DWx

I don't think the double testing fee is all bad, most other types of non-MA testing you have to pay to resit if you fail. Like driving tests, GCSE/A-Levels (high school exams) etc. You are still costing people's time and/or resources to grade you. If you don't have your own facility you'll still be paying out for the hall hire, if you supply breaking materials, they still need to be paid for... Might need to charge again if you are inviting a senior grade to grade your students as you still have to pay for their expenses to travel halfway across the country to come to your school. Doesn't matter if they are all just re-taking the test, the expenses still have to be paid. And its not necessarily a bad thing for the students either. Personally if I know I have to pay out to take a test I will make sure I will ace it first time but if there is the option to retake for free its not as critical that I revise like crazy for it. With regards to the letting a student test without being a 100% sure they will pass, I could see why that will happen too. Sometimes if the person is borderline pass or fail and you say they can test, it motivates them to get their act together and sort themselves out for the grading. Some people perform better under pressure too. And like I said before, the student may be awesome in class and have the requirements down but screw up on the day when performing under pressure.

I don't think this mindset is just limited McDojo parents. Although if the parent is used to paying out needlessly for various different programs, equipment and substandard teaching they have a right to be a bit suspicious when asked to pay out more for additional testing. On the odd occasion I think it has happened at my school, more often than not its with the people who think they should just pass a test for turning up and put no work into it beforehand. Some parents just don't get that their child may not be perfect and not good enough. One solution is to not let students attend a grading unless you are certain that they will pass, although that wont cover you if they screw up on the day. Or offer the retesting for free/reduced rate. Other solution is to fail them at the test but put them on some sort of probation and award the belt at a later date. Some parents and students just wont get it though and if you stick to your principles and standards you are unfortunately going to lose some students. But you can afford to lose students like these.

Welcome Wastelander!

Congrats! Have fun! Its an awesome opportunity for you to improve too.

Welcome menzterfan

Congrats shotokan-ste

I wondered about breaking with this kick since it was brought up, Danielle, and I watched board-breaking with kicks at the dojang just this Friday. I understand it has to be with the ball of the foot, but is it more challenging than a regular roundhouse; i.e., that you don't strike with the toes? Is the board placed at a certain angle? And if this kick is used, is it really useful only to the face? I think it is more challenging, took a few goes for me to get it and we were doing the low section version, aimed at the inside of the opponent's thigh or knee. It's a really difficult kick with respect to keeping the toes pulled back and ensuring that its the ball of the foot that connects because you have to get the full twist on it. Also harder because you can't swing your mass into the same as a roundhouse, it is a lot more technical. You place the board directly to the side and step through and kick outwards. Same position for a middle kick. High twisting kicks for us are directed back over the shoulder as if the person was behind you so the board is held behind.

I actually have a lot of difficultly working out what you guys are talking about with kick names, gotten used to it now but Gen. Choi came up with loads of different names for techniques in ITF which were "better" than the standard ones used by Karate and other striking styles... Roundhouse is a turning kick, spinning heel is reverse turning, what some styles call a crescent kick we call a vertical... etc. I would call that kick a twisting kick or bituro chagi. I'd say the 1st method is correct for us. Its all in the hips! Funnily enough, we were breaking with this technique in class yesterday

Hope I'm understanding what you're describing... The low knifehand guarding block for us is the rear hand guarding the groin area, roughly in line with the forward hand which is below the level of the hip, roughly above the top half of the thigh. A middle guarding block has the rear hand at solar plexus level and leading hand with the striking part to shoulder height.

Totally agree. Pretty much everything we do has the potential to cause severe damage. Especially if you're training simple punches and kicks extensively, most likely students will react with them rather than the lethal technique they spent one class on anyway. Personally I wouldn't withhold teaching techniques based on age, so many different reasons are going to mean one kid will have the maturity and discretion to know what to do compared to another. A grade barrier might be more appropriate (if you do grades). Teach the "lethal techniques" at a later stage when you've had time to reinforce the moral guidelines. I don't know about other styles but the techniques I would consider lethal require more technical knowledge and are harder to pull off than basic punches and kicks so on that basis I'd teach them at a higher level anyway. I would introduce extra training and a different approach as to how the younger ones learn to use the techniques though. I think with kids its good to reinforce and spell out what responses are appropriate. So teach them that a kid who just calls them names at school doesn't deserve a fist to the face but that the guy who tries to sock them one does. We spend whole classes with the really young students working with a 3-step approach to self defense. As a general rule they learn to shout "stop", shout "go away" and take a defensive stance, then they can attack.

Welcome sandstorm

I guess its difficult to convince anyone that something works without being there in person. Did you get a chance to try it Tony? Any thoughts?

Welcome Jason

Congrats Bridge and congrats to your son

Youtube has great videos on how to stretch. I also like the stuff on trickstutorials.com but looks like their renovating the site. sensei8 is spot on about the bouncing. People think that by forcing the stretch it'll be better but all you're doing is tearing the muscle. What works well for me is to grip the muscle groups I'm stretching and then to relax them (PNF type stretching). You don't need to be able to do the splits for Karate. It'll help if you have that range of motion but its not a must. Even if you have that level of flexibility you'll need the strength to go with it anyway

Best of luck

Wow no offense but your former sensei sounds like a jerk. I would have left if I'd been treated like that. Sounds a bit petty as well with the telling everyone not to listen to you.

Welcome Elizabeth

Welcome Chris

I don't think people are saying that the smaller guys should give up and go home, more that because of their physical disadvantage they have to make up for it with better technique. Laws of nature mean that the bigger and stronger one will win... that is unless the smaller one can outsmart them in some way. Survival of the fittest. I think you're spot on saying knowledge and skill are a big factor. But the bigger the size difference, the more skill, knowledge and craftiness the smaller guy will need to win. You can overcome a 50lb weight separation with a bit of training but to overcome a 100lb weight difference you'll need a lot more knowledge and skill. Make a mistake with the +100lb guy and you'll feel it. Biggest is not always better anyway. I'm at the top of the TKD weight classes so because I'm the biggest I should be the best right? Actually in the open weight fights I have a lot of trouble with the middleweights or just under middleweight. Have enough mass to hit hard enough and the advantage of being faster.

Welcome Shotokan_Tigress!

Welcome Wanaka

Don't think its just a problem for Americans, Britain's supposed to have the highest obesity rates in Europe or something like that. Changing lifestyles mean fitness levels are declining in western countries

There isn't a whole lot of choice for doboks for ITF Taekwon-Do, because of all the logos and stuff we need on them. And it is important we have them on. I know there are smaller brands that do them like Top Pro and Top Ten (probably never heard of them) but in most cases people get them off of their association/school because usually the school puts their own patches on too. I hate the ones our association has. The first few I had were quite good then they changed the design. The latest one I have fits horribly and the evener newer design looks worse. The ITF I'm in did bring out a redesign that is now the official dobok to wear to official events (tournament, seminars etc.) which is made by only one company so you have to import them in. But someone obviously put some real effort into the design as they're nearly perfect! I usually choose to wear them over our association one. Only problem I have is I'm halfway between sizes and they don't seem to make a half size so my trousers are always an inch too long. Aside from the fact that its obviously making this one company a lot of money, I think its great that everyone competing only wears one brand of dobok because no-one gets a slight edge because they can afford a better quality practice suit to wear. Everyone's has the same snap to it for forms and same weight But I don't suppose any of this is relevant to anyone else on here... In answer to the question are they important, yes they are for us. Its more of a uniform, everyone's the same when they wear the same dobok.

Welcome to the forums Sday29 George pretty much expresses my feelings. Training with kids should be a great opportunity for you to refine your control and technique as well as maybe a chance for you to teach a little too. Both me and my sister have always been in the adult classes right from when we first started training (me 10, her 8 ) with no problems whatsoever. Now as an adult I'm also allowed to train in one of the kids classes to help push them a little and also play the big bad attacker Very young children should probably be separated but an 8 year old should be able to cope IMO. If she's mucking around her attitude stinks a little but there's not much you can do about it. Maybe speak to the instructor?