bbk2132

In a seminar with Sensei Bakkies, the IOGKF's Cheif Instructor from South Africa, we worked Sanchin, and he said that the danger was in developing hernias. I suppose that maybe if you were not tensing the body or breathing correctly, and you were really over exerting youself continually this could happen. But i'm not a doctor. If no one has ever seen or heard of anyone dying from practicing sanchin then i think it is fine.

I've trained for 9 years in Goju-Ryu. I'm 18 years old and am about to move to Denver for college and I am trying to find a Dojo. I'm looking for any high quality, traditional MA school. I don't think there are any Goju schools in Denver, at least not any affiliated with the IOGKF, so i would rather stay away from style that may conflict with the training i have had for the past nine years. Mostly i just want to find a place where i can keep my skills up in between visits home. Any info anyone has would be much apprieciated.

I personally love to Kia!! I don't really know why i just feel powerful when i give my battle cry. I was always told to shout 'e-i-e' (pronounced with hard vowels for each letter) and it should come from the gut.

my dojo uses japanese terms, and i use as much japanese with the kids i teach. They have a lot of fun learning japanese words, and I think it does help to connect the arts to it's roots. Another thing is when I go to seminars with instructors from other countries, i may not know what they are saying but i know what techniques they want us to do. The japanese helps to unify the style a bit almost.

I think bunkai is great. My organization has a set of bunkai for everykata and you are required to know them all for black belt. It really helps to give the kata a real life application, and i have also noticed that it really helps me realize the importance of kata. My sensei may be teaching us some new technique and i can usually find some kata that it is from. For nidan and above gradings, my sensei makes you make your own variation bunkai from the kata, preform it and explain where in the kata it comes from. I truly believe that having the ability to pick apart kata is a very important skill for any martial artist.

Well that is a valid point. In japan, child blackbelts aren't out of the ordinary at all, but it is in fact 'watered down', and i am sure that most of those kids couldn't realistically defend themselves in a real situation. However, I do believe my style would have survived without the PE Karate simply because our organization has exsited for a very long time and carried on the tradition of my style.

they may not feel like traditional blocks when you are sparring, but essentially you are using the same muscle. Practicing the blocks in the fundemental form trains your muscles to know what to do, so that it feels more natural when you spar.

People like that bother me. Being a black belt doesn't make you any better than anyone else, maybe you know a few more katas, maybe you are a better fighter but with an attitude like that you certainly are not a better person. I try to help everyone in my dojo. I always offer help and make sure everyone knows they can ask for it. There arn't many black belts that refuse to help others. Luckily most of the black belts have a pretty good mindset.

at my black belt test it was just me and another fellow...maybe in his 30? I don't know. There were 3 other black belts judging us and we had to fight all of them. The other guy was first, and I had turned around while he was fighting this 6'5 250lb black belt to fix my gi when i heard him scream. I turned around and the bigger black belt had sweeped him and then kindof...landed on him and crushed his ribs. He took a minute to take a breath, then he stood (with a great deal of pain) and started fighting again, but it wasn't long before my sensei knew it wasn't safe to go on and he made him sit out of the test. So then i had to test alone...and fight the realy big rib crusher (i was like 5'5 at the time...) but he felt so bad about the other guy that he was much nicer to me (not that it mattered because he hit me in the head with ease multiple times...) any ways... the man with the broken ribs was in a lot of pain and everytime he talked or moved it hurt, but he still cheered me on during the rest of my test...it made me want to cry (cause i am sappy like that...) they gave him his belt, because he did so well before and because he tried so hard to carry on, but they made him test again when he had healed.

I have always been very tall and had a bigger build than most kids my age so I have really only ever trained in mixed or adult classes. With regards to adults not respecting or valueing the opinions of a junior, I have always felt that I was on very good terms with the adults at my club. I can joke with them and talk to them about things outside of Martial Arts and I feel that they do listen to my advice when they ask for it. For example, I was in a class a couple of months ago which was entirely made up of adults. Since it was coming up to a grading, my instructor asked me and one of the senior blackbelts to come in and go around the class correcting technique. None of the adults ignored my suggestions and all seemed to try really hard to adjust their motions. In fact a few actually motione for me to come over and answer some of their questions about positioning and application. I suppose it depends on the attitudes of the junior and senior in the club. I know that I can go and ask anyone in the club for help, whether it be on TKD or even my maths homework. I'd like to feel that they can do the same (well obviously not the homework part ) It's good that you have been able to establish that kind of bond with you peers. There are a lot of adults in my dojo who I can realate to like that, some of them are like friends and some are like parents or older siblings to me. The friendships you build with people in martial arts is amazing. I have always been able to ask adults for help with my MA, and they go to me. Even other blackbelts who are in there 50s ask me for help sometimes. The other day my head Sensei asked me for help on a weapons kata (that made me feel good on the inside.) The way it mostly works is everyone gives me respect and know they can come to me accept brown belts my age and brown belts who are older then me. (in my system there are three brown belts you recieve before black, so at this point they tend to be a little cocky)) Both groups are almost to black belt, and they think they are all that. The teenagers can't get past the fact that they are the same age as me so they give me attidude, and the adults see me as a kid befor a black belt. The black belts know what it means and what it takes to be a black belt and give me respect. And all the belts below brown are able to see me a Sensei because I know so much more then them and have helped most of them since they were beginers. I teach kids age 8-13, and the other day in the middle of a class a brown belt kid refused to do the technique i told him to do. I gave him a few chances and he kept saying no, so finaly i said "Well you can do what i told you, or get on the floor and start doing push-ups right now, or I can go get Sensei and he can deal with you." The kid glared at me and started doing push-ups. And after that little display the teens have been giving me more respect. With the adults who still give me attitude, I have given up. If they won't respect me, fine. My Sensei will not give them their black belts if they don't show respect for every other student, so I think that they will figure it out soon enough. I will continue to do my best to earn their respect, but if they won't give it, it's not my fault. I'll just go on doing what I am doing. And to cross: Thank you very much. And thank you for the advice in that post, i plan to take it.

I have always been very tall and had a bigger build than most kids my age so I have really only ever trained in mixed or adult classes. With regards to adults not respecting or valueing the opinions of a junior, I have always felt that I was on very good terms with the adults at my club. I can joke with them and talk to them about things outside of Martial Arts and I feel that they do listen to my advice when they ask for it. For example, I was in a class a couple of months ago which was entirely made up of adults. Since it was coming up to a grading, my instructor asked me and one of the senior blackbelts to come in and go around the class correcting technique. None of the adults ignored my suggestions and all seemed to try really hard to adjust their motions. In fact a few actually motione for me to come over and answer some of their questions about positioning and application. I suppose it depends on the attitudes of the junior and senior in the club. I know that I can go and ask anyone in the club for help, whether it be on TKD or even my maths homework. I'd like to feel that they can do the same (well obviously not the homework part ) It's good that you have been able to establish that kind of bond with you peers. There are a lot of adults in my dojo who I can realate to like that, some of them are like friends and some are like parents or older siblings to me. The friendships you build with people in martial arts is amazing. I have always been able to ask adults for help with my MA, and they go to me. Even other blackbelts who are in there 50s ask me for help sometimes. The other day my head Sensei asked me for help on a weapons kata (that made me feel good on the inside.) The way it mostly works is everyone gives me respect and know they can come to me accept brown belts my age and brown belts who are older then me. (in my system there are three brown belts you recieve before black, so at this point they tend to be a little cocky)) Both groups are almost to black belt, and they think they are all that. The teenagers can't get past the fact that they are the same age as me so they give me attidude, and the adults see me as a kid befor a black belt. The black belts know what it means and what it takes to be a black belt and give me respect. And all the belts below brown are able to see me a Sensei because I know so much more then them and have helped most of them since they were beginers. I teach kids age 8-13, and the other day in the middle of a class a brown belt kid refused to do the technique i told him to do. I gave him a few chances and he kept saying no, so finaly i said "Well you can do what i told you, or get on the floor and start doing push-ups right now, or I can go get Sensei and he can deal with you." The kid glared at me and started doing push-ups. And after that little display the teens have been giving me more respect. With the adults who still give me attitude, I have given up. If they won't respect me, fine. My Sensei will not give them their black belts if they don't show respect for every other student, so I think that they will figure it out soon enough. I will continue to do my best to earn their respect, but if they won't give it, it's not my fault. I'll just go on doing what I am doing. And to cross: Thank you very much. And thank you for the advice in that post, i plan to take it.

hmmm...thats a good question. In my style we do a lot of things left over right. Like when we kneel, we are supposed to put our right knee down first. And once we are all the way down, our left toe is supposed to cross over our right. And then once we bow from a kneeling position, we are suppose to slide our left hand down to the floor, and then out right. Coinsidence? I think not...

I was 14 when I recieved my Jr. Shodan.

here here

That was interesting and brings up another point. I started assisting in classes when i was a 1st kyu (the belt before black belt) and a 14 year old. I led streatching and warm ups with 4-7 year olds, and then helped them in class. Now I assist in 8-13 year old green through black belt classes. I do not teach alone, but i run warm-ups and sometimes we split up the group and I work kata with some of them. My sensei believes my kata is good enough to be able to help other students. When there are no older black belts in class and my Sensei has a private to teach, or a parent to deal with or something, he has me lead class until he is ready. He has also let me teach a few privates, and help the adult white-green belts, and teach them kata. The author of the artical seems to think that I shouldn't be teaching because of my age, yet almost all of the assistant instructors are below 18. I could be because we don't have jobs and such. But we are also all black belts, all talented, and all know what we are doing. There is also an aspect that some kids feel they can be friends with a teenager, it gives them someone to ask for help when they are scared to ask a grown up. All I am saying is, I think, and my Senseis think that I am qualified to be a black belt and teach a class. Teaching is about how much you know, and how well you can share your knowledge with others. Not age. It is true that some people don't take kids seriously, but if the kid is a good teacher, they should be able to change that.

all of you bring up good points. It is true that me and my Jr. Shodon friends are still kids, and I am not going to lie and say I have never screwed around in class, or not payed attention because it has happened. But aside from the occational bad day, we (or at least I) try very hard to set a good example and earn the respect of others. There are many adults who give me no respect at all. The other day a brown belt (he is 25 maybe) was giving me a hard time, I kindly reminded him that I was his senior and he shouldn't be so disrespectful. He came back with "Well, when we are in the ring it doesn't matter weather your my senior because I can squash you like a bug" which is true because he is an amazing fighter and two feet taller than me, and rank really doesn't matter when you fight. He could beat me, but he doesn't have the mind set of what a true black belt is with that kind of attitude. About size, you can't base a black belt on that and fighting abbilities. Because really, a black belt has little to do with how good of a fighter you are. Their are green belts who can beat me with ease, but do they deserve a black belt? Rick_72 was right when he said that "A belt is earned by knowledge of the system, and the mental capacity to weild that knowledge." I have seen a lot of Jr. Shodans who don't deserve to call themselves black belts, and I have seen a lot of brown belts who deserve to be a Shodan. It is a very dicey subject, and it is really all up to the opinion of the Sensei in your dojo. But I think that as long as they are mature enough not to misuse there rank, know the way of there art, and have some fighting skill and at least 4 years of training and a great deal of maturity, they deserve to be black belts.

Yes I am. In fact when I turn 16 i will have to test for my next level of Jr. Shodan, and then again at 18. Both tests are virtually the same, with different kata and bunkai. Really, the Jr Shodans have to work the same amount as someone testing for regular Shodan.

Hello all. I am 15 and a Jr. Shodan in Goju-Ryu. I have a friend who is 13 anda also a Jr. Shodan (although i think she was 12 at the time) who went to a tournement and was put in a division with geen-brown belts because they matched her age group (it was a tournement open to all styles so belt systems varried i believe) She didn't like this because she felt that she was a black belt too and deserved to compete with them. She talked to the tournement head guy and he sort of gave her a "Fine, if it means you will stop bothering me," kind of answer with a warning fo how she probably shouldn't be placed with black belts 18+. I believe she took 1st in kata and second in sparring. (She is an amazing Martial Artist. National champion, and placed in an international tournement too...just don't remember in what divisions...) I guess i was wondering what eveyone thinks about Jr. Black Belts in general. Do you give them more/less respect then adults. Do they deserve more/less respect? I have always felt that I am a black belt and that is all, but when my friend went to this tournement they didn't see it that way untill after she blew them out of the water with her mad skills. I am really interested in hearing your thoughts on Jr. Black Belts in any style, just in general really.

Thats what i do!! I have a playlist that i listen to before i spar in tournements that is full of my angriest music. It gets me pumped! Anyways, when i fight i get this whole other mindset. I don't really know how to explain it but it is like...the moment you step up and face your opponent, nothing else matters. The world ends at the out of bounds marker and there is nothing else outside. Just me and the fight, so i am going to give it my all. I don't thinking of it as winning or losing, or not getting hit, i think of it as survivng. Thats not a very good explination of the complex thoughts inside my head (i'm not sure anyone really wants to dig to deep in their XP) but i guess you need to find a place where you can be like that. Reputations and friendships, don't matter in the ring. (not that you arn't aggressive because you have a rep to keep, but i hope you get what i mean) I think it comes from the fact that i am very angry on the inside and can pull that out, but even more i have this inner desire to prove myself, so i fight hard. When i fight, i have been told i get a really angry, scary look on my face. I kind of become a different person, leave the nice, friendly, funny me behind and lose myself in the fight. It's like falling back on mans most basic instinct; to survive. If you let go of everything else, thats all thats left. And trust me, you'll fight for it. I must add that all people are different, this is just how it works for me. I think this is something you have to find on your own.

hehe...i'm kind of a Husky. My dad was a Husky, but I like the Cougars too...so i just cheer for whoever has a better chance.

many senseis (including mine) have decided that if things don't change by march they are going to leave the organization. I don't know if they will be making a new one or what but i do know that whatever happens i plan to follow my Sensei. And we had plans to speak to the highest up to the Head of our organization, who is japanese. But the person who was going to speak to him backed out. No one wants to have to inform him that some of his best students don't want to be part of his organization. It is hard because we are all very loyal to him, but we can't continue on with what is happening here in the US.

when we had the grand opening for our new dojo, we invited a Kempo school to come and teach a class because our schools have been friends for a long time. The instructor was teaching a drill that tought awareness, where we had everyone stand in a cirlce and a bunch of people went inside and we had a giant rubber ball that the people making the circle rolled around. The people inside had to avoid it. He started the class by saying when you are in a street fight you don't want a fair fight, you want it to be unfair in you favor. So he had a little boy from our dojo, he was probably 6 or 7, stand up and the instructor was talking about the drill when all of a sudden he kicked the ball at the kid, and the poor little guy flew back three feet and fell on the ground. He went on to say "you always have to be ready" it was a good message but the kid could have been really hurt by this. It bothered me...a lot. but i have never personally had a bad expeirience.

So, within my organization we have a head instructor for the whole thing and a cheif instructor for the US. We shall call head instructor Mr. Head, and cheid of US instructor Mr. Chief. Mr. Chief is not doing a very good job of running his sector of the organization. He hasn't updated the website in years, he tried to make it so only black belts could be a member of our Org, and he is raising prices of lots of things. So Mr. Head comes to the US for a seminar. He is an amazing Sensei and of course everyone wants to go but Mr. Chief makes it insanely exspensive. This is terrible. It is officially more about the money then the art, and he is profiting off Mr. Head. So my Sensei has asked that no one got to the seminar because it would support Mr. Chief. We are basically boycotting all of his disicions...but at the same time it feels like we are hurting Mr. Head. I was just curious of your thoughts on the subject. My dojo is very divided about the whole situation.

IOGKF- International Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate-do Federation.

agreedWhat about Kung Phooey and Kung Fu Hustle? They're just as bad too! yeah but come on...they wern't ment to be quality MA movies. They were supposed to be funny, and i laughed.