etali

A GKR student came over to the karate school I train at. Her forms are quite neat, and she looks good in line work, but she says that she never really did any pad work at her old school, and it shows. She's not comfortable holding the pad, and she tends to either hit very gently, or to hit with her fist angled poorly, so she ends up hurting herself. She also seems incapable of making contact in sparring (she's fast enough, she just stops several inches out). I don't know whether that's just her, or whether the way she does karate represents GKR in general (or even just her school), but based on what I've seen it looks like GKR teaches forms well, but doesn't do enough pad work or sparring to ensure that the students can apply the stuff they're teaching safely and effectively in the real world.

We go: White Yellow Orange Green Blue Purple Brown 1 Stripe Brown 2 Stripe Brown 3 Stripe Kids can then get a shodan-ho, black belt with no stripes. Adults go straight to shodan and put a red stripe on their black belt.

1. I'm only 2nd Kyu so can't comment on Dan testing from my own experience. 2. In my system, Kyu tests have 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class passes. I got 1st class all the way up to 2nd Kyu, with the exception of the grading where I went for 5th Kyu - I got 2nd class there. 3. Kyu grades use the rating system - people aren't supposed to test until they're put forward, so it's rare anyone gets lower than a 3rd Class. From the people I know who test for Dan gradings, most people fail 1st Dan the first time they go for it. I know one person who took 3 tries then passed. I gather there's someone in the organization I train with that is on their 6th try, and hasn't passed yet. 2nd Dan and above has a better pass rate (I guess if you don't think "I've finished now I have my black belt" and continue to train, you must be working pretty hard), but I can name one person who failed their 2nd dan recently. I train Shukokai style karate.

The chief instructor of my school is the son of the founder of the school. The Senseis that teach at the class I go to are married. I'm not sure which of them started training first, but they've been training together for a long time, and now their whole family is involved.

Congratulations!

I think it really depends on what was being said. My school is pretty traditional, and I have an interest in MMA. Sometimes I lament that the style of sparing we have in competitions isn't to my tastes. Does that mean I'm talking bad about the school? There's a big difference between "I think that assistant instructor got his black belt off eBay, there's no way he deserves his rank", and "I hate that we don't have mats at this venue, so we hardly get to practice takedowns at the Friday class". One of those remarks is flat out insulting, the other is stating something that can be verified, and expressing the viewpoint that it's a sad thing.

I'm 3rd Kyu at the moment (I have been for a few months now). I expect it to take between 1 year and 18 months from when I got my 3rd Kyu to get to test for my black belt. The style that I train in has a slightly unusual system of grading, in that the gradings all the way up to 1st Kyu are quite hard to fail. There are 1st, 2nd and 3rd class passes, whereas for the black belt, you either perform at first class level or you fail. Some of the younger students are so obsessed with belt chasing that they soar up the Kyu grades getting second and third class passes, then end up failing their black belt tests and getting a nasty shock. I'm not sure I like the class system, as it means there's quite a range of qualities at each belt level (and I do wonder what a student visiting from another school would think!), but our black belts are all awesome - and I guess that's what really matters.

Is it the technique you're scared of, or the possibility that you'll do it wrong and look silly in front of the people you're working with? I don't look forward to doing certain technique drills - I'm really skinny, and any impact on bony areas hurts. I'm not scared though, because I know bumps and bruises will heal, and there's not really any chance of permanent damage. I am, however, absolutely petrified of any of the "just for fun" techniques we learn - jumping/spinning kicks, for example. If there's jumping AND spinning involved, I desperately want to just hide in a corner. I am scared of those techniques because I'm scared of looking silly when I get them wrong. I do them anyway, though, and usually the outcome of my attempt isn't as bad as I feared. It's me creating the fear in those situations, not the technique, or the people I train with.

I kind of like the belt system. In my organization the syllabus is structured around the belts, and the regular gradings mean that people get used to performing under pressure. Sure, belt chasing happens, but who (outside of other martial artists) even knows the difference between a green belt and a purple belt? I don't pay much attention to belts from organizations I'm not familiar with. I've noticed a lot of people give up at 1st Kyu and a lot at 1st Dan - presumably they just want to say they "Could have been a black belt if they wanted", or think that now they have their black belt they've done it all. I guess what I'm saying is that I like belts within my organization - they structure the syllabus and help people know who to turn to (if someone who doesn't normally attend a particular class shows up one week and needs help with a kata, they ask the first available higher belt). Outside of the organization, belt doesn't mean much IMO.

There are some people that come to one of the classes I train at that just don't do anything - they walk when they should be jogging in the warm up, don't stretch, don't do line work fully, talk all the time through pad work, and then sit out of sparring. I don't get why they show up at all! I hate getting paired up with people like that. No amount of cajoling changes them either. We cycle partners a lot so it doesn't massively impact my training, but it's still annoying. I spoke to Sensei about it, and he does try to push those people a bit, but after a few weeks it just goes back to the same old stuff. I console myself by figuring that they'll start failing gradings soon (we have a lot of leeway in the early Kyu grades, but then it starts getting harsh, as it should be IMO), and maybe that will either wake them up or make them quit.

Glad you're feeling better! Most people I train with will tough out injuries, bruises, etc, but avoid the dojo if they have a cold for fear of spreading it around. Dedication is one thing, but infecting other people goes beyond that

I study Shukokai, which is based on Shito-Ryu, and we have lots and lots of kata. The class that I train at really only bothers with 14 of them (the ones used for gradings), but there are other competition kata that are taught at other classes, and at special seminars. I can understand your desire to want to "learn them all". I love kata too. My suggestion would be to learn what you can from your current sensei, and see what happens. The way we learn, we go through the basics of 'just learning the moves' of the Pinan kata and some of the easier senior kata - that takes about a month per kata (although we do pad work, sparring, and other stuff in class too). Then after that phase (where you've learned the basic vocabulary of 'this is what a kick looks like, this is what an inside block looks like'), we go back through and examine the kata and look at bunkai, and start to refine the moves. Only after that do we learn the more advanced ones. Unless you train a lot more often than I do, it should probably take a couple of years to get to a decent level of proficiency and understanding in the kata your Sensei already knows - especially if you're also spending time on kihon and kumite. It also sounds like your Sensei really cares about his students, and once you've got to that stage he'll either have learned some more kata himself, or made arrangements for you to somehow learn the rest of the kata in your style? I've waffled a bit, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't worry about him only knowing a limited number of kata just yet - learn what you can from him, and then when you're done either his or your circumstances may have changed and you'll be able to find a way to learn the others.

Good luck! Your sensei wouldn't send you to grade if you weren't ready, so just do what you do in class and I'm sure you'll do well!

I've been duing Shukokai Karate for about eight months. I'm a blue belt at the moment, will be testing for purple next month. I'm thinking of taking up BJJ once I get to brown, but that will be a fair while - in my style you fly through the early belts but the gradings get tougher and more technical once you hit purple, so I'll be staying there until I know I've got everything down for brown.

Good luck! I'm sure you'll pass, and the year will fly by as you're polishing everything to go for 1st Dan.