Hello to all. My name is Jason and as you can gather from the subject line, I'm from Tennessee. I am a TaeKwonDo practitioner and have been since 1985. I can't recall how I "discovered" Uechi-Ryu but its been a rather recent discovery and I've been fascinated by it since. I would very much like the opportunity to study Uechi-Ryu; however, there are no schools that I'm aware of in my general area.
Its been an observation of mine that some students of a particular style who venture into another, seem to be very critical of their "new" style/school in favor of their parent style. I can honestly say that I feel truly drawn to the Uechi-ryu system, having never taken the first lesson but from reading and observations I've been fortunate enough to see of Uechi-Ryu, I would place Uechi-Ryu LIGHT YEARS ahead of the TKD (or any style for that matter) in its effectiveness both as a combative form and as an art for personal development. The Sanchin kata is just awesome. A person could practice ONLY that kata and have a lifetime's worth of work.
I truly envy those of you fortunate enough to be Uechi-Ryu practitioners and students. I believe you all have something truly, truly special. Thank you for allowing me to become a member of your community here.