Safroot

My daughter is nearly 5 years old and she has been attending karate classes for the last 3 months. She enjoys the classes and is always enthusiastic to go but I can hardly see any improvement. Last week we attended her grading, there were about 15 kids between 5-7 with white belts who have all passed the grading (which was just normal class) and got yellow belt although most of them were playing around and not concentrating in the class. I know it's very motivating for the kids & that's what I am seeing with my daughter now but my question is : When you should expect to see improvement with kids ? at what age ?! because if my daughter's case is a school issue I am more than happy to change the school but if that's normal I will stay in the same dojo for a while & reassess.

Wow, That's a very good explanation & advice I really appreciate the time you spent to write this very informative reply I am currently working on plan one & my next goal is plan two

Thanks Matsushinshii

Thanks Patrick

Thanks Budisho_man96

Sounds like a good strategy for me !

Thanks Tempest, That was exactly my question and your advice is highly appreciated and the good thing is I am currently working on my defenses

To be honest JR 137 you are right. the dojo is very good & my Sensei and all black belts over there are very professional, nice & helpful. In the dojo I can find art, dedication, family feeling & lots of fun as well which is really all what I need in my training espicially with the stressful lifestyle we are all living !

General fighting strategy which then can be modified according to your opponent !

yup that's true. Watching 2 black belts sparring with full power rocks too !

On Wednesday I had the first kumite night (Fight night) in the dojo as per our sensei, we have had 25 man kumite at 1.5 minutes rounds, which was great to attend that night. I was highly surprised that I have done this after only 1 month of training ! It wasn't straight 25 fights but we had 2 x 2 mins break inbetween. I have lots of great advice from various black belts that I have sparred with, still long way to go with sparring, some of the problems they have picked up: 1- need to work on my arms position as my ribs are always exposed also when punching my head is very exposed and when I try to use my arms to protect my head & ribs I most of the times can't see my opponent low kicks so I can't block them. 2- need to work on my foot work while kicking. 3- need to work on angles. 4- need to work on my breath, I run out of breath by the 3rd fight maximum. That was my sesnei brief feedback after the session : " there is always something that needs fixing. Don't think too much as it can cause you to tense up and then nothing works at all. You and I had a great fight, all I can suggest for now is yes you are landing those mawashi Geri but now just turn the support foot while kicking. Don't worry too much we will get everything working well for you, I'm still a work in progress just like everyone else OSU!!! " I went back home sore as I have had couple of kicks and punches that I couldn't block but was sweet soreness. The best thing is now I am not afraid of sparring, now sparring is a very good opportunity for conditioning and applying combinations.

Hi Guys, is there such a thing as " developing sparring strategy " ?! if yes, any advice how can I work on developing it ?!

btw , sorry for my late reply. I have just checked the forum today. It has been hectic week at work !

Grrrrr ... not available in Australia !

Good question Dani_001. I have been looking for it for a while as well as I haven't seen it before.

Thank you guys so much. That's a great honour. I would like to take this occasion to thank every member that helped & encouraged me throughout my short MA journey even during the long break I had and special thanks to the Admin/Moderators team, you guys & gals are doing great job. Keep up guys and I will keep annoying you with my endless questions as I can see my MA journey is really starting now in the new dojo I have joined.

Thanks for the great advice JR 137, I am currently reading more about mechanics & I have very good instructor, so I guess I am lucky! I expect that everything needs practice & I am ready for that.

Great advice that I will work on for sure

Thanks Whisky147 for the advice & I completely agree with you. I am still new in MA but since I posted this thread, I have had 3 sparring sessions and I am feeling bit more confident now although I am still very very far away from being good at sparring but improving slowly. Tbh I am lucky to be in that dojo as all of the guys & gals training overthere are very helpful & supportive.

Doesn't sound easy at all

When people practice with a partner with power, what they are really doing is pulling their technique or just stopping short of their intended target. Remember strikes are meant to end behind the target and not at the target. So what you find when practising with heavy bags or pads, is that you make contact and and hit through. If you were to do the same in partner work you would be making contact and going through the target. So most practise to stop just short of actually making contact but full power in up until that point. You can't go round hitting people full force all the time so you have to reign it in and stop short of the target. This is one of the reasons I advocate tameshiwari or board breaking. As it's a quantitative measure of how powerful your strikes are without anyone getting hurt. Power on your own without a surface to strike is really a demonstration of equilibrium and stability. Power is just speed and acceleration (correct technique being a way to achieve this). Anyone can punch with speed and mass but techniques look powerful when this is done under control. Consider this video of Rika Usami in the WKF kata finals 2012: It looks powerful because the movements are crisp and sharp. Though she demonstrates speed and intent, its her ability to bring the strike to a dead stop without overbalancing or additional movement which makes it look powerful. Thanks DWx fo your advice & thanks for sharing that video

Thanks Spartacus , I totally agree with you. I was asking about how can I work on that currently and try to improve it in as long time as it takes !

I have another question for you guys & gals, In the dojo how do you practice different techniques / combinations with power but without hurting your partner? When I train with a partner I am always super careful not to hurt him/her that's why I feel I can't apply power in my combinations and I think practicing without power is sort of useless specially in street situations. I always see my sensei & sempais doing really powerfull techniques even if they are demonstrating with no partners or in katas and that's another thing that I still can't do ! I can use power only with punching pads or bags. Thanks in adavance for any helpful hints or advice.

Done