Posted by: BrianS
Old training days and a great instructor - 12/09/05 03:42 AM
Here's a story of a day of training with David Syfert(4thdan)
Mr.Syfert was all goju,but he was hard more than soft,the other instructor complimented the soft.
We would go to Davids house two or three times a week to train and it was alwasy brutal. We started out with a few minutes of stretching,then on to the workout. We would do shiko-dachi(horse stance)as well as many other basics up and down his 1/2 mile driveway for a long while. All the while we were being corrected on our stance,angles,foot and body position,etc..
Then we would run two miles (with Mr.Syfert leaving us behind) to the high school football field. There we would do sprints up and down the bleachers,sometimes on out feet,sometimes on our knuckles. We would run around the track a few times and then on to basics for a while. During basics there were always plenty of knuckle pushups to do. Mr.Syfert had a dry but funny sense of humor and we weren't allowed to laugh at his antics. He would make little piles of gravel for our knuckles,push down on us while we were in a stance,etc..
After a few more training rituals we would run back to his house for sparring(yeah,I was dead tired). Seems like alot of knuckle push-ups and situps found their way into that mix as well.lol!! He would do the counting and reprimanding and we would say "YES SIR" in cadence. Seems like he was a terrible counter as well. "What number was I on Mr.Stone?" ..um 32 sir? "No,ONE!" ..yes sir.. It was always one I found out (I'm a slow learner!) There was always blood letting and puking from someone in class(usually me),but it was a great feeling afterwards,always.
David Syfert died of lung cancer in 1998. He was as good instructor as there ever was. I will remember him fondly as that and a good friend as well.Our school still does 25 "Syfert hops" at the end of every class and his space on the certificates will always remain blank.
Just thought I'd share with you some memories of some good goju training.
Mr.Syfert was all goju,but he was hard more than soft,the other instructor complimented the soft.
We would go to Davids house two or three times a week to train and it was alwasy brutal. We started out with a few minutes of stretching,then on to the workout. We would do shiko-dachi(horse stance)as well as many other basics up and down his 1/2 mile driveway for a long while. All the while we were being corrected on our stance,angles,foot and body position,etc..
Then we would run two miles (with Mr.Syfert leaving us behind) to the high school football field. There we would do sprints up and down the bleachers,sometimes on out feet,sometimes on our knuckles. We would run around the track a few times and then on to basics for a while. During basics there were always plenty of knuckle pushups to do. Mr.Syfert had a dry but funny sense of humor and we weren't allowed to laugh at his antics. He would make little piles of gravel for our knuckles,push down on us while we were in a stance,etc..
After a few more training rituals we would run back to his house for sparring(yeah,I was dead tired). Seems like alot of knuckle push-ups and situps found their way into that mix as well.lol!! He would do the counting and reprimanding and we would say "YES SIR" in cadence. Seems like he was a terrible counter as well. "What number was I on Mr.Stone?" ..um 32 sir? "No,ONE!" ..yes sir.. It was always one I found out (I'm a slow learner!) There was always blood letting and puking from someone in class(usually me),but it was a great feeling afterwards,always.
David Syfert died of lung cancer in 1998. He was as good instructor as there ever was. I will remember him fondly as that and a good friend as well.Our school still does 25 "Syfert hops" at the end of every class and his space on the certificates will always remain blank.
Just thought I'd share with you some memories of some good goju training.