cathal

Many great masters and champions began training when they were in their twenties and thirties. Don't worry about the time factor.

Happy Birthday It's an auspicious day indeed.

Ha no.

You are truly setting the standard for the year to come.

My system goes through elemental training, not animal training. But that does sound interesting.

I agree with Rick_72. You are there, you are in charge, it's your class, your matts. If they are not mature enough to learn from you then that's tough for them. You were selected for a reason. Someone with that many years of experience is going to make sure their students are in good hands. Even if you don't feel authoritative BE authoritative. Project the air of detached professionalism - if they don't cooperate and you feel you need to have them removed from class then do so. Instruct them to meet with you and your sensei to discuss their issues openly and like a mature adult. Good luck, and congratulations.

Saw it at a local rental place the other day - didn't peak my interest though.

What do you think you can do when someon about the same height grabs you around your neck from behind. Their other hand is holding something sharp and it is pressed against your lower back?

Hey that's good - what do you need to do in order to grade?

Right on, what did you have to do?

Bunkai is practical application of techniques. It's most often used to help drive home the point of kata techniques. But it is also used to help understand why some techniques are performed a certain way. For example when doing a punch many karateka chamber the opposite arm to prepare for another punch. The bunkai could be that the arm going back to the hip (chambering) is a grab so that the punch can land on the target in a more favourable angle. Bunkai is full of creative applications to techniques.

Wow, congratulations everyone.

I've not heard of it, and can't find info on it elsewhere, sorry :/

Hey check this out...it actually calls it Kip up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kip-up

YW of course.

We have a preset bunkai for each movement in our katas. The students are responsible for learning the bunkai and the transitions between movements. Then after a few months they're expected to show us a completely different bunkai based on the same techniques, to show us their unique interpretation of the movements. We work on kata each class, and we work on bunkai once per week. Bunkai sessions can be 10-15 minutes long, sometimes a half hour depending on what we're working with. Once they have it we practice practice practice, etc. until they are super comfortable with it.

Welcome to the forum.

I suggest trying the website of your organization, and chatting with your sensei can help to find some resources, too. Like any art I don't recommend learning from a website or book, a person is the best source.

Hey man I'm going to sound like a commercial but I checked and this was the best site I found. I live in the Atlantic provinces myself.

I know how you feel, I've had days like that. You've just go to roll with it.

Right on, that's always the hardest.

Glad to have you here.

Thanks for introducing yourself. Are you with the JKA or with the Canadian Tsuruoka?

I go up on my tiptoes, hold for 5 seconds, and slowly back down.

Welcome aboard. I'd suggest following in your father's footsteps as a beginning. Other than that everyone's advice is pretty good.