shudokaratemomma

At our school, its emphasized that if you test, and don't do well (forget a part of a kata, don't perform on belt level, etc), you will fail. And it has happened to both of my sons, now 8 and 12. But from it, they learn to accept failure and push through them, to not give up no matter what. I know some schools in this local area, where when you test, no matter how bad you do, you're still promoted, based on the fact that you are prob. nervous and they have seen you train in class. In our setting, I do get nervous. But I try to use my nervousness to push myself harder, and usually, my tests are great. But if i was in a setting where I was only testing as part of the belt promotion, and I knew I was going to pass regardless, why be nervous?

I have had this problem before, too. I wish I had an answer for you. Our dojo has the rubber padded type flooring so I don't have any slipping problems unless we go to a tournament where there is carpet, which I am not used to practicing on. I know this sounds silly, but I was told to try gripping better with my toes. But I have very short toes, and this doesn't help me. I was also told to try wiping the bottom of my feet with a damp towel, but I haven't had the opportunity to try this. I am looking forward to hearing the advice others have to offer.

As a female, I totally agree. She needs to get over the fact that she's gonna get hit in the chest, or anywhere else. Punching the chest and grabbing the chest are different, obviously. My advice would be to spar her like you would any other student of the same belt rank as she is. Martial Arts is a close contact sport at times. And as for her temper tantrum (or at least it sounds like it to me), she should be made aware that its not acceptable behavior.

My style is Traditional Karate, Shudokan. The founder of Shudokan is Kanken Toyama, who taught Shihan Walter Todd, whom my Sensei had the privilege to learn from. My Sensei also was trained under Shihan Morris Mack. I am currently a blue belt, and in our system, hope to progress to green, then brown and finally, black. But looking forward to a lifetime of learning.

I just started an oar kata, meaning last week. I have learned 3 bo kata, but learning the oar is proving to be a bit difficult for me. Maybe I am "thinking" about it too much. I enjoy learning weapons, so far having learned one sai kata, one tonfa kata, and the 3 bo kata. I would tell you the name of the oar kata, but I am embarrassed to say I can't remember the name right now.

Not to repeat what everyone else has already recommended, but I think they're all great ideas. I especially like the lazy jar idea. LOL, I might try that for myself! Identifying the obstacles that are keeping her from exercising is key. Then coming up with solutions to overcome those obstacles would be the next step. For me, finding the TIME to exercise was the hardest. Between helping kids with homework, daily chores, work and our 3 weekly karate classes, I had to work out a way to fit it in, and not feel guilty about my "me time". Keeping the exercise fun, mixing it up with different forms makes it not seem so "bad". Trying zumba, or swimming, racketball, etc. For me, I am working on running. I like to see progression, so it works for me. And I feel great afterwards. Encourage her to work hard, but not to push herself too hard, too fast. That's when I tend to "burn out" on a certain activity.

Thank you for the warm welcome!

Hello everyone! Just wanted to introduce myself. Typically I am found on another forum board site as karate momma, but it seems that the website has been down the past few days. I haven't really looked at other boards until now. Anyway, I've been practicing Shudokan karate for a little more than 1.5 years. I have two sons and I am married, with my two sons training with me. Prior to our current training, we dipped our toes in the water with a couple other schools. But this school is different, and due to those major differences, our training has progressed well. I am 33, and never was much into sports, as a child. I did the typical neighborhood basketball or baseball games on occassion, or climbed trees and rode my bike. But not the organized sports, as I just didn't have the confidence in myself. Since becoming involved in martial arts, I have discovered what I CAN do. I'm in the US. [/u]