Unconfident student.

[Natural]

Hi, am not very confident and when I go to my dojo, when I speak I speak very low voice and my sensei keep saying what? pardon etc, he/she repeats that for a long time and i say "Oh deos'nt matter" how can i improve my confident my karate is good. About 1 and a half years time am going to become a brown belt and an instructor asistances and after that i will be a sense and i need help on my confidence.

 

It is the major things that I have to cope with.

 

Am not from english and sometimes fines it hard.

[glingglo]

what is it that makes you feel this way? are there specific people in your dojo that intimidate you? is it the way you speak english that makes you self-conscious?

 

personally, i turn bright red whenever anyone calls attention to me. i've conditioned myself to ignore it and go on with things, but it's totally involuntary and everyone gets to watch me change colors everytime i have to speak or demonstrate in front of the class (or kia - god i HATE doing that!). i'm just really really shy. but you have to be able to trust the people you train with and realize that they probably feel self-conscious too.

 

try to figure out where your feelings are coming from first - you can't find a solution if you don't know what the problem is.

[WolverineGuy]

The first step for me was making eye contact with everyone. Oddly, its an amazing confidence booster when you're looking someone directly in the eye. When you look down, its like you're saying to the world "I'm not good enough to be talking." Confidence comes with time, but psyche yourself up for it! Good luck!

[karatekid1975]

personally, i turn bright red whenever anyone calls attention to me. i've conditioned myself to ignore it and go on with things, but it's totally involuntary and everyone gets to watch me change colors everytime i have to speak or demonstrate in front of the class (or kia - god i HATE doing that!). i'm just really really shy. but you have to be able to trust the people you train with and realize that they probably feel self-conscious too.

 

LOL. I hate to kihap (kiai) also. I also used to have a confidence problem. I did what glingglo said. I conditioned myself to be confident. An example is the fact that I hated to kihap. I hated drawling attention to myself. I kihap now, but I still hate it LOL. But it's not because of the same reason.

 

WolverineGuy also had good advice. Start out by making eye contact with your classmates.

[glingglo]

i sometimes practice yelling when i'm alone in my car so it doesn't feel so unnatural to do in class. but it's hard when you're the only girl in a roomful of guys and they're all like, "ROWR!!!" and you're just a "squeek!"

[ninjanurse]

I love a good kihap!!!! Especially when your opponents eyes get really big and their mouth drops open !!! You know their thinkin'...."This chick's crazy!!!!"

 

Yup!!!

 

[iolair]

I used to have very little confidence ... so I became a schoolteacher. Can't recommend it for everyone, but it did work.... Well, basically I just put myself in situations where I HAD to be outspoken and in control - that got me used to it.

[ITSUKO]

First, try to open yourself up. Make friends with people at your dojo. Socialize. Once, you feel more relax training with them. Leadership and confidence will come.

[Natural]

I tend not to look at girls I normmly ignore them but inside my heart they look alright heheheh.

 

Being a good looking teenager and a top student puts pressure on you alot.

[TheDevilAside]

"Being a good looking teenager and a top student puts pressure on you alot."

 

Haha, from reading that, I don't think you have much of a confidence problem.

 

And why do you ignore the girls? Girls can be just as fun to hang around with as guys (not all the time though, sometimes you gotta take a break and hang around your own kind). Are you one of those people that thinks girls are evil, etc? Girls aren't evil, just don't eat any apples they give you, you know what happened to Adam.