DWx

Just up to the individual schools discretion. As Dobbersky said, most places will use the white gi as it has that symbolism of purity but plenty of places give the instructor a different coloured gi (so he can clearly be seen) or blackbelts may be allowed to wear a different colour to distinguish them from kyu grades. In grappling styles such as BJJ or Judo and especially in their competitions, they usually use white or blue (or sometimes other colours) so that you can easily tell who's who.

Perhaps getting a bit off topic but a lot of people seem to forget that Gen. Choi's TKD was originally for the military and I think it'd be a good explanation for why the training (and the use of standardized forms) is the way it is. You learn the forms in a set order and set way and also don't really find a parallel to the idea of bunkai in the training because it was about training up a platoon as efficiently as possible ready for combat.

Great post. Maybe it is also an issue of teaching en-mass and to a syllabus rather than on a 1-2-1 basis? Standardized kata make it easier to teach a group and move them through the ranks but it doesn't allow much for individuality.

Is that requirement set forth by the UK government for MA business requirements, or is it in regards to the NGBs of the MAs there. Is it universal? Does GKR have instructors at level below black belt? I'm not citing them as the model to follow, but just trying to establish where the rule comes from you stated. I'm unsure of this too. Perhaps it's a requirement of the org you belong to Dobbersky? Blackbelts are not equal across styles and there's no standardization there for the govn't or UKSport to try to regulate who opens a school based on this. TBH wouldn't think they'd care either. Maybe it's a requirement from wherever you get your insurance from? I know I've heard of blue belt run BJJ schools and in my local area there used to be a TKD school run by a red belt (albeit supervised by his own instructor).

Definitely the case for mine. Even though she knows we can handle ourselves, my mum never watches me or my sister spar. Part of it as well is she doesn't like blood and half the time my younger sister ends up with a bloody nose

Does self defense extend to hunting down the guys after they ran away?

I've never read his books. How do you find them? Do the applications make sense to you?

Yeah his kicking style is very similar between the two but I was watching the feet. He's switching stance and covering ground a lot more in the TKD fights so he can use his legs but in the kickboxing he's still moving but a lot more grounded. That was a good fight you posted, can see he was the one in control of it.

Welcome Jeff

Congrats to her Heh my mum never used to watch me. As soon as I was called up for sparring she'd go out and sit in the car instead till it was over.

Is all that a requirement for a black belt? I think this whole question depends on your understanding of what a black belt should be. A black belt is about one's own personal knowledge and ability in karate, not about one's teaching ability. I'm a 4th kyu and could probably teach a new student better than half the black belts in my school simply because I've got a teaching degree and teaching experience. A black belt doesn't have to be a good teacher. The way it was explained to me was that a black belt means you've mastered the basics and are ready for more advanced study. I think a kid could easily meet that requirement. It's when people start making the black belt mean more than it does-- that they're teachers or in charge or the strongest/fastest/best-- that people start fighting over this. Great post. Not everyone can teach and not everyone should teach. Some of the best fighters out there can be really sucky when it comes to trying to pass on their knowledge. But that doesn't lessen their ability or their knowledge.

Really? Its not great but I don't mind it that much. Any bit of the 2nd half in particular? I can never get the U-shape punches through to the waving kicks to look any good. Don't mind the rest of it that much though. Feels great to slam out the knife hand blocks at the end when I'm done The other options for me at this grade are Choi Yong with all the horrible consecutive kicks or Sam-Il which always seems too short and like there isn't much new material there to me.

Nice. I wasn't aware of him either. Loving the spin hooks and back kicks; would not want to be on the receiving end of them. Interesting to see also the difference between his WTF fighting style and his kickboxing style. Did he start in TKD then switch over?

Sorry brickshooter but I thought the analogy worked quite well for discussion of some of the limitations you might encounter when relying on kata for the bulk of your training. But yes I guess we agree to disagree. I don't mean to cause any offense by my posts, just acting as devil's advocate for some discussion so sorry if I came on a bit strong with that. As I said in a previous post, we do a lot of kata and related training in my school and I greatly value their use as part of my own training; just maybe not to the extreme of OP's post by saying that if you do not your Karate is not Karate. As an aside, IMHO my instructor is quite brilliant and (relevant to this topic) is very well known for his kata (or tul in Korean) in our style. He's also won multiple world titles competing in tul and trained many more international medallists.

Great topic Ge Baek's a nice once. Although I think I'd like it more if I wasn't sick to death of it It's a 1st dan one in my school so guaranteed we'll do it a coupla times per session and we almost always end up doing it when we do team patterns too. agree with you on that one! It's definitely a power form and all the turns are great for really throwing the blocking arms out. I don't know what my touki kata would be... Of the 3 I'm learning at the minute (Choi Yong, Sam-Il and Yoo Sin) hands down I'd do Yoo Sin any day but it just doesn't feel like I've made it mine yet. Maybe Choong Jang. I guess for similar reasons you said for Ge Baek bushido_man96; the whole thing's about really strong arms and compact movements.

Well a professor is not teaching you research material, he is teaching you theories and facts he knows to be concrete and he will use what he deems to be the best methods possible to convey this knowledge to you. He's been around the block and is at a much higher level than you so can use that knowledge to help you learn in the best way possible. Whereas he may have had to read 25+ texts, conducted his own experiments and consulted many other experts on the subject, he can help make your journey that much more direct and show you exactly what's what so then you can go on to develop on your own. He's also has probably taught 100's of students prior to you and his teacher's taught many more 100's prior to that so they know what works and what doesn't work with regards to teaching methods. If you rely on that one textbook you may be stuck in a rut for a very long time if that textbook just can't convey the knowledge well enough. Say we take something like the sciences, up until Copernicus in the 1500's, the textbooks of the time still taught the idea of geocentric cosmology. Would we have put man on the moon if we just followed the one textbook which said the earth was the centre of all things instead of finding better sources of information? Maybe then you could say that Karate must have kata if we're preserving the old ways and not delving into new material and ideas? So then are they still practising Karate? Something like this would to me be considered more like formalised drill work and not a kata per se. How can we say that without kata Karate is souless when there isn't even consistency to as what kata is in the first place?

Bushido_man, please don't let me think You're putting disabled people in the same bracket as children. They may be disabled but they are far from being "child-like". Question, You're in a group of people, mixed ages and abilities, everyone needs to get out of the situation for survival as it dangerous for everyone. So You're telling me everyone in the group is going to stand to attention etc and listen to the 10 year old boy? Or listen to the amputee who's an ex-marine etc. I don't think Brian is saying that the disabled or handicapped are like children, more along the lines of any reason that's been given for children not to have a blackbelt can be considered a reason for those people not to have one too if we wanted to discriminate that way. Reasons like children aren't physically strong enough, children aren't able to examine a situation and act like a mature adult would, could be applied to some people. And even if you don't want to think about it like this, again, what do you say to particularly small adult females or immature adults? WRT your scenario, I would if the child was directing everyone appropriately. Take the child in the article bushido_man96 posted, she acted with a clear enough head and dealt with the situation. Of course if there were an ex-marine there at the same time offering better advice I might follow that instead but then I equate that with like picking the more experienced of two blackbelts. Perhaps this conversation stems from the fact that nowadays children are treated more child-like than they have been in the past? Wasn't it Musashi who first fought and killed a samurai aged 13? Would that skill and apparent maturity level not warrant a blackbelt? Or you could even look at the 1000's of soldiers who lied about their ages when enlisting for the military during WWI and WWII. A lot of the time they'd obviously demonstrated the maturity and developed the skills and fooled everyone around them. Qualities of a blackbelt?

When life gives you lemons.... It might not be the best solution but at least you get some training I think after a while the kids class might get better and actually you may end up learning more from it from the role as senior student of sorts. Just see how you get on. To make up training time I used to do an hour in the kids class and then an hour in the adults class on a Saturday at my club. Weird at first but eventually the kids get used to it and you get used to it and everybody just gets on and trains.

Definitely great that she was able to keep a cool head and think about calling someone. Could have gone very badly if she'd panicked and the intruder had gotten in. Wonder if her parents ever taught her to handle the gun or if she just went on instinct with it?

Happy Birthday! Hope you had an awesome day

Could you elaborate on this as I'm unsure what you mean? Do you mean the student collecting more kata that their instructor? Or just delving into the kata more than their instructor? IMO, skipping Kata is like taking a university class and not buying the textbook. When taking a university class, the professor takes from the text book the things that he finds the most useful based on his most current personal experience. He explains it to you, assigns homework and provides examinations on what he lectures on - but just the things he finds to be the most useful, and skips the rest which is roughly 1/2 of the textbook. But if a student wants to have a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter, he needs to spend the time and dig into the textbook, look at opinions of people other than the teaching professor. Great thanks for explaining I like the analogy. But continuing the analogy, the professor may disregard parts of the textbook because he knows it to be an outdated idea or that there are better ways (other textbooks, practicals, his own material etc.) to teach it. The textbook is supplementary but it isn't the core of what he's teaching. Also, would this analogy be relying on the fact that those learning the kata would be exploring bunkai? If so not all forms of Karate look at bunkai in the same way. For example Kyokushin don't really look at bunkai as much as other forms of training (someone correct me if I'm wrong). In your opinion would those that don't do the practise be practising soulless Karate?

^ true but I think he goes above a level of self defence in specifically hunting down one of the attackers, then choking him out multiple times and beating him whilst he's unconscious. Forget Eastern philosophy and spirituality; Renzo Gracie demonstrated arrogance and cockiness. Defend yourself and get away. Don't go and re-engage. He may be a fantastic martial artist but he doesn't know that the guy didn't have a gun concealed or a weapon that he could have pulled out on him. He may be a BJJ blackbelt but he's not made of steel. If anything it demonstrates a gross level of naivety to think that he's untouchable. He got lucky in that the mugger didn't go and get more buddies or didn't pull out a weapon on him. And choking the guy out and beating him whilst he's out? Who does that?!? Sounds a little psychotic to me. Maybe do it once if you really are that way inclined but 3 times counts as excessive use of force in my book. Besides tweeting about it is very very stupid as if he's caused any lasting damage, he can probably expect a lawsuit. Do it but don't brag about it.

Could you elaborate on this as I'm unsure what you mean? Do you mean the student collecting more kata that their instructor? Or just delving into the kata more than their instructor?

Thanks for the detailed reply andym Yeah I know it's relatively old but I rediscovered it when reading background info for the kata thread. Had read articles previously but didn't know you could get the whole thing in pdf.

Free ebook from the writer of 24fightingchickens.com: http://www.24fightingchickens.com/category/kata/ Kata: the folk dances of Shotokan Might be of interest to people