ninjanurse

I like the nice clean, simple look of an all-white gi or dobok. The last school I studied at we had red sripes down the pants for those under 2nd degree (including color belts) and the BB's wore a top with red/blue panels until 3rd degree . 2nd Degree BB's wore the "red pants of power" and then a red top to match at 3rd degree. It was a nice visual cue to who was who but I still prefer the crisp look of white. My current school allows certified instructors to wear black pants but it is not required so I don't. Laurie, we wear all white in JuJitsu (sorry!)-with a black hakama. Professor Mike will sometimes wear a black top though.

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In the old days....sensei would have us assume the stance with another student on our shoulders. I can't remember the longest I held it but it was definitely an experience!

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Nicely said!

There is a lot to be said about "self-sabotage". I am sure many of us have dealt with this issue and it may still rare it's ugly head from time to time. I know I have been victim of it in the past both in my personal life and my martial arts life and it is not easy sometimes to convince ourselves what we are doing. Seeking counsel, exploring your motivations, coming face to face with your fears, and putting yourself on the outside looking in, are all helpful when we "hit the wall". But, this is afterall, all part of the character building part of the journey that we set ourselves on and no one ever said it was easy . Our personal journey will take many turns, have a few dead-ends, change pace, and may even double back on itself....it may take us longer than the "other guy"... but no one else's journey can compare to ours and no else's will mean as much as ours.

This is why occassionally, you give the junior rank an assignment to instruct someone on something like their new kata. They definitely need to learn how to teach, but there is a difference in an adult black belt telling them to "go teach that 50 year old gold belt how to do his new kata" and what I was talking about. This was a retorical question. Of course juniors are given assignments but they must also be given the chance to "do the right thing when no one else is looking". I disagree with you on this one. An adult learns his humility from another adult, not a child. Frankly, there is nothing more humbling than the first time an adult spars with a high ranking adult - he suddenly understands the difference between himself and the other person. Humility is not just about getting your brains pummeled or having someone intentionally embarrass you or another student. I couldn't agree more. But some standards just need to be a matter of course. Quite honestly, not every 16 year old brown belt is going to mouth off to a 50 year old gold belt. But that's what standards are for - to make sure it doesn't happen at all. Yes. There should be an expectation of respectful behavior at all belt levels. If we expect the worst of our students then that is what we will get. Standards exist for us to try to meet not violate. For this one it depends on the structure of the situation. If I'm instructing a class or assissting the instructor, I will teach and it will be 100% unsolicited! But if someone is practicing something on their own, I'll wait and see if they fix their own mistake. But I'm not going to let them practice the wrong move for 20 minutes - that's not really helping them either! An Instructor-Student relationship is different than a Student-Student relationship but their common thread is respect.

I tend to agree with shogeri on this one. In general, age should not be a consideration when receiving assistance from a higher ranking belt as part of the responsibility of holding rank is to learn to teach others and give back what has ben given to you. How else do we teach our Juniors to teach and grow if we do not allow them to take on those responsibilities? Likewise, lessons in humility take on many forms including taking instruction from a "child". Of course, as with any student of any age or rank, experience does not make them an effective teacher nor does it guarantee they have the social skills to be able to communicate respectfully, therefore, guidelines should be established and sensei must be aware of what is going on in the school at all times. Dis-respectful behavior on any students part regardless of age should be dealt with accordingly. Personally, I make it a practice to always ask a fellow classmate if they would like my assistance rather than to just give out unsolicited "tips" and encourage my students to do likewise.

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White Yellow Blue Purple Brown 1 Brown 2 Brown 3 Black

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It's a fallacy. After more than 26 years of stretching and practice I am not anymore flexible than my boys but am more flexible than my girls. I think it is all about body type, structure, and composition.

Likewise. When I miss training my back injuries seem to rear their ugly little heads! Keeping the body active and flexible seems to help. I would try some physical therapy to specifically address those movements that give you trouble-your MD should be able to refer you to a good sports medicine facility.

If this new student has 8 hours of formal training under a qualified and certified karate instructor daily (not self-training at home) for 1 year which totals 2,920 formal training hours, and through sequentially progressive kyu grading tests (from white to brown belt rank) ending with the shodan (BB) test, he was observed to possess the skill, discipline, mentality and maturity that a candidate should have at each belt ladder level, why question his qualifications as a competent blackbelt? He deserves to be one, given those aforementioned conditions having been met. I would salute him and welcome him to our blackbelt ranks. I agree. Time in grade means little compared to skill and those that excell should not be held back becasue of an arbitrary time frame.

Good point however I did take a on a bit more damage to the menisus during the test and was down for a few days afterwards. I knew going into it that I would go full out hence making the decision to test was a difficult one. Probably not the smartest choice by medical standards but definitely the right one for me at the time (due to other circumstances I would have regretted it more had I not taken the test). I did take some precautions though by wearing a brace to minimize the risk to the ACL.

Just opened a very small new school....that in itself is a bit of a struggle but I am not worried as I am in it to teach, not to get rich. My monthly costs are not much so I only need a handful of students right now. It would nice to have 20 or so soon though!

I almost bagged my 3rd degree test to have knee surgery but I went ahead and took it and I have no regrets. I am 6 months post-op (partial ACL tear, meniscus tear, and microfracture procedure) and am doing light training-no lateral or rotational movements period! I can run without pain but still swell, can't handle deep stances yet, but can do kata. Doc says 12-18 months....still worth it if the knee turns out better than beofre the surgery. The question to ask yourself is this: How much more damage are you willing to risk? Pain is relative.

Congratulations!!!