Newbie Question #2 (and an update)

[Phorest]

Alright, here goes.
i just found out that the one college that teaches Kendo near me no longer has a Kendo club, as "most of its members graduated last year"...according to the person I emailed at the school.

So that pretty much leaves me out in the cold so to speak. I really, really want to learn Kendo...but have nobody nearby to teach me.

How stupid/pointless would it be to order a shinai and a Kendo video and try to teach myself some of the basics, in hopes that I can officially take Kendo sometime in the future? Is this practical...or just another dumb idea?

[David J]

Only slightly pointless....;)

Like most martial arts, I dont think you "get" a lot of what's going on without doing it for real, with real people. Its not quite as bad as trying to learn Kung Fu from a book, but not much better.

The danger as I see it is the "Practice doesnt make Perfect, it makes Permanent". If you do lots of practice incorrectly it gets very hard to un-learn it later....

Perhaps if you at least travelled to find a dojo even if you visited only occasionally, you could maybe find someone to practice with. And what happened to all the Japanese students? What if some are still in the area? You could always put up a card at the college....

Not ideal I know....but dont give up yet.

<rei>

Dave

[Phorest]

I figure there is at least *someone* still there that knows Kendo, but I don't know whether they could A) Teach me the basics B) Be available to spar with.

Do you think its possible to learn from just one person, and not a whole club?

[Haowen]

Hi Phorest,

Did you get my personal message? I think you're geographically somewhat close to where I am (Pittsburgh).

[Phorest]

Ah, I hadn't checked them until I read this. Thanks for the info Haowen!