Slayer2004

I always like the thought of a rank being something for others to see. In my heart I know what I can and cannot do. The rank does not define me. I am proud of being the rank I am, but at the same time I know that should the belt and certificate ever go away for whatever reason it will not mean that I am still not that capable. Where affiliation goes, to whom should you affiliate? While history is important and the history of your teachers can be great to look back on, even in tradition change has to happen in order for many things to survive and some of the best discoveries in the world are things that started anew. My first Dan grade was through my Sensei whom had no Japanese affiliation, or any affiliation at all. Does that mean I was not worthy? Affiliation to me is like politics, people think it is good when they hear it but if you ever ask what they truly get from having their belt affiliated or recognised, it seems to be a way of providing security. Do people feel insecure in their ranks that they need to be secured?? Sorry I know it is a little rant-esk but I have only just got up and caffeine is not yet my friend lol.

Hi Elizabeth If you are happy to accept some advice from a man lol, I have a few female students who have used the following and have all said that it is comfy and does the job well. These are the inserts http://www.blitzsport.com/Korpertech-Female-Cool-Guard-Inserts-Only?sc=9&category=30303 and this is the sports bra to hold them http://www.blitzsport.com/Korpertech-Female-Cool-Guard-Sports-Bra-Only?sc=9&category=30303 I hope this is of help. Regards Andy

I actually like my Blitz heavyweights, and have with all that I have had from their, although I admit I have not indulged in a Tokaido. I would love however to have a Meijin Gi but cannot source them in the UK anywhere. Have they gone??

Great, thanks for the comments so far, I am already of the above mindsets, but admit it took me time to get there just hope that this advice will help someone in the future as I know it can sometimes cause a perfectly good Sensei to stop teaching. I will say however, I do not run my club as a business, I run it out of love for the art and will continue to do so. I have always wondered that when it becomes business oriented it will no longer de done out of love for the art but that money will cloud what is important. Unfortunately with the increase of McDojos around the UK already that becomes an increasing worry.

Hi One of the troubling aspects of running a dojo is having students to teach. Now we all know that there are those who train to be excellent and those who train because it is something to do and for most we would always prefer the students who generally enjoy the art. As with many things there is always a drop out rate, those who leave because they realise what is expected, feel they cannot do it or another reason. For me personally these are just excuses and I always use the old concept of "Those who want to train will train, those who do not will always find and excuse". Now what must be hard for instructors is when students leave, how do they deal with the loss? Even myself, I know they will leave and can shrug it off etc like many of us do, but at the same time I will always feel that in some way I failed to reach them as an instructor and I could have done more. Now I wondered how many others have felt that way and also what their coping mechanisms are. Maybe we can help budding Dojo starters in the expectations of what it is like and how to remain on top without the emotional baggage that could potentially cause a club to fail.

Hi Where exactly are you, if you are in the UK you could look up Ticky Donovan's Summer Camp. My summer camps that I run are for students young and old but are designed to be Karate / Activity so we can bond better as a group through both pursuits. Andy

Completely agree. You do get a few exceptions where you get a naturally gifted student but children do need to know that what they do pleases their parent otherwise they are unsure what they should do or lose interest. I have to also admit I am lost in a way as I cannot understand how you will get parents that will go and stand on a cold Sunday morning to cheer at a football match but will not sit in the warm and maybe not cheer but at least try and encourage their children that way. One of life's great mysteries lol.

Hi Pete I am hopefully still young enough to not yet be considered a mid-lifer but I left my training for about 5 years when I became a father and thought it was best to put all my effort into earning a living so that my children had everything they needed. I too had excuses as to why I never went back and even now if it came to it I would struggle to afford to train if I were not running my own club. The only reason that I started teaching my own dojo was simple. I moved to an area that had nothing, literally nothing for anyone below the age of 50. Nice area, my daughters loved it and someone just asked me one day about my black belt when they found out I was one. I was only a Shodan at the time and was considering sending my daughters to a local dojo to train, to only find out that there wasn't one. After looking into it further I decided I would train them myself and hired the local hall. I seemed to get my passion back and realised that what I had not done was prepare myself for beyond Shodan. It had been my lifetime dream to get a black belt and when I did I struggled to see what I should do next. This was what gave me perspective and focus again. I am not saying that you should start a dojo but usually it will take something small to get that spark back. My sights now are firmly set on having a successful dojo with my students being happy and for myself to just continue to improve and find my own solutions as I train. It is amazing that when my student gloves come off and I am let free what I can then appreciate and accomplish. The amount I have learned in the last 5 years of teaching are incredible. Whilst keeping with tradition and adding a little mix here and there I am able to help people and improve my own knowledge. Anyway, sorry for the long post but hope you do not mind. Andy

Oh don't get me wrong I am not trying to get the parents to teach or give them more work to do. I am a single father of two and I know that being a parent is hard work already. The but part here though is the fact that a lot of parents do not even know what I am teaching their children, and to be honest I have never been asked to show my CRB check (Criminal Records Bureau check) or my Dan Grade certificates or anything so I could be teaching these students absolutely anything. We have asked that the students look after their Gi and belts not only when they are in a class but outside too, the whole black belt attitude that we often talk about is something that should not stop outside of the Dojo. The only people that can help us to know if this is the case are the parents. S we have put in a slip for one of the grading criteria that requires a parent to just sign to confirm that the student will fold and put away their Gi. We would also like the parents to look at what is required of the student so that they know what we are doing with them and not just ignore it as if it is non of their concern. Just to give a hypothetical scenario. What happened if a child at my Dojo was being mistreated by me? This can be looked at in many different ways but we will say that I am not teaching them anything really and letting them run riot. How long could it go on without the parent knowing? The student may think what is happening is normal and if a parent didn't even ask (it happens) then it could be ignored. I remember sending a letter home recently about doing a knife defence lesson with the students (older 10+) asking that parents sign to confirm that they are happy for this, explaining why it would be beneficial (Rise in school based knife crime). When the week arrived I had not received one slip back and when I asked the parents one by one as they came in they looked shocked as if they had never heard anything. One parent even thought it was something I should not teach in Karate and that I shouldn't even teach fighting full stop as it was not part of Karate at all. Hopefully you see where I am coming from. I want the parents to be informed and a bit involved, understanding what their children are actually doing. I do not however, ever want them to be teaching Karate to their children, that will always be my role and I honour and respect that. In the end they are not trained for that and at the same time you are right Sensei8, that is what they pay tuition for. All we want to do is make sure that the parents know what their children get up to and not just assume they are doing what it says on the door.

I know they are different, I did say that, but I also know it is a struggle to find stance images online and these are still a good indication, better than nothing in a lot of ways, but like always I will still recommend learning from an instructor and not a website.

Hi Elizabeth I have a couple of links for your, there are a lot on the net so I am sure you will get a few more before you know it. The only thing I would want to point out is that there may be variations in stances depending on your style etc so please only use what I have posted for you as a reference and not as cannon as you will need to refer back to your Sensei for that. http://www.karatetest.com http://www.natkd.com/stances.htm I hope they will help a little.

That is one of the ideas that I was thinking of, they have to anyway to a certain degree as they need to have signed proof that they can look after their Gi when they are at home. The only trouble we thought with this is that a parent may just sign to say they have regardless.

I already run a joint class as well, I am sure I will get a few more adult family members come the new year when they all decide on new year resolutions to get fit. Fingers crossed.

I know, you would think that asking parents to help their children was a no brainer lol. When I pitched the idea to parents in the first place they were all incredibly supportive and appreciated tht they could take on a role where they would understand what their children are actually doing. It will not be the biggest problem ever as I can still obviously train the students and get them as far as I normally would but I do feel parental assistance from a home point would be overly beneficial.

After my topic on Student Commitment, I decided that it maybe a good idea to discuss how we could potentially motivate parents in such a way as to help their children progress. We know that in the end children are only with us sometimes as little as two hours a week and that all the work we can put in where discipline goes and even the hard work in training can be undone sometimes very quickly. My students try really hard but to give you an example. I have just introduced a merit badge based syllabus for my junior members (5-9 years) as I know that the time between grades can be long winded for children, especially those with a short attention span. The system will require the students to work through their techniques as they usually would but instead of being graded for all of them in a huge bunch, they will be graded on them individually. This means that they can select a technique and just work on that until they feel they have done the best they can at that point in time. Then they can be assessed and pass or fail a merit badge assessment. It is still as difficult as a grading would be but this way a student is more in control of how their grades go, they know straight away what it is they are getting wrong. It has also promoted the student knowing what is required, they take a greater interest. The main thing we try and encourage is for the students to go home and be able to go through this syllabus with their parents and for some form on home learning to be possible to. This can be through Japanese recitation or even learning the student creed which takes no instructor assistance at all, just a little time at home to help them learn a single sentence. After I heard one parent say about his daughter, well she will either do them or she wont when we asked if she wanted to try for one I was shocked as he had not asked her and did not seem to want to be involved with her trying. So my question is this. I am thinking of ways in which I can arouse some kind of passion in the parents so that they will help their children and take an interest. As I am sure you can all agree training should never end as they leave the Dojo and I would like to harness this. Does anyone have any methods that they have tried and have succeeded as obviously I would be happy to use a tried and tested method rather than try several only to have them fail. Oss

I am going to start another post in a moment to discuss motivating parents, but I have already noticed a problem where a new syllabus for children I devised that will require actual work and effort from parents as well is going to prove difficult.

I do agree on the commitment of the student in that sense but when it is a child, especially those who are dedicated that stop coming with no explanation it does make you wonder. I tend not to follow the approach of chasing students as I feel that it is wrong to do so but I know a lot of students that struggle financially and wont say a word. I know that when my parents struggled financially I spoke to my instructor and he taught me to two years free of charge as he knew my commitment and that I genuinely wanted to train. He also had the view he would rather me training than not and knew that once I could pay again I would do.

That is always understandable. The biggest problem is that people do not communicate these sorts of problems. I am about to get a student back again after a 6 month absence. I had no idea why he left and it turns out that it was financial. He is getting £100 in funding to allow him to train. But to be honest if his parents had told me they were having difficulty I could have sorted something out with them. I do not have contracts etc so they are not tied in and I could have helped. But I understand pride is never an easy thing to handle. Its a shame. If people would talk, solutions could be presented to them.

Very good point about not blaming anyone for losing. It is a real let down when you see other clubs and instructors blaming referees for decisions etc which goes against what we are meant to learn as students of the art. We should always be humble and accept defeat as well as we accept winning. I assume however you would like tips on fighting itself though? The best advice would be to sparr with anyone that is better than you. Mainly because it is a challenge and you have to get better to be able to look after yourself. It worked for me, from my 6th Kyu (Orange belt for me) I started free sparring with my Sensei, I wanted to be good and I knew he was the best to learn from. Other tips though are simple things like, remember to keep you head up, always look your oponent head on as you can see the whole body looking at the head whereas if you drop it you can lose sight of many things. Also, almost every movement an opponent makes comes from the shoulders, another reason to keep your head up. The last thing would be that even the most experienced of fighters will tell you that the basics are usually what score points and fast. basic reverse punches front or round kicks with good blocking and counter skills are all you will need. make sure you are fast to get in and out. Hope that helps Osu

I charge £3.50 for two hours and yeah I agree, that has been mentioned before about the cheap childcare concept. But still if a child is in my classes for that reason I will still give them 100% as it may give them something to focus on in life or even give them direction. After all, isn't that why we do this? to help people have better lives? I have actually just wrote a whole new syllabus for my juniors to use, as part of a way to help them break what is required down and learn better which I hope will also get the parents involved as they will be required to actually do something. Fingers crossed. I have to admit I do miss the good old days, I remember when I graded for my 5th Kyu. I was free sparring with my Sensei and he side kicked me to which I flew out of the double doors to the Dojo. When i returned I was then issued 50 push-ups for not bowing as I left and it also transpired that he had broke one of my ribs. To this day i always used that as motivation, I should have blocked or moved out of the way and to be honest it worked, my fighting got so much better when I knew that even the slightest technique can be severe. I can only imagine doing that now, I wouldn't have a club left lol.

I wish I saw students that aimed for black belt, that would at least be a start and I could potentially mould them to the fact that there is more beyond. Also I have seen many students that once they fail a grading of any kind they leave, some even saying they will go elsewhere because they will get the grade there instead. I always find that funny because believe that every grade must be earned as I feel that even being a low level kyu grade should carry an element of respect, if not just as much as a dan grade. The one major thing I see a lot of now is that parents do not actually realise what they are letting their children learn. I have asked a few times if they knew what their child needed to do for a grading and have been met with a blank face, it makes me laugh because I could be teaching the children to do anything. There is also no push from the parents. Don't get me wrong the pushy parent syndrome can be way too over the top but the parents should still help their children to learn not to give up when things get difficult.

Oh and if knocking them out doesnt make them rethink what they were doing then you did your best, but still potentially made them realise that people are not just pushovers.

I never meant that you couldn't take care of yourself, and obviously if knocking someone out because you have no other choice is the best course of action then so be it. But at the same time you are not doing it to deal as much damage as possible more just what is required. In this country as well the reasonable force expends to kicking someone when they are on the ground full stop not just to the head. If we have been successful in putting someone to the floor we have to leave them there. We are not allowed to act out of revenge or mallace.

HI everyone, After having a discussion with a member of my club I thought I would see what everyone else thought. We were discussing the fact that students now days are not as committed or dedicated to training as they were say 10 years ago. Especially those who train in a martial art as I am sure people can agree a lot of students will start leaving when they start to get higher in rank/grade when it starts to get difficult and they actually have to start putting more work in. As an instructor I always explain to my students the importance of not giving up when things get difficult, and how they should overcome problems rather than to walk away from them and ignore them entirely but I know this can sometimes fall on deaf ears. Something an adult student of mine then said it was down to how we are as a society in general now, where children and even some adults no longer feel they even need to work for anything anymore as they will get what they want regardless. He used a common event to give me his idea. he talked about the new "Black Ops" game that has come out and just asked how many people I knew, students and adults that had got it the day it was released. So I explained i knew a lot of people who had the game and then realised that I knew a lot of my younger students that regularly tell me that they have just got a new video game etc. He then pointed out that when we were children for anything that expensive we would normally have had to work hard for it to raise money for it or had to wait for Birthdays or Christmas and that our parents would have had to work hard for it. Either way we were never getting something for nothing. Whereas a lot of my younger students are just being bought these games alone just because they are available and not out of reward but more necessity. So we mutually agreed that this in a lot of ways is a major shift in expectations from people in general and that as a result people and students that are familiar with this background will put in less effort because they feel they should get what the next installment is because they just should not because they have to work for it. Obviously you always have a few exceptions, a lot of my students work very hard but I wonder if anyone else has noticed this at all? Thanks

I agree totoally, and even the Uk ruling of reasonable force, as Karateka are we not meant to defend ourselves and walk away as early as possible? In my mind if I can defend myself and not have to do anything back at all then I have achieved what i was trained to do. That being said a gyak in my mind would be best served to the body due to the skull being one of the strongest bones in the human body and therefore potentially being something that could leave you more injured than they are. Which would defeat the object of your intention. Also the fact that you are more able to repel an attacker with a body blow that could be less damaging to them. We are not there to cause as much damage as possible but to perhaps warn them that their chosen path is not one of advisement and to make them rethink their choice? You may disgree, but I would love to hear peoples views as I am open minded and happy to listen to another take on this.