aefibird

Sounds like you had a great time!

Does your Sensei know you have signed up for this out-of-town grading/competition? If he does then I suggest you go through with it - he might be very hurt by the fact you've found out he's gonna be there and then decided to pull out.

I can't speak for all WTF schools but in my association, once a student has reached 1st Kup they ten have to train for a minimum of 6 months before they can be recommended for BB testing. Students who have not yet been recommended for testing wear red belts with a black stripe (tape or ribbon) around each end of the belt. Once a student is recommended to be put forward for BB testing (a recommendation has to be by a 3rd Dan or higher) then the black stripe is doubled in width. This is so instructors and other Dan grades can keep a special eye out for the recommended students and really help them focus in on those last little things they need to work on before the final testing. When a student has been recommended for BB testing they stay at 1st Kup "R" for another 3 months. If in that time their amount of time spent at the dojang is not considered to be enough, or if their attitude is poor or if for some reason they can't take the testing at the end of the 3 months (e.g. injury) then they lose their "R" status and have to train for another 6 months as 1st Kup before they can regain the 1st Kup "R" status again. If at the end of 3 months as 1st Kup "R" the student is found to have shown good attitude and have been training regularly and dilligently then they are entered for the Chodan test. The 1st Kup "R" status isn't an actual grade - the student is still a 1st kup and it isn't a temporary BB or a provisional BB. It is just an outward sign (by the changing of the stripe on the belt) that the student is on the last lap of being a Kup grade and has shown that they are physically ready to test (with their actual training and ability to perform TKD), as well as being mentally ready (showing the correct attitude and the 5 tenants of TKD (Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control and Indomitable Spirit). AFAIK, the "R" system isn't used for other Dan grades, just for the big leap (usually a bigger leap mentally than in actual physical training) between 1st Kup and 1st Dan.

We have that at my dojang too. White belts and yellow tags (9th kups) are usually paired up for the sparring part of the test with a blackbelt or senior kup grade (2nd & 1st kups) that they have been working with before the testing. This is to give them a bit of confidence so they are not thrown in at the deap end by sparring with someone they have never worked with before. The senior students are expected to push the beginners to show what they can do, but not to overwhelm them or just use it as an excuse to show off their own sparring skills. It is stressed to every senior grade that they are there to help the white belts, not hinder them and put them off of TKD for life. At the end of a grading day the higher kup grades and dan grades will have sparred with practically everyone there anyway. This is a good thing for the examiner, as it helps them to see what sort of person they are. For example, if you were a 2nd kup going for 1st kup, you may spar with a beginner whom you have been mentoring, as well as being called up to spar against other lower grades, such as 8th or 7th kups, plus sparring several rounds against higher kup grades and black belts for their own sparring section of the test. As well as watching the lower grades in their sparring, the examiner is also watching the higher grade, as it is also considered part of their test. Anyone who shows a bad attitude to a lower grade automatically fails (as does any lower grade who whinges about having to fight a senior grade and won't make any effort! Even if a lower grade only know a couple of techniques the examiner will most likely pass them if they show the indomitable spirit of TKD in their sparring).

All coloured belt testings start with patterns. Every grade except white belts have to perform at least 2 forms - the newest one learned for this time's testing and the previous one. E.g. for a 7th kup testing for 6th wold have to perform Taeguek 3 (the newly learned form) and Taeguek 2 (the pattern learned for the previous grading. For 5th & 4th kupstude nts perform the latest 2 forms they know, plus one other of their choice. For 3rd kup, students perform the latest 2 forms, plus one other of the grading panel's choice. For 2nd Kup students have to demonstrate the highest Taeguek forms they know, plus at least 2 others of the examiners choice and for 1st kup students have to demonstrate all 8 Taeguek forms, plus the Basics pattern (one designed by my instructor). Pattern testing is followed by basics, moving forwards and backwards up and down the dojang. From 6th kup upwards students can be asked to demonstrate techniques on a pad or bag, usually one hand and one foot technique for lower kup grades, moving up to more difficult combinations for higher kup grades. After basics is Three Step or One Step sparring. 3 step is for kup grades 8, 7 and 6, 5th kup upwards do one step. 4th kup upwards then have a self-defence section, with candiates for 1st Kup also performing knife defence. This is the followed by 1-kick, 1-kick sparring, which is no contact - participants move around the dojo as if they were in a competition sparring environment but take it in turns to kick. It is primarily a kicking exercise for beginners, to allow them to choose which kicking techniques to use from which body positions without having to worry about contact or anything other than the kick. It is kept in for all other grades because a couple of minutes of that is tiring and is a good way of building stamina if it is done correctly and with speed! This is then followed by free sparring. White belts spar no-contact, as the examiner is concentrating more on their choice of technique. Candidates for all other grades spar with contact, especially those for 3rd kup upwards who are expected to spar full-contact. White belts and 9th kups usually do one one-minute round of sparring; the amount of rounds increase the higher up the kup grades you go. Board breaking is introduced from 3rd kup, with one kicking break at 3rd kup, a kicking break and a hand technique break at 2nd kup and 2 kick breaks and 1 hand technique break for 1st kup. All candidates may be tested on Korean vocabulary at any time during the test. This is the general pattern for Kup gradings at my dojang - black belt gradings are held behind closed doors with a central testing panel from the British TKD Control Board (BTCB, who are the governing body for all WTF/Olympic TKD style clubs in the UK). The general format of BB testings is aparrantly very similar to the format/style we use in my dojang anyway. According to people who have sat a Dan grading with the BTCB, the tests for 2nd and 1st kup at my school are physically more demanding and harder that the BTCB Chodan test anyway.

I currently train regularly at 2 places at the moment, so I will answer for both. 1. How much do you pay to train per month? All lessons are paid for on a session-by-session basis. There are no monthly charges and the only pre-payment is a deal for new members where they can pay for 6 lessons up front and recieve a free t-shirt and water bottle. All classes are£4 per lesson, although I no longer pay as I also teach classes. 2. What style? Shotokan-based Karate and Kobudo, as well as a specific weight and fitness training class on a Thursday. 3. How may days a week are classes offered? Every day except Sunday, although all Friday classes are closed to beginners and lower grades. There are 2 classes every day except Saturday, which is one double-lenght class open to all students. It usually features extra curricular training, aside from the "normal" Karate and Kobudo training and there are often guest instructors who teach on a Saturday. To attend a Saturday session a student must have trained at least once suring the week, unless there are circumstances why they can't which Sensei or myself know about in advance. 4. Special perks - such as gym membership? I get free use of dojo and gym/training equipment whenever I want because I'm an instructor. Anyone who trains at least 3 times a week, every week, gets a free lesson at the end of the month. New-starters who join and pay for 6 lessons up-front get a free club t-shirt and water bottle. Anyone who is taking a grading test gets a free lesson the day before the grading. __________________ 1. How much do you pay to train per month? Lessons are paid for per session, £3.75 a class. There are weekly and monthly packages available, but I don't really know what they are as I'm just on the "pay as you go" system at the moment (although I'm planning to swop to paying weekly). I *think* it is £40 per month (about US$75?), but I'm not 100% certain. Weekly and monthly packages exclude Saturdays, but cover all other classes. 2. What style? WTF TKD, plus weapons training classes on a Saturday 3. How may days a week are classes offered? Every day except Sundays. Most days are one class per day, except Fridays (2 classes) and Saturdays (3 classes). The 3 Saturday classes are weapons training, specialist class (the specialism changes from week to week) and tournament fighting class. Private lessons are also available. 4. Special perks - such as gym membership? If you pay for 2 out of the 3 Saturday classes you get to attend the 3rd one for free. There are also free lessons (2 per month I think) available to those who pay monthly. The SBN also sells MA equipment and often does deals on certain items (eg buy a pair of hand mitts, get a free gumshield etc etc).

No, because IMO it's utter rubbish! Plus I've only ever heard of one of the so-called "celebrities" that are/were in the house. http://www.channel4.com/bigbrother/index.jsp - for those of you lucky ebough to have never heard of this program.

Thanks for the tips!

I've been having skating lessons for a while now and I'm starting to get some kit together to start playing hockey. There's a local rec team in my area specifically for beginners, so once I have all the gear then I'm hoping to join and start playing. For skating and the ice skating lessons I've been using a borrowed pair of skates. They're an old pair belonging to a friend of mine, who wears the same size shoe as I do. They fit fine and feel comfortable, however, they're ice dance/figure skating skates and therefore not suitable for playing hockey in!! Can anyone give me a recommendation of a good-but-cheap (I'm strapped for cash after buying hockey body armour) pair of skates that will be suitable for an ice hockey beginner? Also, is it a bad idea to buy second hand hockey skates or is the extra money for new ones better spent on other things? Finally, when buying hockey skates, should you get the same size as your ordinary shoes or should you have a half-size/size larger or smaller? Thanks!

Since christmas I've tried hard to be good and cut down/cut out sweets. It's SO hard, because I love chocolate and sweets! However, since Boxing Day I've only had one bar of chocolate. My favourite chocolate is Galaxy and my favourite sweets are Haribo Starmix or Sherbert Lemons. I also love Aniseed Balls, but most shops don't seem to sell them these days. http://www.aquarterof.co.uk - the sweet lover's heaven!!

Just Windows XP for me.

No, money can't buy you happiness. As long as you have enough to pay the bills and a little left over for treats then that is all that anyone should need. A study was done of UK lottery winners (I was recently reading about it in a newspaper) and the majority of winners of jackpots over £1M said that they were more unhappy now than they were before they won all that money. Having lots of riches can bring it's own unhappiness. (although I would like a couple of grand if anyone has any spare £££ and is feeling generous! )

Yes, it definately was. My sensei is much happier with our current set-up, which is an informal group of MA clubs in the local area. There's 8 clubs as members at present, from different styles and it really is much better than belong to a formal group, such as the association we were with before. This way every event is local (unlike the last association where the majority of events were at the honbu dojo and all students were expected to travel there, even though the chief instructor and the other senior instructors would hardly ever travel out to the dojos up and down the country - they expected us to go to them every time). Plus, with the schools that belong to the group we have a diverse mix of MA, with Karate and Kobudo at my dojo, as well as 2 Karate clubs from other styles, a Boxing gym, a Judo club, a Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu group, who also teach JJJ and 2 Kickboxing and TKD schools. So, when we get together for meet-ups and seminars there's a god range of information to be shared and everyone comes away having learned something new. The really sad thing about the association we were with before is that it is a fairly well-known "name" within the UK Karate community, with the Chief Instructor being a person who has appeared in and on the cover of UK MA magazines. I shan't "name-and-shame", a forum such as this isn't the place to do that, but I just find it interesting that someone who can be well-known in MA can be such a bully. Often people with the biggest reputations are those who have an attitude problem along with them. This Sensei is obviously so aware of his status within UK Karate that he is very insecure about it and takes it out on the very people he should be helping - his own students.

Talk to the instructor and tell him about how unhappy you are at being used as free labour. Tell him you will come back and are willing to teach if you will get something in return, whether that is actual cash or payment-in-kind, such as free lessons. If he fobs you off or makes excuses then you know he just wants you to work for nothing, so the best thing would be to find somewhere else. No one is forcing you to go there - you should be happy in your training and if you are not happy then it is a good sign that you should find another school. Good luck with whatever you do!

Very good!

I actually know one "black belt mum" who WAS asked to help judge a competition but who had never trained. Her eldest son is a sucessful kata competitor and a 2nd Dan and her other son and daughter are both high grade karateka too. It was only a little local tournament between 4-5 schools, but the judges were really short-handed. One guy had had his nose broken in the fighting and couldn't stick around to judge the kata and another lady had gone home early with sickness. So Karen (the Black Belt Mum) was the "best of the rest". As she's been around a dojo so long she probably knows as much as the rest of us anyway! She did quite a good job of it too, very fair. Maybe that's the way forward for competitions - use the Mum Army...!

Me too!

lol, some great stuff on there! Very good! 8)

Ouch, I bet that hurt!!

Very nice!

Congratulations on passing your test!

A lot of places in the UK still let people pay per lesson. I don't pay any more at Karate, because I also teach classes now, but it it £4 per session or £12 a week for 4 sessions (i.e you get one free if you pay for the week). At TKD you can either pay per lesson, per week or per month. I was paying just per lesson £3.75, but I'm going to move onto paying weekly or monthly as the price-per-lesson cost is less. When I used to train in Wing Chun it started off really cheap (£2.75 per lesson) but the lesson prices kept going up and up and up during the 18 months or so I trained there and the last lesson I had there was £8 a lesson!! The cost of training is literally the only reason I stopped attending that place - if it had been cheaper then I would've carried on with it.

Krunchyfrogg, I've trained in TKD and Karate and find that there are more similaities than differences between the styles. I picked up TKD very easily and ended up moving through the lower belt ranks much faster than normal because of my Karate experience. I know that that's not what MA is all about (there's more to life than a coloured belt!) but my point is that your training in Karate will help you in TKD. My Karate dojo is Shotokan-based and my TKD dojang is WTF style. Why don't you give it a go for a few months, see how you get on? Maybe you could decide to keep training until you pass your first TKD grading and then see what you think to it and re-evaluate it after that point. Good luck!

Life is too short to train under bad instructors. I'm really lucky in that most of my instructors have been great people. However, there have been one or two stinkers, such as the head of a karate association that my instuctor once belonged to. My club and others in the association had gone to a training day run by the head of the asociation. He had split the day up into various sessions and one was just brown and black belts only. It was the worst training session I had in my life. This particular instructor (the head of the association, remember!) was a bully and loved to play the intimidation card. He would shout at the senior students (some of whom had been training 20,25+ years) and said we were all worse than whitebelts, as well as making other comments and derogatory remarks, including personal remarks. He told one lady that she was too fat to be a blackbelt, a comment which really upset her as she had struggled with her weight for a long while and had actually started to lose weight recently. I had an injury at the time and was wearing a knee brace to try and protect the joint. My own Sensei knew about it and was fine with it, but this guy just acted like I was making it up or attention seeking (I was an adult at the time!!). One part of the lesson was free sparring, aprox 1 min rounds and after every minute we all had to change and find a new partner. For one of my rounds I ended up with this instructor. I threw a roundhouse kick with my bad leg and he blocked it with a kick of his own - right on my dodgy knee. I could see from the look on his face that he had done it deliberately. Definately the worst lesson of my life and I'm glad that my instructor didn't stay with the association. It was the best decision he ever made to leave that group, as to belong to an organisation with such a bullying Sensei as the head of it doesn't do any club any good.

I have a large collection of MA books (some signed), as well as all my belts and certificates from various testings, plus plenty of photographs of competitions, courses, training sessions and other dojo events. I also have trophies and medals, most of which were won by me, but some of which belonged to my Karate instructor (who competed all over the world). As well as those I have a large selection of MA weapons, some of which I train with and some of which are decorative. My collection is pretty meaningless to anyone else (I don't own Steven Seagal's first blackbelt, or nunchaku used by Bruce Lee ) but all the things in it are special and personal to me and they all have a story behind them. I also have a little soft toy karateka on an elastic string that when you bounce it up and down it shouts "haii-ya!" My god-daughter bought me that one Christmas.