Zorbasan

usually our schools last session for the year is the grading. and we have some demonstrations by black belts and then get pizza after. this year however was quite a long grading so we skipped the demos' which i was pleased about cos i didnt feel like doing a TKD breaking demo after grading to 2nd Kyu in shotokan.

sounds pretty odd that you wait at all. at all schools i have trained out, belt presentation was done on the grading day

ous sensei usually keeps belts in stock.

congrats to your son, how old is he out of curiosity? not familiar with the styles, what did the test involve?

the two trees may be different, but you still dont pick the fruit of any of them until its ripe.

test was as follows heian sho dan bassai dai basics - combinations for gedan berai, agi uke, uchi ude uki, soto ude uki, shuto uki, oi tsuki jodan and chudan, san bon tsuki) then 4 directional punches. dunno if other schools do it, but its pretty cool. then combos for mae geri, mawashi geri and yoko geri. then moving foward with mae geri, yoko geri, mawashi geri and ushiro geri in 1 move. then the same 4 kicks with 1 leg on the spot. kata of choice (i did heian yondan). followed by bunkai of heian go dan. then the kumite, ippon kumite was 3 each of oi tsuki jodan and chudan, mae geri, mawashi geri yoko geri and ushiro geri. then again on the other side. then jiu ippon kumite, same as above but no ushiro geri. and finally bassai dai again.

its probably their name for somethign that is pretty standard, or its something they have come up with as a training tool. i havent heard of it myself.

whoops, forgot to come back and that i passed. all in all was happy with the grading. was an improvement on the last one, but still can improve more. 4 months to 1st kyu hopefuly

i thnk knowledge is the key. not just saying "this is how to do it" but "this is why we do it this way"

im currently doing shotokan and ICHF Hapkido. Shotokan is great for striking moves, but i like the locks and throws of the hapkido.

thats great to hear. sounds like he just needed a confidence booster.

the other thing you might find is that he just needs a break from it. im surprised that he has stuck with it for that long at this age, which is a credit to you and your son. just wondering what grade your son is, is it possible that the older people of his grade are able to do things that he isnt due to his age? that may also be a factor

i have done both WTF and ITF (at different times) and the ITF school was far more interested in the technique than the fighting ability. infact the school i went to did not allow us to enter competitions. said it was an art, not a sport.

ive done it for a little while, but i wasnt a fan of the schools style of teaching. plus, its the kind of art that you need to have a high level of fitness before starting it.

in the words of bill cosby "i didnt do anything, but i apologise"

in the 2 arts that i currently do, kicks are not used much in self defence techniques, and they 99% not used as the last move of the technique. maybe a kick to the stomach to bring the head forward for a nice elbow. and in the IHCF i do, the kick is mainly used to take the attackers attention away from what they are doing.

the page is also very poorly made if i just saw the link i would think they are having a laugh.

the direction you step has no bearing (to a degree) of the technique to block. i can step to the side and use a gedan barai effectively.

sound like a good candidate of MA. enjoy.

i had one TKD place tell me that i had to concentrate soley on my TKD when i said i did karate also. now, what i find funny is that if i was to do a non MA sport or even go to the gym, that would constitute not concentrating wholly on my TKD but they probably wouldnt care so much. when schools say they are against cross training, it is my beleif that the key concern is that your training dollars is being split between 2 clubs. im sure if they offered 2 styles in the club, they would be all ok with cross training within the club.

as i said before, i think "ask" is the wrong word. well, put it this way. i dont think a student should ask an instructor if they are allowed to cross train, because they can do what they want. what they should do is ask whether or not the instructor thinks the cross training will be of benefit or detriment to their current training, and make a descision based on the answer. and if the instructor said "you shouldnt cross train because its not allowed" i wouldnt accept that, however, if they were to say "the art you want to train in will affect this art because .........." then i would think about not cross training in that art and maybe find one that doesnt have that conflict.

we usually grade on a sunday, but if there are only a couple of kyu grades attempting, then they will do it in class.

well, im not exactly attempting to stop the leg in its tracks. im stepping back or sideways and using the gedan barai to deflect or redirect the kick. on your comments the only way to block a kick is with your leg, which makes it quite hard to do. given the option, ill take the broken arm over broken ribs from letting the kick thru.

i disagree with that. why should an instructor, which you pay for their services, be able to tell you what other activities you do or do not do. if you played soccer (at a social level), would you ask permission from your coach if you wanted to play tennis as well? unless you are a professional athlete with an exclusive deal with your club, there is no way an instructor can tell you what you can and cant do. BUT, you can let him no what your plans are and he can come up with arguments as to why cross training is a bad thing to do and you can use those arguments to influence your decision, but it would be arrogant of him to tell a student what they can and cant do.

Well, I disagree that it is a low block of any kind. JMO. Strike, break, lock, or throw, but never a block. I think there are many ways to train bunkai. First start with a specific attack then work different ones with the same intent, but at different angles and with different targets. you wouldnt use gedan barai to block a mai geri? our first introduction to defending against the mai geri is to use a gedan berai.