Shotokan-kez

In our dojo we are taught to use control when striking apponents, we are only allowed to use semi force when we are wearing our sparring gear. When we are doing standard three step or one step for the kyu grades we don't wear the mitts because its not contact just a slight touch. Anyway i will get to the point. Last night in training we were doing the three and one step for the lower grades because they have a grading on friday. I paired up with a fellow black belt and i must admit she is very good but she kept punching me hard in the ribs. She wasn't doing it on purpose but it hurt and like a said its supposed to be just making the touch. On the third time that she did it in the same place i had to tell her to cool it a little because that third time winded me. After getting home i have been aching in that same place. I'm not a wimp at all but because i don't trust myself not to hurt someone i always leave a little room (unless i am wearing mitts) I mean where do we draw the line...when do you say..'excuse me but that hurts, can you take it easy please' This girl is thinking to take her second dan in may and i'm sure she will pass because like i say she is good at her karate, i'm just glad im not taking my second dan because i wouldnt like to fight her. She just needs to learn to use control. I'm getting to the point where i don't want to work with her anymore because i always end up covered in bruises. I can quite happily work with the other dan grades because they are very experienced and use control. What do you guys think on the issue of using control?

Wow night owl thats scary, think i would be moving lol When my brother was born in Hong Kong my mum said she experienced a bad earthquake. I just found out it was actually 5.2 not 4.7 and a mans chimney fell through his roof and fell on top of him, he broke his hip!

Yep all great advice, i don't really know what else i can add. I had much the same problem, and i still do a little but i passed my dan grade. I was lucky when i took it because there wasn't a lot of people to choose from when my fighting came up and so i won the fight. Do you actually have to win the fight or just score some points? Ours is aimed at having to score at least a point but sensei knows there are some of us that don't fight very well and he is very accomodating as long as you try your best, i'm sure that will be the case for you. Best of luck!

i never heard of it either. Tell us more?

Oh how i was scared last night. It was about 12.15...i think and i was getting into bed and suddenly my house shook. All my little ornaments fell off my shelf, and i was clinging on to my bed I have never experienced anything like that before, on the ricktor scale it measured 4.7. I suppose we are lucky in the UK because we dont experience some of the wild weather that other countries in the world do, but we are getting worse. You always used to hear people saying things like 'typical british weather' but we had summer winter spring autumn and they were okay. Never have earthquakes, tornado's ect. Now we seem to be slowly catching up with those countries that do, and its scary. Have any of you ever experienced freaky weather that frightened you?

Shotokan...what can i say without being biased? lol I have been doing shotokan for years and i love it, i really couldn't imagine doing anything else...i tried Shukokai once and i just wasnt the same, i didnt get any love from it so i went back to good ole Shotokan. I hope you enjoy it and get everything you are looking for out of an MA!

Yeah A train thats bad, i was lucky in that respect because they didnt touch my internet banking. I'm also lucky that i have a basic account and so no overdraft facillity, so if anyone tries to withdraw anything it would automatically be declined.

From brown belt above we have to do 3 minutes of kumite for each grade plus ippon sparring. With the kumite we must score at least once but the main aim is to score 3. Of course my sensei is aware that some of us are better than other, he just expects that a student at least TRY to score if they cant get a point.

I agree with pegassi, we only have an hours lesson so i think 10 minutes is ample enough. I think if a student wants to warm up a little more then they could arrive at the dojo ten minutes earlier. I would feel like i wasnt getting my money's worth if we did 20 mins warm up.

It is truly awful, although it makes me think how clever they must be. I mean to change it all they would have needed to know my secret questions and answers, bit freaky really when you look at it that way!

I was once in a resteraunt for a meal and i had to send my steak back because it was bleeding....eeewww yuk! Thats like going to macdonalds and accepting an undercooked burger lol

Hey guys im mad and upset at the same time. After a short break away with family i came home to realise some of my internet accounts had been hacked into and my passwords changed. I was mortified to say the least. They had raided my personal email and my ebay accounts and i have had no end of trouble trying to sort it out. Obviously i have had to change everything that had my email address registered, and ebay has restricted my account so i cannot access it! I'm annoyed more about this because i needed to file a dispute against someone who hadn't sent me my item and i had items on there for sale. I now have to fax my ID to ebay in America or mail it for them to consider dealing with the problem. Grrrr i'm so frustrated...i mean why do people do this kind of thing?

I had been doing karate for 20 years on and off since i was 8 years old and all i ever dreamed of was getting my black belt one day and teaching. Now i have my black belt and i still feel the same...only now i feel like i'm starting from a different beginning and i really like it I was beside myself with pride when i passed shodan and i still am each time i wear that belt and teach the kids in the club, i do see it as an honour as i have worked so hard and so long to reach it. It's a new journey now, so much more to learn and to also continue with all the kyu grade work. It's all good!

Mine is nice fried but has to be so well done its crispy

Some people really are mad! I'm not a guy but i can imagine how all your eyes must be watering!

We don't do breaks at our dojo. I have never attempted it before, although i must admit it looks awesome. To be honest i would be to scared of hurting myself lol

I really liked the first one and i did buy it on dvd...the others were no good though, i didnt like them anyways.

You drive a car to school?

Wow congrats on that That first pass is always the best i think, gives you inspiration to keep going.

Looked really cool, i liked the second link the best

Well we get this quite a lot but only from the youngsters. They make me laugh cos they race and push and shove each other just to get the best place. I personally don't care, most of the dan grades just stand where is closest, unless of course there are higher dans. Funny there is one guy in our dojo that reckons he owns the place and tries to get before everyone...i mean a 40-odd yr old guy...stupid really

I agree with both Bushido and PS1. You don't wanna be training in an environment like that. I'm assuming you generally enjoy your karate..despite whats happening. Don't let it dishearten you, look for another school. Like PS1 says it sounds like there are problems within the school and you really dont want to be a part of that.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL. Mine is really just to pass my exams and work harder at college. What Brian...maybe yours should be to cut down on the cookies hehe

Erm i must admit i have never heard of the style, but im with everybody else 5th dan in five years seems really weird. When a student in our dojo reaches 4th dan they have to wait a minimum of 5 years to attempt their 5th dan!

Well i trained in shotokan most of my young life but then i ended up out of training for a while. In the end i decided to try Shukokai. Anyway i was made to start from the beginning and it was a long slow process, i felt like i wansnt reaching my full potential and so i decided to contact my old shotokan sensei to see about returning to his club. Of course he accepted me back and also accepted me back on my old belt of 4th kyu. Leaving the shukokai club wasnt very nice though. I think the sensei spat his dummy out and basically said we could never return. I have also heard since then that the sensei and adult students at that sukokai club consider me as a 'joke' and laugh about me all the time. Anyway who cares i'm settled now in my original dojo and i love it, cant see myself ever leaving it again!