Nidan Melbourne

oh true that does happen sometimes

I feel like there is a double whammy here. Especially since you said you don't want to work for the rest of your life. As I have seen people with the same frame of mind and it backfired. BUT that may not be the case here. Usually businesses that will be a hit and are low budget friendly are ones that people need and usually have to travel a fair way to get. Also if you are going to sell a product you need to get information down quickly

Congrats!

That seems very weird that it happened. Where were the stains? I have heard people used really strong bleach to get rid of stains

I agree. I spoke to a friend of mine recently who is a fairly High Level (1 Below WKF Level) Referee for both Kata and Kumite and said Pinan Shodan Depending on how well it is done scores moderately but then again Bassai Dai and Seisan score higher due to the 'extra' technical requirements in both which is in relation to difficulty

Shotokan and some other styles of karate can do plenty of damage to your joints due to their hardness. But if your sensei is willing to modify training then awesome. If you feel like you should switch then shorin-ryu or even goju-ryu are good ones. There are some styles that still has some 'hardness' but also has plenty of 'softness' to them

Don't freak out over this. It was a good punch and was a good learning experience for both of you. and you taught him how he should keep his hands up! Especially with just over 1 years of training you are going well in learning. We all have done it at some point during our training. I have hit people in the nose plenty of times and they were appreciative that i showed something that they can improve on. And the same has happened for me many many times even to this day (I have trained for 13 years). I got hit last night in the nose during kumite and caused it to bleed courtesy of an orange belt. I was grateful to that orange belt for doing it because showed me that i was doing something wrong when i was going to engage in a takedown. The fact he is smiling shows that he isn't angry at you over this.

Like wastelander said what kata are they specifying you can or cannot do? are you good with Bassai Dai + Seisan? I mean do you know the full pattern for both and make them look strong and timing is good? If Pinan Shodan is your best kata go for it. But depending on the type of tournament that you are competing in.

Normally it is between 6-10 to 1 depending on the class size and the number of available instructors.

This is specified to people that have signed up at the gym and exercise or do the fitness programs that are on tv. Now if you signed up at a gym did they provide you a questionnaire and they actually assess whether it is safe for you to exercise or not without approval from a Doctor? If they did not provide you one and evaluate you further then why? If you do a fitness program that was advertised on TV did you get told to speak to a doctor. Filling out a questionnaire to your physical health and your family history assists in determining how intense you can SAFELY exercise. - Note: When I say Family History it refers to IMMEDIATE family up to an including grandparents You can be classified as High Risk if you have a diagnosed Cardiovascular, Respiratory or Metabolic Disease. So Cardiovascular Disease is either a heart defect or you have suffered from a Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack). Respiratory Disease is Asthma or similar. And Metabolic Disease is Diabetes Mellitus (Type 1 or 2) or similar. And if you want to do vigorous or moderate intensity exercise you should speak to a Doctor or a Exercise Physiologist (or similar) because you could be putting yourself at risk of injury if you don't. Moderate Risk is if you have 2 or more risk factors but hasn't been diagnosed. But you can do up to moderate intensity. Low Risk is 2 or less risk factors and you are free to do ANY exercise you want.

That is extremely concerning that people that decide to run schools like these just to rip people off

That sounds awesome!

I haven't personally seen one. But then again when I compete there may be children with "full" black belts but I just don't know it because they are either wearing red or blue whilst competing. But a child holding a full black belt and is under the age of 16 is unacceptable for me personally. UNLESS they are able to show that they can train and perform above and beyond that of someone their age and also have the physical and psychological maturity that goes along with it.

I teach juniors weekly and there are many juniors that are more mature than a lot of the adults that I train with. Maturity is not based purely off age. Those juniors that are more mature than the adults come from backgrounds where they were forced to grow up before their time.

Welcome to the forum! How are you finding your training again after a long break?

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome back to the forum!

At my dojo we don't give a kyu grade for persistance as they have to perform up to their standard. Although I have questioned my CI about a few people that he has passed when they shouldn't have received that promotion because they weren't up to that required standard. For Dan Grades we are looking for the performance and the quality of the techniques and have a high standard. But also we look at the persistance of the person. And you need to deliver both on the day of the grading. If you don't show persistance and determination throughout the grading we don't see so favorably. In other means you have to give 100% throughout the grading. The standard of techniques you have to be of a good standard. So for a person going for godan you need to show that your better than someone going for their yondan.

For the Chief Instructor (CI): How many CI's meet and greet their students and visitors before and/or after each class with a smile and a hand shake?? I'm not a CI but mine does on occasion when he isn't being asked tonnes of questions from others and the start and end of class. Is that important to you, the CI?? To him it is when the person/people are new and want to show his respect to others. Do you, the CI, insist OR encourage your assistant instructors to meet and greet, either at the door or on the floor before and/or after classes? He does when the assistant instructors are new or haven't met the students before. So they can learn their names and see how they're going. For the Assistant Instructor: Does your CI require you to meet and greet? He does often but is not a requirement especially if you aren't teach often. But if you're a regular teacher the students and parents will come up to me instead. I still get surprised every single time. Does your CI conduct training on how this should be conducted? No he doesn't conduct training on how it should be done. But he does say that we should be polite and respectful to others even if you dislike the person. Does your CI discipline or counsel you if the meet and greet isn't provided as required? Nope he doesn't discipline or counsel us if it isn't provided. He will if we are rude or disrespectful during a meet and greet. For the Student: Does the CI meet and greet you? He does when he comes up to the back of the dojo and he has to do something. Does any Assistant Instructor meet and greet you? Only one of them does when he teaches but the other Assistant Instructors don't Is this important to you? Not overly but is nice when it does happen to let me feel acknowledged. For the Visitor: Does the CI and/or any Assistant Instructor meet and greet you at anytime while you're visiting? When I visit other dojos the CI will come over and greet me and ask me a few questions about my visit and if i have any questions. If the CI is busy the AI (assistant instructor) will do it for me. Does this matter to you? Kind of when I visit other schools that I am not part of. Sometimes I would just like to sit up the back (or where ever the seating is) and watch.

It is totally normal considering you've done martial arts for so long.

CONGRATS SPARTACUS!!

Look up Sports Science Powerful kicks on youtube. They did some research on kicks and what was the strongest of the styles selected.

I realized Karate was for me when i received my Shodan (and subsequent Nidan at the same time) last year. And that was 11 Years worth of training underneath my belt. Because it made me realize to an extent that I was just going through the motions for so many years and wasn't being creative or wasn't completely enthusiastic about it. When I received my Shodan-Ho (in 2008) I got the kick in the butt i needed and i worked harder ever since.

welcome to the forum and hope you learn a lot from us here at KF.com! And congrats on the promotion.

just an update and to close the whole situation. Sensei called the parent in question and he conferenced me in for her to apologise and he was to mediate it. I took some of your advice and apologise for what i said. But she said "No you don't need to apologise for what you said. I am the one who should be apologising for what I did and that I was 100% in the wrong"