LastKing

How I wish I could unsee both of those.

I have seen him in the past, and when prompted to search for him by this post, though "Oh yes, that guy. Man, he is good." I love his style of teaching as well; its like a conversation not only with the students but with himself.

You know, you are absolutely right. Tried to PM you with a longer version of things, but I don't have enough posts yet, so function not enabled. Thanks for all the help, everyone.

Thanks for that, guys. Will check out the Korean katas. BTW, oirs bears scant resemblance to the one in the link. Not even the initial block is the same. But again, thanks.

https://bmaba.org/ Seems at first, I know, like one of those buy a blackbelt from home websites, but from all I can tell they are a reputable organisation who are trying to bring some order to the martial arts world (accessible database of instructors giving details of CRB/first aid qualifiations etc). They offer a training from home system which, if I remember correctly, is graded by video, by three assessors who grade independent of each other then submit assessment. They will accept present belts, so long as they are verified by a karate association. Haven't got any connection with them, just came across them when looking for a solution to a problem similar to yours.

Thanks guys, Our style, well, that's a tricky one. We have no definitive style but practice some kihon in shotokan, some in a shorter, western fighting stance (the more I see, the more I think we're like the instuctor's personal JKD project, just passed off as traditional, transferrable karate). Our katas, though, are practiced in Shotokan. No videos, I'm affraid, but our Pinan Nidan starts in cat, does a double lateral block, sweeps the hands as if unwinding a throat grab, then a push away, repeat other way, then advancing short cat with bock x3, ino to zen stance to right with a double lateral ridge hand block which exchanges, then a front kick, swap to other side and repeat, then turn, outer block and punch x3, horse stance, side kick and upward backfist, same other side, turn, downward block , side kick, low spinning sweep and zen with punch to ground. Sorry for not knowing the Japanese for the blocks, but we don't do Japanese (why would we, it's not like any other club does - sarcastic tone btw). It's nothing like any Pinan Nidan, nor Pinan Shodan I can find on line.

None of the katas my club practice bear even the slightest resemblance to those which appear on youtube. All the videos online seem the same. Ours are totally different. Are there markedly different versions of, say, Pinan Nidan, or is Pinan Nidan basically Pinan Nidan?

Thanks for that. In danger of going off topic, so will return to teaching under First Dan. In our club, you can teach from third kyu, and I think one did in another city and managed to make it work. I suppose, for me, it's how well you relate to teaching, how well you know the syllabus, and most of all, how much you enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it then no matter how good you are, there is no.point. Of course there are other considerations. Will it get in the way of your training. I live in a rural area, and if I took on a club, short of joining another club quite a distance away in a different karate style, I would be teaching all the time with no one to train me. That would (and is) the biggest problem for me. Then there is all the time taken up on the admin and the necessities such as safeguarding, first aid, promotion. That, I imagine, is enough to drive you up the wall if you don't enjoy it. If you do, however, or even if you don't but can get it done effectively, then I imagine there's nothing better than having a club you can call your own.

I've been doing some reaserch on this point, as my club is about to fold (see post in Karate forum), and I get the feeling from the input of others and post which relate to transferring belts from club to club, that in the real world, even in clubs ilaffiliated to the same governing body, that your belt is only really good in your own club and it's most likely that anyone starting another club is highly unlikely to take their belt with them. Seems almost to be considered an arrogance to assume you are any rank, even if it is officially graded and signed off, which makes me wonder what the point of having any official certification of grades in the martial arts if they are not going to be recognised outside of your own club. Of course I could be wrong on that, but that's the impression I get.

It stands for Amateur Martial Arts Association.

Thanks for the input, chaps. The big irony is that I don't really care about belts. I know enough that standards vary tremendously, as do requirements. Some belts are effectively bought, some worked for so hard they should be gold, some are judged primerily on kata, others self defence, other still on precision of kihon, or physical endurance, or bunkai, some are not even graded but rather granted due to continuous assessment and a feeling the student is ready. No one syllabus seems the same as another, and as such, a black belt is not an item or stage of a journey which is easily quantifiable. And, honestly, I don't even mind starting again. I quite enjoy the process. The problem is, I suppose, that there are a lot of members of our club, kids especially, who will feel very disappointed at having to take a hit on their belt, or worst of all start again. I could take the club on, I suppose - I'm a teacher by profession, and have taken the club in the past when the sensai has been away, but I wouldn't be confident attracting new members, as a black belt is the universal badge of success in the martial arts, not brown with black stripe. Also, I'd have no one to grade me to black, save for joining another club, and starting the whole process again, just so I could get a belt I am now once step away from.

Just a quickie off the back of a previous post. As far as UK karate associations go, how big is the AMA and how does it compare in the bigger picture with other karate associations? A quick look at its website doesn't seem to offer much, not even a working search function for member clubs.

Thanks for that.

Hi guys, little help with a question, please. I come from a little, rural club which is about ro fold. I've always been told that my, and all the other members' belts, will be recognised in other clubs because our sensai is a national grader affiliated with the AMA. When I started belts were not that important to me - I was only doing it to keep my daughter company - so I didn't give the matter much thought. Now I'm first kyu, and a few other of the kids in the group similar. Are our belts transferrable to any club, or only ones in the AKA (only 2 in the whole county), or will we have have to start from scratch whichever club we join? I ask that last question because I've never known of anyone from another club who's joined ours being allowed to keep their belts, and I also note that our katas don't seem to match any with the same name on Youtube, and our syllabus, while having all the usual shotokan blocks, kicks and punches, seems at odds with others I look at online.

Personally, and it is only personal opinion, I don't like emphasis on fitness over karate itself. I'm lucky in that I have time to keep myself fit (I understand a lot of people do not), but I don't like the amount of time we spend in our club doing pushup and sit ups and so forth. I'd rather be getting my exercise, if I have to get it during the karate class, sparring or doing kata. Sorry if I'm reading your post wrong, and I know it's kind of off topic a bit, but for me, fitness is the responsibility of the student, not the club. Like I said, though, I'm lucky to have time to train ouside of club hours.

Our club insists only on black bottoms, white top. It's practical in that the trousers don't show dirt, but impractical in that it might mean a student would be tempted to let them fester if the dirt doesn't show.

Kusotara, I'm in the UK. It's pretty rural here, so the club's tend to be small and not too thick on the ground. Our paticular club, though part of a bigger organisation (though by no means big in the wider karate world), only started about a year and a half ago. I was there at the off, and have thoroughly enjoyed it, and feel great loyalty to it. Dark Ranger, thanks for that. It's good to hear that it's been cracked down on.

That's exactly my ethos, Sensei. For me, karate is not just about self defence, it's about self respect. When I first started, I remember reading a warning somewhere against sports clubs which practiced a whole Westernized version of karate which stripped away the beauty of the practice for either a wholy self defence form or a competition form. I came to karate from a yoga/tai chi/zen meditation background (though also with some boxing years before) and as such, hold great store in karate's ability to mold the character, not just the physique and offensive ability. Again, thanks for the input.

Thanks for the input, guys.

He's not our regular sensai, but rather, a guest sensai, so to speak, and, quite frankly, an unsettling and somewhat disruptive figure at our dojo. I'm just orange belt, and as such still very much in the learning curve, but one of the many things I'm not sure about is his insistence that while sparring we should "take the point" - that is shout and raise an arm and generally let the judges know when we've scored a point. I read once, somewhere, that this is not a good thing to do. Not only is it poor etiquette, but also, allows the oponent an opportunity to strike. The way he demonstrates I find very boorish, and against my own personal ethos. He explains that not only is it necessary because a judge will sometimes miss a strike (fair enough, such things are bound to happen, but if they miss my strike, they are just as likely to miss my opponent's, thus evening things up), but crucially for me, he says we should use it to intimidate a weaker judge to give points which we may not actually have landed. Am I right in thinking this is bad advice and contrary to the correct ethos of karate? .

I have the same problem. It comes from of over tight aductor tendons from cycling and impinged hips. The tendons I can work on, the hips I can't. Basically, hip impingement is the way your femur rotates (or doesn't) in your hip. You can be born with it, or it can develop as a bony outgrowth over time. I can tell when I'm hitting my limit as I get pain in my hip rather than a tendon stretch keeping me from kicking high. Unfortunately, the more you try and open it up with stretching, the more damage you can actually do to your hip (basic rule, if you get pain, stop it). Luckily, I'm really flexible on a forward plane, and so I tend to concentrate on kicks which utilise front and back rather than the side. There is a simple test for hip impingement. It's something along the lines of lying on your back, holding your knee up and getting someone twist your lower leg from the foot away from your body. With unimpinged hips, the lower leg should get to around 45 deg. Impinged hips is less. If I have time I'll try and find the video. All the best

Thanks, appreciated.