kajukenbogirl

That is one of the reasons I compete at NASKA tourneys. Atleast up until the Grand Championships, traditional has its own divisions. I'll do tradional and creative, but once you get into musical or extreme, you are competing with the "flippers".

I think the wait time is good. Otherwise, you would just have people buying rank. Use the time to learn, improve, and fine tune all of your skills. There should be noticable improvements between your dan gradings. For instance is your sidekick stronger? faster? steadier? anything about it show you have honed that skill? These are little things that time improves, and although you may seem like you are impatient and itching to show what you know, use the time wisely. When I took my 4th degree test, afterwards one of the visiting instructors said that all he looked for was the increased skill level between me and the people testing for 1st and 2nd. He said he saw it in the power and intensity I portrayed through the entire test. He said that during the free style self defense section, I was the only one who just reacted no matter what was thrown at me and that is what years of training does for you. So my advice to you is just keep training, don't worry about the time between gradings, just keep working to improve yourself.

I've been to many tournaments where guys wear their cup over their gi. There is some styles that do that. We had a guy train at our school once and the school he came from wore theirs on the outside, so that was the way he came to our class the first day.

bassai dai hun chow kwan mu 1,2,3

I've never busted a kid down belt levels, but I have refused to allow some to advance. Seeing their classmates "catch up" to them and some pass them seems to work. I've always discussed it with the parents first and so far they have backed me. One time I had a father ask me not to let his 13year test for Jr. BB because of his behavior at home and school. Watching his 12 year old sister be awarded hers and him sitting on the sidelines shaped him up pretty fast. About 8 months later, when another JR. test was slated, the father agreed the boy was ready. That experience showed the other students that how you act outside of the dojo is just as important as how you act while in it.

I think that it is mainly the hardcore traditional martial artists that put XMA down. Fact is, the world is always changing and some people are not going to agree with it. eXtreme Martial Arts is new, it's exciting, and it's a crowd pleaser. Everything doesn't have to be about "kill your oppenent". I see nothing wrong with taking your training on a different path and trying something new. Mike Chaturantabut started XMA to bring something new and exciting to the arts. I personally applaud anything that will enhance someone's training and keep kids (or adults) motivated to push on.

Emperado is one of the founders of my style, Kajukenbo. If interested, check out the History page at https://www.kikarate.com

A kid from my school goes to Naperville,IL to Jon Sharkey's, just for XMA training. Since he started that, his confidence has grown, his basic skills have improved 10-fold and he has become an awesome competitor in all divisions. I think xma brings out the best of each student in all aspects.