[Gazelle]

Originally Posted by dscott

I take it you've never been to Boston, MA or heard someone from Boston??? That's why I said it was pathetic, because only a few would get it.

No, the only place in the US i've been to is Florida, curtesy of my grandparents.

[graham1]

Gazelle

Have you ever heard Loyd Grossman speaking on TV? He's from Boston.

[Gazelle]

Who's Loyd Grossman?

[graham1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyd_Grossman

[Gazelle]

Thanks

[ex-tyga]

Hi All,

I just wanted to post my experiences about Ty-Ga Karate and Gary Wasniewski in response to an earlier post.
Ty-Ga Karate is named after the two brothers who started the Style/Organisation, namely TYrone & GAry Wasniewski. The sounding of Ty-Ga is of course like Tiger and Gary even has a Tiger (the animal!) tattoo on his arm. Both brothers are proud Londoners - not Scottish.
It is based on Wado-Ryu Karate. When I was a student many years ago the original badge was the Dove Fist logo of Wado. I know of no connection to Lau Gar other than occasionally competing against that style in semi-contact Karate tournaments.
The Katas I learnt were the basic Pinans (nidan, shodan, sandan, yondan & godan) but some time later G. Wasniewski dropped the pinan prefix in favour of Ty-Ga (nidan, etc..).
Tyrone Wasniewski left Ty-Ga some 15+ years ago to form his own style TYKI (TYrone + KI, Japanes for Chi - inner power) which is based on Full Contact, Muay Thai and grappling and more geared to "reality" combat than TMA. He runs a smaller club that is, I assume, now affiliated to Ty-Ga as there is a link on the TY-Ga nternational website.
As far as any doubts over international links or being "Worldwide":
I remember a Black Belt called Trevor Joseph who went to Japan to open a Ty-Ga dojo, i believe that the school is still open, at least T. Joseph is still listed on the Website (but still only 2nd Dan after 20 years?) but I cannot verify this.
There were 2 BB brothers from Czechoslovakia (before that country split in 2!) who went home and opened a Ty-Ga club. I am not sure if the the club still exists in either Czech Republic OR Slovakia if at all.
As far as I can tell the Dojos in the US are run by "representatives" who are not actually graded in the style but may have done some seminars. They are of course Graded in other similar styles.

I could go on (I believe I already have :P ) but I will post again later when I have more time - also I will use a post I put up on another site.

OSS

[ex-tyga]

Hi All

I just wanted to add some info on Gary Wasniewski's Ty-Ga Karate (If anyone was still interested!) and his Dan gradings.
The last physical GRADING he took was 5th Dan sometime in 1989 if I recall correctly. I was told by Gary Wasniewski (UK only?) that after that ALL grades (6, 7, 8 etc. Dans) are AWARDED on merit/devotion to the Arts and no further grading or physical testing is required. 6th Dan was awarded to him in 1996/7(?) and the last OFFICAL grading he was awarded was 7th Dan.
ALL those grades were/are recognized from various official English Karate Bodies such as EKC EKB MAC etc. (some of the no longer active, but at the time were "The Management") and I was told (by GW again!) the corresponding Japanese groups would recognize them as well.
From about 2003 Ty-Ga's promotional material had him as a "7th/10th Dan" Shihan (some indecision over whether to go all out with his own Grand Mastership?) and now he is of course 10th Dan according to World Head of Family Sokeship Council!
This "organization" will recognize you for a humble fee to be a Soke (Grand Master) in your OWN style as long as you recognize ALL of them (everybody who joins the WHFSC) as Sokes (10th Dan GM) as well, cue lots of back slapping, self congratulating and traveling the Globe to give seminars to each other (another requirement) for a small profit, I notice some of the more modest members only give themselves a 9th Dan (perhaps waiting for Christmas?) while still being a Grand Master in their own style.
It is a Wado based style - (the original Logo included the Dove-Fist symbol) that renamed the Pinan Katas Nidan, Shodan etc. to Ty-Ga Nidan, Ty-Ga Shodan to further distance itself from Wado-Ryu in the Early 90's, all Katas are done at full speed and power.
Any claims of Dan gradings in "other" styles are based upon being recognized by similar striking styles and not a profound knowledge of Kata or other techniques and methods.
Gary Wasniewski was a successful competition Karate fighter in the late 1970's - early '80's in Semi-contact WUKO stuff, known for his kicking ability. Ticky Donovan could attest to that.
Which brings me to Wayne Otto and Geoff Thomson (shaolinsoke mentioned them earlier) BOTH excellent competition Karate-Ka who came on the English scene later.
The 10K clash competition featured Ty-Ga Karate National Kumite Team Coach Tony Leslie 5th Dan (the Ty-Ga website has him training for 21 years but 1989/90 is when I remember him joining) himself a 5 times Ty-Ga national champion - he was Beaten by Scottish Karate-man Scott Gemmell 8-0.
elementkid mentioned TKD, which is apt as Ty-Ga prides itself on Kicking ability, although high kicking is utilized more than jumping/flying kicks. Traditional Karate-Ka will also compare the 2 styles by saying they have no "core" and are sport orientated.
I could ramble on for several more paragraphs, my initial reason for writing was to post some facts on Ty-Ga Karate. I take nothing away from Sensei (how I knew him) Gary Wasniewski's abilities as a Karate-Ka. His kicks are very fast and powerful. He was an inspirational teacher when I trained under him for a number of years (a long time ago) and a decent human being.
As for Dan Gradings, the man I first met in 1986 was seemingly happy to be called "Gary" by all his students. It was sometime in 1988 he made a point of instructing senior students to call him Sensei.

Oss

[graham1]

Hello ex-tyga

The reference I made to Tyga being weighted between Wado-Ryu & Lau Gar was, I admit, a poorly written one. I meant the reference to how the technique looks in execution rather than being the roots of those techniques - but then it was up to me to properly express that in the first place! I'm sorry about that.