A sad karateka

[Wado Guy]

Recently, I've had to stop attending my school due to work scheduling and financial difficulties. It is literally impossible for me to continue training at my dojo under my current circumstances. I see no let up in my circumstances until possibly the late spring or early summer.

 

I never have been particularly close to my sensei, but have been a respectful, loyal and dedicated student of his and his staff for the past 5 years.

 

I feel as if I've let him down, the school down, our federation down, my friends in the dojo down, as well as the style down. I feel terrible and incredibly sad and disappointed about the situation. It's awful.

 

Would any of you have any encouraging words or advice for a fellow karateka?

 

Yours in Wa No Michi,

 

*rei*

[Pacificshore]

I don't see how work schedules and financial diffuculties would make you a bad representative of your dojo and art. Things happen for a reason, so continue to be the best karateka inside and outside the dojo.

[Karateka_latino]

That's part of life, man. That has happend to me several times. Don't be Sad, its just things that happend to us.

 

What you can do in the mean time is, training by yourself whenever you have. You can also get in touch with your friends in the dojo so you can meet them and train when all you have some time off. Later on, when you can, you can go back and train in your Dojo.

 

The worse you can do is sit there, feel sorry for yourself and do nothing. There ALWAYS a solution, an open window.

 

Good Luck and don't Give up!!!

[kempocos]

If you stayed and allowed your job and those you are responsable for suffer financialy, that would show disrespect to those you mentioned remeber character is one of the many things we build in training. As stated train when you have time and stay in touch with your sensai, return to that Dojo when you can.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

About your financial situation. Have you talked to your sensei about possibly doing things for him in leau of money in exchange for classes?

 

Do you have a talent he needs, such as mechanic, carpenter, plumber, etc that you could exchange work for classes?

 

Seriously, about 1/4 of my small class is freebies like this. But whenever my truck "hiccups"a, my pipes leak, I want to rewire a room, or my trees need trimming, I have students that have offered these things because, like you, they can't always afford the $40/month for classes. Times are hard in this area and they are good, dedicated students that I don't want to lose over something as trivial as money.

 

But then again, if you're sensei is trying to make a living from his dojo, this may not be an option.

 

Good luck.

[Wado Guy]

I sincerely appreciate your encouragement and kind words. That means a lot to me.

 

The weird thing about my situation is that I have to work during literally ALL of the class times that I could take class. Stack that upon a tight financial scene and there you have my situation.

 

I would not have a problem speaking with my sensei about working for him in exchange for classes, but I'm working during the scheduled class times.

 

It is a rather *large* school (putting it mildly). Several people are actually making a living teaching there. The dues a month are...a bit steep, but money has never been an issue concerning my training until now. One can't put a price on what you learn in the dojo.

 

I'm probably just going to have to sit out of classes for a while and train on my own. I stil feel pretty bummed though.

 

Again, thank you very much for the encouraging words. It's nice to know that there are others who can identify with me on this.

 

Yours in Wa No Michi,

 

*rei*

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Well, a really large dojo would be different that what I do. I go WAY out of my way for a serious student that I want to keep, and have numerous times not worried at all about payment if that's what their issue is. If it's a conflict with class times, I've had them come over to my house on weekends and worked with them one on one, or lined them up with one of my senior students for some practices.

 

However, I do feel that since everybody else in the class is paying for their training, that these people need to also..in some way. Like I said, work on my truck, mow my yard, wash vehicles..something to work off the training. No, it's not slave labor, and nobody has ever objected. We work it out at about a rate of $5/hour of work. If I don't have anything for them to do at the moment, I don't worry about it.

 

Of course, I'm not trying to make a living off teaching either, and that makes a big differance. Heck, I'd teach for free..but I've found people don't come if you don't charge...no KIDDING!!!

[Wado Guy]

I'm planning on taking a fishing trip to Montana in the somewhat near future.

 

I'm gonna be sure to look you up

 

Thank you for all the kind words and encouragement.

 

*rei*

[martialartsresearcher]

don't sweat it man. just live your life to the fullest.

[aefibird]

I think that you're not letting your dojo/sensei/federation etc down at all.

 

If you try and get through this bad time as best you can then I think it will only bring honour to yourself (and your dojo). Keep on training at home and hopefully your situation will change for the better soon.

 

Is there a possibility that you could arrange to work a different shift, maybe once a fortnight or something like that, so that you can have semi-regular training at your dojo?

 

I think that you should also have a word with your sensei about your troubles; after all he's only human and may have found himself in a difficult situation such as yours when he was training, before he started teaching.

 

Good luck and I hope that things improve for you!