read more ...

The UBBT and The New Way Network Become 1, in Pricing, for Team 8

President Obama, the UBBT's Doing it's Part to Stimulate Growth! New Pricing Policy for the UBBT for Team 8. 

In an effort to stimulate participation in both The Ultimate Black Belt Test and the one hundred --and with a tip of the hat to the state of our national economy, I am changing the pricing policy for both the ubbt and the one hundred until the beginning of the ultimate black belt test 8 (which officially begins Jan. 1, 2011 and ends Jan. 2012. 

Anyone who joins the UBBT for test 8 will receive a complimentary 12 month membership in the one hundred without extra fees (a reduction in price of $3000).

Likewise, anyone who joins the one hundred / The New Way Network will receive complimentary membership in the UBBT 8, without additional cost (read: free). 

So, the tuition for the UBBT and the one hundred, from now until Jan 1, 2011 (when the ubbt 8 begins) will cost $3000 instead of the usual $6000. Such a deal.

New STUDENT MEMBERSHIP PRICING:

Every primary UBBT member may invite their own students to participate in the UBBT with them, our new pricing policy charges each student member $10 a month to participate in the national UBBT project.

All memberships require a 12 month agreement to complete the course. 

For more information and/or to enroll, call Tom Callos at 530-903-0286.

Ultimate Black Belt Test Alumni Hal Gustin Joins The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Project

 “Your mission is to design a plan that will produce and distribute enough food to feed the planet over the next century, while ensuring that efficiency and equity are maximized with minimal disruption to the environment.”

Hal Gustin, a working engineer, a graduate of MIT, and part of the coaching alumni of the Ultimate Black Belt Test ---was sent the assignment, above, as a mentor for a project with MIT students. 

Hal writes:

"I’ve been an alumni mentor for 5 years or so, and one of the factors that my getting involved with it originally was my participation in UBBT."

To see details on the project, go here. 

Tom Callos Thanks the Ultimate Black Belt Test

So, I'm 50 years old --and I've had both of my hips replaced (10 years ago) --and numerous other injuries over my almost 40 years of training. The video above, of student and UBBT alumni Scott Provost and I kicking, is --well...it's a testimony to the Ultimate Black Belt Test process. That is, the UBBT gave me a reason to train, to train through and beyond injury, to methodically work on myself, and it make the journey not just a physical one, but something that has made "my life my dojo."

So while, at first glance, the UBBT may appear to be a program for others, it's also been about finding my own path through a very difficult (physically and mentally) part of my career --as I was by all accounts, crippled. 

Thank you to Loren Avedon and Scott Provost for training with me --and for all the UBBT teams, main members and student members, for being my extended training partners and family. I watch this video and would like to be 100 times better, faster, leaner, and more flexible --and at the same time, I recognize that each move is a gift...

If you have stopped training as a teacher, I think you're missing something important. Need motivation? I invite you to join this program --which is nothing, but so much.

Ultimate Black Belt Test and Verbal Judo Blueprint, Chan Lee WORKS IT.

Ultimate Black Belt Test Alumni, Chan Lee and Gary Engels launch VERBAL JUDO Blueprint. 

Part of the Ultimate Black Belt Test philosophy, is to encourage Master Teachers to bring better educational programs to the international martial arts community.

With Verbal Judo, Chan and Gary do exactly what I call "Master's Work."

Ultimate Black Belt Test Thinking, from Tom Callos

In the course of one week I was sent 3 completely awful martial arts demonstrations, on video. 

One was from a "master" who demonstrated a form so embarrassingly bad that I was appalled. Karate and taekwondo and other "arts" have already garnered a terrible reputation in comparison to the practical, fitness-oriented, and effective approach that "mma" has brought to the general public. 

To have a "karate man" then film himself, terribly out of shape, and performing like a novice, well...we can do a LOT better. 

So, in the spirit of not complaining (too much) but doing something positive, I've started a little project called 100 Examples of GOOD / GREAT Martial Arts Videos. You (anyone) may join and then post what you think is a great example of good martial arts. 

If we disagree, we'll let you know (lol). THE PURPOSE of this project is, of course, to show some very fine performances --and to offer some direction to YouTube, etc.). While you're there, take a look at the soon-to-be-released film, Empty Hand. 

Living Small (as a form of self-defense)

As you may already know, each year the members of The Ultimate Black Belt Test and my association, the one hundred, go to Greensboro, Alabama and build and/or renovate a home. 

See the next Alabama Project here (and how about donating $5?).

Samuel Mockbee is a hero of mine, an architect, who applied ideas to his work that fit perfectly within the martial arts. Mockbee was a master of his work the way I seek to be a master of mine. 

Little House on a Small Planet is, to me, a message about looking deeply at the things we consume, at the space we take up, and at not living to pay a mortgage (if you know what I mean). 

It's also about resourcefulness and creativity. As a martial arts master teacher in the making, I keep one eye on the world of architecture because it has so many parallels with the world of "my life is my dojo."

This review is from SMALL HOUSE STYLE. 

Ultimate Black Belt Business Lecture for School Owners and Teachers

the one hundred (also known as The New Way Network) was born out of the UBBT. In this group I work to teach school owners how to manage and promote their schools with ultimate black belt ideas and integrity. The video, here, is an example that kind of coaching:

and here is a very compelling video as to why this is so important. 

200 Homeless Fed for Father's Day. BLack Belt Community Activism from BRIAN WILLIAMS

On Fathers Day Ultimate Black Belt Test Alumni and Think Kindness president Brian Williams partnered with Rite of Passage, an at-risk youth development center based out of Minden Nevada. The students at R.O.P cooked over a hundred pounds of food to distribute to local homeless during fathers day.

Mawi Asgedom, a Man with a Black Belt in Taking Action

I haven't, yet, met Mawi, but it doesn't take very long to look through his stuff to recognize that he's doing some extraordinary work. In fact, he's definitely taking his martial arts out of the dojo and putting it to work in the world. 

While Mawi isn't a member or an alumni of the Ultimate Black Belt Test, he's one fine example to other black belts about how to plan and execute a project (a number of projects) in a black belt fashion. Just look at what he's doing for students AND for teachers. 

Oh, make sure to see Mawi's site called Mental Karate . Com

I wrote him a while back and we reconnected today --and as a result, I found this black belt thinking video on his blog. If you're a martial arts teacher --or will be someday, I offer you this idea:

Someday you will use short films, like the one below, to help you teach your students valuable lessons in character, in creative thinking, in self-discipline, and any number of other things that go hand-in-hand with the martial arts --and with life. 

Mawi, THANK YOU.

Ultimate Black Belt Test Alumni Brian Williams Builds Squarefoot Gardens with Alice Taylor School

Brian Williams of ThinkKindness.org builds respect for the martial arts teacher as he engages his community, Reno / Sparks, Nevada, in acts of kindness and community activism. Here he inspires kids and teachers at Alice Taylor Elementary in Sparks / Spanish Springs, Nevada. 

Go Brian! 

Ultimate Black Belt Test Teaching Skills. How to Prepare.

This morning I'm preparing to teach 4 classes at the school of George Fujii in Gardnerville, NV.

George became my student about 30 years ago --and has maintained steady practice since that time. He's a very fine teacher and athlete. 

So, what do I teach in my hourlong classes? How do I prepare?

Click to read more ...

Planting Trees, With Students, with Ultimate Black Belt Test Spirit (Go Gary Engels!)

1 Tree For Every Student At Leadership Academy from Gary Engels on Vimeo.

Master Teacher Gary Engels of Woodruff, WI, an Ultimate Black Belt Test graduate, is helping to shift not only the thinking ()about self-defense and the martial arts) of his own students and community ---but in the international martial arts community. Gary helps me with the one hundred ---and helps his students take their martial arts out of the dojo --and into the world.

See Gary's website here: http://www.leadershipacademymartialarts.com/

Living Like a Champion, Ultimate Black Belt Test's Kahnawake Survival School Rocks!

The Live Like a Champion team members at the Kahnawake Survival School are now mentoring younger kids in a pilot program based on their own. 

Do these guys/gals know how to get it going or what!??

Thanks to writer Greg Horn for the coverage. See the news-piece here. 

Eight students from Kateri School are taking on the challenge that a group of Kahnawake Survival School students have been doing since January 1. These Grade 6 Kateri students are joining the Living Like a Champion Project until the first week of May as Junior Champions.

Go here for the rest of the story.

Students of Edmonton (Canada) MMA Take an Ultimate Black Belt Test Approach to Community Litter Problem

Tabitha Rossman of the Ultimate Black Belt Test / Live Like a Champion Project from Edmonton MMA, wrote the following journal entry today: 

This weekend was the kick off of a summer long clean up around the MMA School.

Well … I opened a can of worms!

Our school is in an area of our city called Whyte Avenue. Its full of bustling shops, restaurants, nightclubs, coffee shops and is always packed with people walking around. Because of this it draws many homeless people to our area. While most of them keep to themselves and cause us no problems, the alley BEHIND our school is en route to the bottle depot. And is on our block clean up route.  

I have never in my life seen so many cigarette butts, bottle caps, smashed glass, old clothes and human waste than I did in that alley. It was FILLED with piles and piles of junk. We found a corner where it appears the entire homeless community does their ‘business’ there.

We just brushed the surface this week. I thought more would volunteer (what with it being such a FUN AND AWESOME JOB AND ALL) but I only had Steve, Bec and Master W on my side. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

We have a pretty dirty job in front of us, but I think it will do a lot of improvement to the area. People were giving us all kinds of looks, and I like to think we may inspire others. A homeless gentleman even said “Thank you, good job” Maybe he will inspire his friends to litter less.

Tabitha, first --thank you --both to you and your team for DOING something --and for representing the UBBT. The work you do could expand to placing trash cans in key areas? For getting sponsorship for hip signs put up to point them out? Getting local school kids involved?

Anyway --love the work --and you should know, this kind of activity is new for martial arts schools..but needed, yes?