by Bill Handren

 “Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.”.....Bill Cosby

Fort Sill.  The rocky foothills of Oklahoma.  Geronimo was a prisoner of war here.  Home to rattlesnakes, scorpions, and the site for USAF Combat Survival School. It was the last two days of the course: SERE.  Survival, Escape, Resistance and Evasion.  Not a fun time.  The goal of SERE was to avoid capture, but the cards were stacked against the teams. We were given pre-determined checkpoints which we had to reach without being captured and we had to make the checkpoints by a certain time.  But, no one ever made it to all the checkpoints.  Our team did pretty well, being the last team captured.  Now, it was off to the concentration camp to be interrogated.

by Rich Stamper

The Character of Goju-Ryu
Kata Implications for Experienced Practitioners

Chapter 14: Age Uke

I suspect that the first karate movement you learned was age uke - rising block.  And if it was not the first technique, then one of the first group you learned.  You have most likely practiced it every class for many years.  You can most likely do an excellent rising block.  Good for you.

How often do you use rising block when sparring?  Seldom? Never?  How come boxers don't use rising block?  If it's a good block, seems like boxers would use it.