aefibird

Good luck for your 3rd gup next week!! I'm sure you'll pass!

Can anyone help me by telling me where I could find good renditions on the internet of tonfa kata? A friend of mine who used to live in another part of the country has moved back near where I live and has offered to teach me a few martial arts weapons (he's a 2nd dan in Goju-ryu as well as a 1st degree in TKD. At least, I think it's TKD anyway!!!) He's shown me a few basics with the tonfa, but I was hoping to get in a bit more practise in between sessions. Thanks!!

Well, good luck with it! Unsu is one of my next 'target' kata. Now I've fairly much nailed the jumps in Kanku-Sho and Enpi (and had the bruises to prove it!) I'd like to move onto Unsu eventually.

I have the book, but I've only briefly flicked through it. As far as I could gather he ONLY studied that one kata for the whole 5 years. I'll let you know when I've fond time to read it!! I'd be bored, and I'm glad there's others here that agree with me! I think studying kata in-depth is a good thing but ...

I think what Kyokushin wrote in her last post is quite good advice. Train with the Head Master whenever you get the opportunity, but, to not let yourself fall in bad habits you could join a dojo that has a very similar style to the one you are used to. Training with other styles can help make you a more 'rounded' karateka and may help you to appreciate even more the teaching of your late sensei.

Learning a couple of new kata, as well as practising a few throws that my Sensei showed us recently. Oh, and keeping on paractising all the old stuff I learned before, 'cos you can never practise too much!!

http://www.urban75.com/Mag/useless.html My personal favourite is the virtual bubble-wrap where you can spen many an hour popping lots of virtual bubbles! Total time waster and perfect for someone like me, who can always find a million and one other things to do apart from study for this part time degree I'm doing. Whose idea was it to go to university and work at the same time???

LOL! killer bees - that's a good one! I bet something like that really improves your reflexes, though. After you've been smacked in the face a few times you're bound to start blocking it!

Ad, I think you're doing the right thing by wanting to stay in university/college. Think about what you want to do there and go for that! Just remember that if you did decide to open up your own club and it all went 'pear-shaped' as the saying goes, would you have something worhwhile to fall back on, or would you just have got any old degree so that you could rush through university and open a club at the end of it? Regarding working in the martial arts, how about letting your instructor know how you feel and seeing if he/she will let you help him/her, in teaching or in administration or whatever. Remember also, that just because you might be going away to university doesn't necessarily mean you'll lose contact with MA. Many colleges have various martial arts clubs and there are bound to be a few near where you go to study. Keep studying and get your degree and by the end of it you may have a clearer idea in your mind of what you want to do. Good luck!

Well, in the UK we don't really get Black Belt Magazine (as its a US magazine) but we do have Combat and Martial Art, both of which are chock-full of scammers trying to sell the latest 'ultimate' fighting system that will only take you an hour to perfect! I think the best plan is either to not buy the martial arts magazines or, if you like reading the articles (I can't say I do, I think they're usually dreadful) then just try and ignore all the advertising. You know what martial art works for you and you don't need some dodgy bloke trying to flog you a system that is probably useless anyway.

Yeah, I used to try and learn my kata before I had to. That way I had plenty of time to iron out my many mistakes before I would be tested on it!! lol I even know a couple of Nidan kata now and I don't take my Shodan until December 14th. Aaaagh, my black belt test is getting scarily close...

Ah, join the gang! I think we're all a little bit crazy here too!

I think that training and learning a few basics will be a good thing for you. It will help you if you do decide to switch arts in a couple of years time. You never know, though, you may enjoy TKD so much that you decide to stick with it and not change to something else! Give it a go. I think it will help you.

Kanku Sho is a great kata! When I was first learning it, I found it helpful to split it up into sections of 3 or 4 moves and really practise that section. Then I'd move onto the next one and then finally try and fit it all together. Good luck with your training, Sparky.

How similar/different are the Pinan katas to Heian katas? Just curious and keen to improve my martial arts knowledge!!

LOL very funny link!

I tend to slap on music like that when training at home. Practising kata's with Iron Maiden and the like in the background - top quality!! We don't have music on in my dojo when doing karate training, but we might have some on when we do a fitness/stamina session. Unfortunately, most of the music our sensei tortures us to is utter &*£^%" and should have never been made, let alone released on the unsuspecting public. Remixes of a bad remix, anyone??

Well, good luck - hope you get lots of sponsorship! Let us know how you get on...

What does karate mean to me? Everything! It's a form of self-defence, but it's also so much more than that. It's a way of life and a path to followed until I finally 'give up the ghost'. I enjoy karate for many reasons, namely, the physical training, the "learning something new" side of it, the interaction with other human beings, the chance to discover things about myself and my character that karate training has helped to increase (such as discipline, endurance, etc), the opportunity to learn self defence, plus many more reasons. When I first started training, I took up karate as a way of learning self-defence and also because a friend had started. Now I know that, yes, karate is a way of learning self defence, but it is much more than than, something that it takes a lifetime's study to fully appreciate I think. Good question Rich!

Style= shotokan Katas= Kihon; Heians Shodan, Nidan, Sandan, Godan and Yondan; Tekki Shodan; Bassai Dai; Jion; Enpi; Sochin; Nijushiho; Kanku Sho; Kanku Dai; Gojushiho Sho. I'm just learning Hangetsu and Gojushiho Dai too. Edit: forgot to mention Bassai Sho in the list of katas I know! We also started learning Jiin last night too, although I couldn't perform it for you properly at the moment if my life depended on it...

I have a question related to Ti's post. How common is it for high school students in the US to be able to take martial arts programmes in P.E.? I work in a school in the UK and students being able to take MA is very rare, as far as I'm aware. Basically, P.E in the UK is restricted to soccer, rugby, cricket, athletics, tennis, netball and (grass) hockey. When I was in the comprehensive school (equivalent to high school) there was a special class in PE that the girls could take for self-defence. It was an instructor and his assistant from the local TKD dojo and it was course for 5 weeks, one lesson per week, but that was the sole introdution to MA. As far as my P.E. teachers were concerned, martial arts just didn't exist...

ROFL!! stl_karateka, your last post should carry a health warning... I laughed so hard at it I nearly choked! The thought of someone doing a kata with an umbrella and actually kiai-ing when opening it... I don't suppose you know if anyone videoed his performance, do you? It would be a sight worth seeing!

Thank you all for your help! Much appreciated!!

I think that Martial Arts tend to go in waves of what is "in" and what is "out". Where I live there are many TKD dojo's (4 in my small village alone!), but at one time you couldn't move round here without tripping over a judo student. Now that particular MA seems to be dropping out of fashion a little, to be replaced by other MA's. I think the expansion of MA's is a good thing, although I wish that it wasn't seen as just another trend to latch on to, as shown by the worrying rise in McDojo's. Its not the expansion of MA's that I find concerning, but the amount of people who are gaining black belts in an ever decreasing amount of time. At one karate school that is in the city near where I live, the average time from beginner to white belt is now only 1 &1/2 to 2 years. At one point it would take many years training to get black belt, but now it seems that at some clubs (the McDojos) you only have to turn up and be able to put your suit on and tie your belt and you get your next grade. This is all very well for those people who just want to get a black belt (and aren't bothered about if they've truly earned it or not!) but it overshadows the decent clubs with excellent sensei's who are working hard to ensure their students have a good knowledge of their MA.

The letter that I sent out before had some of the info of the sponsorship packaage, although not as much. It basically outlined who we were and the fact that we were looking for sponsors. Because my club is in quite a poor area of the country, we didn't really have a minimum donation listed - all donations gratefully recieved!! However, we did set up a specific bank account for sponsor money and made sure that all sponsors got a receipt for their donations. We also produce a bit of a newsletter every so often and send it out to those who have sponsored us in the past, just to let them have a bit of feedback, and also to 'jog their cheque-books'!