aefibird

Hope you enjoyed your first class! As others have said, progression depends upon the martial art studied, the particular school and the student themselves. As you are from a sporty/athletic background then you may find it easier to pick up techniques than someone who has no previous sporting history. I think in many Karate and Tae Kwon Do schools the average from white to black belt is between 3 and 4 years, but there are plenty of exceptions to the rule and the best thing for you to do is to ask the instructor or friends who also train at that school. That way you will receive advice/help that is the most relevant to your particular situation and needs. Good luck with your training!

Congratulations to your son on his achievement - and on his black belt as well!! IMO, the actual gaining of the 1st Dan is the lesser benefit compared to your son growing in maturity, developing physically and learning important life skills (how to follow instructions, the importance of practice, discipline, respect for leadership etc etc). Regardless of people's personal thoughts on child black belts, this 8 year old has achieved something great through his 4 years of hard work and training and should be applauded for it, especially in a time when every day the media seems more and more determined to show outrageous stories of how "wild" and "uncontrollable" children/young people are becoming. Anyway, that's a bit off topic, so let me finish by once again congratulating your son on his new rank!

I used to be about 50-50 (because we were drilled in my old karate school to train both sides of the body equally) but because of an accident I can't use my left side as much as my right, so I'm now favouring right side forward out of necessity more than anything else.

I still sneak into the 22-29 category...for another 4 months! lol I was an adult when I started training (19 - oh my gosh, have I really been doing martial arts for 10 years? Doesn't seem that long!) and it has been one of my main 'regrets' that I wasn't allowed to train as a child as my first club had more kids than adults and I've always felt a bit since then that I've forever been playing 'catchup', especially in terms of flexibility and the like. :-/

Worst for me was when I was at a karate tournament and there was a guy there wearing a really badly looked after gi...not only did it look like it had been slept in, it looked like it had been dragged several times through a hedge backwards, rolled into a ball, jumped up and down on and then used as a dog blanket for several years. The most disgusting part for me was when he was doing a kata and did a side kick...to reveal that the trousers of his gi had a HUGE rip in them in the groin area. The underwear he was wearing didn't look none too clean either. I didn't know whether to laugh or be sick, as he'd spent several minutes on the mat before commencing his kata doing this ridiculous OTT breathing routine. I know some people/schools go in for correct breathing and being in tune with your body and the like, but this was just waaaaaaaay too much. I think it was only the fact that this guy was a member of a guest club invited from another country to take part meant that he got away with it. One of the judges didn't know what to make of him and I'm sure she thought he was part of some sort of elaborate wind-up. Needless to say, in his category, it was the guy with the cleanest gi who won (and who did the best form, obviously), not Mr Dog Blanket gi (even though when he actually got going with doing the kata he was pretty good).

I've trained in several different schools/styles and only in one has any sort of ranking displayed upon black belts been compulsory. It was a WTF TKD school and all Dan ranks had to have their name and school name on one side of the belt (in English & Korean) and then the Dan bars in red on the other side. I'm a black belt in one style of Karate and just had a plain black belt when I got 1st Dan. I treated myself to one with my name embroidered on it in Japanese when I achieved 2nd Dan, 'cos I thought I'd earned it. It wasn't compulsory to have it done and I asked my instructor if he was OK with me having an embroidered belt, or if he was gonna make me do extra push ups if I turned up one day wearing it!! He actually liked my belt so much that he treated himself to a new one with his name on...and also his Dan bars, so as not to be outdone by one of his students I think...

Congrats! I used to be on here a lot but for several reasons haven't visited for a long while. It's a good place, though, somwhere people can learn an awful lot, whether you're a total martial arts beginner or a black belt 'old hand'.

Wii's are SO much fun! There's some fantastic games available for it, but it's worth getting (IMO) just for the hours of entertainment you can have with Wii Sports and Mario Kart Wii (especially when said entertainment also involves some mates and some nicely chilled beers! lol) There's quite a big difference in the quality of graphics between Wii and PS3, but the fun you can have with a Wii more than makes up for the fact that it isn't as powerful.

Certainly did! I've been looking forward to Friday night (my next class) since the last class finished on Tuesday. I'm hoping I can start back my Karate training at some point as well as Tae Kwon Do, but I'm just taking it a step at a time at the moment. Martial Arts is a life-long journey and after a couple of years break from training, a few more weeks/months without Karate won't hurt.

I waste waaaaay too many hours playing Mario Kart Wii. Got it when it first came out and I'm not that much better a player now that I was when I first bought it!! lol Very addictive and lots of fun, though.

I am:

Funny!!

My old school that I was with was 100% WTF TKD, but the new one I've joined (old one closed ) is independent and not affiliated to any organisation or group. They do several types of sparring, including grappling for higher grades. The grades/belts system used is identical to that used in many WTF schools, but there's hardly any emphasis placed upon grades and grading anyway (especially for teens/juniors, a bit more is made of it for the little ones). Patterns are just WTF (Taeguek) for kup grades. From 2nd kup onwards students learn a mix of ITF and WTF style patterns and are encouraged to do independent study to promote knowledge of all aspects of TKD and martial arts. The 5 tenets of TKD (Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control, Indomitable Spirit) are taught and classes use a mix of Korean terminology and English equivalents.

I recently returned to training after almost 2 1/2 years out due to injury troubles, surgery, etc. Because my old class closed I've had to start training at a new TKD class. I've started again as white belt...which has been very helpful, as I felt like I had 16 arms and legs and no co-ordination for any of them, so I was pleased that in one sense I didn't have to be 'like a red belt' (my old grade at my former club) and I could just stumble through. It was fantastic to be back and my first training session after such a long time out made me really realise how much I had missed training.

If you're not bothered about the condition of it then I would go for it! As the memory is larger then that is obviously the main factor for you (as it will hold more songs). I'd say to buy it, you might as well snap up a bargain while you can.