tori

My husband saw it. He is a huge Indiana fan. He said it was good, but not as good as the others.

Anywhere with warm, blue water, sun, and sand.

Wow, alot of politics going on in your dojo. The Head instructor needs to get ahold of his classes. In my opinion, there should never be any type of disruption in a class like what you have had. It can directly affect students in the class who had nothing to do with it all. I am not a head instructor, I am an assistant instructor and even when I am running the class, my instructor is in charge. If there is any talking back at all, the student(s) are immediately reprimanded by him privately and sometimes sent home for the night. I wish you luck in this situation.

You have been given some great responses from everyone here, but the truth is, you have to find your own answer. I love my traditional training. I love the discipline of it and the journey of constantly learning. You have only watched a little of Goju- you may find that the instructor also teaches ground techniques. I learn some ground techniques from my traditional instructor, but our goal is to not let the fight go to the ground. Unfortunately, many fights do go to the ground, so you have to learn what to do. I also would love the opportunity to train in BJJ. It is an awesome Art. No schools in my area though. Try them out on a trial bases. Most schools offer them. Then decide. Good luck.

It's a tournament. So he deliberately lost to a girl who just happens to be 19 and older by the way. He is a kid. I bet he is a great kid too. My friend just lost her great kid in a car accident. He would of graduated next week and gone on to college in the fall. Don't sweat the small stuff. It isn't worth it in the long run.

Thanks. I can't wait to read it!

I would think if you didn't wear some sort of thin sock, you may develop blisters from your damp skin rubbing against the material of the shoe.

I am not a tall person (5'3). I can kick to the head, but train to use self defense in a more practical situation for myself. I can be more powerful against my opponent striking the vital areas in my own target area. If i can strike to lower the opponents head to my target area, then I will do techniques that will take him/her down and stop the attack. Thus being said, I wear clothes that I want to wear and avoid going out everyday in my Billy Jack Jeans.

The Martial Arts is a way for me to better myself, one class at a time. Sorry, couldn't do it in one word.

After the test itself. We all sit together and share saki after our instructor reads to us his meaning of what it is to be a black belt. Our testing and our ceremony is private. No family to witness until he ties our belts on us.

Another thing is paying full price on medications that are brand name and not generic. Ask your doctor to prescribe the generic form of medicine. Same if you are in walmart and want to buy (for example) Excedrin Migraine. This product has the exact same ingrediants as the Walmart brand. This works for all meds. You pay more for the name and labeling of a brand name drug, when you can pay less for the equate brand at walmart. It is EXACTLY the same.

Shorikid, I too felt as though, after achieving shodan, that it was like a "weight". Trust me, I worked hard to get their, sometimes taking as many as 15 classes total a week just to get the repitition and the teaching time. It took a long time before I felt that I "fit" that black belt. I believe that once you have reached there, your mental state should be one of a white belt, exploring your own style and trying to perfect what you have learned. A black belt SHOULD set the example for others, being a mentor to other students and an asset to the head instructor. I have learned so much at my rank and know that I have still much too learn. This summer, I will rank to Sandan. I am not perfect by any means, but finally feel that I am ready for this ranking. Now if only my body will comply with my mind.... (It has been a long time since my last ranking, and my body has mysteriously gotten older.)

In Martial Arts, we train to avoid physical situations at all costs. Why fight if you don't need to. The guy is just a bully. You did the right thing by not getting involved.

I do not wash my belt because I was told not to by my instructor. I undertand the "tradition" of it and have heard the stories as to why not to, but truly I think if the belt needs to be washed, it should be. Amazing what influence one instructor can have on a student huh?! I respect him and I respect his rules. The obi does not get washed.

In our dojo, at black belt you are given the title of sensei. I too do not feel that all "sensei's" can teach, but those who can are the ones put in charge. As for your feeling awkward when your brother calls you sensei, remember when you said that when that girl tested to brown you werent sure who was prouder, you or her father. Well, don't you think that your brother is very proud of you and very proud to call you sensei. It is just as much as an honor for him to call you this title as it is for you to have earned it. What a great thing for siblings to go through Martial Arts together. You are lucky. You earned your title. Wear it the way a black belt should.

Actually, the kids love the stickers. Have you ever met a 4 year old that doesnt love stickers. Little things make them very happy and they try hard for us. Those who try are rewarded. Very rarely do we ever have to not give a reward for trying hard. If it happens, the kid gets bummed out that he/she didn't get a sticker while the others did. (it is actually a stripe that goes around their belt.) You are right, an "atta girl" from my instructor means everything, but I am 35 and a black belt. Those things come far and few between for his black belt students. I am an adult and self motivated to train. I don't need that constant positive reinforcement to train. Small children do however. Telling them to do push ups is not going to make them want to participate. It is going to make them not want to come in at all. Push ups for poor behavior is left to students who can understand why they are doing them. Not for toddlers.

First of all, telling a group of 4 year olds that they should do this or they will do push ups is the wrong approach. i don't believe that 4 is too young to learn basic skills like balance, discipline, coordination, team work, etc... in fact our preschool class is based on these concepts. You can even purchase neat stickers that say these exact words. Our training of all students is based on positive reinforcement. If you have one child who is not trying hard, you point out the ones who are, bring them up front and you can give them a stripe on their belt (one that does not indicate rank but "good job"). Each lesson is planned around a theme. If we are working on balance, we may ask them to stand on one foot and see how many times they can kick without dropping their foot. At the end of their lesson, those who participated and tried hard gets the stripe that says "balance" on their belt. If you do things like this, your troubled student may come around.

It is their loss, because you are a good person. They are going to continue to lose students. I can say that there is no way that I wouldn't tell them why I left.

I have a different view of this situation. I would not allow him to return to my class. I wouldn't call him poison, but I would definitely say that he is a trouble student. If his "karate" class was so good, why did he leave it? Even if he left because of outside reasons, my guess would be that he behaved disrespectfully to that instructor and his students also. You will probably lose his son, but if you care about sharing your martial arts knowledge with those who are willing to learn, follow the rules, and are respectful, you just may have to say goodbye. If I was a student in a school where a person consistently interrupted my training time, wasting my money spent to learn, and watched the head instructor continue to allow this to happen, I would leave. That type of behavior is inexcusable in well respected, disciplined dojo and you guys have dealt long enough with it. Cut your ties to him and his son.

We have a little older version of that at our dojo - The Blue Maxxx. It is very hard to fight a large person in that suit. They just keep coming at you and if you arent' giving hard strikes, he just takes over the match. it is a great training tool.

I think that a master title should be given only to the most senior instructor with the most experience in teaching. Unfortunatley, I see so many young people giving themselves "Master" title and believe it is used for the sole purpose to get students in the doors. My instructor is a 7th Dan in his style and he doesn't take on the title Master. I believe he does that because he still feels he hasnt mastered his style yet, even after all these years.

Thanks everyone. My big area to train is endurance. Had to do all my kata in front of the class the other day, without any break. By the time I got to Nidan kata, well lets say, I was pooped!

In the last couple of years I have noticed that most tournaments in our area have offered divisions for open forms and traditional forms. It works out nice.

I hope to never experience any earthquake. Its too scary. We have had a couple of tornado's but they were small and did little damage. I couldn't imagine living in oklahoma or Kansas. I watch all those storm chaser shows and I feel so bad for all those people who are living that nightmare while these people get paid to tape it and ooh and ah at it.

That is an awful example of how a black belt should behave. If I am sparring anyone and they get a shot on me, I usually always say "nice job." If they apologize for hitting me, I ask "why are you apologizing, I should have blocked it." As an adult, it was humiliating to make you do push ups and have others watch. If you do decide to leave, make sure you tell them why they are losing such a good student. If you decide to stay, then you need to just get past the issue and train.