Shotokan-kez

Congrats on getting 3rd kyu!!

I am doing so well, i feel brighter and fresher and ready for anything. It's been 12 days, my lungs are still clearing out with all the coughing, but thats getting better, i'm eating more too, and i have a much better appetite than before. I'm very excited. I'm still avoiding situations and places where i tended to smoke, which is quite hard but i'm just looking forward to a smoke free future. Watch this space guys!

This is sad Brandon. People like that don't deserve to be instructors....well at least his bad tuition didnt rub off on you and you turned out to be a great instructor! Bunkai is brilliant, i really enjoy this part of karate. Reallt understanding what kata is all about, it's amazing, makes me love kata even more than i already do. Yes i agree with others...where has tokkan gone? Hmmm say no more.

I don't think there would be any point in teaching if the teacher isn't going to put in his all. I don't think a sensei would get very many students or respect if all he taught was the training regime and techniques. As someone else mentioned there is so much more to it than that. History and theory is important and we do get taught that in our dojo. Also he has to be there continually to help and guide the students and be shown where they are going wrong or right.

All our classes are mixed. then we have black and brown belt courses. I think it's great to train with lower and higher grades, it's a whole learning experience for everyone.

Awww Alsey we will all miss you. Good luck with everything you are doing. Hope to see you back very soon!

Lol Patusai.....speaking of longest sequels, which is the longest...Freddie's nightmares? Rocky 7 already, hehe against bin laden, should be good!

Hi Matt. We very rarely wear headgear. Mitts and mouth guards yes. But in our club it's very rare anyone gets hurt, very light sparring with lots of control.

Wow thats pretty cool. It's crazy the way he managed to get his black belt within 7 months when it would be normally between 3-4 years. He sounds a pretty cool guy and obviously an amazing fighter. I know you wern't being rude bat but just because i'm in karate doesn't mean i need to read about world wide karate hero's, amazing or not.

Not very big in shotokan, but as others have mentioned they are used in some kata and bunkai. I have never used it in sparring and have never really seen it either. Sometimes i will bring my knee up to try and do a dummy kick, but thats about it really.

I have never heard of him, but he sounds like a really good and well respected guy. Who exactly is he?

Great example hawkfish!

We don't have any kind of karate camps, would be great if they did though.

Yeah this all sounds very interesting. I think if i remember right we did something silimar in class. It was very good and got you moving quickly on your feet. This is all great advice, thanks everyone.

yeah my thoughts exactly. I'm not as bothered about it now as i was last night. You see so many people plouging so much money into this, for alsorts of reasons in the grave hope of some answers....Me personally, yes i have been to a few but i'm not mad about it and i am still very sceptical. I don't know if this show was aiired in the us but a programme called Afterlife is shown here and it is very good and can be quite scary...but obviously thats just tv...i don't expect its anything like the real thing.

Thats a great idea Jaymac, i will try that one for sure. I guess i would have to be fast here too!

I'm not aggressive either and i had a similiar problem with my sensei. But what he meant is to put more power and strength into my techniques and use very loud strong kiai's. Try this, it may work.

Yeah i'll definatly try all that. It defo is confidence, it would be better if we had more sparring sessions we don't do an awful lot of it. I don't have any friends that do karate so can't rely on them to spar with me. But yes i think i will just storm in there next time and kick butt LOL

Do you mean American Football. Like Rugby in England? Here our football just started but it's soccer lol

Tonight myself and my sister had a private spiritual reading done. My sister wasn't very impressed with hers as he just said general things like, 'your going on holiday', 'your going to move house' ect ect. Mine was a little different and it worried me. The medium told me that my keys were going to get stolen and something was going to be stolen from my house. Obviously now i'm obsessed with locking everything and worrying that someone is going to come into my house and burgle me. I am a single parent and i am nervous enough about living alone. He also told me that my son is going to have a serious burn to his hand and a trip to hospital casualty will be necessary......so obviously i'm panicking about that now too. Do these kind of people really know what they are doing? Are they for real or do the play on people's emotions and lives just to get money. It cost us £20 tonight and neither of us were happy. Has anyone on the forums ever had any experience in this subject before. I was later told by someone tonight after the reading that proffesional mediums are not meant to tell the future and shouldn't tell you of bad things that are going to happen?? Any advice? Kez

Wow all great advice. But what has got my attentions the most is that fact that i don't like hitting people and hurting them...why my punches are short to make the point....and yes i hate being hit. But when thinking it's all about control, it's only light semi-contact and we only have to touch to get that point. But it's knowing when to strike a good kick or punch and know when to stop to 'only make the touch, for the point'

Hi guys. My problem is this. At a brown belt course recently we did some kumite for the last half. I lost all my fights. I'm not a bad fighter but all i tend to do is block everything my oppenent throws at me rather than attack. I guess this can be a good thing because my opponent doesnt get many points either but they always win, either that or its no score cos the bouts went on to long. I dance around, blocking his strikes, waiting for an opening to strike back but i never score the point. I find it hard to score points from kicks and my punches always end up being to short. Karatek reckons it could be like a mental block and i do tend to agree with her, i was just wondering what you guys think of the situation. What worries me is that now i'm 1st kyu and for my black belt grading we have to do kumite and be able to score a point!

Sorry Kirsty!! When i did shukokai for a short while i heard a lot about him.

Woohoo i finally got in to the new dr who, never really watched the old ones a bit before my time I am in the process of watching series one and last night i was up till 3am watching it....i love it.

Have you met him karate k?