Nidan Melbourne

I'm not training till Monday as i am moving house over the weekend. I'm giving him time to sort things out anyway. But one of the other factors that is pushing me to leave is that my dojo is starting to become a mcdojo which is concerning me and i'm not only one who believes this.

So on Wednesday during the adults class that i was training in. Peter (who was the honorary BB that I told you all about previously) decided to be the bad guy and bullied me. - Clarification: He only got his BB because he told everyone that he had to stop Karate because he doctors told him that he can't continue because of his eye sight and hearing, of which if he got hit in the head he would go blind + deaf. This was during the warm up and he decided to go "you have to lose 20 kg because i can't work with ANYONE over 90 kg, and your too fat to work with me!" Now on the inside I wanted to tear him a new one and rip his head off his body for that comment. But I didn't and all i could say was "Dude that is so not cool and should NEVER say anything like that to anyone no matter what" Now being the bad person that he is (instead of the certain 'C' word) didn't care what he said and didn't apologize. Sensei had heard what Peter had said and tore him an absolute new one. Sensei didn't a chance to speak to me because he was the only instructor teaching and he had to leave prior to the last class of the day. But We have spoken via email since the incident. As I have told him that if he (sensei) doesn't sort out Peter, I will leave the dojo and not recommend any more people to the dojo. My only conditions were that Peter has to apologize to me and/or leave the dojo because that behavior is not appropriate or i leave. I am one of the few experienced instructors he has and that he knows that I am very honest when it comes to this. I tried to brush it off but this behavior and type of comments can't keep going, and not for the rest of the students sake or mine. It made me angry yes because he doesn't realize that i have been busting my guts out to lose weight (lost 10 kg in the last month) and is extremely difficult due to me having a thyroid problem. Considering I go to the gym 4 times a week, karate 3 times per week, then also run and do own training every day that i don't have karate. But then again he should know that people shouldn't be saying stuff like that especially with the effect that it has on people. The dojo has always been a safe spot for me (a sanctuary if you will) and everyone treats everyone with respect. They never make any negative comments about anyone. Even the smallest of partners ive worked with has never complained about my weight or who i am. Because they at least respect who i am and not judge me for it. And that if we are required to do something that involves putting the other person on their back or whatever they know that i will do something different for their own safety. Now I have suffered from Depression for the last 5 years and have been very much suicidal for the last 3 years. And currently at a real low point. So this did affect me to the core and have spoken to my psychologist already about it because i didn't want to get worse or do anything stupid. What are your opinions on this?

Sorry about your sister Bob. We are here to support you and your family when you need it. I am sure the Shindokan family would love to have you pop by when you want to. And [hopefully] would let you train/teach when you want. Because they are family too

There is a line between being their friend and being the instructor. I understand you were brought in a lower rank than normal, and you didn't know how to separate the two. It is ok to be tough on them, as you have to show them that you are the instructor and that they have to listen. You can be friends with them (i believe) outside of the class but when it is class time you are in charge. as others have said respect is earnt. When I teach I am very firm with them, but i do reward them with fun when they have done a good job for the day. And learnt early on that just being the fun instructor gets you nowhere (I started teaching the day i got my brown belt). Some of my students do get worried when I teach them because they know that I have high expectations, and that I may call on them for something. But they get over it after a while when they realize what I am getting them to do isn't that bad or they know what i am asking of them to do or they give me a good answer. But I acknowledge to them when they have done something well, which would be giving them a comforting moment knowing that they met my expectations and that i said to them "good job" They show respect when you give them the respect to push them to strive to be the best they can be and when they show improvement they feel like they accomplished something positive. But they also will show respect towards you if your completely honest with them (even if it hurts) they will learn from it and that they know your not wrapping them in bubble wrap. When teaching the lower ranks you do have to show them that you are the boss and that you can allow them to have fun when it is appropriate. For instance i have one student (8 year old) of whom is a purple belt, and this is the rank we start testing them on Gekesai Ich. Now previously he has struggled big time with some of the steps, now i ran him through the kata to see what was wrong. Following that i got him to practice certain steps in the kata several times so he can improve. By the end of the class he was so much better than before and I told him that i was proud of him and gave him a high five. He didn't get his kata tag at the end of the class because he got nervous and make a few mistakes. But told him after class that it was ok and you have gotten better anyway and to not give up and not feel bad for not getting the tag. Now normally in class I am extremely tough on the students, so by me taking my time with him so he can improve and being nice to him he learnt faster than he has previously. And the following class that he came to he passed because he had practiced everything that I told him but also what sensei mentioned to him. So his confidence grew because of the time we took to show him how to do it without freaking the hell out. Even though you need to be tough and all that jazz, but still use please and thank you for results as it shows that you want them to listen.

I teach young ones (5 +) and as much as I am a stickler for technique. I have them doing it in a fun way whilst not being overly picky with how they do it as long as it resembles the correct form of the technique. But normally I will play a game with them at the end to see if they remember the techniques that we had run through. And they love it. Since they have short attention spans I normally make sure we change things up every few minutes. So we would say do blocks and strikes for 10-15 minutes then change to stances then to kicks then add them together.

Currently I own a Jols Gi (Jols I think only serves Australia), A Seishin Gi (It is amazing even though it had to be shipped from Sweden) and it is an amazing gi to both Train and Compete in Kata with. Then i also have a Tokaido Gi which is of a heavier weight which I hardly use cause it is so starchy

I agree with sensei8 change when it is not serving the needs that you require. Also I think if you feel like you can't learn anything or have an environment that you feel comfortable in or safe then it is the time to change

thanks it was smaller than last year but still a good turnout.

If your wanting to check out some pics from the tournament click the link in my signature. Just have to get some off my partners phone as my camera ran out of power during my event (my bad lol!) I am not overly tech savvy to upload to a media sharing site most of you use. But I have very Facebook savvy and thought it was easier to share that way

every single person has a different bunkai to each kata. But in relation to the dojo each is different and how they are supposed to be done. I know my bunkai for some kata at my dojo is different to the goju school around the block. But a persons kyogi (basically it is your own bunkai for each technique in a kata) is your own

that is totally normal for you to feel like that. But don't try and overthink it on the day.

It is very uncommon for it to occur. I have done it once previously where 2 students have been misbehaving badly enough that it warranted the removal of their belt but only til the end of class and not for an extended amount of time.

It is ok to be hit in the dojo. The more times you get hit that fear will go away. Your partners in the dojo won't go out of their way to injure you. For you face your fears and get into the midst of it, allow yourself to get hit. We all have had that fear when we have trained. You don't need to fear about hurting your partner! hit them and they will tell you if it was too hard or not hard enough. So you can then adjust how hard you hit.

My sensei is not replaceable at all. He does encourage us to learn from others as much as possible. But for me personally he is much more than my sensei. He is my mentor, guide along my journey, the first person to encourage me at karate. And most importantly a friend!

Thanks Sensei8 For me the medal was a bonus. The guy that I competed against (the national squad member) said that I had improved big time since last year (competed against him at the same tournament last year). And he agreed with me when I do it only for the fun of it and the experience. Although we were all frustrated like crazy because one of the competitors rocked up late even though he had just competed 10 minutes prior on a different tatami. The officials were going to let him have the bye in the 1st round and let him go straight into the final. But us competitors protested prior to that occurring, either disqualify him or wait a few more minutes. He didn't apologize or anything when he did finally show up.

What we require our students to know in japanese is: Blocks Strikes (punches, knees, uchis, teishos etc) Kicks Stances Numbers (up to 100) General bowing procedures Titles

I finished competing for the day. I got eliminated in the first round but still got bronze because of the lineup positioning. As either way i was going to receive a medal I did Jion but made a few mistakes. But i knew what they were so i can work on it for next time.

So this coming Sunday is the Alan Murdoch Cup and I shall be competing again this year. Currently I am one of 3 people entered to compete but likely there will be a lot more that have entered via snail mail (the post if you don't know). I'm pumped and looking forward to it. Especially since it is going to be the first tournament I am competing at that will use a shotokan kata (Jion). It is funny because my sensei, one of my friends who teaches now more than he trains and a parent who is heavily involved with his two sons training for competitions all said that Jion is very well suited to me even though Shotokan isn't my style of choice. Hopefully my fiance (Got engaged last november) will get plenty of photos of me competing. I will be putting them up on my business' facebook page if you want to check them out. As it is an easy format for me to share all my photos for people to check out. - Patrick or admins can I share the link to the page or should i stick it down to my signature (Will remodify it to fit the guidelines)? My kata this year are: Seisan (Maybe)? Seipai Jion Kururunfa Suparenpei Anan (If needed)

You can train alone to learn it, but the thing is that you wouldn't get the full benefits of the training. Because when you train on your own you are more likely to get bored and therefore quit. Watching videos helps you learn the basics yes but you won't learn the finer points in those moves. When you do it properly in a class you will sweat and have fun whilst learning something. I am an overweight individual that has trained for 14 years now. And I understand fully well what it is like to be overweight and unfit and the psychology behind it i understand quite well. When you do Kata full strength will proper stances, kicks, blocks and strikes you really do build up a big sweat. It is akin to cardio yes but you don't notice that you are training like that. At my worst I have weighed approximately 130 kg (286 Pounds) now I am down to 114 kg. And I have been giving it 100% over the last few months. Many people who train in Martial Arts (in classes) focus on fitness and not necessarily self defense or sport. Question: When you train at the gym do you do it on your own or with friends? Why couldn't you keep at the calisthenics? The Best thing is to go to do some classes give everything 100% to it and will spare you from having to spend x amount on classes and then a further x amount for a gym membership. Because many people find more benefits from martial arts training than going to the gym. Certain Exercise Videos are good yes, but the flaw is that people often won't put 100% into doing it, then they will give up because they can't figure out why there aren't positive results. So Martial Arts does help greatly with weight loss and can be a benefit to flexibility. As you are a female, you are already predisposed to being more flexible than males. So once you lose some weight (not meant to be an insult, i apologize) it will really come through. And will develop even more, but depends on size of your joints and muscular length

I have no idea how they do these exercises as they would do these from a young age. And most likely the Shoalin Monks may not have shared how they do them

There is no such thing as speed recovery! The only type of recovery that should be occuring is rest and recovery! Many of us have had this at some point or another. Usually it occurs because you have pushed your muscles too far. So you may have just strained your muscles or just that they are very tight from you doing it. You can't really avoid it because you will need to train to strengthen those muscles. Because your inner thighs people don't train all that often. So that could be what your feeling.

That is a difficult choice. Maybe have a word with him in regards to the black belt exam and to find out why he is turning up late. Because you and the students have the right to know. It is weird that he rocks up late. Because students (in this case Parents) pay good money to learn something. Maybe just be patient till you go to university, as there will most likely be multiple dojos that you can go to. Then you will be able to work hard again and grade to shodan then. If you quit before you go and then sign up at a new dojo if it is the same style of karate they will most likely accept your grade anyway, but they may just grade to see where you are at and adjust you to their grading system. As we have done that a lot at my dojo when we have people who come from other dojos we will test them at our next grading just to make sure that they know the syllabus. But we do have students that have moved over at say brown belt, and they have done the same style. Yet they may have not done all the kata or bunkai or whatever they are missing that we require for our students of the same rank to be promoted, so we keep them at that rank until they catch up.

I don't go out to embarrass or insult the students when requiring them to know the terms. We ensure that all students are aware of the requirements for promotion to any grade as early as possible. As we usually in class as well quiz students to see what they remember of what they know and will remind them that they should be learning these and reminding them to ask questions (even if they are say a green belt they pretty much know the terms) We ensure that all our students are know all the terms because if they decide to travel overseas or even move dojo's that speak limited english (if any) and train then they will be ok. But we also have instructors come from various countries that don't speak english so they need to know it. And we also teach the japanese terminology because it helps you learn something and not just the moves. And it makes you think therefore grow as a person to link the move to the term

YAY FOR YOU!! CONGRATS!

Yesterday during our advanced juniors class I was taking our 1st Kyu's through basics because strong basics is the base of all martial arts. Because if you don't have strong (aka good) basics then the rest won't be as effective. As a general requirement i'm sure all schools require their students to be at least knowledgeable in the japanese terminology for all techniques they are required to know. I was taking them through Kihon especially since the 7 of them either had 2 or 3 'tags' on their belt so they are close to getting the 5 tags required to grade for shodan-ho. And I informed them before starting that no technique or combination that I get them to do or have them come up with will be in japanese, so no english terminology can be used. I did this because it will make them think and also that there is the expectation that they know their stuff. Especially when it comes to their black belt grading we do the same because they should have been listening and learning whilst learning the syllabus. Especially if they travel overseas where they don't speak english or a language that your fluent in then they will use japanese terminology to make things even easier for you to train and learn from someone else. As karate Japanese is the native language of karate (even further you can say Okinawan is the true tongue of karate). As my general rule when teaching and using the japanese terms, i look to see if they demonstrate the technique i want to see. If they get it right or no one knows I will demonstrate and tell them it in english. By doing this I like seeing if they learn and have actually payed attention to what we have taught them. Now during the class I did what i just mentioned, and started by telling them the combination i wanted in japanese and asked the 1 to tell me what it is (they got it right). Now 1 student was not paying attention at all, i got their attention and asked them what the combination was and they said "I don't know" when i asked if they were watching they responded with "no" and the same for when asked if they were listening. For one combination I asked her to give me a technique (any one that she can think of) if she can't think of the japanese term for it that she can say it in english. Now I got no response, when i reminded her that it can be in english because i could tell she didn't know the terms in japanese and tell me it in english. at the end of the class and my training class started, the parent pulled me over to the side and she was angry because her was upset especially after all the years she has trained at the school. She was asking me what during the class caused her to be so upset. I calmly told her that there is the expectation that a student of her rank that she should know all the terms required to grade. Her response was that "sensei has never mentioned the japanese terms before and why is it now that she has to know this and that no english would be used" so i calmly told her that there is a requirement that you know all the terms and that we have always used more japanese terms in the advanced class and used english terms on techniques that they are learning to make it easier on them. Once I finished explaining it to her and few other things, I did apologize for causing distress but the parent said that I didn't need to apologize because that makes sense and that her daughter should be asking questions when she doesn't know something and considering that she pays $85 per month she feels that there has to be a benefit to it all. When I told her that her daughter can't neglect the mental side to learning terms, numbers etc and not just learning the "meat head" side of karate or martial arts. she understood what her daughter is doing and that she (the mum) apologized for her reaction without knowing the other side of the story. What do you think of what happened? Here is our expectation levels of knowledge about terminology for our students in their respective classes: 'Beginners': Know the English Terms, and we start introducing the japanese terms slowly into their vocabulary. When they Graduate to the next class they should know at least 25% of the Japanese terms. 'Intermediate': Know the English Terms for their syllabus but also know the japanese terms for those techniques. By the time they are ready to graduate to the 'Advanced' Class they should know 75% of the Japanese Terms 'Advanced': Purple + Blue Belts should know 75-90% of the japanese terms. Whilst 2nd Kyu and above must know 100% of the japanese terms. Throughout the 'beginner' and 'intermediate' classes we say it in english and will tell them what it is in japanese. So when it gets near the end of the class we see if they remember what the japanese term was with a technique. We repeat the technique with both japanese and english names multiple times so you remember it. We in that way build it up over time that they remember all the terminology. All our students when they grade for any dan grading (including shodan-ho) we require them to sit a written exam where it tests their knowledge. Usually those who pass the written exam have either payed attention to retain the information or they have gone out of their way to learn the required information.