Lupin1

I'm most certainly not overly loyal to Isshinryu. I like it. I think it's a good system. I love our traditions and history. But the reason I study Isshinryu and not some other style is because that's the school my parents signed me up for when I was 8. It doesn't have any particular hold over me. If I were to move to a place without Isshinryu, I would gladly learn another style. In fact, I've dabbled in several other styles and arts. There is no one "true" style. All styles have advantages and disadvantages and which style is right for which person depends a lot on that person's goals. In fact, variations between schools within a single style can sometimes be larger than variations between styles.

Thank you, Heidi! You will be missed on the staff and I certainly hope we'll still be seeing you around the forums when time permits.

I guess different people study karate for different reasons. For me right now "have fun, get some exercise, and give back to the community by working with the kids" is a good enough goal. Yes, I want to get better at my karate, but I'm putting more effort into achieving excellence with my job and with my relationship right now.

I'm not a big drinker, but I'll have a drink after work or at a restaurant (I'm sipping a spiked seltzer as I type this, actually) and I'll usually polish off a bottle of wine over the course of the day on holidays. I'm not an aggressive/loud/confrontational person at all, and alcohol doesn't give me any of those traits. Sometimes I'll get more talkative when I've been drinking, but mostly I just relax. My bf doesn't drink at all (he carries daily and so has the responsibility to be 100% in control at all times, but he also just doesn't like drinking), so I have a built in DD when I'm with him. If I'm not with him, I will not drive if I've had anything to drink. Not even one.

The worst injury I've seen at my dojo was a broken nose when I was very little (two teenage siblings going overboard with the rivalry). I got hurt a lot more in the eight months I did Judo than I ever have at karate (one of the reasons I stopped Judo). I am suffering from a training-related injury right now, however. Around January I got hit in the chest too hard and it sparked a costochondritis flair up (inflammation in the cartilage of the ribs and sternum). It was really bad for a few weeks and I had to skip training. It got better, but then a few weeks ago I hurt my foot while running. The doctor said it was plantar faciitis, but the fact that my whole foot swelled tells me there was something else going on in addition to that. Anyway, I was on crutches for a week and it caused my costo to come back, so right now I'm nursing both that and ongoing soreness in my foot.

For us Shodan is more about knowing the material than fitness. We don't have a specific fitness test-- you just have to be fit enough to be able to go through the entire curriculum one thing after another and still have decent form by the end.

Our kids don't get their belt/gi until they've been coming regularly for a month. It's more to make sure they're going to stick with it before they spend the money on a gi and belt.

I don't remember too much. I was 8 years old. I had been begging my parents to let me do karate for several years, but we couldn't afford any of of the local commercial schools. Unbeknownst to me, my parents put my name on the waiting list for the program at the local Boys and Girls Club. One night my mother whispered "Shhh! Come with me!" and snuck me away from my sisters and had me change into a sweatsuit. I asked her where we were going, but she wouldn't tell me until we were in the car. She told me we were going to karate and I couldn't tell my sisters because they would get jealous and throw a fit. Beyond that, all I remember of my very first class was the instructor's wife helping me with some stretching and that the kid who lived across the street got picked on a lot (he was a brown belt preparing for his Shodan test, which made him the default uke. His name was Luke and it took me months to realize the instructor wasn't calling him "Lukey").

I'm not familiar with her, but I'll definitely check it out! Thanks for the link!

I'm a children's librarian. It's a small library, so I'm in charge of everything for infants-young adults. I plan, advertise and run programs; manage our youth materials collection (ordering, weeding, re-organizing, etc); hire, train, and manage our high school employees; do outreach to local schools and daycares; and probably a few other things I'm forgetting.

That's the thing, though. If you look back to Okinawa or Japan, it was basically "just another belt". Shodans were not revered or respected any more than anyone else. They were basically beginners themselves. Speaking as an American, most karate was brought to our country by military men who served on Okinawa and Japan in the 50s-70s. Those men studied karate there for an average of 18 months. They then came back home with their black belts and their military beliefs of rank and respect and they started their schools with that mentality. Shodans were revered and put on a pedestal in the beginning because there weren't many of them and they were pretty much the highest ranking karateka in the country. The military-like training atmosphere where shodans were called "sir" or "ma'am" and treated with military-like deference was a product of most instructors being military men who took rank seriously. In Japan or on Okinawa, people would think you were crazy to talk about Shodan as if it were some huge thing. It's basically a beginner rank over there. I agree that most places in the US who are pushing little kids to high ranks are doing for money and not out of some true understanding of what a black belt is, but I think the level of gatekeeping that comes from it is slightly ridiculous. All we can do is recognize that rank is completely subjective. It means different things to different schools. All you can do is judge someone's rank in the context of their school and recognize that they're not comparable.

Now there's an idea. I should start a dojo where black is the first belt and white is the highest, just to mix things up.

I got my ticket this morning. It's $997 this year! But it's three days this year instead of three days and is all inclusive and the fact that I don't have to pay airfare helps. Also I don't pay anything for karate lessons, so I spend very little money on this hobby overall. Basically, I'm trying my best to justify it. There's a least one big name who's going to be there (Patrick McCarthy) along with some other presenters who seems really interesting. I'm looking forward to it.

Honestly, I think some of the problem is our (Western) idea that a black belt is a master. As has been oft-repeated-- Shodan means first step. It's not meant to be a mastery rank. It means you've learned the very basics and have proven yourself to be a dedicated student. I don't know much about Japan, but I know in Korea it's very common for kids to get their black belt after about a year of training. And that's fine. Because they view black belt differently. They also view a black belt on a child as different than a black belt on an adult-- without having to specify that it's a junior black belt. Just like we don't view a kid on his Little League's All Star Team as taking away from the accomplishments of the MLB's All Star Team, they don't view a child with a black belt as taking away from the accomplishments of an adult with a black belt. Now, I'm not suggesting we hand out black belts to everyone after less than a year of training. I think the usual 3-5 years most places require is about right, but I honestly don't see a problem with child black belts as long as "black belt" is being treated the right way. I know there are places out there who give children black belts while telling them they're masters and are deadly weapons and just giving them false ideas about what their belt represents. That's not right. But I don't see a problem with giving kids black belts if what a black belt is is made very clear to everyone involved.

Just fyi if anyone is interested-- tickets supposedly go on sale tomorrow and last year they sold out in under 24 hours.

It was around $800 last year. They haven't released this year's price yet. That price includes the three day seminar, hotel, and meals (even though I live 30 minutes north of Boston I think they still want everyone staying at the hotel for camaraderie purposes) plus some goodie bag items (pink belt, t-shirt, gym bag, coffee mug, last year they got nunchuku they used during one of the sessions, etc). So it's not really that outrageous for an entire weekend plus accommodation. It's still a good chunk of change, though, which is why I'm asking for experiences before I lay down that money. The theme of the event changes every year and they haven't revealed this year's focus yet. Last year it was "a trip through history" where they spent time exploring martial arts from different points in history (Chinese, then Okinawan, then Japanese, then modern sport karate and MMA, etc).

Has anyone ever been to a Karate Nerd Experience seminar? (The ones with the pink belts) I've been looking at them with fascination for years and this year the seminar is going to be in Boston-- practically in my backyard. Cutting out airfare would make the $800-something dollar price tag for the event affordable and I know the event will most likely never be this close again. I'm curious if anyone here has gone to one or knows someone who has and if it's worth it. Thank you!

Martial Arts training has different goals for different ages. For kids under 6 or 7, the goal isn't to become technically proficient martial artists. The goal is to develop large muscle coordination, to teach how to be part of a class and listen to a teacher, and to instill healthy habits and a very, VERY basic knowledge of a small piece of martial arts. Also remember that kyu ranks are basically made up milestones that each school sets different standards for. In most places, especially for young kids, a yellow belt is more of a motivational tool than a sign you have any actual martial skills. Our first three belts for kids are all technically "white belts", even though they're different colors. They're there more for motivation than anything else. For now just let her enjoy the journey. Her goals for improvement are more related to her coordination, ability to stay on task and follow class procedures, and maybe the ability to know what a punch or kick are. She's building a foundation right now that she'll be able to build more serious martial arts skills on when she gets older. The point isn't to start building her skills as quickly as possible, the point is to build a strong foundation so that once she starts seriously working on those skills, she'll have something solid for them to stand on.

I don't think there's such as thing as "real" karate. Karate is so varied and different people have different goals. I don't think the person doing karate for self-defense is any more or less "real" than the person doing it for fitness or the person doing it for the tradition and the art. I do wish people would differentiate more between sport karate, combat-oriented karate and traditional karate, but I wouldn't call any one of those "real" or "fake". Just different. Which type of karate and which dojo you choose depends on your goals and what you want to get out of karate. Choose a school that shares your goals and will help you meet them. Judging by your post, it sounds like dojo 2 may fit more with your personality and you will enjoy your training more there. Shotokan is most definitely not "fantasy karate" and is actually one of the more traditional styles. You just have to ask yourself what you want to get out of karate and which of the dojos will help you meet your goals. Neither is more or less valid-- just a different approach. Edit-- I also want to point out that many instructors are very invested in the approach they've chosen to the point they look down on those who've chosen a different approach. My instructor likes to throw around terms like "real karate" and "fake karate" when comparing us to the school down the street. We're a more traditional school with a large kata focus and our goal is power and focus in our movements. We don't do flashy moves or much "tag you're it" sparring. The other school is more sport-karate oriented. They do flashier moves with very little power or focus and do a lot of very light contact point sparring. Their goal is competition and fitness. I've had people from that school call what we do at my school "fake karate" because we're a small school at a community center that only rarely competes in small local competitions, and they're a large commercial school that competes regularly at large competitions where people win lots of medals and trophies. In reality, neither school is "real" or "fake". They just cater to people with different goals and different priorities.

Done.

Thank you, everyone! I had a great day. The big 3-oh!

I know if I'm looking for a school, the website is the first thing I look at. If you're looking to get new students who don't have a contact at your school (thus exposing them to word of mouth), definitely consider a website. It doesn't have to be anything flashy or fancy. In fact, I actually prefer simple, basic websites that are personal to the school rather than the mass-produced websites with stock photos you see from a lot of the more commercial schools. If you don't want to do a full on website right away-- you might try a Facebook page. It can help potential students find you and get information about you without too much effort on your part. You can also do a lot of fun things with a Facebook page to interact with your current students (and let potential students get a glimpse into your dojo community through lurking).

We have a few students with (mild) learning disabilities. One is a 2nd degree black belt who's been studying with us since the early 90s. He took much longer than normal to reach black belt and the standards for BB that my instructor had for him were a little different than the standards required for your average person testing for Shodan. He still had to learn all the material, but he wasn't expected to know it with as much mastery and was allowed more mistakes and more help on his test. At that point you need to grade based on the individual's personal journey and improvement. We also have a high school girl with a learning disability who has been training with us since she was in 6th grade. Her disability affects her coordination. She's advanced much more slowly than the average student. Despite having been with us almost four years now, she's just a blue belt. The other blue belts started a year and a half ago. She has a great attitude about it and doesn't seem discouraged at all and as she's getting older she's making some great strides in her coordination. Again-- we've promoted her several times with performances that would not result in promotion for other students-- but you have to look at how she's advancing on her own journey and reward the great strides she's made despite her challenges.

It was the most AMAZING THING EVER!!!!!! I was upset and just like "pfftt whatever... stupid superbowl...." for the first three quarters. Our friend who came over to watch went home after halftime and my boyfriend went upstairs to take a shower at the beginning of the 4th quarter. And then.... AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I'll never forget that game.

Remember your grade only applies in your particular style (in some cases, only at your particular school). If you do Shotokan and are a 1st kyu and a Tae Kwon Do black belt wants to learn Shotokan, you outrank them. They may be a TDK black belt, but they're a white belt in Shotokan.