Been back for a month and its depressing

[smr]

I know exactly how you feel. I was out for about four months due to a knee injury. I was finally able to get back to training at the beginning of March 05. Now here it is March 31 - and I'm out again. This time due to a hernia. I was finally just beginning to regain some of my former stamina. Prior to the injury, I could work out hard for the regular class hour then stay late for some moderate to intense sparring. After I returned I could barely make it through a class. My technique also suffered. This is partially due to the time off, and also due to the fact that I started at a different school. The school does practice my old style, but also teaches elements of a different style; although they do keep the two styles separate. You know when your doing one style or the other.

Like said before, just stick it out. I'm using my time out of physical training in order to beef up on my history and general karate knowledge.

[UsagiYojimbo]

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I was actually out of karate for years, and just started back up in the last couple of weeks. I get corrected *all* the time. While it's discouraging, I like the individual attention I get from my Sensei. Still, when I go home and practice everyday and I'm like, "Oh yeah, I've got this", then go back to the dojo and get told I'm still not doing it right... yeah, it's tough.

[strangepair03]

Excellent saying, hit's it right on the head. Thank you

The day you stop needing to be corrected on your martial skill is the day you stop needing to breath.

[snazzed]

There have ben a few reponses saying "I like being corrected" or "you always need correction", "you're never perfect" and so on... I understand that. Let me give you an example.

We were doing a drill, standing in Seishan (sp?) dachi, snap kick with the rear leg followed by a reverse punch (on landing the leg) and then an inside block to get us back to where we started... After years of Shotokan my natural tendency is to go into zenkutso dachi, so I was getting corrected on that. I *know* in my head what to do I just have to break the habit. Of course, new stance, my kicks are off, so I'm getting corrected on that. The height of my hike-te (sp?) should be about 2" higher. Rotate the hike-te fist about 5 degrees inward. Your stance is off... and so on and so on.

The rest of the class went on to kicking the pads. Shihan Sensei stood in front of me continually correcting me on the drill for a good 10min AFTER the rest of the class had moved on. He kept correcting me after every execution until I finally got a good one. I have never been corrected so much, and I have never seen anyone held doing something when the rest of the class moves on.

I'm not saying I was down on my Karate because they correct me, I'm sayin' I was down on my Karate because I'm getting singled out and corrected until the cows come home. And again, I know that in the Grand Scheme of Things, it is A Good Thing. I know I will get corrected because my old style had differences and old habits die hard. I know I'll get corrected because even if I'm doing everything right, I'm sure I'm not "perfect".

It just wears on you to get corrected THAT much. It makes you wonder when you get singled out, why you're singled out.

Now before eveyone chimes in and says "stick with it", here is my perception since I started this topic... I think Shihan Sensei *knows* I have old habits and that is WHY he singles me out over anyone else. Sure, the other white belts may be doing the drill worse than I am, but they don't have to unlearn. They don't have habits yet they are starting fresh. I know it is not that Sensei dislikes me. In fact he talks to me about karate and non-karate stuff every other class and if he sees me leaving, even from across the room, he'll call out a "good night".

I'm over the depression bit and now I just feel "blank". I know there are changes to be made, and I know I'm going to get corrected a lot. I know I'm still "good" at at Karate, maybe I'm just not that good at Chito-Ryu... yet

Geez, why do I always end up writing essays? Why can't I just do little 3 line posts like most people!!!

Again thanks for listening

snazzed

[Shorin Ryuu]

Snazzed, I know you "get it", I just wanted to share this story...

This reminds me of something my instructor told me the other day. Last month, he took a trip to Okinawa and just happened to see Morio Higaonna (of Goju Ryu fame) on the plane ride over, so they got to talking and my instructor along with the two people he brought with him were invited to watch a class.

During the class, there was a student who apparently had trouble timing his "kiai" with a strike. Higaonna Sensei stopped him and made him work at simply stepping forward and punching with a kiai over and over, but he simply could not get it done correctly. Rather than "letting it go" and moving on to something else, Higaonna had the student practice it over and over until there was some improvement to be seen. I'm sure it was a frustrating experience for the student and the teacher, but never once did Higaonna show any impatience or frustration. I think this is the attitude we must adopt both as teachers and students in our training.

Later on in the trip, they experienced much of the same thing at the dojo of our grandmaster. Mistakes were not simply glossed over, but they were identified and corrected. Part of this is because they know people don't want to go travel to Okinawa and be told how good they are, they want to go to Okinawa to be told what needs to be fixed.

Even knowing this intellectually, there are rare times when I catch myself mildly dreading when my instructor will single me out and ask me to do a kata in front of him because I know he's studying my every move. At times like these, I know I need more improvement of the oft-quoted "self". I tell myself that it is far more important to perform well because you like performing well, not because you hate performing poorly, which is an important distinction. Performing poorly is only a condition that can exhibit areas that need improvement so you can perform well, and nothing more. But like many things in life, it is easier said than done.

I consider myself much more intrinsically and self-motivated than most people, yet even still I have to grapple with these kinds of issues from time to time. As long as you keep the right attitude and approach to training, as trite and over-used as it sounds, things will be just fine.

[Sandan]

I know how difficult it is to work with someone who corrects all the time. I've recently had to stop a 3rd Dan teaching at my dojo 'cause people were avoiding his class because of the way that he was teaching. I wanted to see why so I watched and he absolutely corrected everything, I don't agree with that and so I've asked him to reassess the way that he teaches.

That's hard for a 3rd Dan to hear I guess. Don't get me wrong, his technique is excellent and he is a good fighter, it's just the way that he teaches!

[Sauzin]

There's definitely a balance you have to have. You can't correct everything at once or the student will learn nothing. On the other hand if you ignore too much then they will begin to develop bad habits that will take even longer to break then if you had just spent a little extra time correcting it up front.

Of course singling a person out can mean a couple of things. Often there are specific things that an instructor needs everyone in the class to have down before he can start teaching something new. Even if there are other portions of the technique that other people don't have down as well, if you are missing that aspect that is needed to learn what the instructor is teaching next then that is what he will have you work on until you get it down. Sometimes there are several somethings. Getting singled out can definitely be a humbling experience. Especially the way my sensei does it. But like I'm sure you know it's worth it. And if the quality of the technique the students are displaying says anything, it says the teacher knows what needs to be corrected and when.

[karatekid1975]

snazzed, I was in the same boat as you. I was in a different style before moving. I had to totally re-learn everything (except the kicks were pretty much the same). I was corrected all the time. My instructor told me that what I was doing wasn't "wrong," but it is different from how his style is taught. It took me a good year to drop habbits that were drilled in my head at my old school. Even the sparring rules were different. I was so confused at times. But, like you said, it just "clicked" for me.

I liked what was said already. If you are not being corrected, your instructors just don't care. It's ok to be singled out and corrected (I've been there). You instructor probably sees talent in you, and wants you to improve. That's a good thing

[vertigo]

If you are not being corrected, your instructors just don't care. It's ok to be singled out and corrected (I've been there). You instructor probably sees talent in you, and wants you to improve. That's a good thing

Very true. I figure if your instuctor is correcting you all the time, he sees you as worth the time to correct

[cathal]

Has anyone seen instances where the instructor was hesitant to correct a student?