Lupin1

We train at a Boys and Girls Club, so even during the adult class when the kids aren't allowed upstairs, we still try to censor our language just in case one of them comes up or our voices carry down the stairs. There's very little profanity during our classes. I don't mind if other people want to use it at their own dojos or on the internet. I don't think it's people's responsibility to censor their language on the internet in case kids are watching. I think it's the parents' responsibility to pay attention to what their kids are watching.

I just want to point out that the crime rate is the lowest it's been in decades. Most likely lower than when you were a kid. Kids playing in the woods are much more likely to get the cops called on them by an overly concerned good samaritan than get picked up by someone up to no good. It's not the crime rate that's stopping them from playing outside, it's people playing up the (lowest in decades) crime rate and fear mongering against kids playing outside.

As a female who's had long hair all my life, I've never had that problem. I just take showers regularly... I don't think long hair on men is inherently dirtier than long hair on women and most people seem fine with long hair for women.

As an Isshinryu Shodan visiting a Uechi Ryu school for the summer and wearing a white belt-- I like wearing the white belt. Even though the styles are similar, they're different enough that I feel like a white belt. And it lets me train without feeling the pressure to "prove" myself and my rank. I can just relax, learn, and have fun.

I think it's hard to keep a burning passion for something for decades on end. Most people's passions wax and wane over the years. And, if he's getting older, he may not be physically capable of the same vigor for the exercises he once had. For the rankings, I think karate ranks just mean something different now than they once did. In the 60s, most instructors in the west were Shodans or Sandans at the most. There were very few (if any) high dan ranks. So the ranks looked a lot different to them. Shodan meant you were literally one of the most experienced karateka in on the continent. In my (admittedly limited) experience, once a lot of the old masters put years under their belts and hit those higher ranks, they started seeing the big picture behind the kyu ranks and the lower dan ranks and, in the process, start seeming more lax about ranks. People tend to mellow out and look at the big picture more as they age and get decades of experience in a field. They get more patient, don't sweat the small stuff as much, and go with the flow more because they're able to see the end goal easier. And the end goal they see may be very different from the end goal a 25 year old sees. A 25 year old may see the end goal as being able to take and give a pounding at a tournament a year or so out while the 65 year old instructor may be seeing that 25 year old as a 45 year old and want to teach him in a way that will allow his karate to work even when he no longer has the strength and stamina of a 25 year old and can no longer muscle his way through. Not saying that's the case here, but it's something to think about and something that I've definitely noticed with my instructor. His mindset has changed a lot from when I first started training with him when he was in his early 40s to now that he's in his mid 60s and has physical disabilities.

Hair is definitely a disadvantage in a fight, but as a 30-year-old children's librarian, I'm not expecting to get into any throwdown brawls any time soon. I'd rather have my hair the way I like it. I'm not going to change my appearance on the off chance I get into a fight. I have learned some defenses against hair pulling for that case. But in the end, I will wear my hair in a ponytail for class (I wear it down the rest of the time).

I don't agree with self-demotion. At my school, at least, it would be disrespectful to the instructor who gave you that rank. If you think you don't deserve the rank at the moment due to being out or just not putting in the effort, you don't demote yourself. You step up your game and get back up to standards. As for a new instructor's judgement, are you talking about the same school? If so, I think the new instructor would be overstepping their bounds. At a different school, I wouldn't consider it demotion. For all intents and purposes, rank only has meaning within your school. Different schools have different standards and different ways of doing things. I wouldn't consider it a demotion-- I'd consider it a separate rank.

Meh. Life is life. Good things and bad things happen. Sometimes nothing happens. I don't usually go looking for some existential reason for everything that happens. I just keep living.

I just want to say that coming from the US where martial arts is a completely unregulated market, I've never even considered that a school might get audited for what belt everyone is.

We've demoted kids for a few classes for behavior or for slacking off. Usually after two or three classes with a lower belt on, they straighten up and earn their old belt back. We would never think of demoting someone who was trying their hardest but just not getting it.

It'll definitely help him get stronger and healthier and help his self-confidence which can lead to even more healthier habits, but remember that weight loss is 90% diet and 10% exercise. Cutting out sweets, soft drinks, and sugar will go much further.

When I was a kid my instructor's wife helped teach the class. I'm also female and helped teach the kids a lot. I think it's really good for the girls to see and for awhile we had many more girl students than boy students. When I first came bak to karate as an adult, the adult class was all men. I was the first female to train with them in years (it's a very small group). This one guy who was a brown belt at the time took awhile to get used to working with me. He kept saying he was afraid of accidentally hitting me in the chest. He got over it, though. It was awkward for a few months, but eventually I just became part of the group.

Well, it's been three weeks now, so I wanted to give an update-- I think I'm falling in love with the Uechi school. My first two weeks of lessons were all private lessons-- five of them. Those were ok. At the end of it they promoted me to a white belt with one green stripe (they just do white, green, brown, and black, so each stripe is a full kyu rank). Monday and yesterday were my first group classes in the white belt class. It was a small class-- two teenagers getting ready for their green belts (they've been at the school about six months), an older guy who's been there a few months and has a background in Kung Fu, and now me. I LOVE how traditional it is. My Isshinryu instructor always told us we were traditional training, but this feels like a whole other level. Part of it is they have the space and equipment to do things we couldn't do at my Isshinryu school. We actually used the makiwara yesterday. I've never used one before though I'd heard and read all about them. I was all giddy. I'm definitely liking it. Think I'm going to let work decide which one I do. Right now I can only make Tuesdays for Isshinryu. I work Thursday night. When my boss gets back from vacation next week, I'll ask her about seeing if I can switch my late night. If I can, I'll stick with the Isshinryu and volunteer to form a separate beginners class so the more advanced instructors can focus on the advanced students, which will keep them happy and hopefully keep them coming. If I can't switch my nights, I think I might just stick with the Uechi.

Happy birthday!

As the girl in the documentary said; she wanted to eventually travel and see the world.Comparing East with Western standards is easy to do but as a girl in China being given away, any hope to have any chance of a life, an opportunity in a martial art school was it, for many of them. To see how poor the relatives are, they had nothing much to offer their children, but a slim piece of hope as a marital art champion, could open a doorway to success in later life. Poverty exists for many martial artists, just something not usually seen or talked about around the dinner table. Idk. There was a part in the film where she legit said she seriously thought about jumping off a building. I think it's probably somewhere in the middle. It may be better than what they're coming from, but I wouldn't call it good if the children want to commit suicide.

It's impressive, but I wouldn't wish that on a child. Children should be exploring all the world has to offer, not single-mindedly focusing their lives on one thing.

I bought a belt display rack on Black Friday a few years ago, but then I lent my orange belt to a kid who couldn't afford one and I never got it back, so the rack is just sitting in my closet with a belt missing...

I don't have nearly as many as some of you. Victor Smith- Isshinryu- Derry, NH- 1995-2017 (with some multi-year gaps) Judy Christian- Taekwondo- Gallup, NM- 2011 Roger Lenfest- Judo- Derry, NH 2012-2013 Buzz Durkin- Uechi Ryu- Atkinson, NH- started a week ago but will definitely be there more than a month

In some styles those kata might not be black belt kata. In Isshinryu, our version of Kanku Dai-- Kansanku-- is usually done at brown belt. I think you'll be fine if you can perform the black belt kata to the same standards you can your lower kata. Remember in a traditional martial arts competition you're not being judged on how flashy the kata is, you're being judged on your execution. You'll get fewer points for doing a sloppy black belt kata than you will for doing a clean orange belt kata.

Just wanted to update that I went to check out the Uechi school today. It seems like a great school. Beautiful inside-- several different floors for having multiple lessons going at a time, clean locker rooms, private lesson areas, a student lounge area-- nice! Especially for me being used to training in the upstairs room of a Boys and Girl's Club. I signed up for their summer special for two months for the price of a month. After the two months are up I'll be able to decide if I want to continue. They offer six month or twelve month contracts (discount for going longer) or a no contract monthly option (which is out of my price range, so if I stick with it I'll choose either six or 12). The way they do it is new students start out in private lessons and then work up to group lessons, so I had a half hour private with one of the instructors this morning. It was a good lesson. He did some research on Isshinryu last night and knew some of the similarities and differences and we skipped a lot of the really basic stuff that usually makes up the first lesson. We did some pad work so he could see how I did some basic kicks and strikes (he said the way I'm doing them are pretty much exactly how they teach it and only corrected my palm strike) and he taught me Uechi Sanchin (their bread and butter kata). I've got two more private lessons scheduled for Wednesday and Friday. I'm not sure how long new students usually stay in privates before moving to group lessons, but I'm guessing within a week or two I should be ready.

Unfortunately it's independent-- not connected to any governing body. I think we'll be able to keep at least the Tuesday night classes going. We have enough adults on Tuesdays that at least one of us can be there to run the class. It's the Thursday class that'll probably have to fall by the wayside. He's a good guy. He has a lot of cool stories, but after complications from chemo a few years ago he has a very difficult time talking. You have be patient and listen closely to understand what he's saying. Don't be afraid to ask him to repeat or clarify something-- he's use to it. He's also pretty opinionated and doesn't think very highly of things like MMA and sport karate. He's a traditionalist. You can definitely learn a lot about the 70s/80s karate scene from talking to him, though. I think between the adults in the program we'll be able to keep it going for awhile. I definitely don't feel ready to take it on myself at the moment, but I think we can keep it going at least on Tuesdays (though Thursdays may fall by the wayside). The kids won't progress very quickly, but at least they'll get some karate. I'm looking forward to trying the Uechi and learning something new. It's a very different school. Mr. Smith's program is very small and informal and cheap and run out of a room that's used for other things most of the time. This place is a very large commercial school with a ton of classes to choose from, a dedicated dojo, full time instructors, the whole nine yards. It'll definitely be a different experience.

I've thought about it, but there are a few things keeping me from doing that. First, I'm definitely not qualified as an instructor in our system which requires at least 3rd Dan. I feel comfortable teaching beginners, which is who I teach now, but I don't know if I'd be able to give the more advanced students what they need. Second, the space we use is only available on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I work Thursday nights and will have to for the foreseeable future (I've asked my coworkers-- no one is able to switch nights with me) so I'm currently only even attending one night a week. Only one of the qualified instructors is able to teach on Thursdays, and he has other responsibilities that he's actually putting aside to teach. He's a manager at the Boys and Girls Club the program runs out of and is responsible for everything going on in the building while he's upstairs teaching karate. I think he's also a bit burned out on it. He works with those same kids all day at the club and they can be a handful. It's a tough spot.

After over 30 years, my head instructor is leaving our school after next week. Mr. Smith started our program in 1985. He charges today the same price he did then-- $1 per lesson. He provided quality, traditional training to lower income kids such as myself who never would've had the chance to train otherwise. I've trained with Mr. Smith off and on since 1995 when I was 8 years old and received my Shodan from him in 2015. In a few weeks, Mr. Smith will be moving to Arizona to be closer to his wife's family. He will be missed. I still don't know what the fate of the program will be. We have two qualified instructors, however both are getting older and have other commitments. I guess time will tell. Our program will be shutting down for the summer, however, as it has every summer. We'll see what happens in the fall. In the meantime, I've decided to try something new. I have an appointment for Saturday morning to try out Buzz Durkin's Uechi Ryu School. I've never trained Uechi before and I know there are both similarities and differences to Isshinryu. According to Mr. Smith, Mr. Durkin's program is one of the best in the region. I'm looking forward to trying something new and, if it's a good fit, perhaps beginning a new leg of my karate journey.

Wow. If KF were a kid, it could drive! Congrats, Patrick!

Like Brian, my martial arts is not top priority in my life right now. My job requires me to work one of the two nights we have class each week, and family and health problems have kept my attendance the other day sporadic. The health problems, other commitments, and a general lack of motivation means I'm also not practicing much on my own. My instructor tells me that in the life of a martial artist there are ups and downs. Many people are really motivated for awhile, then just coast for awhile or take a break, then they come back motivated again. I'm definitely at a down right now. Summer has always been the busiest time for me at work and that's starting to ramp up now. My dojo also takes a break for the summer, so I'm hoping that in the fall I'll come back with renewed motivation.