![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/27\/2021\/10\/Sensei-Rick-McGibbon-wearing-the-Black-Belt-668x1024.jpg\")
<\/a>Sensei Rick McGibbon wearing the Black Belt.<\/p><\/div>\n
Shotokan is a Hard-Style, originating from Japan. \u201cHard-Style means movements, strikes, blocks, kicks. It\u2019s pretty linear and straight rather than Kungfu, which is circular,\u201d Rick said. \u201cOur organization has dojos in 108 countries around the world, including one in Antarctica,\u201d Rick said. \u201cI would say there are roughly around a million and a half students as of today.\u201d He has been at it for 41 years, training in these types of martial arts defense forms. He has gained much from it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To Rick it can be a form of protection for himself and those around him \u201cI see it as a self-defense style, only used in defense, not in aggression,\u201d he said. The mind is also benefiting. \u201cIt is all about the body and mind working together as a unit in control of your body\u2019s actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rick relies less on his speed and more on his mind looking for what is to come next. \u201cBecause of training, I generally know what you are going to throw before you throw it. I\u2019m not faster than I was in my twenties. But when I see the shoulder move a bit, it\u2019s a punch coming. When I was younger, I did not always see the punch coming. I had to be fast, or I would get hit,\u201d Rick said \u201cAs you get older, your karate changes and becomes more in-depth. You don\u2019t need the things that break down with age because your training will support you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martial arts have been well known to improve balance, mobility, stamina, agility, flexibility, endurance, strength, coordination, etc. The physical benefits go on. \u201cOne guy came up to me and said, \u2018I’m 61. Am I too old to start karate?\u2019 Well, no. Whatever you want to put into it is what you get out of it. And he got what he wanted out of it. It was great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rick became a sensei when he discovered his teaching ability to transmit things he learns to someone else. \u201cRick is always willing to work with people. He\u2019s a problem-solver. And he wants to see others achieve. You can tell it makes him happy to see you achieve,\u201d Kate Gray, a student that\u2019s been learning from Rick for about four years, said.<\/p>\n
Rick still considers himself to be a student, practicing and learning among many other students. He claims that he is still far from his goal. \u201cI always tell people the goal is to be the perfect grandmaster, with the realization that it is never going to happen. In Karate, the goal is irrelevant. It\u2019s the path taken. If we look for perfection in martial arts, it\u2019s comparable to a star in the heavens. We shoot for it every day. Every class, we strive to be a little bit better than we were, knowing we will never reach the goal. I have been at it 41 years. I am never going to reach the goal,\u201d Rick said.<\/p>\n
Everyone as a child is sure to fail in something. But Rick has eliminated the achievement of perfection, so it is OK to fail. \u201cIt\u2019s how you learn,\u201d Rick said. He proudly presents his black belt of traditional Shotokan Karate with honor and confidence. What he gets from training is worth so much more than the goal. \u201cIn martial arts, you are capable of whatever you want to be capable of. You get back your confidence,\u201d Rick said.<\/p>\n
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Often growing up, people are faced with challenges that are unbeatable, bullies who are unfightable or obstacles that are impassable. Failure is unavoidable and from an early age, children can feel a wave of their confidence slipping. \u201cSomebody\u2019s always told you growing up that you’re stupid, lazy, ugly, and if you hear it enough, you’ll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8239,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6795\/revisions\/8239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}