Rateh

Our students do really well in sparring matches. Though they often get called for excessive contact... You can't judge a style based on a few students though.

I take attendance manually and keep copys of them. There is also a sign up sheet and copies are saved of that too. So we really take attendance two ways

hm.... I've thought of something like that. But the main problem is stances overlap once you start turning. For instance an I pattern form, when you look at the exact foot placement on the floor, involves a lot of stance overlap. First the person goes left, then they go back over the same area, but in different stances facing right. Etc...

Or have other people write essays about them. Say one peer, and one black belt have to write an essay stating why the student should get their black belt, or not. Also get signed notes from parents and teachers, so that you know they are showing good charactor both inside AND outside of the dojo. Just an idea I had, I've yet to try it out.

I had a sensei who lectured the class once. She said the girls were being too concerned with how they looked in their gi. Worrying about their hair etc. She said that gis were definitly not made to be attractive, they are made for training, and if anything you will look worse with one on. So stop worrying about it and just get used to it. From that point on, I always believed that a girl in a gi = not attractive. (btw I am female )

I have no experience with either of these schools. However, as to your second question. The decision should be based on your own opinion. Everyone is full of their own opinions on whether sport or self defense is better. But their opinions don't matter in the long run. What do YOU want out of martial arts training? THAT is what matters.

Name: Jennifer Titles: none... Hight: 5'2" (female ) Weight: 115 lbs Main Style: chun kuk do Favorate Technique: front leg side kick

After my black belt test, my instructor took me out to breakfast. Then after my ceremony (6 months later) my parents and family took me to a resturant for dinner to celebrate.

How to find a place? The local yellow pages will usually work. Look up places near you and then visit them and watch a class or two. How much time does the average student train? I'd say most students train an average of twice a week at the dojo, for around an hour each time. Of course this also depends on when/how often/how long the dojo offers classes. How often/long a student trains outside of the dojo really depends on their level of dedication. How much does it usually cost? Well it can range from 20 to 200 dollars a month, depending on where you live. Some areas you will be hard pressed to find anything under 100 dollars, and others will have maybe one school that is over 100. Find out the typical prices in your area and use that to judge whether a school is charging too high or not. Don't compare between cities/countries/regions.

I have been training on them for years and never had a problem. The only downside I can see is that after years of abuse they are impossible to get clean. You can clean them every day, and still end up with dirty feet. But I have never had any trouble with dry feet from them...

I have a similar experience. Between movings it took me 7 years to get my Black Belt. I tested at the same time as a 13 year old girl, who I helped train when she started as a white belt...

If you click on an art, then across the top it says "instructor" and you can look at the bio. Theres a different one for each art. The one for kung fu says that hes a 10th degree in shotokan...which makes me kinda worried...

Yes of course maxma. I never did kicks etc while wearing them. Only slow/normal movements. I've considered wearing them again, but all my pants are a bit short of late, and so it would be quite obvious...

My sensei had me do that. Only I had to stand on the edge of a step, so that I would lower my heels down way below my toes. I also wore ankle weights to school for 1 month. At first I felt like I was walking through mud all the time, would barely make it to class on time. By the end of the month, I sometimes forgot to put them on and wouldnt even notice till later in the day. Also at karate sometimes he has the kids do jumps over the bags. Pile like 3 kicking shields on top of eachother, and make rows of them. Then you go down the line, sometimes jumping over them, sometimes rolling over them. But you have to jump very quickly out of your rolls or into the next jump. He said that you cannot let anything but the balls of your feet touch the ground.

Of course, in a one off situation its helpful to use english. But if i decided to dedicate myself to a korean style i would expect to use the korean terminology and using it would most likely make the techniques easier to talk about. I think thats what most of the other posters are getting at. I agree with you here. However, I don't think tradition is lost just because a teacher wants to teach in English. Yeah, we want to use the Japanese/Korean titles of forms and such, but the English language commonly adopts words like this into use, so to me, it is not a big deal. I agree. The english langauge is always adding words. If you looked "karate" is probably in the english dictionary. In my school we use mostly english, though for lining up we sometimes use korean. And for kata as well as a few basic terms, we use japanese (dojo, gi, obi, uke, etc). Our style isnt exclusivly japanese or korean, hence the mixture. I do like it that most people on the forums use english words for techniques. I find it confusing if they use japanese or korean, and while I do enjoy learning more of each language, I dont know the names of every technique in both. -.-

"well I heard that you dont have to unless you know the 5 finger exploding heart attack!" "Five finger? I can do it with three!"

You could also have a board breaking practice class on the day before the test. Then the students who are diligent and want to do well on their test will show up, and those that don't care wont...

In class once someone kiahed and accidentally burped along with it, so it was a kiaurp

Interesting... We don't number our kicks, but we have three general types for each kick. Stepping, standing, and slide-up. Stepping is kicking with the back leg and landing foward, standing is kicking with the back leg and returning it to its original position, and slide-up is moving the back leg to the front, and kicking with what was the front leg.

Today my brother and my brother-in-law were throwing a rubber knife at eachother. It landed near me and I chucked it at my brother, missing. He said "don't you guys learn knife throwing in karate?" I said, "of course, we practice secret ninja knife throwing techniques every Thursday"

7. stupid fake "karate" pose that is totally incorrect 8. how many bricks can you break?

I have no patches on any of my gis. No real reason, I just never put a patch on them...

I agree with danbong. 2" belts just make it harder to get a good knot. Go with the 1 3/4" belt imho.

They may be copyrighted, but I know I've seen ATA school websites with them on it. I'll look and see if I can find them again.

Our dojo has maybe half female. The head instructor says they make better students because they dont try and rely on strength. I'm not saying they do or dont, just thats his opinion on it. Im actually surprised to hear how few females there are in many of you guys's dojos. Is ours unusual? I always assumed that most dojos were about half and half nowadays.