I remember when I was a kid. Me and my friends (especially me) thought ninjas were the absolute coolest thing. We used to play this game called "Ninja Mission" where we would stalk the town in a very stealthy manner throwing eggs at random houses like shurikens and breaking stuff. Very similar to a game me and another friend played called "Smash" aka "Tippy Tipp" Little did we know that there was a strong Ninjutsu following being born in East Islip through Shin Shin Dojo.
One evening i recall quite well. We were out on the prowl one late Saturday evening. We saw this nicely decorated white house. As we stood there plotting our plan of attack. Out of nowhere a man came out from the side of his house and looked at us all standing out in the middle of the street looking very suspicious. He calmly greeted us and said "How's it going guys?" with a smile. I was pretty shocked, i was expecting to get chased or atttacked. I did not know what to make of this. Here we are standing in front of his house armed to the teeth with eggs and toilet paper etc. etc. and that was all he had to say to us!? He asked us what we were doing out so late. Of course we just pretended to be out minding our own business, a group of 20 teenagers going out for a very casual and brisk evening stroll....You know, because we are like all about spending quality time like that with each other. I knew he didn't buy that for a second. But what else was there to say? He then approached us and introduced himself to us. Told us his name was Frank and he ran a dojo on main street by the name of Shin Shin. He told us we were welcome to stop by anytime and check out the school. Told us a little bit about Ninjutsu then returned to his home. We were pretty amazed to know that real Ninpo was still alive and available to us in our own hometown.
We decided to abort the mission out of courtesy. We did not plan on crossing paths with an actual practitioner of traditional Ninjutsu. At the time i did not take him up on his offer for training. I got kicked out of school for picking a fight with a teacher and got shipped away to some horrible boarding school. when i turned 18 i signed myself out and returned to Long Island. soon after at the age of 19 i saw an ad in the paper for a martial arts achool called Long Island Ninjutsu. After speaking on the phone with Sensei Frank i soon recalled the night me and my friends almost egged his house on what we liked to call "Official Ninja Business" remembering how well he handled the situation, and my own need for something spiritual in my life. I decided to join Shin Shin Dojo and now this man is my Teacher. I owe alot to Sensei Frank and all of my teachers. I like to be somewhere where i can be acknowledged for my strength. It makes me feel good about myself. I havent gotten into trouble in almost 3 years. I would definately say that alone is proof that Ninjutsu has had positive benefits on my life. In alot of ways it was the only thing that kept me alive through the struggles in my own life i was going through at the time i joined. That is something most people do not know about me.
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