Nidan Melbourne

Fair enough!

has anyone really seen this all that much in the past? I remember being told by my shihan that "back in the day" there were 5 belts (even if they are only there to keep our pants up). White Red Green Brown Black which then turns back to white from training for your whole life

Yes!! No less than 3, that's in our By-Laws!! Gotta love by-laws For our gradings: we have 3-4 instructors for the adult gradings (my sensei, a colleague of mine who got his 2nd dan at the same grading as me, and then myself and an extra sempai if available) for the class. But we usually have 15 students in the grading and 4-5 of them are actually grading. and we have a few black belts who attend the grading for the heck of it really help push the grading candidates really hard. so it works out to be like 9 black belts pushing the candidates. for our junior gradings we have 6-7 black belts (that's including my sensei) and the number of candidates are variable due to the number that have fulfilled the pre-requisites. at my shodan/nidan grading we had Shihan, 2 sensei's and 3 sempai's on the panel and there were 7 of us grading. and when i went for my black we had 5 instructors to 20 candidates

Hear you...I missed out on a tournament and a few road races I wanted to run in due to this injury and I don't want that to happen again if at all possible. just make sure you work hard on your rehab over the long run and make sure you are fully aware of what your body is saying when your pacing yourself for runs

I agree with sensei8 to look around and decide if that school is right for you.

I technically need 7 as we have 65 competitors in the group. I probably am going to drop Gekesai anyway. And Sensei8 yes I am allowed to choose that order. We are permitted to choose any kata we want. and are still allowed to have some variation in the kata but obviously can't have a massive difference in it. The only change in order i would make for myself is depending who i am up against also. As there are some extremely strong karateka competing so i might have to bump up some of my stronger kata to them.

Hawkmoon you forgot to put 'Other' in the poll. Our poor friend MasterPain is left out of an awesome option. lol

At my school we do: All Kyu Grades: 10 x 2-3 min fights 2nd and 1st kyu grades 15 x 4 min fights Dan grades: 20+ x 5 min fights awase kumite, light kumite, point sparring and jyu kumite

at my dojo we have about 7 junior black belts as they worked hard to attain the rank of black belt. BUT they aren't allowed to grade for 1st dan until they are a minimum of 14 or 15. and we have about 300-400 students at my dojo (17 classes per week overall) and we have between 17 and 25 Black Belts (including Dan Grades). But we don't allow students to grade for their black belt until they are 12-13 at a minimum. so they will be on it for 18 months before they go for their Shodan. and 18 months for us is a minimum before you can grade for shodan

That is a very interesting order of belts. What would you say if a visiting student came from another style and was say a 4th dan black belt?

Yes!! That's been exclusively established by our Soke: One student at a time. *On an average for Kyu's: 1-3 hours, depending on ones rank tested for. *On an average for Dan's: 1-3 days, depending on ones rank tested for. *The thing to remember is that our testing cycles last for two weeks. Week one will be for the Kyu's and week two will be for the Dan's. For Kyu's, there are "sections" for testing. We'll divide the number of testing candidates by number of "sections" that we've available, usually 12. For example...If we've 200 Kyu testing candidates, then there would be about 16-17 students per "sections". In that, we've got to place them in "sections" that are rank appropriate, and if need be, we'll create a new "sections" to accommodate the number of testing Kyu candidates. In that, there will be at least one Sandan or above to administer their said testing panel. For Dan's, they too have "sections" for testing, but not as many because, for one, we've more Kyu's testing than Dan's for various reasons, as well as obvious reasons, tenure and the like. If we've only, for example, only fifty Dan candidates in totality of the testing cycle from Shodan to Hachidan, then we don't need the usual 12 "sections", like with the Kyu's, we'll have. For example, we'll only use 10"sections" with about 5 testing candidates per "sections", and of course, we'll add more "sections" are required. We'll complete the Dan testing from Shodan-Yondan in the middle of the week, but only if we've testing candidates for the Godan and above. Then comes the fun. Godan - Hachidan testing candidates will use only one "sections" because the testing panel is much larger; more eyes on the testing candidate, so to speak. We'll test them, if we have any, and quite often, we won't have any Godan and above testing candidates. This is in a nut-shell, so to speak. To your second question. YES!! We've plenty of high ranks to tend to the needs of the areas in which you've inquired about. All high ranks MUST be at the Hombu, no exceptions!! that seems like a lot of work! do you do other gradings throughout the year or just at that one grading?

that's quite a smart thing to do in terms of having people grade. I'm guessing your hombu has a file on every single student (+ photo) that trains at all your dojo's? Since my school has only 1 dojo we don't worry about a massive file. But apparently my sensei is opening 2 more schools and will be having me at one of them (oh boy that will be insane) he will be most likely following suit in what your doing. As he wants to open 2 dojos; 1 will be open in the next couple of years and the other one in about 10 years time. as we are looking for places to open them obviously and that has excellent exposure (so lots of foot traffic and cars will see it) and parking. Oh and also has an affordable rate of usage of the space.

Thats great what your doing CredoTe! Hopefully the student gets and utilizes that help that your trying to give him/her! HIGH FIVE!

that does sound very relaxing indeed! My sensei wouldn't be that nice.

Hey all, I am competing in a state tournament early next year and want your opinion on what order i should do my kata in. the kata i will be doing is: Seienchin (Shito-Ryu or Goju-Ryu version) Saifa (Goju-Ryu) Seipai (Goju-Ryu) Kurarunfa (Goju-Ryu) Gekesai Dai Ichi (Goju-Ryu) Anan Jion (Shotokan) Kanku Dai (Shotokan)

and its our pleasure to be a part of this great forum! how long did it take overall to compile the list?

This morning: 4 hrs of open mat of BJJ continuous fighting. about 10 minutes rest overall. tonight will be: 3 hours gym - weights (various) - Cardio 90 minutes

better kicks than i can do

I Agree with MasterPain & bushido_man96 on expanding your search

Haha yeah I know. I love that movie. I just found it really funny

That sucks when you can't train for some time. especially since it was a wisdom tooth. BTW isn't it ironic that you are "master pain" yet hated it? Lol

Because its your first love (Wado-Ryu)

Let us know how your coming along with your training. And good luck for your grading If you need any advice let us know mate

ummm there are a few minor tournaments here in Australia. But unsure about over there in America. Ask around maybe at your dojo if they know of any tournaments soon

yeah a lifetime to learn them. I am impressed that you are able to do it quite easily (i'm assuming here). It would be a fair effort at the grading to remember all of them