Orient

My son has been doing taekwondo for a few months and has just graded for his orange belt but he only got an orange stripe on the belt which is apparantly a half grade to make it easier for the kids to pass? is this normal? the instructor said he will continue to get half grades until he's around 12...are these "half grades" even recognised grades? I've also since been told that taekwondo doesn't have orange belts and I should question the classes...I thought it varied from club to club? At this club the gradings go: white orange yellow purple brown blue blue and red red red and black black does this sound right? I have other worries about the club but this is the latest thing so I thought I'd check with you guys to see what you thought of this. Thanks

Does anyone have any tips of softening up stiff, new belts? My son's belt is forever coming undone and since he has trouble tying it himself it creates a bit of a problem in class. Thanks.

Hi, Can anyone tell me if knee's are used in karate, particulary Wado ryu?

I am about to re-join a wado ryu school after a 10 year gap and would like to brush up on what little I do know before I start the class. I managed to gain an orange belt last time around but I am assuming that after 10 years I will have to re-start at white? I don't mind this but I would like to be ready for the first grading so I can get back to where I was. I was wondering if there were any online demonstrations of the 10th/9th Kyu syllabus? I remember visiting a site once which had little video clips of the kata and a few moves...It would be very helpful to find something like this. Thanks

You *can* go 3 times a week but the price for that is around £40 which is their full membership. he just knocks it down to £20 if you're only going once a week. Yesterday a woman brought her young son to check out the class for the first time and whilst he was explaining what happens in the class etc he actually said "we usually get started around 11:10am". It's supposed to start at 11am...to me that's more or less saying they dont intend to ever start on time. I've searched the internet for another TKD school but I can't find one anywhere, does anyone know how to go about finding other instructors in my area?

After deliberating about which style of MA to take up I have decided to give Karate one more shot. I studied Wado Ryu as a teen and managed to grade to orange belt but after a foot injury I gave it up and have regretted it ever since. Last year, at the age of 24 I decided to give it another go, after one lesson I was completely put off, half of my sons primary school friends were in the class and I felt self concious, especially as I was ready to pass out after the warm up through exhaustion The thing is, since being a teen MA has always been at the back of my mind and I don't know why...it's like it's something that I will not rest about until I get it right, has anyone ever felt like this? So, I have decided to give it another go, a different school a bit further away from my sons school(!!) and I am thinking about setting myself a personal goal - I have ALWAYS wanted to achieve a black belt...not just wear one (I know I could just go out and buy one) but to actually achieve it, is this unrealistic? One more question, the sensei of the last class I visited was a parent of one of the kids in my sons school so I see him every day, the school I am wanting to try next is where he trained so he's likely to drop in at some point where he will see that I gave up on his class and went to someone else...although it was nothing personal against him, is he likely to be offended? Thanks

Thanks for the replies, in writing it says I have signed for a 6 month contract at least but the instructor says I can cancel at any time with no extra charge. He seems a nice person to be honest, the club pay half towards the suit etc and the kids are treat well but it just seems that 20 minutes of watching black/blue belts attack pads and then eventually having a go themselves seems a bit pointless, especially as it's only once a week. we went to one of the late classes last night and it seemed a bit better, still they started 20 minutes late for no apparant reason...but they also finished 10 minutes late so again 10 minutes of lost time. I've noticed that the people that have been going a while tend to turn up late too as if they're not expecting the class to start on time, last night even one of the instructors turned up half an hour late! They did sparring last night though and the class was longer, still half an hour spent on stretching and then 10 minutes here and there for "getting a quick drink" which basically involves everyone sitting around talking again. I would like to take him 3 times a week but its almost £40 a month to do that which I can't really afford, especially if they're going to be so lax about the starting times etc. Also, my son has only been going for a month and he's already being put in for his next belt at the end of this month, is this normal?

My 8 year old has recently started a TKD school and whilst he enjoys it I'm a bit worried that I'm wasting my money. To begin with the class always starts about 10 minutes late, last week it was 20 minutes late, the old time members just sit around talking etc but the class still ends at the right time, so this means that some classes are only about 50 minutes long. Then they spend half an hour warming up, stretching etc...I know it's important but does it really need half an hour? so in the end they get around 20 minutes of actual TKD and even then the instructor gets a high belt to demonstrate a move to the class and then stands there making him do it over and over again, changing it slightly...deliberating about the best combination etc so the class are stood around for ages watching two people seemingly just having a laugh. I think they charge quite a lot for what they offer too, the class is £20 a month for one lesson a week (and considering the time wasted in each class it isnt a lot). There is no sparring in this class either and the kids seem to go through belts very quickly, although they are junior belts so not proper gradings... Are my worries deserved?

For years I have had a big interest in TKD, I did karate for a while as a teen but could never really get into it, same with Ju-Jitsu. Now my 7 year old has started TKD and the more time I spend there watching the more I want to take it up myself, at the moment however I am not in the position to do so. So I was thinking about buying a TKD DVD and trying to get something from that, I know it can't compare to a class but will I get anything out of it all until I can take up a class in a couple of years? Thanks