For this address,
I would like to review Association activities in 2003.
Each year, all black belts must register with C&S Self Defense Association headquarters. This membership is then posted to the website to ensure that only qualified black belts and approved programs can list themselves as members of C&S.
2003 has seen some dramatic events in our Association's growth. It was my great honor to promote David Landers of the Storm Dragon Dojos, Effingham, Illinois to the rank of 7th Degree Black Belt and to grant him the title of Grandmaster. Grandmaster Landers has been a student of mine since, well… it's been so long we're not really sure and he's not saying! But we think it has been since 1970. His accomplishments are far better detailed on his Association biography page.
The Board of Directors also promoted Bruce Vinciguerra of the Somersworth School of Self Defense to the rank of 5th Degree Black Belt, which is Master rank. Please see Master Vinciguerra's biography page. This is significant as this is the first Master level promotion we have had in our association since 1994! Master level promotions are made by the Board of Directors. You have to be very very very good to earn the joint respect of the Board to be awarded this title. Though Master Vinciguerra will continue to be a disciple of Grandmaster Dusenbery, his promotion entitles him to create a new leg for our association. Master Vinciguerra must now formally create, become, and present his animal form to the Board for approval. His Master's title and leg will then carry this name.
We are strengthened by the 4th Degree Black Belts training with us, several of whom are actively pursuing their 5th Degree Master level promotion. This group recently welcomed Tim Shafer of the Okinawan Karate Club, Fort Collins, CO into their membership.
Our association now consists of 17 programs and 27 black belt leaders. It is great to see how our membership enrollment is widely dispersed among so many different talented program directors. This builds true strength. Some large karate schools might have as many members as our association, but many of them are all thinking the same things, doing the same things, saying the same things. We, on the other hand, have the benefit of 17 different views, teaching processes, research work, etc. This is so exciting. What's even better is that we all like each other and are thus motivated to communicate among ourselves sharing new ideas and thoughts. Change is ever present. But change itself is not important if it is just change for change sake. When we change, it is based on everyone in the association trying something that perhaps one program introduces and then agreeing that it's introduction into our general curriculum would be of benefit to all.
Foundationing all of this is our C&S Self Defense Association Core. The Core consists of that material the Board of Directors has determined as required at not only different promotion levels, but also from a program structure standpoint. Things such as the Basics, report topics for different levels, time in grade between promotions, etc. is all central to binding us together to fulfill the goals I originally set out for a small group of my followers back in the early 1970s for their benefit in their training in our art.
As you are all aware, the Board of Directors has undertaken an extensive review and re-structuring of parts of the Core to meet the needs of our association. Our previous core material was beneficial in a more vertically structured association, i.e. 1 or 2 major legs which then reach vertically downward many levels. However, we have found so many very talented individuals below the initial layer of hierarchy, that we saw that the only way to not only allow these individuals to flourish but also to be recognized for their interests and specific expertise was to reduce core restrictions rather than to try to bind them in with more restrictions as many associations do.
Our newly developing Core opens up the possibilities of study not only for the leaders of the association but right down to the individual program level. The new Core is designed to work with a more horizontal organizational structure giving more responsibility to leaders all the way down the vertical structure. Program Directors are now given so much more latitude in determining what is best for their particular mix of students. Thus, you will find some programs very traditional in their presentation of our art - perhaps with more of an emphasis on some of the old traditional training methods. Other programs can be found that structure their curriculum in more of a business or company organizational manner, while others may opt to specialize in weapons, tournaments, grappling, etc. But all follow the Core.
Grandmaster Paul Dusenbery recognized the need for these changes years ago. He began testing his theories within his Tiger line and kept me abreast of his findings. In many places, his suggestions and changes provided a clear view of where weaknesses in the original vertical structure existed. His work has led to the creation of a world class educational curriculum for the black belt levels. This effort was then used as a base for me to rework some of the under black belt level structure. I wanted to be sure that this structure would better interface with the new more open black belt and program level core requirements. I also worked with Grandmaster David Landers in better defining overall association guidelines. We wanted to be sure that the Core would benefit students of all educational, social, and interest levels. A structure that was only geared for 35 year old professional engineers or 12 year old after school programs was not what we wanted. We wanted a core that would provide a strong framework for growth for all students. The Masters of the different legs - and even individual Program Directors - could then structure their own programs to fit the needs of their students and yet be part of the strength that an association membership can provide.
I am proud to say that we have accomplished all of this. I am sure that as you advance and are presented with the different challenges that we have designed each rank to have that you will be most pleased. But bear in mind that underlying all of this is our study of a warrior art, an art that is for the defense of "ourselves, our loved ones, and the weak" as our Code of Ethics states so clearly. Our art is a martial art. It is unforgiving for weakness, whining, or those who do not do the work. It is not easy. I will not make it easy. I will make it as tough as I can because you deserve that. You deserve to be the best that you can be. I will expect no less, but I will expect no more.
Only you can be what you want to be. All I can do - all the Association can do - is provide for you a road map to succeed as a martial art. This road map is made easier because we try to show you how to uncover the root truths of Nature for yourself. But it will require effort on your part. Our art teaches us that without a passion in life, without a need to do something: there is no life; only existence. A cabbage exists but a human is meant to live! Yes, the road map that we have laid out for you - and which has now been made more accessible by the changes to our Core - is a way for you to alter the way that you think so that you can change who you are into who you would like to become, for you are product of the way that you think. Think positively and good things will happen. True, you cannot avoid all of the bad, but by putting it all into context with an understanding of the process of Nature itself around you, you can succeed where others only fail or do not even try.
It is not easy because it requires you to not only work, but to look inside of yourselves, to "know oneself", as Lao Tzu says. This can be scary. It is scary. But well worth the effort that you put into your studies. And as you go through this process - our Core - give us your feedback. Sometimes, things which appear quite evident to us are not so clear to others. The way that we have been able to improve our curriculum over all these years is by having feedback from our members.
And this does not mean just black belt members. We want to hear from all of you! Though you may be a Yellow Belt in karate you have other knowledge and life skills we could all benefit from. Share that with us as we share our art with you.
Thank you all for your participation and commitment to your training. I wish you the best in the coming years and hope to have a long personal relationship with each of you.
In our art,
Grandmaster
Grandmaster Peter M. Rose
