The Pred

To the bold type above... The length of a Dan testing cycle changes according to the Dan rank. Whereas, a Shodan testing cycle last but mere minutes compared to a Hachidan testing cycle which will last a good part of a week. Averages: Shodan - Sandan testing cycles will take 1 day. Yondan testing cycles will take 1.5 days. Godan - Hachidan testing cycles will take 3 days. These lengths vary due to many situations. Rest time...Number of candidates testing per se the Dan ranks being tested for...so on and so forth. I believe in my answer because that's what our By-Laws said so, hence, it's what Soke said so!! Was your Kudan 3 days or more than 3?

Solid, and you're right nothing wrong with making money and a living. Best idea would to try and get the necessary income from a solid children program, just so you get the necessary money. But for your teenagers/adults have something harder. Since most martial arts schools depends on revenue for children. Gotta do what big tababco does, get them while they;re young. So by the time there old enough to do more challenging things, they'll love the martial arts.

Remember Danielle, this is all I do...full time, either as Kaicho and/or as CI of the Kyuodan Dojo!! I don't have another job outside of Shindokan. The Hombu class sizes for the 4-5 years is quite respectable, and it helps that the Hombu isn't in a small town...instead, it's located in the San Fernando Valley...1.8 million people call it home...260 square miles...just North of Hollywood, CA. At the Kyuodan Dojo, the 3 classes per day for the 5 days per week, my 4-5 year old classes were not as full as the Hombu is, however, still respectable in the range of 6-10 students per class. In understand it's a full time occupation for you Bob but at the Hombu do you hold the classes 5 pm to 10 pm for example? Or do you have some in the morning and during the day? Most people work 9 to 5 so do you get many people attending these classes during the day? Also are these classes structured differently or are you repeating the same lesson. The Hombu's hours are 8am - 10pm; classes run throughout those operating hours. "Most people" aren't the same as "Everyone", and this permits those students that aren't obligated to a 9am - 5pm work schedule. The Hombu's hours allow a very wide berth for all types of obligations to fit the Hombu's class schedule. If you're referring to the 4-5 age group, the answer is...structured differently. How so? Everything is amended/tailored to that age group, and I mean everything!! It's a known fact that students of this age group "play to learn"!! Everything must trickle down to them so as they're not so overwhelmed, as this age group is known to do. Experts say that the age of a child is to the length of their attention span...therefore, the amended/tailored class structure. Awesome ! Do students that start at this age have more belts before they reach junior black belt or once they reach a certain rank before black. Do they have to have that before they reach the age for junior black belt?

IMO, a 30 min class is a waste of time. You hardly get a chance to warm up, and it's over. Naw, a MINIMUM of 1.5 hours..2 is better. No...a 30 minute class with very young students, 4-5 years old/kindergarten ages, is ideal...or at least, it's been that way for me ever since 1977. Agreed 30 mins is plenty of time for 4-5 year olds. Now how many of these 30 min classes do you guys have? Or do the little kids just get dismissed earlier during normal class time?

Very true; have to cater appropriately to who is coming through the door. I only teach adults, or 14+ if they have an adult to acompany them and show appropriate maturity, and so anything less than an hour is indeed insufficient. However, 30 minutes for a child is often more than enough; most children struggle to focus on a task over 20 minutes. Now, there is the question of the cost; is that 30 minutes worth the money paid by the parents? In that sense, even when I did teach younger children I did teach for an hour; I would focus on 20 minutes or so of Karate, and then fill the rest of the time with aerobic exercise and karate themed games. I did not frustrate myself by trying to get kids to do what they just can't, but they still learnt something and walked away able to say they enjoyed the class. I checked out a place for my daughter when she was 4. 1/2 hour once per week. The half hour part is fine, but I should be able to bring her more than once a week. The option to go twice would have been so much better. Cost for 1/2 hour, once a week - $85 per month. Plus a contract. Price and contract aren't anything others aren't doing though. Ridiculous. They have a nonsense justification - more than once a week burns them out, and the contract teaches them commitment. 4 year olds don't get burnt out by playing for a 1/2 hour twice a week, and a contract certainly doesn't teach a 4 year old commitment. It's not a McDojo, just questionable business practices/costs. The real reason for only going once a week IMO is so they can have more openings. Filling a class with 20 different kids 4 nights a week makes more money than the same 40 kids twice a week. That does kind of blow that you're paying 85 for just once a week. Does your dojo have enough room and or instructors so that you can have a 4 year old class on at the same time as a regular kid class, and just have it end earlier?

Great question, I think it all depends on you as the individual. Physical ability, sure that's great, but it's not necessarily the end all be all. Number of fights won? Are we talking about fights that have rulers or are we talking about street fighting? Knowledge and attitude I would say are the two most important. Since everyone cannot not teach nor is everyone physically gifted, than I guess attitude is the most important, attitude towards yourself to improve your martial arts skill. A great martial artist will either try to improve him or herself or help improve others. Just my two cents.

45 Mins for some kid classes, an hour for some others. Hour for adult classes.

Solid replies everyone.

When you teach, do you teach by yourself or do you co-teach with another instructor.

Wheaties are awesome, and yes 20 classes can be a lot. Best of luck

So people that teach classes, how many classes do you guys and gals teach? Are they kid classes, teenage classes, or adult classes? Or do you teach a mixture of both? I teach about thirteen, all the kid classes, though I will cover for adult classes if the instructor is not there.

Agreed, I've come to realize if one does Kata with intensity and proper breathing, that's a workout in itself. Heck even doing Kihon drills is extremely helpful.

Great question! Thanks, Danielle! Instructors within Shindokan are chosen by the individual dojo's, alas, by the designated CI of those individual dojo's, and this takes place at Sankyu, and no sooner. Therefore, it's all OJT!! The Hombu does have remedial classes for designated instructors! It's held twice a year, usually in the 1st and 3rd quarter. These classes are 1 month in duration, and they're administered by the CI of the SKKA, which is currently our Kancho, Greg Forsythe, who's a Hachidan as well as Hanshi. All designated instructors within the SKKA network are welcomed to attend, however, they must remain in house at the Hombu for that full month that the classes are in session. If not, they receive a "Drop" on their Hard Card, but this is more clerical than administrative; said instructor is always welcomed back without questions. I choose my instructors, and I demand that my instructors attend the remedial classes at the Hombu every two years. I hold "Pep" classes with my instructors daily, and I hold "101" classes once every quarter. Is there a reason why you're not considered to be the CI since you're the Kaicho. Or is your current position more administrative? PS. I totally agree I think every black belt, every so often, should take a beginner class to work on their foundation. When I was first elected to the Kaicho position, I was the CI of the SKKA/Hombu. However, seeing that I'm not in house but 5 times a year, I felt that it made perfect sense to appoint Greg Forsythe, our Kaicho, to be the CI seeing that he lives less than 10 miles from the Hombu, whereas, I'm in Houston, TX. As Kaicho, the buck stops here, with myself, across the board, no matter the department!! As Kaicho, I oversee Administrative, Executive, and Technical departments; these are the three top departments at the SKKA/Hombu. GM's of these departments report to me directly. Solid !

Great question! Thanks, Danielle! Instructors within Shindokan are chosen by the individual dojo's, alas, by the designated CI of those individual dojo's, and this takes place at Sankyu, and no sooner. Therefore, it's all OJT!! The Hombu does have remedial classes for designated instructors! It's held twice a year, usually in the 1st and 3rd quarter. These classes are 1 month in duration, and they're administered by the CI of the SKKA, which is currently our Kancho, Greg Forsythe, who's a Hachidan as well as Hanshi. All designated instructors within the SKKA network are welcomed to attend, however, they must remain in house at the Hombu for that full month that the classes are in session. If not, they receive a "Drop" on their Hard Card, but this is more clerical than administrative; said instructor is always welcomed back without questions. I choose my instructors, and I demand that my instructors attend the remedial classes at the Hombu every two years. I hold "Pep" classes with my instructors daily, and I hold "101" classes once every quarter. Is there a reason why you're not considered to be the CI since you're the Kaicho. Or is your current position more administrative? PS. I totally agree I think every black belt, every so often, should take a beginner class to work on their foundation.

Pretty much on the job training. First we have a student with excellent technique be a sempai I.e. Someone that has great technique that can demonstrate the moves up front. There job is to be a model student and get pads or perhaps help the younger students a bit. Then slowly we might have them lead one drill. There job is not to do any correcting, that's for the instructor. Then slowly depending on the individual we give them more responsibilities.

They only have one form for colored belts-each belt adds on a few moves at a time... Omg...just ONE FORM?!?!? Well, that should be easy to remember. Yeah one kata seems odd. Then again without passing judgement I guess it depends howl long the kata itself is.

I started Martial Arts at 4. Let me say I wasn't the best student. (This isn't to say 4-5 can't be good students. Hell I've seen 5-7 year olds put in more effort than some older kids/adults. But I started hanging around people who knew more kata's than me, and eventually everything that i was taught when I was a kid, just clicked.

Well, this isn't an original thought, read somewhere (forgot where), but you could say what makes red special is after a while your black belt starts to faded and become white in color, and the red represents the blood and sweat that now covers the black belt that turned white.

I like the comparison of a square peg in a round hole, never thought of it like that.

In my opinion, the reason we do not see a lot of Karate users in MMA. Is because most karate moves would be considered illegal in a MMA fight. Moves such as a shuto strike to the throat would be for starters.

I've been doing the martial arts for 25 years, and when I first started wasn't really into it. (parents signed me up) However, once I reached a certain age, I began to enjoy it, and slowly started to improve. Would i say that I am proficient. Perhaps, however, that's not up to me to decide.

I've emailed them they were nice about. I was able to order a keychain thru paypal. They said they were in the process of updating their site, in which people would be able to see the different key chains. I'm glad you were able to get what you needed. Their online & customer service by phone is top notch. Every time I've had an issue, I've gotten great service from Mr. Yi & company. Site still won't let me remove items from cart. I remember I did one trick one time, such as putting in the qty box -1 or 0 but still not working, eh no biggie, not in any rush for a new belt anyhow. But yes, their belts are top notch. I agree that they need to fix their site. Do you currently wear one of their belts?[/quote I have a renshi from them

Not clue, perhaps as away for another ceremonial belt, like they use in Judo for 6-8th degree black belt.

I've emailed them they were nice about. I was able to order a keychain thru paypal. They said they were in the process of updating their site, in which people would be able to see the different key chains. I'm glad you were able to get what you needed. Their online & customer service by phone is top notch. Every time I've had an issue, I've gotten great service from Mr. Yi & company. Site still won't let me remove items from cart. I remember I did one trick one time, such as putting in the qty box -1 or 0 but still not working, eh no biggie, not in any rush for a new belt anyhow. But yes, their belts are top notch.

Nothing wrong with having standards. Question, would your dojo be able to operate if the majority of parents did take their kids for you failing them.