DWx

Oh they're there...everywhere...trust me...they're out there. 16 is the minimum age you can be a 3rd dan in ITF TKD... I don't know how the skill levels and knowledge equates across different MAs but I'd like to think a 3rd dan in TKD is comparable to most other 3rd dans. They're very rare but I do know of one person who is 16 and a 3rd, and like I said in one of my earlier posts, my sister is 16 and will soon be eligible. Just out of interest what age is ok to be a sandan then? And why can't adults respect and learn from 16 year olds? I started posting on this site when I was just 17 and I'd like to think you were talking to me like a peer rather than the child/kid you seem to think a 16 year old is. If you respect your style and your teacher's and your school you should respect the person who has been promoted to sandan no matter how old they are and be willing to learn something from them.

Well you have to be doing bag work right. Just hitting it with no technique is not going to get you far. You should be using the bag to work on things like footwork and hip rotation, all the things people have already said.

Sure its great for self defence if applied correctly, but it'll depend on the individual school and teacher as to how much and what is taught with respect to self defence. I don't know about other orgs but for ITF there is a hosin sul (self defence techniques) component to each belt level which ranges from defences against simple grabs to stick and knife defence to multiple attacker scenarios. And of course any sort of striking style will be beneficial if you've trained hard.

Good luck

Nice post Lupin. I agree that the person teaching (whatever age or grade) has to have the ability to teach as well. Does the kid have to be teaching adults? What if they were just running a child's/teens class? Kids can relate to other kids and the issue of being taught by someone younger than yourself isn't so much of a problem.

It was actually a topic on this that got me to sign up to the forums, wonder how my opinions have changed on the subject... I got my 1st dan at 14, my sister got hers at 12 and in my school and style its not uncommon. We do have age limits on the dans but you can hold the rank below that age, it just won't necessarily be recognised outside your school. Maybe we were a bit young... I don't know. Not too young to keep learning but maybe too young if you really want to associate things like maturity with the belt. I like Brian's reasoning There's no real reason why a child can't learn the same amount as an adult. Think with stuff like this its up to the teacher's own discretion about what constitutes a blackbelt and who deserves one.

I'd like to think it was possible depending on the individual of course. My sister is a 2nd dan and she's 16 (she's eligible to take her 3rd soon but she's not for various reasons). I'd trust her to run a class and issue colour belt ranks. Maybe not test the higher colour belts but in our style its normal to send people away to area gradings and other instructors for that and I'd personally have no problem in her teaching people up to this level and I don't think anyone that trains with her would either. I did a fair bit of teaching when I was that sort of age too. I think teachers up to 3rd dan should have the guidance of their own teacher anyway no matter how old they are.

Congrats Conrad

Bag work. Sometimes it helps to have something to actually hit.

Welcome Rick

Welcome Seb

ps1's idea is good. I don't have much room at uni so I cut them up into chunks and logical combinations and practice them individually. Only problem there is you're not learning the transitions between all of the segments you've made but that can be worked on when you have the space.

Heh one of the reasons we have a contract system is because we operate at near capacity. Paying the fees guarantees your place in class.

I don't think its right to say the bigger person always has the advantage. I have a friend who is half my body weight yet I would say most of the time we spar she has the upperhand because she is far more agile. Sure if I do hit her she'll know about it and she has to get within my range to strike but being smaller helps her to be faster and too many times she can get in and make the hit. Our competition sparring has a division for "team sparring" where each team of 5 can send out any fighter they like against any member of the opposition. As a result you get heavyweights vs lightweights and depending on the fighters, the lightweight can have the advantage because the lightweight is more agile. Although its under sparring rules the same advantages could easily have some bearing on "the street".

When is the tournament? How long have you got to prepare for it? I'm not going to tell you what to do in sparring as that's really your teacher's job and I don't really know how Kempo Karate spars anyway but here's some general advice I usually eat something slow release morning of the tournament so porridge or cereal. You need your energy. Drink enough too. Throughout the day make sure you're hydrated and don't eat loads at once but make sure you do eat otherwise you'll have no energy. If you can find out what time you're on eat some sandwiches or something like that about an hour-ish before. Otherwise just keep eating little bits throughout the day. Heh I tend to load up on chocolate biscuits Pack all your stuff the night before. So get your sparring gear ready, know where your gi is (have it ironed and hung up), know where your belt is. If you're taking drinks and food (which you probably should) I'd prepare it all so you're not messing about in the morning. When you get to the tournament find out what ring and roughly what time you're going to be on. If you've got time before you're due to go on, just sit back and watch. Since its your first tourny, just have a look at how the other competitors go on to the ring, what the standard protocol seems to be, what's scoring the points etc. Try not to get fazed by it all and just enjoy it. Tournaments are a great opportunity to check out the higher belts in action too. Respecting the umpires and referees can go a long way to help you out. A number of times I've had decisions and penalties awarded in my favour when its close just because the ref liked me more. A quick bow before you go onto the ring is good. If you get a penalty or warning in sparring just a slight bow/nod that you acknowledge it and accept it can also help. At the end of the bout shake the other person's hand and if they have a coach at the ring side, shake their hand too. Before leaving the mat a quick bow to the centre ref and jury table (if you have one) is also good. Above all, don't waste their time. The last thing umpires want is someone who takes too long to put on their gear or spends ages looking for where they left their mouthguard. They'll be standing around all day and someone who makes their day even longer is not going to impress. Good Luck

I don't think you can criticise the article too much, it was written for the Daily Mail so its not going to be cutting-edge journalism, just a general article.

It usually doesn't, but if it does its fairly easy to wipe down.

Team Ryouko (XMA/stunt martial arts team) did a pretty cool Star Wars thing:

Lightweights may be generally more technical and have better stamina but the heavy weights can take more shots and deal out heavier ones too. Pros and cons to both really. As a martial artist, I'd rather gain the muscle and strength. As a female I can't say I wouldn't want to lose the weight, I'd just rather be strong for my MA and have the muscle (don't want to be ripped though).

Panel for us. Grading day will get scheduled a couple of weeks in advance and then you turn up for your grading at the allotted time for your belt. Panel usually consists head instructor, couple other instructors/senior blackbelts and sometimes a junior to assist with conducting warmup, register, holding stuff etc. Panel also have to wear shirt and tie rather than doboks.

Congrats GeoGiant

Its not confrontational at all and I really don't think its bullying. Its not like I challenged him to come out and prove his skills in front of the class. If a particularly obnoxious 14 year old thinks he can spar like an adult, I'll spar him like one (albeit with a reduced contact level). Not hurting him but not making it easy. My own teachers have done this to me. You get to around mid-colour belt higher colour belt level and you think you can beat everyone and walk around the school with a head that barely fits through the door. It just takes one person to put you back in your place and show you that actually, you're not the best. At that point you have a choice to either train hard to become the best or just give up and accept that you'll only ever be mediocre.

Welcome Tim

I agree with this. Although discretion is needed to know which students can stand up for themselves and which cannot. It'll benefit those who aren't afraid but for those who can't stand up for themselves you'll just be allowing things to get worse by leaving them alone. So when do you step in? TBH I think nowadays teachers can sometimes be a little bit too eager to step in. Like the article said, kids need to know that not everyone will like them and having arguments and disputes are all part of that. I think teacher's should step in though when things start to get a bit more serious. But again, how do you know where that point is?

Well for starters my instructor is a world medallist in forms and sparring so he's accomplished in that regard. But he's also an awesome teacher, I'd like to think everyone at our school is of a good standard. And he has trained plenty of students to world class level. We rank pretty highly on the tournament circuit and nearly a third of the national squad come from our little school. If anything these achievements make me want to train with him more so yeah I guess having an accomplished instructor matters to me. But even without those competition and sporting achievements I'd still train with him because of his other accomplishments. Originally I read "accomplishments" as not being just the tournament and sporting achievements but to include stuff like being renowned for your knowledge on the subject or even if you've just been studying for decades and have a wealth of knowledge to share. To me accomplished can also mean producing top quality students. So if you've wrote books or people regard you as being one of the best teachers out there. So I'd consider somebody like Iain Abernethy as extremely accomplished..