Rateh

I've always been of the understanding that it was the other way around.... That the heians and bassai came first....and the pinans and passai are the korean versions which came AFTER. Maybe I'm wrong....but that's how I have understood it.

Just because you wear it from the dojo/dojang to your house and back...doesn't mean you will pass anyone on the street though. I don't know about everyone else, but I've never trained at a place where I had to walk along a street to get to the car. Every place I have trained at it's get out of the car and you're there. If for some reason you have to walk along the street either to get to your car from the dojang/dojo, or to get to it from your house/apartment, then that would be different I would think.

Do you have to wright out the steps to kata or something like that? Well everyones notebook starts out with a printout of all the kup sheets for the ranks they have so far (kup sheets being a paper that has all of the testing requirements for a belt rank listed on it) After that, what you do is up to you. I added some papers with forms shown on them that my instructor had and made copies of. I asked my instructor to burn a CD for me with all the kup sheets. Then I typed in my notes in blue under the techniques and about the forms. (Since I have trained in a few styles previously, I find it especially helpful to take notes on the small details of the techniques, as many of the tiny things are different from my previous experiences) I also typed up the basic grab escapes on separate sheets, with specific step by step details on how to do them In the future (IE finish before my september test) I am going to add a drills section, where I will cataloge all of the many drills I know for reference. I also want to add some history into my notebook, especially the history of the specific forms that we learn, as most of the color belts seem to have no idea where they came from. I also want to type out a timeline of my own personal training, including things I learned from specific instructors that made an impact on me as a martial artist today. I'm also considering typing up the forms (technique, stance, direction, footwork). I think I have more details in my notebook than most people, because I have been in an accelerated testing process so I have more difficulty remembering some of the forms, etc, because I didn't train with them for as long before learning the next one. Also, when teaching we use our notebooks. So basically if I'm asked to work with the 8th Kup students, then I will get out my book and flip to 8th Kup. It will tell me what basics, self defense techniques, sparring combinations, and forms the students are meant to be working on. And my notebook will also give specific details about them. We have 11 kups from white belt till black belt, and each one has 6-7 basics (techniques or combinations of techniques), 4 sparring combinations, 1-2 forms, and 2-5 new self defense techniques (knife defenses, grab escapes, 1-steps, etc). It's a lot of material so unless a person has been teaching for a while, they don't remember specifically what goes with which rank. I have been working with the beginners as my teaching assignment, so I have the white belt kup sheet memorized, and a good idea of what is on the 10th, 9th, and 8th kup sheets.

I too have to keep a "notebook" and present it at testings. It is supposed to be full of stuff both for you personally, and for teaching.

I agree with bushido I actually didn't start sparring till about a year and a half after I started training. At this point I was a green belt, and had moved and started at a new school. They threw me right into sparring, and I was a very timid person (at the time I had progressed from kiaping at a soundless whisper to a quite speaking voice) I didn't give up, but I really sucked. As I was preparing for my black belt test, I trained in sparring every week, and watched the kids sparring class too. I still sucked. Though at the black belt test I somehow pulled it out. Why did I suck? Because I was intimidated. No one eased me into sparring. No one took the shy girl who couldn't even look someone in the eye, and thought "hmmm....maybe we should start her off real light and easy". It is only in recent years that I have even begun to enjoy it. So I am VERY big on easying the lower ranks into it, unless they show a disire for harder contact. Once the student has become comfortable in the sparing environment, then I think the contact should be gradually increased, until like pittbull said, the student can spar at any contact level.

I used to open door handles with my feet to practice balance (the kind where you turn it down and up like a ... lever?) Then the handles stopped working right....so i stopped.... I practice at work all the time, and sometimes it looks kinda weird when im practicing a two person drill or a weapons form, without another person or weapon. How about sleeping in your uniform? I find the light weight ones quite comfy.

Because of that attention span, I find it best to run the 3-4 year olds groups in sections. So you might work on kicks in lines (or rather a line, you don't want rows of 3 year olds) for 3-4 minutes. Then maybe kicking targets for 3-4 minutes. After that you might do some blocks, standing in a circle. Then maybe run an obstacle course that works on some gross motor skills. (obstacle courses can be run for much longer than the 3-4 minute span though, I find). One thing with 3 year olds though, is that they tend to take much longer to get into the groove of attending a class than older children. New 3 year olds, in my experience, tend to spend time staring at their parents, or just generally confused, wondering why they are there in the first place. Those that have an older sibling whom they have been watching training for at least a few months tend to fair much better. I had a student who watched his brother train in the 3-4 year old class for a year, then joined a month shy of his 3rd birthday. Because he had been watching classes since he was 2, he showed more discipline than all of the other students, because he already knew from 1/3 of his life what was expected of him. Also, as with other children, they tend to do best when told what to do/given something to do. Rather than saying "stop moving" say "sit still as a statue with your hands on your knees and your best tiger stare" (our kids classes are named after animals, and we use that to encourage the kids....) Lots of pep and facial expressions helps too. As well as pointing out children who are doing what it is you want them to do. Of course you would know most of this from teaching your other childrens classes.

Moo Du Kwan Tang So Doo - 1.5 years - Green Belt Shori Ryu Karate - 1.5 years - Brown Belt Chun Kuk Do - 7 years - 1st Degree Tae Kwon Do - 1.5 years - High Red Belt Kept moving and starting over, hence all the color belts. Listed in the order in which I trained.

White (11th Kup) - No Test White with Yellow Stripe (10th Kup) - In Class Test Yellow with White Stripe (9th Kup) - In Class Test Yellow Belt (8th Kup) Yellow with Black Stripe (7th Kup) Green Belt (6th Kup) Green with Black Stripe (5th Kup) Purple Belt (4.5 Kup - Added recently) Blue Belt (4th Kup) Blue with Black Stripe (3rd Kup) Red Belt (2nd Kup) Red with White Stripe (1st Kup) Red with Black Stripe (Not a Kup or a dan, a review belt, I guess we could call it 1/2 Kup) Black Belt

Surprisingly I asked a similar question to a police officer last wednesday. I had gotten a ticket (for something completely unrelated, and did not have any martial arts weapons in the car) and was at traffic school. The issue of conceled weapons and whether or not you have to tell the officer you have them, came up. (specifically people were talking about guns). I asked what if I got pulled over and had my nunchuku in the back seat, would I have to tell the officer? (I just chose a weapon at random that I might actually have). He said no, I didn't have to, and I didn't need to. Because, he said, I would have to be very close to him with it to use it....as compared to a gun. He said that if I had to get out of my car for some reason, and I had them tucked in the back of my pants, that I should tell, but didn't have to. Should because as he put it "I might get a gun in my ear" when a cop saw it. I also found out that in my state/county/city it is legal to carry around a gun, so long as it isn't conceled or loaded. He said that walking around with a gun in a holster in the grocery store, while legal, would probably get a lot of 911 calls, so he didn't advice it.

As I have stated, I have been teaching beginner classes for some time. In my new style/dojang, I have also been called upon to help with students closer to the rank I myself am working on. When that was lower rank material, that was no big deal. Now it is a very frusterating problem (imho). Last week at the red & black belt class, the higher ranked instructors had to be somewhere else that night. So the head instructor called me over and told me that she wanted me to teach the class, and that she wanted me to go over the forms over and over and over again. Well this all sounded nice, I just said yes ma'am and got to it. Unfortunitly I had only recently learned many of the forms, and there were differences of opinion on what was correct in some of the techniques between me and the red belts. This was a very frusterating experience for me, and I think I lost the respect of some of the red belts, which I would understand. You just can't teach something you don't have down pat yourself.

Testing is held at our school every 3 months. The first 2 ranks are tested for in class, and there are no time in rank requirements. After that students start testing at the official tests, and the required time in rank is 3 months. Once you hit the higher color belt ranks, time in rank is at least 4 months (6 months being more usual). There are actually 3 schools in the area that are a part of our organization, and each one holds testing ever 3 months, alternating. So if someone misses a testing at our school, they can test at another school the next month if they are ready.

I vaguely remember someone telling me they used soda to stop from slipping. Maybe get your hands a little sticky?

I agree that it's very good for the higher dans to do this, and on a regular basis, Rateh, but I feel that six months is a rather short period of time, and I'm not at all surprised that it takes a year for the "new" way to be incorporated in all the schools. I'd have thought it'd be done annually or even every two years. My question here is why should this be relegated to only the high ranks? Chances are that the "changes" that are made are not difficult to learn and adapt, and everyone involved would benefit. I also think that lower ranks should be experimenting with different things as well. Its not something that only higher ranks can do right. Experimenting can help everyone at any stage. Well I know its not a planned "lets get together saturday the 3rd at 9 am and try out this and that." It's more of an unplanned thing, from what I understand they're just hanging out together at a dojang, for some reason or other, and start trying things and ideas out on eachother. Now I know for a fact that when people are learning these techniques, especially as black belts, they ask questions about why or how it works. And I also know that these questions and ideas that are brought up are taken into account when the higher ranks are together messing around with it. So it's not really a matter of excluding anyone, it's just how it works out. I'm sure if I happened to be there when it was occuring they would listen to and respect my insight on it. But when lower ranks are around, the higher ranks don't tend to get much...them time. It might make it a little more clear to know that the organization is very small.... Basically there are two groups, one in colorado (with like 4 schools) and one in Utah, with 3 schools. They kinda do their own thing, but are under the same organization. The ones in utah are the ones that get together, all schools are within an hour of eachother. We have a 6th degree who is over utah, two 5th degrees, a 4th degree, and one who is going for his 4th soon. We also have 3 or 4 3rd degrees. It's really nice to all be close, as I get training from the 6th degree twice or more a month, and I have a 5th degree and 2 3rd degrees that teach most/all of the classes at my school. Partially because of the utah people changing/improving things, and the colorado people changing things on their side.....well we really are two groups going our own way right now....

The instructors ranked 4th degree and above in my organization that live in utah, regularly get together and try things out (I am never there at the sessions, so I don't know how they go about it). About once every 6 months, they decide on a slightly different way of doing something, based on trying what works and what doesn't. Then they go back to their respective schools and teach the "new" way of doing it. This is very good in some senses I think, because we know that our system is constantly improving and becoming more effective. At the same time it can be quite....annoying....having to change little details here and there when your only just learning it. Also it takes around a year to filter down through the ranks till everyone is teaching the "new" way, hence you will have one person telling you one way, and another a different way, and then you have to go find one of the 4th degrees or above to clarify. We have black belt tests once a year however, and it involves about 9 months of extra training and pre-testing for all of the students testing for a black belt rank. At these classes the most current ways are taught, so you know if you ask someone who tested at the last black belt test, that they will have the most current information.

The middle finger does not make me angry. It's more of thinking "um...whats your problem?, is that supposed to bother me?" to them, and I give em a weird look that kinda says that. Same thing as when kids say "chicken" and then bawk and flap their "wings". I would just roll my eyes at them in a way that said "do you realise how stupid YOU look?". Then again I don't usually get mad unless I am very frusterated or anxious.

I don't think that everyone would agree that one must be a 3rd or 4th dan to be an instructor. I started teaching the beginner kids class as a brown belt. And as a 1st degree in both my current school and my previous school I have had teaching responsibilities. I think that the requirement to be a 3rd or 4th dan is more of a school, organisational, or style thing, not a general martial arts thing.

We don't have changing rooms or lockers. We have one bathroom. So if someone is going to change at the dojang then they have to make sure they arrive plenty early or they might be late for having to wait for other people. Pretty much everyone wears a t-shirt under their uniform top though, so its just a matter of throwing the top on over it. T-shirts are to be the color of the uniform (either white or black).

We have written and oral tests for each rank. They include goals, history, self defense (the non physical part), tenants of taekwondo, etc. The written portion is in an essay, the oral is a question and answer format. My instructor considers the written portion to be very important because she gets to read your ideas, opinions, and understanding of various martial arts stuff. Most of which you wouldn't talk to her about or think about otherwise.

Personally I wouldn't be afraid, just more aware. But I work on a daily basis with people that others might term "insane" or "crazy". I've heard that people are scared of them. To which I say .... why? And my coworker said it's because they don't know them so they don't know what to expect.

I wear the bottoms and a t-shirt to and from class, and at the gas station or somewhere I have to stop off on the way home. If its cold sometimes I'll have the top on untied for driving but not if I stop off somewhere. When I was younger I would go to class in the bottoms and a t-shirt, and then my mom would say "oh I have to stop off and get some groceries on the way home" or something like that, and I'd just wear the uniform in. When I was training at a school that was right by a Target (like 30 steps across a parking lot) I would often just take off my belt and walk there to grab something to eat between classes. Most of the students went there in the uniform occasionally. Then again everyone knew who we were, after all we were practically next door.

I generally favor my right because 95% of the people at my dojang and the surrounding dojangs that are members of the same organization spar with the left side forward. Sparring right forward therefor throws some of my opponent off. I spar comfortably from both sides however. I do know WHY they all spar left side forward though.... When we work kicks or sparring techniques, the instructor calls "step back fighting stance" and all of the students are meant to step back into a left fighting stance. (after doing techniques on the left then the students will switch and do right, so they do practice both sides equally). When sparring, the call is ALSO "step back fighting stance" and so all of the students naturally step back with their right foot into the left fighting stance.

Thanks for the replies. I have to do another demonstration for my black belt test in september, and I'm allowed to do the same one. My plan is to improve apon what I have and your advice will all be VERY helpful in this. Many of these things I had not considered. Thanks again

I agree with many of the sentements here. I have always thought (since I first considered such a situation) that I would first retreat to a safe area, and then immediately call 911.

Actually a stomp is in one of our sparring combinations. Switch your feet fast, do a quick step in side kick, stomp your foot on the ground, and then hook kick. Thats the combo I believe. As far as the stick your hand out....I had an instructor who would do that all the time to the kids. He would put his arm out like he was going to do a long range ridge-hand to their head. They see it, block against it....he doesn't hit them...they drop their guard...and he whacks em with it.