LLLEARNER

I will, thanks.

I did see a sports duffle bag made out of an old pink BJJ gi. It was cool. I think the sleeves were made into the side pockets.

First, I want to apologize for not being around more for the past couple of months. My life has changed. I graduated in December with a double major in Managerial Accounting and Finance. I started a new job as an Accountant about a month ago. I went from an evening job working every weekend to Monday through Friday 8-5. How do normal people work these hours? I am still in Karate with my daughter, and I started BJJ 2 nights a week. I am saving for my CPA study course. I will endeavor to keep involved in the forums.

Yes, organizations have guidelines. Fall outside those guidelines, you do risk your standing with the organization. Pizza delivery guys regularly get fired for defending themselves from violence in the workplace. However, that is an employer decision. Remember, guidelines are NOT laws. For example, a nurse gets fired from a job for using force, but faces no legal consequences, because she acted within the confines of the LAW. LAW is always superior to employer POLICIES and GUIDELINES. The actual instances of workplace violence in healthcare would shock you. The study of violence in healthcare receives very little funding and much of it goes unreported. Combine that with administrations desire to relieve financial liability, and you have unrealistic goals and expectations with people paying the price physically. Healthcare, because of its nature, attracts many caring people who want to truly help people. Many of these people cannot fathom the idea of a person wanting to hit, bite, scratch, stab, kick, punch, spit on or throw excrement on someone else. Because of their training and caring natures, they tend to see this person as sick, therefore they do not consider them culpable for their actions. They have little to no training as to what a crime actually is, unless it involves HIPPA, therefore often cannot connect the dots from the offender's actions to the crime. I know of a forensic (violent psych, sometimes with violent criminal histories) that will absolutely not let a staff member defend themselves in any way shape or form. A nurse was caught by the hair and swung like a mop against the walls. She had major medical problems after. Still, no response concerning the safety of their employees. In my mind, an employer who does not concern itself with the safety of its employees has no legitimate moral or ethical standing to make rules affecting the safety of the employees. If that nurse had fought back, or other staff defended her they would have been fired. Maybe not for that action, but for some other minor infraction, for legal liability. If she had also fought back or other staff defended her, there probably would have been no legal action taken against them by people who enforce actual laws. Legally speaking she faced the possibility of serious bodily harm or death. In my experience, many active shooter programs are designed and selected for the employer's benefit, rather than the employee's benefit. They are designed and selected to reduce financial liability for the employer, not the continued life of the employee, particularly among the education and healthcare industries. Absolutely, they should induce stress, and more importantly cause purposeful thought leading to pre-decisions through game playing. The application of stress in a controlled environment combined with scenario-based responses would be similar to a football teams playbook. Deciding how the team or individual will function before having to function has been proven to improve on-field performance. Mental conditioning exercises also have benefits in reducing the impact of PTSD. Most of our culture has had an easy life compared to historical norms. The natural state of man over the past millennia has been a state of conflict or war. What we currently experience is the aberration. This group here has excess time to study ways of conflict as a hobby, not a necessity.

"Stomp the groin" Then re-stomp the groin.

It is O.K. Well, it is not a heinous crime to want to transfer to a new dojo but it is highly uncourteous if you do it unless you are moving to somewhere else or just because you don't like the club and say it to the Sensei. All instructors know each other in a city and they wouldn't accept you if you do not follow the procedures properly. Our National Karate Federation is a government agency and every karateka has to be registered to enter the exams, competitions, etc. There is no problem with starting a new style from the beginning as a white belt, but if you wish to continue with your previous style, unfortunately, these are the rules :/ But, as I said, there are no other Shotokan clubs that I can attend and "fit my taste", so I am thinking about trying out Kyokushin a bit. Together with other reasons, I've lost my ability to even touch my opponents in the last few years, because I always pair up with people -how to say- "less tough" than me, like 16-year-old kids or delicate ladies and I am afraid of hurting them in any way. I have no words for government control of people's recreational activities. You have somewhat limited options within the structure you have to follow. All I can try to advise in your situation is that you seem to be starting a new style, so the payoff to your current organization seems to irrelevant. Unless the authorities definition of style limits itself to "karate" without considering shotokan, goju-ryu, kyokushin as different styles. I would look into how they define style. Do they group styles by family, Japanese, Chinese, Korean or Karate, Kung Fu, Taekwondo, Jujutsu, Jiu-jitsu, etc? Being a government agency whose interest is largely financial, I bet they have their bases covered.

The answer to all of life's questions in regards to when to start improving yourself is YESTERDAY. Start now. If you wait until your ideal perfect time, it will never come. The same for sparring. Start on day 1 should the opportunity present itself. It helps give you an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. A good club will not abuse you. They will understand you are new and do not know much yet. Besides, you can always end the match by backing out.

The transfer process goes like this in my country: you pay some money to your previous Sensei, s/he gives you that reference thing if s/he is O.K. with your leaving the club, and only then can you become a member of a new club. Well, actually, this is good advice, thanks, LLLEARNER I regularly practice karate at least once a week. I think I'm a bit afraid of forgetting and losing everything I have practiced and learned so far, and never being able to return and continue from where I have left. I have never taken a break from karate since I started ten years ago -except a three-month-period when I broke a limb, and another period because of a nastier injury. But anyway, taking at least a few months off would really help me make up my mind. I have recently discovered a Kyokushin karate club and joined one session, and I think what they practice is closer to what I want to learn. Maybe I should go talk to that Sensei to let me in for some time and get to know their style better. Karate and judo are similar in some respects, as far as I know, too, but in my karate club, we never practiced judo techniques. You do not have to think about what a technique is for or whether it is useful that way, even if you sacrifice the correct technique for showing off and looking flashy in kata. I have little knowledge of how techniques in kata can be used against actual opponents. Judo, however, is much more realistic in that sense. So you can’t leave one club and join another without the original club’s owner’s written permission? That could quite possibly be the most absurd thing I’ve heard in the martial arts, and I’ve heard some pretty crazy stuff. I’m not saying you’re misinformed, as I don’t know where you live and train, I’m just saying that that policy is pretty crazy. It’s one thing if you’re transferring from one club to another club within an organization, ie transferring from the NYC branch of Joe’s Karate School to the Los Angeles branch of Joe’s Karate School. While I wouldn’t completely agree with it, I could see that being done for paperwork, rank, and instructors in the same organization not competing with each other and stuff like that. But to leave a school and start somewhere else entirely? It’s mind boggling to me. Are you sure this is an official policy, like a legal policy that’s applicable to all MA schools in your country, or is this something you’ve heard that could be urban legend? Kind of like the urban legend here in the US that black belts must register their hands and feet as lethal weapons with their local police department. It’s pure nonsense, but people still actually believe it. I’d check with an independent party to make sure it’s an actual policy and not something people have made up to keep students from leaving. I agree. Absolute nonsense! I think that this is a misconception of an introduction letter within the same organization. You don't have to pay money, it's not a necessity, nor does it keep you from joining another school in another town/city/state/country. It's a courtesy and nothing more. Instructors will write a letter of introduction to make the transition easier and establish the students credentials. It basically states that they are a student of yours, they trained for "x" years, hold the grade of "x" and are in good standing with the organization, and your contact information should other information be needed. It's not needed nor is it a requirement for either the student or instructor. It's a courtesy and nothing more. No one forces this nor does it keep the student from joining another school. Outside of an organization... Absolute nonsense! Sounds to me like a way to get a few more dollars out of the student before they leave. I wouldn't pay a dime. Unfortunately, this is a requirement in my country -probably a precaution because instructors do not like losing their successful students after spending so much time and effort on them, when they are offered better training conditions and stuff. There is even a list of fees on the official website of our national karate federation, for the amount you need to pay to transfer to other clubs, and this amount skyrockets if you represented your country in competitions and got medals. Fortunately, I am a mere karateka with no medals but I do not want to pay this still huge amount of money to my instructor, either-nearly equal to what I pay in one year to him. Actually, there is no other Shotokan club in my city that I can attend and offers better training, so what I have in mind is quit it rather than transfer to somewhere else. I am just trying to understand the process so please forgive the questions. What country do you live in> The government that makes and enforces laws against murder for instance (not the karate organization) only allows you to be a member of 1 MA organization? What is the legal punishment for not getting an approval letter? Jail, fines? Your National Karate Federation is a government agency? Not a private organization? If it is a private organization, do they just withhold your records if you try to transfer? If you are switching styles why does that even matter? You should start at the beginning (white belt) anyway.

Asteroids

"For me to be able to go to somewhere else, I need to take a reference letter kind of thing from him. " Why do you need a letter? Also, you may not have to give up on karate. You can still attend seminars or maybe do some drop-ins a couple times a month with Sensei's who focus on the art itself and self-defense. You can still work your katas at home. Karate and Judo complement each other very well, in my opinion at least. Even in the few katas I know I have been able to see applications into Judo throws.

Do you really mean to say that when we join an organization we play by their rules? That we should not expect an entire organization to cater to our whim when they see just how special we are?

Congrats

Wow! I am sorry to hear that. I know you have been with them for nearly your entire life and I could always tell that you loved what you could do for the good of the organization and its students. I hope that this does not impact your passion for your students wherever your future lies.

I don't think so. His organization, his rules. As an adult, I find the idea of constant rewards for achievements to be unnecessary. The reward is in the doing, learning and self-improvement. I would not care if my Sensei did away with belts altogether. I am not doing this for a belt. I admit sometimes it can be nice to see the physical results of achievement, but then I remind myself that the achievement should be internal self-improvement, not the adornment of a uniform. Occasionally, I also find the belt system to be a hindrance. It is too easy to settle at a level, and not continuously improve. I kind of like that as a rule for life in general. That being said... Kids often cannot internalize that thought process, and depend on the physical reminder. By the time they hit mid-teens, they should start to understand the difference between the internal growth and external displays. However... I don't think he was wrong. His organization, his rules.

Remember the advice of Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke... "The material and moral consequences of every major battle are so far-reaching that they usually bring about a completely altered situation, a new basis for the adoption of new measures. One cannot be at all sure that any operational plan will survive the first encounter with the main body of the enemy. Only a layman could suppose that the development of a campaign represents the strict application of a prior concept that has been worked out in every detail and followed through to the very end." "Certainly the commander in chief will keep his great objective continuously in mind, undisturbed by the vicissitudes of events. But the path on which he hopes to reach it can never be firmly established in advance. Through the campaign, he must make a series of decisions on the basis of situations that cannot be foreseen. The successive acts of war are thus not premeditated designs, but on the contrary are spontaneous acts guided by military measures. Everything depends on penetration the uncertainty of veiled situations to evaluate the facts, to clarify the unknown, to make decisions rapidly, and then to carry them out with strength and consistency."