angelica d

Hey, we'd better beat them, I can't stand any more disappointments. I start a new job in a really busy pub tomorrow, just in time for the next big game. Its gonna be hectic I know!

My fiance dared me to eat a whole chilli once, and I did (what a loon!). I had to drink a 2 litre bottle of Lilt, a jar of a yoghurt dip, and lots of Baileys on ice - and my mouth still burned! I think the baileys helped the most though. After all that, the only difference was that on top of the burning sensation, I had really bad stomach aches! Beka, I shouldn't worry about having weird, deranged dreams, I often do too. Once in a dream, my MA friend was arrested and I helped her escape from prison and we fled to Maxico. A man that looked like Agent Smith was chasing us in a black Jaguar and we were in a transit van! I only realised it was all a dream when suddenly I found myself hotwiring 3 cars! I was like - 'Hey, wait a minute! I can't do that!' At least your dreams have MAs in them, you never know you might subconsciusly be learning new skills!

All you English people out there - isn't it awful about last night's game. I was devastated, we were playing so well and then it suddenly all went wrong. Just thought I'd share my disappointment with you all

Similar situation to myself, Beka. I started karate after having suffered from an eating disorder and depression for years. I was out of the 'danger-zone' but was still a control freak when it came to food. Beginning karate really helped me build up my confidence and gave me something to look forward to each week. I began to stop punishing my body and enjoy myself. My obsession with controlling my diet gradually faded out and has been replaced with an obsession with karate (I'm an obsessive person by nature!) , which in my opinion is way more healthy!

LOL! Whenever I train where people can see me, they just laugh! Luckykboxer, I totally agree with you, its cute but scary that a kid will look up to me after only seeing me once or twice. But I reckon I can be a good role model, so hopefully I won't let them down

Hey guys! Last night at the dojo I was waiting for the kids to arrive for class and this little girl, about ten years old or so, came in saying 'Hi Angelica!'. I have a terrible mind for remembering names (duh!) and this girl is a newbie, so I was quite impressed. Then she actually offered to sweep the floor for me, and when the senior instructor told her that I would be teaching her the basics again, she jumped up and down, clapping her hands saying 'Yay!'. I've not been teaching long, so was quite taken aback, but I thought it was really sweet! I have a fan! Has anyone else got a fan amongst their kids class? Just thought I'd share it with you all!

Wow, thats a really good way of looking at things markusan, I'd never thought about it like that. But yeah, he's not the first kid like that and certainly won't be the last I come across in the future, so at least I'm prepared!

Mya, as a recovered anorexic I can safely say that its a REALLY bad idea to skip meals if you want to lose weight and be healthy. It can lead to two scenarios> 1/ You get so hungry that you find yourself eating loads of unhealthy snacks throughout the afternoon, so it totally defeats the point. 2/ You find skipping meals easy so you decide to skip more and more, because believe me starving yourself does become an addiction. You start to feel good if you miss a meal, and eventually you end up eating practically nothing which has all kinds of horrible consequences that I won't go into here. So DON'T DO IT! If you want to lose weight and not become one of the two examples above, the only way to do it is to be sensible. That means three reasonable meals per day, and more exercise. It might take longer than simply missing meals, but your metabolism will increase (as opposed to decreasing when your body goes into starvation mode) and the weight will stay off. Sorry if I sound angry, its just an issue that I feel very strongly about and I wouldn't want anybody to go through the hell that I went through three - five years ago.

It sounds great IMHO, except for the breaking bricks with your head for the shodan grading. Whats the point in doing that, its never going to come up in a real life scenario and you could possibly get brain damage. Thats not hard core to me, thats just macho. But I was pretty impressed by the rest of it, everyone must have been really fit. I know what you mean about how there are a lot of dojos that don't really push the students. I was reading a martial arts magazine the other day and there was a report from a grading, with lots of photos. The students didn't look like they'd been working at all! You must have had some seriously long classes though, to fit in all that fitness/strength stuff and all the basic techniques/kata and partner work! It makes me want to have a go at one of your hard core classes out of curiousity, just to see how long I'd last!

£10 for the training session and grading. £4 for a coloured belt way more than that for your shodan!

Wow, lots of contributions, i don't really know where to begin! First of all, Bart, thanks for your concern but I do actually enjoy teaching. At the smaller dojo where I train twice a week, I often teach the beginners the basics (usually no more than three at a time). I admit it was a bit daunting when I was asked to teach a whole group, and yeah it isn't a regular scenario when a low rank takes on the role as assistant instructor, so maybe it was unfair. But I agreed to do it, firstly because they obviously thought I was capable, and secondly because it seemed like a good opportunity for me. So when I get to brown belt and have to take a teaching qualification, I'll have a bit of experience. Thirdly, I quite like being thrown in at the deep end, so to speak - I tend to work much better when nervous or under pressure. Luckykboxer, just to clarify, my dojo does have separate kids and adult classes - I just happened to be hanging around at the beginning of the kids class because I get a lift to the dojo with some of the black belts. You made a good point about getting the senior instructor to tell the kids that I would be leading the group, I'll have a word about this in the future. I think that the main issue for me is not the fact that I'm teaching at a low rank. I train way more than most people at the dojo and several blackbelts have commented that my techniques and knowledge are at brown belt standard already. I know the material and have watched enough kids classes to have picked up different methods of explaining the techniques. What I haven't had any experience in is disciplining the kids. At the smaller dojo I only teach a couple of kids at a time so there's no real discipline problem. But I've now got a few ideas in mind if this situation arises again (which it probably will). Thanks all! Angelica

lol

Do you get different levels of pass at your club, Ant? For example, we can get either a first class, a 2nd, 3rd or provisional pass (they have to prove in the next month that they're up to standard in order to keep the grade). IMHO its a good idea because instead of focussing on skipping kyu grades, I concentrate on getting the best possible mark for that kyu level. I might be wrong, but I get the feeling you're trying to rush though the grades - remember to give yourself time to consolidate your techniques. Anyway, I'd definitely take the class before the grading if I were you - it shows that you're really determined to improve and do the best you can. At my club, the training sesh before the gradings actually count towards your final mark - the coachs are always telling us ' you start your grading the moment you walk into the dojo'. Even if its not the case with your club, it shows that you are dedicated. I'll stop waffling now because my sister is going to drag me on a long run

I agree, when I first did it I just thought it was 'bend the back leg and put the ball of the other foot on the ground in front' but there's actually so many aspects to think about - angling the front leg, sitting on the back leg, and not sticking your bum out on top of all that!

3 classes a week (soon to be four - yay!). Each class lasts about 2 hours, except for monday which is three hours. In addition, practice at home (kata, punchbag) and about 3 gym sessions per week.

Cheers Shorinryu Sensei and DLopez, some really good points to consider there. I'll probably be teaching them again tomorow so if he starts acting up I'll make it clear that I'm the one teaching, and that I don't always appreciate his 'contributions'. I'm not dreading it that much now, actually. The rest of the kids, even if not as bright, are really eager to learn, and its fun to teach them. I'll let you know how I get on guys!

Hi there! Welcome to the forums, and good luck in your green belt grading - let us know how you get on

Yeah, well done Krunchyfrogg!

Ooo, save a space for my club's website please! Its not yet finished but I'l send you the address when its ready. Cheers!

Personally, I did just get used to it - when I first started MAs I used to come home covered in bruises but now its very rare indeed.

I'm working on heian 3 - still - and playing around with some advanced kata i've picked up from watching my blackbelt friends train ... tekki 3, chinte and senkai at the moment. I love learning new kata! Also I'm trying to master the use of the hips in my basic techniques, and my yoko geri kekomis. I can do it really really slowly but so far thats about it!

Thanks for all your ideas guys, it seems as if the general thought is that no way should I allow him to behave like this. I agree, its just a little tricky when his father is teaching another group right next to me. I guess I'm one of those people who doesn't like to upset anyone...then again I don't want to be a pushover either. DLopez, I know what you mean about sub teachers at high school...once we had an awful sub teacher and the whole class pretended to be in a trance one day when she arrived! She ran out crying and never came back, I feel quite guilty about it even now! As for the kid getting extra tuition, I agree its not on, as the other kids don't get this opportunity. Also, its probably this extra help that makes him feel superior. I wouldn't mind if he was simply practising at home - IMO thats great - but having extra lessons as soon as normal class is finished, right in front of the rest of the kids, isn't on. But hey, its not my place to say anything - yet. Mart, as far as I know there's no rule to say you can't teach without being a 2nd dan. When we reach brown belt in my organisation we are obliged to take an instructor's qualification, but before then you can teach as an assistant instructor, if the instructor thinks you are capable. Anyway I've got a driving lesson so I'll write more later

Last Tuesday I was asked to teach several white belts, and I just wanted to share my experience and find out how the rest of you guys would have reacted. I've only been doing karate for a year and a bit, so I'm not a very high grade even though I train at least three times a week. Of course I haven't had much teaching experience (only the odd beginner at my local club) to teaching a larger group was new for me. The kids weren't used to being taught by a non- black/brown belt (it was only due to a shortage of higher grades that evening that I was called in) but most of them were very respectful...except one. This one kid has a father who is a 4th kyu, and teaches him extra stuff after class, and yes he has progressed faster than the others. But when one of the kids addressed me as Sampai (assistant teacher, usually brownbelts) this other kid laughed and said 'she's not a sampai, shes just an orange belt'. This put me off, but I just told it didn't really matter now could we please carry on with the lesson. As I was taking them through heian shodan, he kept saying stuff to me like, 'remember there's a kiai here' and 'no thats wrong, you move your front leg here' (BTW this was wrong!). At some points I felt like he was simply trying to contribute and let me know that he knew it, but other times it felt like he had no respect for me whatsoever and thought he could doit better than me. In the end I tried to ignore his comments but I was wondering how you guys would have reacted. Would you have told him off, ignored him, or something else? Thanks for your input, I just know I'm going to have to teach him again soon and I want to be prepared!

wow, Ticky Donovan! He's an amazing MAist, if you got the chance to train with him I would be so jealous! As for his style, isshin-ryu, I've heard that its like a combination of aspects of all the major karate styles, such as shotokan, goju-ryu, shukokai etc. Go for it!

I enjoyed the books, but wasn't overly impressed with the first movie. Haven't seen the others yet, I'll probably rent the 2nd soon to catch up. I'm not a huge fan of Harry Potter, but its light-hearted entertainment, and the soundtrack is good! But I admit I did get a little scared when everbody at college started wearing Hogwarts scarfs all the time!