aefibird

Excellent! Well done to all of you!

Keep asking your Sensei. If he still shows no interest then it is probably time for you to find another club. If you are paying to go away to a big tournament but your instructor is only bothered about the students he "clicks" with then he isn't much of an instructor IMO. A good istructor will help and train ALL his students. If your instructor is that bothered about you all entering this big competition then he should be bothered about helping you with it as well. As for the senior students in your club, as them if they will help you prepare for the tournament. If you ask politely and show them that you are serious about training hard and doing well then they may be prepared to help you in your sparring. If you have a heavy bag to practice with then use it. It will help you to practice combo's on, as well as getting you used to hitting something more solid. Good luck!

Stretching will help your kicking, so make sure that you try to do some every day. Also, practice just bringing your knee up into the correct chamber position and then back down. Don't worry too much about extending the leg, just keep working on the correct chamber position. This will help you for when you move on to the next stage of work, which is chamber then extension. You need to make sure that you are pivoting on your supporting foot. The toes on your support leg should turn so that they are not facing the direction that you are looking in. Some people say that your support foot should turn through 180 and that the toes on that foot point behind. Some people say that they support leg doesn't turn as much as that, so check with your instructor as to how much turn you give to your supporting leg. However, you need to pivot on that supporting foot as you can do some serious damage to yourself if you don't. Also, keep checking with your Sensei or a senior grade at your club as to what you should be doing. They will be able to help you get correct technique - we can only offer advice, based on your text, we can't actually "see" you doing the kick. Finally, relax! Try to enjoy your karate - your technique will get better over time if you keep working on it.

Eugeu_Ryu_Stylist and Kieran-Lilith, how did your belt testings go? I hope you both passed!

Talk to your teachers. As a sixth former you're in a very important time in your education and you don't want some snot-nosed year nines spoiling it for you. Talk to your teacher, school counsellor, whoever, just TELL someone about the situation. Tell your karate instructor too, then he/she is aware of what is going off. That way you lessen the risk of being turfed out of your club for doing something foolish (which I hope you don't do). Try to stay away from the idiots. If your 6th form is like mine was then you'll probably have some free periods. Make sure that wherever you are you're away from the trouble causers, even if you have to go sit in the library under the nose of a teacher for most of the day. Good luck and I hope that you get this problem sorted out. Please tell a teacher, though, as they can't do anything to help if you don't actually let them know what's going on.

I will see if my instructor knows your instructor - he probably does!

Try it out: great advice. Every club, every style, every instructor is different - no one really knows what something is like until they try it!

Col, who is that if you don't mind me asking? My own instructor is ex-SKI and trained extensively with Mr Asano, plus a whole boatload of other SKI people.

The compulsory parts of Karate Shodan testing for my org are: Demonstration of all basic techniques, both as individual movements and as set combinations. 5-step, 3-step and 1-step kumite, as well as jyu-ippon kumite, jyu kumite and freestyle 'sports' kumite, all against several opponents. Choice of 2 kata from set list of 5, plus performance of Bassai Dai and any of the previous kata (examiners choice as to which and how many). Bunkai for free-choice kata, plus explanation of why those kata were chosen. Knolwdge of Japanese terminology. That's the compulsory part of the test, but the examiner usually adds a lot more into it than that. People testing therefore know part of what they're expected to do but not all of it. For my Shodan I had to do all of the above, plus answer questions, demonstrate techniques on the pads and fight random blackbelts 10x 2 min rounds without a break, plus a whole load of other stuff that I've forgotten about (or blocked out of my memory ) I need to find out what's required for my 1st Dan in TKD - it will be interesting to see how my 1st Dan TKD test compares with my 1st Dan Karate test.

I like Martial Arts, but I specifically like the Arts that I've chosen to study, whether currently or previously.

I wish I'd started in MA a lot sooner than I did. I probably would have chosen the same arts, same schools even. I regret not being able to continue with my Aikido training, so if I could do my life over I'd try to continue Aikido as well as my other MA training.

Tying belts or sahses is usually different between styles of MA. Some instructors have a "set" way in which they want the belt tied but sometimes it is just left to personal preference of the student.

I'd get a new one. It's probably not safe to use even for doing kata/forms with. Retire it and keep it for display only!

I use https://www.karate-kid.co.uk They're based in the UK but ship all over the world. Their own-brand gear is excellent. https://www.playwell.co.uk is also a good supplier.

I'd say a Wavemaster is better than a BOB, the shape of the BOB isn't really woth spending the extra ££ on, especially if you're thinking of buying a new one.

That's just a legend. If you read the earlier posts then you'll see that Jussi presented a (spot-on) explanation of why that story can't be true. However, it is a myth that just refues to die - a lot of karateka are told that story, mostly without even questioning the reasoning behind it. Belts are a very new invention in terms of martial arts; one common explanation for their introduction is that they were developed from swimming sashes.

My main karate gi is by karate-kid.co.uk and my TKD doboks are by martialforce.co.uk. My aikido suit is by Blitz and I have a pair of gi pants for Wing Chun also by Blitz. For sparring gear I have stuff by Dae Do, Blitz, Meijin, Mooto, Masuta and Top Ten. I used to own some Century gear but I gave it away.

I don't take them off. The logo's/lables are so small that they make very little impact on the gi itself. Plus, the MA companies that I use are all high-quality, so I have no problems with "advertising" their brand on my uniform.

Although the "major" MA shoe manufacturers might make you a pair, you're more likely to have better luck if you try to find an independent footwear maker, as they will probably make their product on a smaller scale than, say, Adidas and therefore may be more able to accommodate you. Good luck finding a pair of MA shoes!

Good luck! I'm sure you'll do well.

Thanks Jill! One of the local TKD groups invited a Kuk-based Korean group over for a competition and sort of "goodwill" even recently. My club participated, as did quite a few others from the area and many many people commented that the UK and European teams that entered seemed far more disciplined, focused and better trained than the Korean participants. I know that this was only one event, but quite a lot of people were shocked at how "uncaring" the Korean team seemed about the whole thing. The kids were a nightmare, (but kids often are at competitions) but even the adult Korean participants seemed to lack effort, entheusiasm and 'spirit', as well as respect for the whole thing. it just seemed a bit odd to me that they'd flown half-way around the world for something they didn't seem to care about.

I'm WTF TKD and we train to keep the guard up. Good footwork is also essential when sparring with WTF rules, as all techniques are full-contact. Blocking a full-contact kick with your arm could result in damage to the blocking persons arm, so many WTF style fighters prefer to use good footowork to get them out of the way of kicks, rather than relying more on the guard. However, that doesn't mean that a guard shouldn't be kept up, because it should. We get made to do push-ups or running laps of the dojang if SBN sees us dropping our guard. As for the punching thing, it is hard to score points under WTF rules, so many WTF fighters prefer to just use kicks. Hand protectors aren't used, but getting in a 'perfect' full-contact "trembling shock" punch can be difficult when the opponent is wearing a thick hogu. Plus, punches only score 1 point, so some fighters see it as a lot of effort for not a lot of reward.

Well, if the test doesn't cost too much then I'd say take it. I don't think you'd be belt collecting - you seem way too mature and sensible a MAist to be in it just for a shiney new blackbelt - but I do think that it may help you in your MA training to have the official rank. At the moment you have an awarded rank by the coach, I presume that the rank will mean nothing when you leave university? If that's the case and you want to continue competing in TKD tournaments (something you obviously enjoy doing, or you wouldn't be on the college team) it would be of benefit for you to have an 'official' TKD rank. As for the politics...don't even go there...

Nicely done piece of theatre.

Try having the iron on it's hottest setting - it is heat that will remove the creases. Also, irom whilst damp. Maybe do it yourself too, not get your mum to do it for you! That way you can wash and iron your gi as you like!!