CheekyMusician

To be honest, this might be the kind of problem that can never really be solved. I've taken Bible classes and taken kids for music lessons for quite a few years, and I've learned over time that a set-up that runs teacher-advanced student-beginner will rarely work. You've noticed this yourself. You're frustrated at not being able to provide for both students and are projecting your frustrations onto the beginner student; the advanced student isn't getting as much out class as he could be; and the beginner student feels awkward practicing in a class with two far more experienced martial artists. If your class were bigger I'm sure it wouldn't be as much of an issue, as the beginner student would be able to hide herself among others and would no doubt be training alongside people of the same level and below her level as well as more advanced students, and therefore, wouldn't feel quite so self-critical. Really, you can't blame her. If I was training on my own with my Sensei and one of the more advanced students in the class I'd feel like an idiot. How about you try splitting the class in half. The first half of the class you do basic things that you know she wont be struggling with, things that she can fine tune, then slowly work up to harder things. You might want to get the more advanced student to practice along with you both, or it might be better to get him off on his own practicing forms or something. Try it both ways and see what this female student responds to best. The second half of the class can be dedicated to the advanced student, doing the stuff he needs in order to be challenged. Tell the beginner student she has three choices: 1. She can feel free to join in, but if she does so she can't moan or whinge as you are aware that this stuff will be difficult for her, but you've already spent time exclusively working with her and now your other student needs time put out on him. So, she can participate if she wants, but not if she's going to complain or seek your attention. 2. She can sit out and watch and learn from watching what you're teaching the other student. 3. She can go off on her own and practice what you've been going over with her earlier on in the class.

I'm from Scotland. Here, there doesn't seem to be as much of the McDojo culture that I hear from you guys from America. Most karate is taught out of hired sports halls, school gyms or church halls. I suppose martial arts is viewed as quite an unusual hobby here, and there's certainly more kids involved that adults. I think most non karate people would think it was something slightly less than respectable for grown adults to be doing karate.

I think this is common with girls your age no matter what they're involved in. I teach a Bible class who were once your age and who are now heading off to University (which makes me feel flipping ancient!) and they always wanted to giggle and gossip, and to be honest, nothing much has changed with them! I also teach guitar and the same things happen whenever you get a group of teenage girls together. Most of them will probably lose interest eventually and disappear off the martial arts scene. I'm not totally focussed when I'm at karate. Some days I'm totally 100% focussed, others I just can't seem to focus well and if I'm sparring I end up blethering. I try and avoid sparring with the girls round about my age because I know if I spar with them that I will probably end up talking and not learning much, so instead I tend to go for the older, more focussed females or the men (thankfully, my club doesn't mind girls sparring with men). I tend to avoid the teenage boys because they either take the attitude that you're a girl and a lower belt than them and therefore they can't be bothered putting any effort in, or go the opposite way and see themselves as Mr. Little Tough-Guys who want to prove something to you and deliberately go out their way to try to cause you an injury. As everyone else said, if there's a lack of suitable partners for you to train with, it might be time to look elsewhere. Avoid sparring with the girls and just keep training hard.

I trained in Aikido for a few weeks. I really enjoyed the art, but unfortunately didn't like the club I was training at. It definately is a very spiritual art, which is part of what put me off it, ultimately. As a Christian I didn't feel totally comfortable bowing to a make-shift shrine of O' Sensei that was set up at the club I went to, but it definately is a very beautiful art and I think it would be useful for self-defence if a practitioner had practiced it long enough.

How long has she been training for? Keep in mind she may just be awkward and embarrassed and her 'noo, nooo-ing' may just be her defence mechanism. I know when I first started karate I was a bit like that, albeit I was a teenager at the time, but I did tend to end up giving up on difficult techniques easily, giggling and doing crappy techniques because I didn't want to hurt people. It wasn't a case of being under-motivated or not taking things seriously...I used to go home and train like crazy and read tonnes of karate books. It was simply a case of being embarrassed and feeling stupid, and eventually after a lot of patience on both my part and my teachers' parts, I settled in and now get on with it quite happilly. Even now, though, I tend to find myself giving up on some of the harder kata because I feel like I'm looking like a dunce and getting under other peoples' feet. Its natural that she might feel stupid if she hasn't been training long and is training with higher graded people. Maybe ask her if she has a friend she'd like to bring along as that might make her feel more at ease, or if you know someone who'd be interested in training (it would be especially good if it were another woman), then invite them along.

Try and get your hands on a copy of one of the JKA kata videos...they're really helpful and give you tips and applications, even though the music is really cheesy!

I do karate, but find that when I have my time of the month I don't even bother going to class because white trousers are not a good idea at that time! I'm wondering what all your girls do to cope with it? What's more, I'm looking into trying the Mooncup. Has anyone here tried it and does it manage not to leak when you're constantly kicking?

We don't get assignments at our club (thank heavens!), but if we did I doubt if our Sensei would give us something like this as he's far from the in love with nature, finding-your-inner-peace kind of guy. He's one of these big manly men who would probably tell us to practice kicks into a board of nails or something for an assignment. So yeah...I'm very glad that I get to be assignmentless. I hope you enjoy it and get something out of it...I'm sure you will!

As people have said, just be flattered and try to treat him the same as any other student. I developed a crush on my Sensei after training for a couple of months and it still hasn't went away even after almost 3 years of training on and off. I love martial arts, though, and would hate for him to ignore me and/or treat me differently to the other students just because I fancy him. I want to train and learn just like everyone else, and it's just inconvenient that I happen to have a crush on my instructor. I think my Sensei's probably guessed by now, but he's never brought it up and I doubt he ever will unless I jump on him and try to take advantage of him or something, which I'm not planning on doing any time in the near future. Your student will probably get over it in the near future, but until then treat him like you would any other student, and if he ever does bring it up then deal with it at that time. If the poor lad is anything like me, though, he'll be quite embarrassed about it, anyway, and will be even more embarrassed (probably even enough to quit) if he knows that people have told you.

I'm lucky in the respect that I live relatively near my church (it's about a 15 minute walk away) and my parents have church keys, so if there is no one using the church halls, I can go up and practice on my own. We usually go up about an hour and a half before church starts on a Sunday so my mum can set up the halls for the Sunday School, so I can practice kata while the place is deserted. I've also got a fairly spacious garden and I live in a cul-de-sac away from main roads, so the only people who might see me are neighbours. I don't know about your situation, but if you're at school or Uni etc. they might have halls that you can use. Of course, it probably means getting up early or staying there later, but it's something to look into. Some people have already said forests, and I know a few people who train in those kind of areas and love it, so that's worth a shot, too.

Yeah, I know. It's just hard because there's the 2 of us to accommodate 'cause on a Monday I have piano lessons and karate, Tuesday I teach guitar and Thursday I have karate. My friend works on a Monday and a Wednesday, so it leaves us with only a Friday. We can't even do Saturdays because we both work. I know there must be the perfect class on during the day sometime when we don't have lectures somewhere in Glasgow, it's just a matter of finding it! On the plus side, here there are very few 'dojos' like in the USA. Most martial arts are just taught out of sports centres, church halls etc. and so training only once a week or whenever isn't really a problem since most clubs just charge per session instead of monthly fees/contracts etc. I think I might have to try and find a martial arts shop in Glasgow and go in and ask if they know of anywhere, but I'm beginning to think we're fighting a losing battle.

Thanks for the reply Snakeeel but I was really looking for training times, 'cause if I phoned around all these places they'd probably all be training at night, but I'll print them out and phone them all if the worst comes to the worst.

I apologise in advance if this is in the wrong place...I wasn't quite sure where it fitted in best. Anyway, I already do Shotokan and my friend would quite like to get into martial arts, too, but we live miles away from each other. We're both in Glasgow (Scotland) every day together at Uni, though, so it would be ideal if we could find a Glasgow martial arts class to go to together. The only problem is that she works most nights and I've got music lessons/karate/etc. to fit in, too, and our journeys home from Glasgow are quite long, so we can't really go to a class that finishes any later than 7 or 8pm, really. I've been searching the 'net myself and I'm having trouble finding any suitable classes and was wondering if any of you guys had some spare time and would mind giving me a 'fresh pair of eyes' and doing a little search for me to see if you can dredge up anything I've missed. The requirements for a suitable class are: -that it's in Glasgow -that it finishes no later than 7 or 8pm, but the earlier the class is, the better, really. Classes during the day instead of the evening would be fab if anyone could find any. -Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are pretty much out the equation unless the class finishes really early eg. 4pm or so. -it can be any martial art. Ideally I'd like to get some extra Shotokan training, but I'd be willing to give virtually anything a shot. Thanks in advance to anyone who can give me a hand here I know my requirements are pretty hard to fulfill!

I suppose most martial artists will receive a response like that at least once in their training, but it's really no different to a lot of other things in life. I'm an archaeology student and whenever I tell people that they ask things like, "What's the most expensive/precious/rare thing you've dug up?" They're not trying to be rude, they just have a misconception about something they've never done before or learned about. I don't get the animated Kiais as often as I get, "What belt are you?" or "How many competitions have you won?" when I tell people I'm in martial arts, and these questions, of course, can be just as annoying, if not more so, than 'karate chops' and kiais. But yeah, it's life and you'll experience these kind of responses from people no matter what you tell them you're involved in. Often, the people saying it will know that they know nothing about martial arts or whatever it is you happen to be talking about but they just want to contribute and show they're listening to you and are interested in what you're saying and the only way they know how to show their interest is by dragging up the same old tired, preconceived notions of martial arts that we'll get thrown at us all the time without meaning to offend or annoy us.

I can understand where you're coming from. I've been away from martial arts for 18 months and have just been back at it for a few weeks now, and I get the impression that my karate sucks, too. It doesn't help that we're doing a lot of kata right now, and I've ALWAYS found kata my weakest aspect, so I'm struggling, but I just keep trying to focus on the positive and I find that helps. Remember that there's no shame in being rubbish at something, as long as you keep working and trying to improve. There is shame in quitting, though. You'll get through it. Just keep it up and don't give in to your feelings of inadequacy...after all, we all experience them from time to time.

I don't have any advice to give you as such, but as a karateka and a Christian I just want to wish you the best of luck! I work with teenagers in a Bible class in my church and I know it can take a lot of patience, so you'll be in my prayers! Good luck!

I've not got any really funny stories. The only two I can think of are these two: This one is more embarrassing to me than it is funny about the instructor, but here goes. I'd not long started karate and my suit was a bit longer for me than it needed to be and I was anal about taking my shoes off, so I trained with them on. This day in particular I was wearing the stupidest trainers with sort of small plastic studs on them and ended up getting all caught up when I tried to do a kick. Anyway, I landed theatrically on my butt and I made a loud *thunk*. Everyone looked around and was all worried, asking me if I was OK or saying, "That had to hurt." I turned round and saw one of my instructors just wetting himself laughing. He was totally doubled over, and at the end of the class when he tried to ask me if I was OK, he just ended up in fits of giggles again, although the embarrassment had worn off enough that I could have a good giggle with him by this point. The second story happened in the summer. It was a really warm day and the class was quite empty. We were all wilting fast because of the heat in the hall, and because we were all wearing our 'gis'. We'd been sparring for an hour solid and most people were beginning to give up (including me)! Everyone was sitting out, sipping water and our sensei decided to pull me up to spar with him. He'd made a big deal out of telling us at the start of the class that we hadn't to do any take-downs when sparring as there were no mats out. We started sparring and the next thing I knew, he'd performed a take-down and I was on the ground. The whole class just shouted out in unison, "I thought you said no take-downs!" and my sensei, without missing a beat, said, "I did. She just fell over my foot, silly girl." Of course, then he helped me up and flashed me a cheeky grin and everyone had a good giggle.

Personally, as a sensei, I would be offended at this method of testing. It would send a clear message to me that they (the higher authority in your system) had no confidence in my ability to test and promote somone. If that is the case, then I would not want to belong to that system or organization. My personal opinion anyway. I agree. If the Sensei is good enough to teach the students, he should be good enough to grade them. I suppose I can understand that some teachers might find it hard to distance themselves and correctly grade a student who they've taught, but if they are a man of good character, they'll grade that student properly and not give away a belt just because they taught them.

Probably going back to karate last week! I went for about a year and a half and totally loved it. I was totally obsessive about it, but when I started Uni I had too much work and too little time. I'm involved in lots of other stuff, too, and karate was really the only thing out of all my activities that I was in a position to give up. In my mind, I seen it as only a temporary thing, but the more weeks I missed, the more nervous I got at the thought of going back. Everytime someone mentioned martial arts, or I seen something on TV etc. I'd get all down in the dumps and wish I was back. Last week I realised I'd been away for about a year and a half, and I realised that I really had no excuses this week...Uni was just finishing up for Easter and I'd got on top of all my work, so I went back to class. I was sooooo terrified, and although my sensei and I were the first two people there, I didn't even talk to him 'cause he looked so much scarier than I remember him looking and I didn't reckon he'd recognise me. I'd invited a friend along for moral support, but she decided not to participate, so I ended up only doing a little bit of training and then sitting out with her 'cause she didn't look pleased that I was training and ignoring her, but I was soooo chuffed to get back at it, and I was suprised at how much I remembered and I realised just how much I'd missed it. And my Sensei did actually talk to me, so it seems he does remember me after all! Heehee At the end of the night, my Sensei came over and shook my hand and I was so chuffed to be back and so excited and happy for finally stopping being a wimp and actually dragging my sorry butt back to class that I felt like just skipping out the hall! Yeah, so as pathetic as that might seem, actually dragging my butt back to class after an 18 month absence was my greatest achievement to date.

I totally agree with Shorinryu Sensei's way of doing thing. My club does tests, and I personally HATE them. I'm one of these people that wouldn't even get mildly worked up when faced with a written exam, but when faced with any sort of practical exam, I panic. I've only done one test and that was because I didn't go to the grading because I was too nervous, so my sensei took me aside the next week and got me to do the grading in class, which wasn't half as bad because it was just me, the sensei and the other assistant instructor while the rest of the class were at another part of the hall sparring and weren't watching me. Since then I've missed two gradings, not because I don't know the stuff, but because I'm too terrified to go to the grading. Not only that, but we do gradings on the weekends and I work on a Saturday (and I need the money to get myself through Uni, so can't afford to miss a shift every 6 months for a karate exam) and go to church and teach a Bible class on a Sunday. I could technically miss church to go to a grading, but I feel this is a bad way to act considering I'm always preaching to my Bible Class about committment and how they shouldn't just come to church whenever they feel like it, but make a committment to come weekly. I feel that class based gradings are better because: A. The students wont get as nervous facing a 'formal' grading. B. The students will be more inclined to come to class each week and 'give it their all' knowing that they will be getting watched with a view to obtaining their next grade at every class. C. The instructor will be more likely to pay attention to each pupil individually, assessing their progress each week than he probably would be if he knew he could just 'catch up' on their progress at each belt test.

Just thought I'd add my two cents... My Sensei wears a faded belt, and I've certainly been asked by friends who have came along to a class with me why his belt is that colour. To be honest, I don't know how I personally feel about raggedy black belts. On one hand, they look messy and the uninitiated beginner might get confused about why his instructor is still a white belt! Heehee. On the other hand, I quite like the idea of the circle from white to black to white again. Also, people do tend to get sentimental about stuff like this and old belts do tend to tie easier and feel more comfortable on than new ones. I don't know what I'll do if I ever reach the raggedy black belt stage...I'm a sentimentalist at heart so wouldn't want to stop wearing it, but then again, I'd feel really messy training with it, so I don't know. As for the belt washing thing...I don't think that it's really an issue underneath shodan. After all, at some clubs you might only be wearing your coloured belt for a matter of weeks. My club only tests once every 6 months, but even in that time the belt doesn't get too pongy. I only found a problem with my white belt as I wore it at karate for 6 months, by which time it was fairly dirty, then I started an Aikido club and was wearing it again and it got even dirtier until I was forced to wash it. If you're wearing a belt for an extended period of time and it starts to smell or whatever, then I don't see a problem with washing it. As others have said, it wont need washed all that often, but washing it once or twice a year shouldn't hurt. I think it is rather silly saying that the hard work will be washed out of it, even if you mean it in a symbolic sense. Fair enough, keep all that hard work "in" the belt up to a point, but once it starts to get unhygenic, then it's time to pop it in the wash!

Yeah, I agree! I thought I was the only one who actually liked my white belt. Not to mention the fact that if you were wearing a white belt and were struggling then people were much more willing to help you out since you were a beginner, but as you progress through the ranks it is more embarrassing when you struggle with something and often it is a lot harder to find someone in the club who is able to help, without having to go to the sensei. Ah, the old glory days of being a white belt!

I suppose I'd always been interested in martial arts from when I was a kid, but no-one I knew studied them apart from one boy at school, and my mum always tried to put me off when I showed interest in them. I suppose she was just worried I'd hurt myself. I finally started training at 17 and trained for about a year and half, started Uni and had too much work and had to give up something, and karate was really the only thing that I could give up, although I always fully intended to go back as I loved it. I finally went back this week after a break of about a year and a half...I'm surprised how much I remember and how much I've missed it!

Tomorrow...I promise....well, I don't really promise, 'cause I know I'll chicken out by tomorrow night. I've been 'promising' to go every Monday and Thursday night for the past 9 months! Argh!! I wish I could just find someone to go with me...then I'd be fine! I can't believe I went to the club every week for a year and a half and then missed a few weeks because of Uni and then was too scared to go back. I'm so shy

Done It's good to be back I've not been around here 'cause I've not been at karate for almost a year now and this place always made me feel guilty for not going. I really, really want to go back, but I'm scared, I guess. *shrugs* Well, at least I'm back here...I might force myself to go to karate tomorrow! Eek!