welshdragon

all ours are tied flat at the back and crossed over right before you tie the knot. that way no one gets a huge bruise if we "trip" (which happens quite often with our sensei!!) and fall!! only the kids tie it crossed at the back, but then they haven't been taught to tie their belts properly yet!!!!

i'm doing kanku sho in competition now, am doing it in the Shotokan cup next month. best for that kata is to get your sensei to looka t it and even got through it having it taken to pieces. thats what happened to mine! Bassai Dai was easliy my best kata, i won the students gold with it. you need a lot of spirit to carry that kata off, and the timing is essential. make sure your power is good, and your kimi is obvious. make sure that a judge cam see the difference between the strong fast movements, and the slower more tense techniques. again, use your sensei or a video camera.....that way you will be able to see hwere things need to be made more or less obvious!!

thanks! you're a lot of help. it's good to know that there is a way to help me get back on my feet! i'll try what you suggested when i go to the shotokan cup next month (provided my muscle has recovered, i pulled it badly in training last night) and see how it works for me. thanks!!!! if you think of anything else that could help, it would be appreciated!!!

thanks! that is so helpful. it's strange though, in training, i seem to be able to handle fighting most of the other dan grades, but as soon as i get into a tournament, all the training seems to vanish! now that cant be normal!! i am getting better though, and Sensei says that it's imporving, but i think the others in club have let me drop into the "comfort" zone while we are training. maybe this could account for the drop in confidence and performance out on the mat? the fact that i know as soon as i walk out there there is no "comfort" zone??

anyone got any advice on how kumite? ever since i got my nose smashed in the students championships back in november, my confidence in kumite has just got lower. i find myself pulling out as i go in and not totally committing myself to my techniques. as a reestult i am losing more and more fights, which knocks my confidence still further. can any one give me any help or advice that will get me back on track with my kumite, before the students championships this year?!

let me know what kata your doing.......as i am preparing for the kata in the shotokan cup next month, and i may be able ot help you!! video cameras are a very good way to ehlp you develop your kata, they show you what parts dont flow as well as others and where it looks good. i have used mirrors to help me keep my techniques in line, i spent hours doing Bassai Dai in the mirror before the students, and boy did it pay off........but you have to be able to see past how "embarrassing" you look or feel!!! get a completly detatched spectator, someone who knows nothing or very little about it to watch it and let them tell you how t"smooth" it looks. this will allow you to know what it looks like to others. plus you will get used to people watching you. go to your sensei...ask him/her to stay behind after a session and work on it with you. practice at hokme on our own, and with another from your club. you need positive feedback and constructive critism (god how i hate that!!) before you will improve. but, if you feel good about your kata......you will look good, and it will become easier for you. let me know what your doing and i'll see if i can help.

thank god it aint just me that feels like that!!! i get that when im not training.....i just came back from a weeks intensive course away, and there was a gap before i could train again.....man was i evil! yet as soon as i put my gi back on to go to the dojo, i felt so so much better. strange.....but true!! i thinbg all of us get it after a while!!! when ever i get told to take time off...i usually flip!!!

ours (KUGB) has just broken away from the JKA, but we still use the same belt system white orange red yellow green purple purple and white brown brown and 1 white stripe brown and two 1st to 10th Dan black

i do kata in competitions a lot, and i have always tried to deal with the technique in each to show that the kata flows. power should always be part of a kata, but this should not be emphasised in place of technique.....same for speed. if you spend allyour time making the kata look "pretty" then you are not showing how the kata can be affective against multiple opponents, which is what they are for. nothing should be put above technique in a kata, and into each technique should go the harmony of body and mind, as they should move as one in each kata that you perform.

i do shotokan......and i'd have to say i've got two favorite katas.....no make that three!! i just cant decide. they're all 1st dan katas, and they are Kanku Sho, Nijushiho and Bassai Sho!!! lol, they are all really good, but i use Kanku Sho in competition! the jump attracted me to it, and now i've fllen for it as a ktat!! lol

our clubs been taught to keep our front hadnds up but out in front, so that it can easily block and be thrown forwards witht the minmum of telegraphing or warning to our opponent. it doesn't work for all of us, but both me and the junior female kumite champion in our club keep our front hands open slightly to make it easier.....try it, if it doesn't suit then ditch it. your besty bet is to keep searching through other peoples way of fighting until you either find one that seems to work for you, our adapt a few until you find one that feels right. go and looks ot see how the others are fighting in cokmpetition......dont copy their style though....work until you find one hat suits you......and above all, whenyou're on the attack....BE FIRST!!!!!

what i've found the shotokan judges are looking for more and more is the crispness and the technical side to the katas. Kata is the strong point for me, i always do better in it. to really improve your katas, not just the kata you perform in the finals, but all of them, is to go over them every day, slowly and then do one or two full speed and power. kiai is so important though. i'm sure you've all found this. if someone does a fairly strong kata with a loud and powerful kiai, wouldn't you pick them over another competitor who's kata is the same, but with a weak kiai?? i kknow i would. put everything into the kata, mot just your body, your heart and mind as well. by doing this.....even in training when we dont feel like it will improve your katas no end.