Nidan Melbourne

My club does contracts of varying amounts of time but never more than 18 months. But that is with an option to pay up front in full or pay over x months if it is more affordable that way. But only 1/5th of our club has that type of membership. But everyone else either has a monthly direct debit, or 30 lessons. We do offer similar memberships to the black belt one but to different ranks/time based not classes based. All our students who are direct debit are charged $85 per month which includes; training costs, gradings, belt (if promoted), insurance, and a small part for hiring of the hall. BUT the best thing is with our memberships/contracts is that if you decide to cancel that membership there is no payment required to cancel. If you payed upfront for say 18 months and you stop completely after 12, you get 6 months of that sum back. - As you are not going to use it, so why should we keep it? But this school your talking about is very expensive and very dodgy.

Can you outline your reasons for this? Edit: spelling When my dojo first opened my sensei was tough (as in you actually had to do well). But now he is passing students on tests (for tags) and for gradings as well when they shouldn't have passed at all. For instance one of our Shodan-Ho Students should have failed because he showed a lack of control in his techniques (Could have seriously injured someone), he couldn't perform his grading kata to a suitable level (He made A LOT of very obvious big mistakes), didn't do well with kihon (even though when you go for your BB it should be of a high standard) etc. It isn't because he isn't coping with running a school, but then again he hasn't helped himself by not getting on more instructors that can take on the reigns of the weekday classes and run them 4-9 pm without him there. When many of the students I fail because they can't do a basic technique or can't perform something that they should be able to do in their sleep and they go "I should have passed!"

If you buy a gi that is way to big he can adjust it by getting it altered. But as sensei8 said maybe get a custom made gi. Will take a bit longer to get delivered but will be worth it. Maybe call up the local suppliers in the UK to see if they can do it?

Happy Birthday Alex! Great to know I have my birthday within' the same week as someone who is absolutely amazing!

Hey all, Next Sunday I'm Competing at the Shotokan Cup which is a state league tournament. I am wondering what Order or Should remove from my kata list for it. Here is my Kata List Anan (Shito-Ryu) Seipai Jion (IF NEEDED) Kururunfa Suparempei (Goju-Ryu Version)

I agree the Hops are very strange but whatever reason they were added must have been kept a secret of the person that created it.

I found this a very interesting explanation of the "Hop" in the Shotokan Version of Chinte. what do all of you think of Ian Abernathy's explanation of the "Hop" in this video?

My Rattans that I use for Balintawak Arnis

I only added the "Olympic" part because that's what they're calling them, since they started their whole "The K is on the Way" thing to try to get karate into the Olympics. I only pointed out the belt color thing because I've gotten a surprising amount of people asking why he is wearing blue or red belts in photos and videos . We are new to the WKF ruleset, having only started competing in this circuit last year when the regional "Open Karate" competition circuit shutdown. It has never had much of a presence in our area until that happened. I haven't seen the WKF use "Olympic" in any advertising before with the exception of them wanting to get karate in the Olympics. Otherwise they don't use it from what i've seen. Were you guys completely aware of the rules etc and taught it alongside with the dominant tournament circuit? Because I have many friends who are instructors over in the US and teach in their competition classes both versions in case of both. I know many competitions in America normally have all competitors wear their current rank and have a very different format of announcing the kata. When you say you have had a lot of people ask is it just parents and students at your dojo that have been asking?

The WKF have had those rules for years and years. So you don't need to put down the "Olympic" in it. Also it is to prevent any favouritism due to rank. The real reason is to make things easier for the Referee + Judges to vote on who performed the better kata. I know the US often doesn't use the WKF way of assigning AKA or AO for the competitors to use for each round. The only tournament I HAVEN'T used the WKF Rules is when it is a small club hosted the tournament and we just used a small red piece of rope at the back of one competitors belt.

At my dojo we don't grade straight from Ikkyu to Shodan instead we do Ikkyu to Shodan-Ho. As to ensure we have students study further prior to grading to Shodan and means that you need at least an extra 18 months of training. We have had many students that reached Shodan-Ho just after the 3 year mark. BUT the only way they can do that is if they have trained 4 times per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday) and have not failed a single test (5 tests per belt then a grading). For our Dan Grades we require our students to train for x amount of time + 6 months for the grade that you want. So for Sandan we require our students to train for 3 years (= 3rd Dan) + 6 months on top of that. The only exception to the rule is when a student is double graded (or even the rarer Triple Graded) but we will not do those [Double/Triple Grade] those from a Kyu Grade to Dan Grade. It can only be Kyu Grade to Kyu Grade or Dan Grade to Dan Grade. I know of only 2 cases where a Dan Graded person got double graded; me from Shodan-Ho to Nidan and my friend Leon who got graded from Nidan to Yondan. Both of us got graded to those ranks from people that are well respected and knowledgeable in Goju-Ryu Karate.

Spot on!

Get it checked out. Discoloration of a joint or in any part of the body can be a sign of trauma to that particular spot. Even if you are unaware of how it started. For many people it is normal and have no issues. But majority of the time there is a problem

Ummm I think it would be best if you train with varying lengths for a Bo irregardless of style. But probably a 6 foot bo is acceptable for someone your height

I have a size 4 tokaido but if you are worried about sizing then go for a bigger size. Like our new member of the month said contacf the company. Tell them height weight and maybe whether you are big (as in overweifght or über muscles) or small. I am 5"7'ish but have a belly so I bought up and adjusted the gi first now perfect

That is fantastic patrick. Looking forward to reading each part

I'd recommend during training focus on training your left hand side. I've trained for 14 years and still train my left side because I admittedly haven't been so strict on my training of it which i highly regret.

I believe this is one of those difficult things to be able to answer because every civilization 2000 odd years ago there would have been different needs in terms of martial arts

Personally for me calling someone "Master" or "Grandmaster" should only be done is if the style uses it specifically as a title. In Karate for instance we wouldn't use those title because usually people will use the titles: Sempai/Senpai, Sensei or Hanshi. I've met 8th and 9th Dan Black Belts that prefer either being called Sensei or just their name. I have personally gone to schools to watch and they have used grandmaster or master instead of proper honorifics. Although there are some Martial Arts that I know of that do use those terms because they may not use other terminology or because of native languages so it makes it hard to use such a term. I do Balintawak Arnis and they use the term Grandmaster and Master (Reference: http://www.internationalbalintawak.com) But all people that do martial arts are still students of the art. BUT then again such terms are more titles bestowed upon people yet still doesn't stop them from learning.

Have you taught previously in your respective arts? I haven't started my own system or developed it. I would recommend you figure out your curriculum etc before you open your school. Are you going to teach a combination of Muay Thai and Shotokan or just one of them with hints of the other? What do you feel like that your going to bring to the table? Once you open your school are you going to affiliate yourself with an association (i.e. here in Melbourne, Australia if i opened a karate school i would affiliate myself with Karate Victoria and the Australian Karate Federation)?

Yes it does sound expensive. Are the classes all of those Martial Arts combined in the classes or separate? For me my dojo it is only a karate school with a little bit of Arnis thrown in when it suits my sensei (and only to the advanced adults class). And I only pay $85AUD ($66.36 US) which includes tax and that is a monthly fee (includes unlimited training, gradings, insurance, belts upon promotion). then the only things we pay extra for are for mits + pads (most will normally buy the AKF or WKF Approved gear) which is usually rather expensive (can cost at a minimum $90 combined), groin guard (for males required), mouth guard (Not much $6 minimum). Then belts that we need to get replaced if it doesn't fit anymore or lost. Finally Gi's; we get one standard when we pay and sign up to do the introductory lessons. Otherwise free to buy our own but they cost varying amounts from $30 (low range) to $200-300 for the better quality gi (ie Seishin, Tokaido etc)

Well I didn't get a chance to choose my martial art (Goju-Ryu Karate) because of my parents chose it for me (I was 9 at the time). And i had absolutely no idea of the styles within' karate at the time. But glad they chose Goju-Ryu for me because it suits me so well (Including my personality). I chose BJJ through my later years of high school because i wanted to learn grappling, throws, locks etc. and it helped my knowledge of karate expand even further. And my ability to use my groundwork and throws during my karate training. Balintawak Arnis i chose by chance because my sensei from karate is a practitioner of it (Bobby Taboada's school) and is preparing for his Instructor Level Promotion at some point (just have to wait for GM Taboada to come to Melbourne, Australia). But it is a fun thing to train in (until you get hit in the hands when you don't block properly)

Love seeing your background Sensei8.

Very Cool indeed!

heck yeah! great ps1