Nidan Melbourne

Will definitely be there but not as a competitor (those days are well behind me) I have 30 plus students enetering so will be very busy coaching. Looks a good event - I had a quick look this morning - so far competitors from all over Australia and a group coming over from New Zealand. so i might see you there then.

I'm surprised that an official was going through the crowd to get judges. Here in Australia all the 'major' tournaments that are great for the state/national team members and those who want to get onto state. Say for the Alan Murdoch Cup (refer to one of my threads) all the host school had to do other than have a date of competition, how the day is going to run, cost of registration, due dates for registration (otherwise on the day), how many of their own staff is required to supervise & run the day, contacting Karate Victoria to get enough Referees for the day (so the host school has to tell them how many tatami's there are and how many referees are required) and a host of other duties. BUT in terms of getting the referees like i just said is to contact Karate Victoria (which obviously is the highest governing body in Victoria other than Karate Australia) and request x number of referees for the day of competition (and they have to inform Karate Victoria of the length of competition). So our Referees/Judges are also remunerated for giving up their day to officiate the tournament. Also all of our referees (for both Karate Victoria and Australian Karate Federation) have to wear a specific uniform. Which consists of Black Business pants, white shirt, navy blue jacket with the Australian Karate Federation Logo on it and a Australian Karate Federation Tie (pinned back to the shirt) for the Parents that is what i find frustrating when they don't stay clear of the ring. At every tournament that i've attended there has been a rope separating where competitors (+ their coach) and all officials are allowed to go, then the other for everyone else. The hosts were clear on ensuring parents stayed away from the ring. Only time that they are even remotely allowed near the ring is if their child gets hurt in kumite. For seating where was the tournament held? by that i mean what type of building was it (Basketball Stadium, a local hall etc). At the small tournaments that my dojo runs or the one that is really close to us (same style of karate) sometimes asks to borrow a couple of our senior students (aka dan graded black belts) to help referee. They do that (the other dojo) is because they don't have many advanced adults. Plus we know how to referee both kata and kumite.

Thats what i'm planning on entering. What about you waynshin?

at my school. My sensei had invited his old sensei to come help out and he (my sensei's sensei) thought i should be nidan not shodan

sorry ps1 i have no idea how to help you out with it. if you have any friends in the IT sector they could probably help you out

He came in to teach the adults class (our 'beginners' class) and everyone was glad to see him for it. He was all teary eyed for the warm welcome back to help out

from all the years that you have trained and graded with that style what is your favorite grading that you have ever attended (as a candidate for promotion)? Also for presentations for promotions what is your favorite? and please state which martial art and style you do. So my favorite was when i attempted for my shodan and ended up getting graded to nidan. and i do goju-ryu karate

Both raise very good points with what your saying. Wagnerk i like your idea of pulling people out who weren't meeting standards. But what happens when you ask them to do something and make a few mistakes? or do you allow for those mistakes or if they completely fudge it up then you pull them? and Mal103 i can absolutely agree that the longer the grading the more you have to pay for rent. it is the same for my school since we rent space from our local sports center. But then again if we are aware that we have a large number of students grading (or the difficulty of the grading requires it) we will rent it for the extra time. Otherwise if we have too many students we actually would rent out the basketball court to have plenty of space to have enough room for everyone. Although the only downside to renting a basketball court for a few hours is on a saturday is that it is hard to get time unless it is at night or during the week as the basketball courts at the same center has basketball from 9:45 am to 8 pm at night. Also it would be a good way to see if they have been actually working on their syllabus after passing that particular test (you have to pass 5 tests to be eligible to grade. once you pass a test you get a 'tag' on your belt to show that you've passed it). But those who fail usually have either had a bad day on the mat (doesn't normally happen) or fail outright because of either their attitude whilst at the grading or that they just aren't up to scratch to be promoted. oh and wagnerk at my old dojo (& new one) if your attempting for your black belt (or grading for a kyu belt at the black belt grading) you won't get told that you failed until afterwards. if they fail the grading outright from basics we want to give them a fair chance to rectify that from the rest of the grading. Say they stuff up a number of techniques in the basics or combinations section of they grading they have to show us that it was a mistake from the rest of the grading.

Honestly he seems a bit too young to grade to Shodan. But I am certainly aware that at my dojo we do have a couple of students who do hold the rank of Shodan at my dojo and that are 15 years of age. Although admittedly i do train in a Goju-Ryu School. And those 2 students that do hold the rank of shodan that are 15, have shown to be exceptionally skilled in the art of Goju-Ryu Karate. We only grade students to a dan grade if they are under the age of 16 or 17 is because they are exceptionally skilled and proven themselves worthy of being eligible for grading for a dan grade

Like what wagnerk said there is nothing wrong with the way he teaches. Every instructor teaches differently in their MA. Like my sensei at my karate dojo teaches completely different to the sensei around the corner. Even though the techniques are the same (As the school around the corner is of the same style as mine) but we learn them differently.

Congrats Safroot! Well deserved. i've always enjoyed reading your posts

Hi All, just thought i would let you all know, I competed yesterday (Sunday 9th February) out at the Dandenong & District Netball Center in Dandenong. I was 1 of 5 people in the senior males 3rd kyu and above division in kata. there was 1 member of the Australian National Squad, 3 people in the state squad, and 1 that wasn't in either. Unfortunately I was lined up to face the guy that is in the National Squad in the 1st round! I lost 4 flags to 1 flag. I did Kururunfa and he did Sepai. He was a much stronger opponent (and my sensei had told me that i had to work really hard whilst doing the kata to have any chance to beat him). Even though i got eliminated first up i was happy to have gone up against someone who was skilled as he was. And also being back on the tournament mats after some time off due to being injured and personal issues felt good but the nerves were back like a complete newbie at tournaments.

6/2/14 45 min run 20 hill sprints - 50 m run up a 60 degree angle. Sprint up walk down. Once at bottom 10 seconds to go again 37 sit ups 37 push ups (doing the push up challenge 1 push up a day. Increasing number of push ups each day. so january 1st you do 1 push up, January 2nd you do 2 pushups. all way up to December 31st where you do 365 push ups. except on leap year where you do 366) Kata sanchin with hand weights. All advanced Kata after Saifa with proper technique

Kekogi and Dogi are two names for a karate gi

yes it is totally normal to feel uncoordinated when you first start off. you just need to practice! the more you practice the better you're going to be

3/2/14 2 hour class (+ a further one hour added at the end of it, so 3 hours overall) warm up - jogging around the dojo, sensei yells 'up' you do a tuck jump, 'down' touch ground, 'swap' run to another part of the mat, 'switch' change directions Sanchin Kata (Twice) with people striking body (with kicks, punches, resitance to techniques, hit with belt etc) Taikyoku Katas (Jodan to Mawashi Ichi), Gekesai Ichi + Ni, saifa, seeiunchin, sanseru, seisun, kururunfa + Sepai. all slow by the count so you would be wrecked by the end of it. 15 minutes of high intensity training - 50 push ups - 50 sit ups - 30 crunches - 100 bilateral slides in shiko dachi - kicks (20 of each - 10 off each leg) - front kick, groin kick, roundhouse kick (Jodan Mawashi Geri), reverse roundhouse kick, spinning heel kick - 100 "strongman" uchi's with both arms - 50 tuck jumps - 50 "super" burpees (Squat, Push up, sit up, tuck jump) 10 rounds (3 minutes each round) of light kumite (full contact, throws + takedowns allowed etc) stretching required afterwards and ended up having an ice bath to help my muscles recoup.

a lot. 4-5 times a day! maybe i'm a little bit too addicted? lol

Hi Nidan Melbourne...can I ask a quick question...what will happen to your forum name when you are graded to Sandan? hahaha i'll ask patrick to upgrade my username

the karateka is actually my sensei as well, hence why we only really have more advanced students to do bunkai with it more safely. Taikyoku Jodan and Taikyoku Chudan utilize the same stances. The main differences are in Jodan you use Jodan Uke (Upper Block) and a jodan tsuki (upper punch) whilst in Taikyoku Chudan you use Chudan Uke (Middle Block) and Chudan Tsuki (middle Punch). Taikyoku Gedan you are in Shiko dachi for the duration of the kata. and you use Gedan uke (lower block) and gedan tsuki* (lower punch) *whilst in shiko dachi, the gedan tsuki turns into a chudan tsuki due to the change in stance (from say sanchin dachi or zenkutsu dachi).

Thats interesting! cause around the corner from my dojo there is another karate school and they have never had any issues with us (well yet at least). The main reason why we haven't had any issues with them was that we all shared the love for karate and martial arts. Both schools are Goju-Ryu Karate also. No issues because the two of you have solid karate-do, and you both allow the floor to speak for itself. I can see a landlord who owns a strip mall, for example, not allowing another school of the MA rent from him/her because a proprietary agreement might already exist between landlord and existing renters. However, across the street, under a different landlord, well, bring it on and allow the floor to speak for itself. I agree that both our schools have a solid karate-do. Both sensei's sat down together to discuss managing a school and how to ensure the success of both schools. We have an understanding that we respect each school for who they are. and that we support each other as much as possible. at some point both schools are planning a little mini tournament between the schools and have trophies for the winners. purely out of fun and respect of both schools.

He/she clearly doesn't seem like the person that is happy to see students who want to broaden their studies of the martial arts. you did the right thing by your friend to go and support them at the ceremony. I have attended many ceremonies to support my friends being promoted. My sensei doesn't mind at all, that i do that purely because he knows that all of his students will do the right thing for the school and their own friends. He has significant trust in us to show respect when we visit other schools. He taught us to be polite, respectful and follow that dojo's rules and also follow our dojo's rules (if there are contradicting rules we will follow the host schools rule). that way we can be very tough on our behavior. When my sensei left our old organisation, there was no bitterness between him and his old sensei (even though he was not a very nice person to everyone). Although there is some competitiveness between the schools, as his sensei hates (for some weird reason) other karate schools that were started by his former students.

we often use a rotating curriculum. but there are guidelines for what each rank has to be able to do. but otherwise we vary up what every rank has to do, in which it will keep them interested and challenged.

for a few of our katas they are of the Taikyoku Series so there are (potentially) unlimited uses for it. such as this one which is Taikyoku Jodan.

most of the kata at my school we don't really have bunkai for as they aren't really variable like other kata. but it doesn't mean that there is no bunkai for it, but will be very small. But it would have some very complex movements to it that lower ranked students wouldn't be able to perform. But the more senior students would be able to understand those applications and apply them properly.

That is probably one of the considerations why the judges voted for the japanese team.