sensei8

I've a little experience in this area, so I'll see if I can help. Don't try to reinvent the wheel!! That's already been done!! However, while the wheel can't be reinvented, nor should it be tried to, it can stand to have a look at just how many ways the wheel can be used for. You've got your core syllabus/curriculum! CHECK!! You've got your knowledge! CHECK!! You've got a student body! CHECK!! You've got your own Sensei to tap into, if needed! CHECK!! What's missing? YOU!! Are you enthused...STILL?!?!?! If you're not, then get off the floor until you are!! Are you there for the ENTIRE student body, or just for the adults...or just for the kids...or just for the black belts...or just for having a national tournament team...or just for students above green belt...so on and so forth??!! Define why you're there in the first place!! Are you going to go for quantity or for quality!! NOT BOTH; one or the other, whilst the former, imho, isn't a good reason to strive for. But, that's just me. Challenging?!? By challenging, I'm not speaking towards asking for the impossible tasks to happen each and everyday from your student body. Challenge them in small ways...those small ways build up to large rewards. But how? Drills!! You're only limited by your imagination!! Different drills keep the student body excited and enthused and educated and so on and so forth. Yet the drills must be age and rank appropriate. Use some drills often, while others, not so often, while at the same time, put the most popular one on the shelf from time to time to build up its anticipation of when it might reappear. *I use tennis balls for Awareness Drills...for all ages!! *Up and down drills have to have challenges built up in them...simply adding a new technique can be enough to challenge the student body!! *Revenge on Sensei with a specific technique as well as doing whatever technique they want to do...for the kids!! *Lunge Punching FOR THE ENTIRE CLASS WITHOUT STOPPING!! *Kumite Minus for Familiarity Drills...for all ages!! *Kumite Drills for the adults and for the black belts only!! *3-5 minutes on the Hanging bag!! *ETC. [This is where having a great imagination can come into play...I'm nothing more than a big kid that loves a challenge] You see, we teach the three K's [Kihon, Kata, and Kumite], and I have to tell you...that's a lot of material, and with a lot of material to garner from, the skies the limit with an active imagination. JUST DON'T BE CRUEL...TEACH AND HAVE A PURPOSE!! BE TRUTHFUL...DON'T EVER LIE TO YOUR STUDENT BODY ABOUT ANYTHING...EVER!! You're the CI, not the student body...however, a great CI has an open door policy so that ideas can be considered. You run the dojo, but the student body can assist in running the floor as far as what type of drills would they like to see and what they don't want to see anymore...final decision remains with the CI in ALL things!! I've not even scratched the surface, and to shorten this post, I'll leave it at that, for now!!

Solid post!! Some many great advices here from many KF members! Patrick has mad skills when it comes to things like this, and if it was me, I'd certainly pay it some serious attention. Patrick, btw, my computer froze up immediately when I clicked on the organic reach link, might've been a coincidence, but I just got my computer back from the laptop shop. I'm afraid to click on that link again.

Solid post!!

The glare is uncalled for, for certain. If I was a competitor, I would be interested in asking what it was that got me that score. Not in a disrespectful way, but asking in a way to get better.Solid post!! And yeah, because I would've been required to give some score, I would've gave the lowest, although I'd rather of given a No Score. Why? Back flips and the like in a Traditional Division...ah...NO!! In a Non-Traditional Division...ah...YES!!

Solid post!!

You're allowed that...to disagree with me!! I still stand by what I believe! TKD being effective, and it is, that's why you've stayed with it and learned a lot from it. Shindokan being effective, and it is, that's why I've stayed with it and learned a lot from it. HOWEVER, with Shindokan being effective, yet it's not being effective when called upon, then the fault is MINE! Same with TKD, it being effective when called upon, and something within TKD isn't effective when executed by yourself, then you're at fault...NOT THE STYLE!! If I execute something from Shindokan, and I'm not effective with it, then it's not my Soke's fault and it's not my Dai-Soke's fault...IT'S MY FAULT!! They've proven the effectiveness of Shindokan unquestionably!! I make the effectiveness ineffective by my incompetence!!

Let those who think Karate is useless think what they want. Nothing will change their preconceived notions about karate and/or the MA. Even resistive demos will have people that their minds have already decided for whatever reason(s). The landscape of the MA has indeed changed, but I refuse to join those who think that the MA/Karate is useless because if it is, then what is this that lives in my heart...what is this that lives in my soul!! There are certainly the good and the bad of anything, and this includes the MA in general. We've all seen the videos and have witnessed for ourselves the both, and we've cringed at the bad, yet celebrated with the good. You want more students? Then teach!! Teach as though nothing else matters outside of your style!! Not worrying what the Jones and the Smiths do!! Your Kyoshi isn't a Kyoshi for her rank, but for what she's demonstrated to her governing body in the area of increasing the betterment of the student body as well as for the style. After all, a Shogo title CAN'T BE EARNED THROUGH A TESTING CYCLE...no...they're bestowed upon worthy MAists...a Shogo title are for TEACHING ABILITIES...so just have her TEACH as though her life depended on it, while having fun at it as well. Give your idea a try. Nothing's gained by not trying!!

I agree...can't have one without the other, imho!!

Shugyo...none other like it! Test ones mettle in ways unimaginable...our Soke and Dai-Soke were taskmasters to the Nth degree, and then some!! But their intent was to not hurt us, but to mold us...I appreciate that!! Do it TODAY, so that TOMORROW will be easier!!

I'm of the opinion that Kata without Bunkai is akin to sitting on a chair with only one leg; incomplete, and totally unbalanced. We teach Bunkai and Kata literally at the same time so that students can begin to embrace the many possibilities, as well as understanding how "things" work when put in motion. We teach the three K's right from day one!! Also, we teach kids arm locks and the like. In that, we don't discriminate our students, no matter age, from learning EVERYTHING Shindokan has to offer. That's not teaching them anything. An arm bar, for example, could save them, so why limit that from them. Beside, we'd rather teach them things like that than learning it incorrectly elsewhere.

Excellent tutorial, Alex. Thanks for sharing!!

Control?!?!?! Prevent?!?!?!?! I've never liked those terms because, imho, they're limited in its duration, and then some!! Why? My opponent will resist to their last breath, as will I! However, we are encouraged to STALL movements, like you did in the video. You stalled by dropping as you did, and you caused change in your opponents intent at the same time. Thusly, you ended up on the win. You move in, I move out. You move in, I move in. All of these simplistic movements stall transitions and the like. Intercepting my opponents movements AND intent, therefore, not allowing, to the best of my abilities, completion of movement. That's what you did, and did quite well.

I suppose that I'm just going to have to live with the fact that I'll never know, not that I was suppose to know in the first place, what might've else been said/taught instead.

Solid post!!

Never bothers me at all!! Things are said, and when things like this are said, that person has not even a minimum of an idea of what they're talking about. It's their opinions, and they're allowed to have them; right or wrong!! Just have to smile and shake my head and breath a deep sigh and carry on!!

*cough* Now THAT'S FUNNY!!

I'm still here, quite a lot!!

This is probably the best I've heard it said. And its so true. Good advise! I disagree! Imho, in which I've stood behind for so many years... The style's effective, yet the practitioner isn't effective. Who's fault is that? Not the style, but the practitioner!! The practitioner isn't perfect, neither is the style. However, the methodology as well as the ideology IS effective. For example, the front kick is effective...the reverse punch is effective...the block/deflection is effective...HOWEVER, the practitioner makes the technique(s) ineffective by the practitioners designed interpretation of HOW said technique(s) must and should be executed effectively. Saying the Sun isn't effective, for a crude and bad example, isn't the fault of the Sun, but the people who live on Earth as to how the Sun must be and should be used effectively; misinterpretations are abound. Shindokan, biased plug here, sorry, is effective. Soke has create an effective style of the MA based on his knowledge. He's solid methodologies and ideologies, in which he's crafted a solid curriculum/syllabus. Now, mix in some students, and there we go, INTERPRETATIONS of Soke's creation, Shindokan Saitou-ryu, can, and has run awry on its own because of those interpretations. And when that happens, misinterpretations, it's of no wonder why so many of us have failed at Testing Cycles right in front of him!! Again, imho!!

I wholeheartedly concur with what Brian has advised. In addition, I'd just ignore it, and remove yourself from the incident completely as well as with this negative individual. Nothing good can really come from this...one will get hurt and one will go to jail...or worse!!

Welcome to KF; glad that you're here!! I suppose that you're going to have to force yourself the first time back. Usually, taking a break makes things all fresh, but, you've been away, so there goes the small break. Once you get back on the floor, I can only assume that you'll be back on a more regular basis. Call your Sensei and just talk...say hello, things like that, small talk, if you will. Just break the ice, and before you know it, at the end of the phone call, you'll have already made that decision to return to the floor that night. Shoulders up...chest out...march right into the dojo and TRAIN!! Suck it up~~Shugyo. YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE THAT FIRST MOVE!! You have to GO TO THE DOJO because the DOJO WON'T COME TO YOU!! You have to WANT TO, and until you want to, you'll not return!! At least go visit the dojo, the Sensei, and fellow classmates...to at least say "Hi"!!

I've no preference! I've my share of grand championships in both, although, it's been 25 years since I've entered a tournament.

Solid post!!

Sure there is...White belt/beginner!!

Solid and powerful post!! That center line, imho, is moving constantly, and with that, to give and to take help control that center line. Also, imho, an over emphasis on the center line can be blinding to students. That center line is important, not to be mistaken, however, that center line is not the end of all things; just one element amongst many others.

Great story, mazzybear, absolutely great story!! There's a saying... "Out of the mouth of babes!", and I feel that this girl spoke not as a child, but more as a seasoned adult without any reservations. Her words would've floored most adults, and me just reading it, was floored as well. Yet, of all the times that I've been on the floor, I've been fortunate enough to have had those type of kids as my students. It causes me to tear up with pride to have known them, and to have the honor to be their Sensei. While a lot of adults seem to have an agenda as well as a front, kids seem to not entertain those type of things. Kids are, imho, the most honest across the board with what they say, and again, if I may, kids do say the darnest things; they've no preconceived notions as to what to say, and they don't wear their feelings on their sleeves as adults tend to do. You should be proud of her, as well as in yourself. But for her to share the honor with you is immeasurable beyond contestation. She looks up to you, and she wants to be like you when she grows up, and that can be a deep responsibility to carry, but I believe that you'll rise to the occasion without fault. For those instructors that refuse to teach kids, I respect that, yet, if they could experience what you and I've experienced with kids, like what your OP speaks towards, they might reconsider their stand. I bow to the both of you!!