DarkMonkey

It's all one big mind game? Crap! I'm no good at those at all

I'm extremely fond of my club. Our sensei seems real. He jokes with us but at the same time trains us hard, he varies the training sessions wildly which keeps things interesting, one time we might just do casual kata. Another time we might spend most of the lesson sparring, and others it could mostly be dedicated to simply doing new combinations, but nothing seems similar, each lesson seems like we're doing something slightly new. Which always keeps things fun and keeps you learning (you can always repeat the same thing over and over in your own time). I like the other people at the club too. Well that's a lie, there are some I'm not fond of, which kind of muck up the atmosphere, but everyone to their own, I guess. Not that many people go to the club, I think a few more could add to the social side. I sometimes feel a bit on my own, occasionally there may only be seven people there and I'm the only "kid" (I'm 16). Other times there are plenty of people similar to me, which is always preferable. The people I mentioned I wasn't fond of earlier fall into the older category see. Don't really feel like talking to them after and before training. Oh well. Minor gripe.

My view on Kata is as follows: I like it. I don't know how much help it is in real life fighting situations. Obviously directly very little, but at the same time, practicing your kata's helps refine basic techniques and is more fun than patrolling accross the room for half an hour, although probably not quite as much fun as actual sparring. Also: when you look behind the different kata's they often have real fight meaning all over the place. Obviously you have to change the moves in a real fight or sparring session but I do think practicing them does help to improve your technique. You also tend to do things that aren't as dominent in the rest of training. Moves that you might never have come accross at all pop up in some of the early kata's. Which I like. Watching people perform Kata is great as well, I know people will say something about Karate being a martial art not a dance or something but I am interested in the power individuals bring to the different Katas. I find it really interesting to watch, much more so than just repeating a technique over and over. This is probably kind of obvious what I'm saying, but I'm hitting submit anyway.

Yeah. I imagine it's just as rampent here. I suppose the specific dig at America was because of the hollywood image of black belts portrayed everywhere. Except it's portrayed here as well. So blah. I'm in several minds at the moment. On one hand I think our club is excellent and our Sensei superb in his training style and the way he talks with us. On the other: it does seem belts are extremely easy to assertain. I think the actual black belt grading is very hard, but up to Brown double stripe grade I think it's just a matter of turning up, remembering your moves and putting in some kind of effort... and grading. Black belt in 3 years seems very quick to me, I always imagined the image of a black belt to mean 'Master' or whatever, I don't think somebody who has been training for 3 years can truely be a master of anything. But again: I believe it's the effort you put in, not the belt you are wearing. If people think that black belt is too easy and quick and commercial now we could imagine it as Lime-green belt and 2nd dan as traditional Black. I suppose that would take a more traditional time span to achieve and you'd have to reach a more impressive level. Again: Don't really think any of that means anything, you only have to look at somebody performing moves and combinations to see how good they are. I have seen red belts exceed brown belts in that reguard. So there we are.

I downloaded Kazaa. I don't like it that much, but napster is annoying now. I liked that system the most though... Oh well. Kazaa does let you download other media like pictures and movies... what you might use these features for is quite obvious... Ahem.

My sensei doesn't really teach that much, but it has got me interested. Now I'm upset. I really think that kind of knowledge could be extremely useful. 'Knowing' why something works is ultimately superiour to just accepting it. As Angus says, I imagine it would allow you to more easily come up with your own holds and locks...

that said. It does seem to be a very good incentive. Even if it doesn't mean too much, the majority of students will be aiming for the next belt, whether their desire to train hard to reach it is there or not, it does seem to give people goals to aim for. I attend two classes a week, and if I were to grade every three months successfully I would probably reach black belt in under three years. Whether that is comercial or not, I don't know. And it is not what I am aiming for, but I do like our club, and I think it's more to do with the effort you put in than the time you have been attending classes. I know I do a lot of training outside of the dojo.

Dispite my earlier comments I don't have too many problems with the price. It was £20 for the grading, and I'm certain a new belt does not cost that much. However, more than that, we got a long training session first from Sensei Sherry, who is probably the highest ranked dan in the UK (where I live!!) and has been doing it for like 40 years. This guy was amazing to watch and I valued the advice he was giving out. Our club is small and I imagine it costs a lot for him to travel the country to attend so I have little problem with the slightly high price. The belt system is still bugging me slightly though.

Well Ken's idea of an ox sounded cool, and I think it is my chineese star sign. But... being honest. I'd say something like a Sheep; Scared, slow, kinda pointless and possibly annoying.

In all honesty I don't really have a goal. I'd like to say 'Black Belt' but to comit myself to three more years or whatever seems crazy without knowing what I'll feel like then. At the moment I am really enjoying my Karate but my aims are more to feel confident in myself that I can defend myself adequately rather than to start my own club up and become a fifth dan or whatever I will say, however, I want to get my yellow belt in three months time and I want to get it with ease. I don't want to grade and be one of those people who doesn't really look like they've done it properly but gets the belt anyway, I want to look sharp and worthy of it. So that's something to aim for.

I am extremely new to Karate (and to the forums. Hello people), so ignore any ignorance on my part with the following thoughts. As much as I would like belts to be a good measure of skill, it just doesn't seem to be true. To me, it seems, they are more an indication of 'time' spent with the club or style. Until last Saturday I was a white belt. I'd been doing shotokan Karate for two and a half months and took my first grading. I was pretty nervous about it but everything went okay, in fact I was double graded to Red belt (White, orange, red) which I was extremely pleased with, the examiner, who is the highest ranked, Native, Dan in the country (UK), said I did especially well. The trouble is with this, EVERYBODY who went for the grading got graded. Some people clearly deserved to, others didn't. But everybody did. I have come to the conclusion that belts are generally a convenient way to measure the time a person has spent at the club (and in turn their "rank") rather than to really measure skill. More so tha this, however, I feel it is a system designed to keep people training, a goal for them to reach, which they almost always DO reach, which keeps them happy and content. How many people would drop out if they didn't get graded and had to wait a further three months? A large percentage I imagine. I don't want to be mean, the kid is only seven years old, and he's a sweet little kid, I talk to him and give him advice but really if he gets graded, when he hasn't shown anything of any real competence, up to Orange belt I question the reason they are there at all. Admitedly Orange belt is a small silly rank that means nothing even if you worked extremely hard to achieve, but more so tha that, I saw brown belts get graded up who really didn't show the skill of some red belts. The whole system seems mucked up, but at the same time, it has to be like that. The people who go need an incentive to keep training, yes a belt doesn't mean much, but it is something to aim for, something to hang on your wall, something to wear to show you are quite dedicated and something to wear to show you have a 'place' you are above the newer members, at least when you line up you can say 'oh I'm red belt'. The fact is, however, you can't go to training with the aim of a belt, you have to go to each session with the thought to simply try as best you can and take in everything that is being said, in the end going up belts only serves as a way to learn more advanced kata's and be given the same routenes as your, sometimes, less skilled Karate peers. Hmm. Ramble. Sorry.