Kwon_Artist

Basically Sensei Ohta who is the founder of JKAE was grading us and not only was he strict but he was intimidating to many people and some people failed their grading. I was very fortunate to pass though, I felt and was told that I had a very good grading so I was happy with that.

I couldn't really find where this kind of topic would go, so I decided to put it in the sports section? There is talk of championships in here so I thought this section would be good for this kind of thing. Anyway, On saturday I went to the JKAE Nationals and won two medals. Since I am just a 9th Kyu, I am limited to just Heian Shodan since I don't really know any other Kata other than Kihon well enough yet. For my Kata I won 2nd place and got a silver medal and got 18.3 marks as the guy who I lost to got 18.5 marks and he was a 7th Kyu, then I got a bronze in the 3-step Kumite, so I am pretty pleased with myself since this was my first Karate competition. I didn't win and I know there could be improvements but I'm still proud that I got this kind of achievement.

Thanks for all your inputs guys and I agree with you! It does depend on the person at the end of the day but also it's not just the Sine Wave/Hip Twist which makes the moves etc effective, I think it's more than just that! I think both have their strengths but are much more when they are not independent!

I don't know if this has already been posted but I couldn't find anything but please delete or lock it if there is. What does everyone think about this? When I did ITF Taekwon-Do, we did Sine wave which basically is meant to be Scientifically proven to have more of an impact? Since it has the down-up-down motions I can kinda agree to some extent since it's a natural motion to do, like when you walk etc. I could never get used to the Sine wave though no matter how hard I had tried and it didn't really make sense to me as I was over-exaggerating it and since doing it, I felt I couldn't get any better at my Patterns/Kata because I felt it was holding me back against my potential abilities. I however do think everyone is different and other people have a different view of it though, but I just don't think it was for me and to be quite frank, I am very happy to get out of Sine Wave. Now, since I now do Shotokan Karate, we do the hip twist. Hip twist for me is very hard to learn but I can definitely see the effects already and I feel it's not holding me back as Sine Wave did, so now I feel like I'm in my element when I do Kata and feel I can reach my full potential. Already i have improved alot since I have been doing Karate. What are other peoples opinions on this matter? I would like to hear your views

Thank you for your insight Wado! It was very interesting to read

I know this thread is from a while ago, but I returned to Shotokan Karate since Goju-Ryu wasn't really for me, but I really do enjoy Shotokan and as you may know in the other thread I created, I got my orange belt. I have a competition this month aswell, even if I don't win anything, I am going there to get experience and compete ^-^

Thanks guys! Yeah I won't concern myself and I know it is a journey and I am very much looking forward to it! When I did ITF Taekwon-Do, I took my time then aswell as I think if you progress too quickly, you can't develop your moves properly like what happened when I did ITA Taekwondo back when I was much younger, I got to senior 2nd dan black belt in just 3 years and it kind of set me back a little for when I did ITF but Martial Arts is basically an over time process! I'm not too bothered about not double grading, afterall I had never had an orange belt before lol Even though ITF TKD and Shotokan Karate are similar in many ways, they are also completely different and I have to unlearn the sine wave in TKD to do the hip twisting motion in shotokan Karate which is actually proving difficult to do, but I think I'll get there eventually, I practice alot at home aswell so hopefully it will come!

Thanks for the information guys! @Balltahr: Don't worry, I won't rush ahead as I like to take my time on things, especially gradings and I am really happy to get my orange belt! I was just wondering why I didn't double grade when I did the grading when they said I did a vood grading and other 10th kyu's did double grade!

Hello! Basically I have just passed my first grading and not I am an orange belt. I am quite new to Karate and have been doing Shotokan-Ryu for about 3 months now and there are a couple of questions I would like to ask! I am with the JKAE (Japan Karate Association England) and basically my instructor didn't grade me but the grading was a set location where practitioners from different clubs were also grading in the same location as me, what do people think about this kind of system? Do you think this is more beneficial than having your own instructor grade you? In all of the Martial Arts I've done, Karate is the only one where I've graded this way, so it's a new experience for me. Another question is that on my first grade, my instructor said I might be able to double grade if they let me, but they didn't let me and a couple of other people did double grade! What was I doing wrong for them to not double grade me? Even though I did everything right and they said I did a very good grade at the end when they told me I had passed? Also, it looks like you can half grade as I saw many people with orange belts and white stripes through the middle and I think I saw it was called a Kari grade? what do Kari grades mean? Does that mean they only think you've done half the job and not the full job of passing? Last thing: what does Osu/Oss mean? does it mean yes? If so, then why do we not just say 'Hai'? Sorry for my questions, I'm quite new to Karate and I want to know more about how things work within my organisation! Thank You!

Thank you for the welcome guys. I had my first Karate class but i have decided i will try to find another style as Shotokan is way to similar to ITF Taekwon-Do! I was thinking of trying a Goju-Ryu Dojo. Edit: I will be doing a Goju-Ryu Karate lesson on tuesday, even though it's about 40 minutes away but I really want to do it and it's only £20 per month, so it's not really all that expensive. Also, I did my first Judo lesson on wednesday, it was amazing and I will definitely do it again!

Thank you Sensei (No pun intended). I will keep you updated I'll be doing TKD-KB on monday, Karate on tuesday, Judo on wednesday, Karate on thursday, Muay Thai on Friday and Judo on saturday, so I pretty much got my week cut out with Martial arts I also do Archery so I'll also be doing that on a saturday evening too.

Thank you for the welcome patrick! Well I have decided to take a look at this Shotokan school as it's cheap and fit in with my other Martial Arts very nicely and is about 10 minutes away.It will cost me £4 per session, first lesson is free and the Gi will be £25 but won't have to get it straight away and it's £25 to register with the JKA which I'll have to pay that after a month of training if I do decide to take it up! There was a Goju-Ryu club about 20 minutes from me but it would get in the way of my other martial arts training. I originally wanted to do Kyokushin but the nearest Dojo from me is around 2 hours away.

Thanks again for the welcome guys! I was thinking about taking up Karate but I think I will take it up later when I get alot better at my current MA I'm doing. @Wagnerk: Oh that sounds pretty awesome, good luck on it! You've only got 3 more years left then? Last year I had done an access module which was Science, Technology and Maths and this year is the first year I'm doing Networking in computing and IT (Undergrad), although I may have made a mistake and gone for Astronomy and Physics in Science instead, but oh well, just have to work hard in this subject and try get something out of it Edit: I was wondering what peoples opinions were of what Karate style they would recommend me if I took up Karate? I it would probably depend on who my instructor is and what my style is, but I want to ask the question anyway since I was thinking about taking it up.

I have never heard of AIMAA so I can't really comment on that, but my Taekwon-Do school when I was doing TKD was with BTC.

Thank you for the welcome guys @Wagnerk: Oh really? what do you study and how long have you been studying?