Sandan

Brilliant!

My instructor is currenlty working on a series of videos.. they are due to go live soon, I'll let you know when he has them up.

Yea, it used to bother me that people would laugh at the fact that I did Martial arts, now I don't bother telling people. I just keep my head down and for the most part people don't know what I do. I've also stopped saying in Discos etc. that I do karate as well.. as I said before you should see the guys run.

Hey, I just want to come back to Freddy re. I disagree, I think that this is the place where you absolutely have to keep going until the technique is more relaxed.

one thing most people forget is that this is the first Kata with open hand moves. All too often people get to the last four techniques and they move like Tai-chi. It's very important to have good power for this passage and also to move sharply.

I lived and trained in Japan and you would NEVER have this attitude. Here it seems to be acceptable.. I've discouraged this in my dojo and it works.

I use a series of techniques that form the basis of my 'trademark technique' I tend to throw a gyaka zuki low and then gyzami zuki high and this generally gets the person to rise their guard so I follow in with a mae washi geri to the lower torso... it's amazing how often it works...

I find for women it seems to be that Nijushi ho works and also Gankaku (though that's hard to control)

actually, I think its good to see how you react in a competition. It's the only time that you have to make a very quick decision about a person and how they fight. Sure it's contrived, but what else is there. For young people it's a great way of seeing the potential of what you can do... it's also bloody scary. For most people the only opponents they meet are in the dojo so they never know what it feels like to have to make a very fast decision about someone...

I think key to this is the way that the question is asked. I don't have a problem with people asking about the syllabus or such like, it's a way of them working up to a conversation regarding the grading itself!

In my dojo, I'll give the usual vague answer regarding the grading structure to kids. To the adults it's simple. I tell them when they are ready. Some times that is in the form of a question.. i.e. do you feel ready to go for your next grade.. if they are not sure they don't grade.

Actually this is a good question, as there are now motions to have every instructor here go on a coaching course and become a qualified coach. My background is in physical education and so I'm qualified in Aerobic Instruction and also Gym instruction... doesn't really help me get new students. Although it does kind of make the parents more comfortable...

Yes, I have to say for some reason the foam works, I get them to do kumite with it i.e. one has the foam one doesn't and they have to move and avoid getting hit by the foam... Also for the more advanced, I've made short ones and I use them as knives....again it's worth experimenting with. Let me know if you have anymore ideas as I'd love to incorporate them.

who said this teaching was supposed to be easy... As we say here, you have to kiss a lot of frogs![/code]

I've just been given the original note book my sensei had when he lived in Japan, he also has notes in it from his Japanese instructor. Unfortuantley they are in Japanese and I've had to photocopy them and try and track down someone who speaks Japanese...but it's a huge compliment!

Man that is way off!! Who would pay for something like that?

THe day my first student took his exam for shodan was the most nervous and the best day of my life. He was very well prepared and had worked hard, but I did every step of the grading with him!

my first weapon was bo... then sai, tonfa, nunchaku etc.

blinking is a weakness and it can also show intention, i.e. some people blink before they move. If you had to use your martial arts and you blinked your opponent might pick up on it...

I've done lots of competition, and the key is not only having your techniques, I have a series of 8 and I interchange them as required but to figure out very quickly the sort of fighter that your facing. I generally tap the front hand of my opponent to see how they react. I reckon that fighters are broken down into three or four main groups. 1. Straight line fighters 2. Defensive Fighters 3. Circular Fighters 4. Combination Fighters. Depending on the sort of fighter I'm facing I vary my tackic. Defensive or static fighters... difficult have to move around them more. Straight line, need to move off line etc. Combination are the most difficult... That's my two pence worth..

Yea, I can't stop blinking either, I've tried to link it to my relaxation and my breathing but it doesn't seem to work.

I have a general idea of what I do for each class.. I do like to change the order to make sure that people don't get 'comfortable' with the order of the class-so as to keep people on their toes. I think that variety is the best way to get people to engage in the class and they then also learn a range of skills. I do like to start with some kumite, light and fast so that they use a skill that is part of karate. I work stretching into the class to give people a breather along the way and at the end I do advanced stretching so that no one is stiff going home. The rest of the class will depend on the people in the class their level and also where the club is with regard to events i.e. gradings, competitions or seminars.

Hey, Something just came up in my dojo over the past few weeks. I am a female instructor, 27, usual bits and pieces... however I'm getting feedback from my students that one in particular has a crush on me... so, what do I do, ignore him? Take the moral higher ground and say I'm above all that... he's quite young and I'm engaged (fiance also does Karate) so he knows that well I'm taken... so how do I handle the situation. Has anyone been in the same situation...

I generally give the first class for free it seems to work people sort of expect it here. Insurance is a big thing here, so I do have to be very careful that they don't injure themselves on the first night But then I have to hit them for the insurance fee in the first month... it's not ideal... but that's the way it works here

I suffer from this a lot 'cause the guys in my dojo are generally much bigger than me. I therefore needed to come up with ways of fighting. I've noted that bigger generally (but not always) don't move so much, they depend on their strength and for the most part are straight line fighters. As a female and a smaller person I've developed my strategy to be more on my toes, with circular movements and more speed both on the way in and the way out. I've also started a weights programme to increase this speed...