commercial karate

[Bushido Fist]

#4 can also be wrong but in someways,if you do not test your skills on the mat with other then people the people in your dojo how would you know if you have any skill at all? tournaments are not about winning and losing its also about helping the dojo and learing.

If your master cares more about money then you Learning in the art then thats the wrong dojo to be in.

#5 playing games with your little students will not get them no were.its ok to have a few jokes here and there but if there not serious in training the whats the point of teaching then self defense.you have to show your students that fun&games are after class but training is serious during class.

#11 Your belt sybolizes you in your training.

The belt colors are symbolic philosophically and spiritually in the Karate System of Contemporary-Traditional Martial Arts. It will not only benefit the student to learn the philosophy behind each belt, but to share it with others. Martial arts were created to protect the religious and philosophical beliefs of the people who practiced them. Different martial arts have been so changed in the United States for sports competition that much of their significance has been lost. It is up to the serious student to carry on the traditions that give the Karate its birth and heritage.its not a matter of tripping or slipping on it, its a matter of honor and respect for your art of Karate.

[White Warlock]

#4 can also be wrong but in someways,if you do not test your skills on the mat with other then people the people in your dojo how would you know if you have any skill at all? tournaments are not about winning and losing its also about helping the dojo and learing.

It is a false assumption that one can enter tournaments outside of a school and somehow step out of the school's test tube learning environment. The tournaments themselves are test tubes. Each tournament has different rules that restrict action or option. Many tournaments are 'style-specific,' so you only compete against others of same style, and thus don't learn of the inherent flaws with your particular style, or end up reinforcing certain actions that although work effectively against a person of the same style, would pose a serious disadvantage against those of some other styles... or no style.

Mixed martial art competitions, with less rules than other scenes, provide the opportunity to determine the effectiveness of your skills, to a certain degree. While still plagued with many rules that hinder one or more style types, they do provide more opportunity for you to determine if the system you are learning is providing sufficient depth in training to handle differing types of assaults.

Even real fights do not present viable information, because in those cases, the variables are too 'varied' and the results are dependent upon all those indeterminate variables that can run havok on your ability to 'reliably' gauge your skills.

In the end, it is the practitioner that must take responsibility for his/her training... not the school, and not the instructor. Granted, you pay for these people to provide for you what you want, but if they aren't, it is your call to 'recognize' this, and move on.

If your master cares more about money then you Learning in the art then thats the wrong dojo to be in.

I don't care much for money, but i would be a fool to dismiss it outright and say, "i dedicate my life so that others can learn."

In another thread, there were some exceedingly valid arguments for the process of charging reasonable rates to your students. As noted, there are people who practice silly things, like cheerleading, and then have the audacity to charge thousands of dollars a session. The thing to remember is, people are willing to pay. Many skilled martial arts instructors have been studying/teaching for decades. For them to receive very little income for their teaching of others is ludicrous. If what the instructor teaches is worth learning, then the students should be willing to pay, and not all instruction is the same... thus not all prices should be set. However, as always, caveat emptor.

#5 playing games with your little students will not get them no were.its ok to have a few jokes here and there but if there not serious in training the whats the point of teaching then self defense.you have to show your students that fun&games are after class but training is serious during class.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Children are not adults, and thus they are not going to 'absorb' adult mentalities about the martial arts so readily. They came to play, to socialize, to have fun, not to undergo boot camp at the age of 14, 12, 10, or even 8. And, although 'just playing around' isn't advocated, one can still make the learning experience a fun one.. by including 'games' into the learning process. Indeed, when i was in college wrestling, we used to play wrestle-football and other interesting fun stuff that kept our interests going whilst providing a new learning experience.

#11 Your belt sybolizes you in your training.

The belt colors are symbolic philosophically and spiritually in the Karate System of Contemporary-Traditional Martial Arts.

Belts are a relatively new development that has hindered, more than helped, the learning experience... in that it has presented an artificial measuring stick on what persons know how much in whatever style they are studying. This artificiality is a crutch, in that people assume one without a belt is a novice, and one with a black belt is an expert. These falsivities exist because belts ranks are determined at a local level, with no governance and no checks/balances.

It will not only benefit the student to learn the philosophy behind each belt, but to share it with others.

What philosophy? That by wearing a belt you are somehow elevated? That a belt somehow denotes an achievement, rather than a marker of your understanding and growth in that particular artform? I fail to see any 'philosophy' associated with belts, other than possibly one contrived by a certain school or instructor, for commercial purposes.

Martial arts were created to protect the religious and philosophical beliefs of the people who practiced them.

No, martial arts were created for war. Some people who have created particular styles, incorporated in those styles their belief systems. That's their choice, and as well it is your choice to ignore such beliefs and focus instead on the study of the techniques and the ingrained 'approach' associated with said style(s).

Different martial arts have been so changed in the United States for sports competition that much of their significance has been lost.

It is both a good and a bad, but it did not start in the U.S.. Sports competitions has broken from some of the older approaches, where persons would practice without applying in full-contact.. and thus not have gained the opportunity to develop certain skills that can only truly be developed by direct application. On the other hand, the rules inherent in any sport competitions, that are 'usually' there to protect the practitioners from permanent injury, have the side-effect of communicating to those competitors that the many 'lethal' techniques taught are somehow irrelevant and ineffective. I.e., merely because they have been outlawed in a competition, somehow they are no longer effective?!?! Common sense would say otherwise, but knee-jerk reaction is to assume that whatever you apply in full-contact competition is the end-all of the arts. This... is the bad.

What i did want to say was that this comment you entered directly contradicts what you stated about #4, in the very same post.

It is up to the serious student to carry on the traditions that give the Karate its birth and heritage.its not a matter of tripping or slipping on it, its a matter of honor and respect for your art of Karate.

Depends on the goals of the student. Loyalty to the founder of a system is not a prerequisite for the dedication to learn, absorb, and possibly even reinvent. Indeed, 'every' existing karate system was 'created' by a practitioner of 'other' systems.

Evolution of the martial arts demands that we continue to think 'beyond' what is presented before us.

[Fairfax_Uechi]

5)plays games during class.

This depends on the games. I've seen some races, competitions, and other things done that were games used to work a specific technique. Especially with kids sometimes you need to break up a class and make it really fun for them. Granted this shouldn't be done often, but it can be useful from time to time.

Overall though, I agree with most of the other comments.

[Fish]

Depending on the game, they can also be useful to develop speed, strength cardio fitness, agility and explosiveness, and also to warm down towards the end of a lesson.

[Why_Worry]

#4 If you ask me, that isnt right. I would try to stay away from dojo's that do tournaments although its really my dad's choice since i'm only thirteen but i feel as though if you do tournaments all you do is focuse on how to win a tournament, not what to do on the streets where there are no limitations and the oponent is attempting to seriously injure you, if not kill you. There is a difference between training to face someone else for points and if you loose you go home and training to face someone else for your life where if you loose, you dont go home. ALthough if you are training you need to keep in mind as well that it is not all about fighting, and that the goal is not to win, but rather to not loose.

#11 This really depends on the age of the practitioners. At the dojo i go to during the fall and winter sessions there are more kids there who dont really know how to tie their belts and eventually the belts can start coming off and during the winter we have usually about 20 people there so the kids just put their belts to the side when they come off so we dont have to stop class just ot tie them and everyone can keep learning.

[Why_Worry]

Oh and i forgot, I think what you should look for in a dojo is whether it is run like an aerobics class where everyone just come sand does their thing or if it is like a family where everyone is friendly and talks and really know each other and willing to learn (that includes the Sensei's)

[Chris05]

when your belt falls off that means you are working hard and focusing in class a belt is just a piece of material. most of the rules are important[/url]

[Freddy]

Im gonna have to ask you guys a question about #11 "does not take action if students have there Belt on the floor. "

lets say your doing a drill, warm up or kata, and your belt falls of, would you stop doing what youre doing to pick it up and tie it again or would you wait untill you have the time too?

[White Warlock]

Im gonna have to ask you guys a question about #11 "does not take action if students have there Belt on the floor. "

lets say your doing a drill, warm up or kata, and your belt falls of, would you stop doing what youre doing to pick it up and tie it again or would you wait untill you have the time too?

As a student, i would pick it up and put it back on, at the first 'safe' opportunity.

If i were the instructor and someone dropped a belt, which is what #11 was referring to, if i deemed that the student was just going to leave it on the floor, i would wait until the first 'safe' opportunity to direct the student to pick it up and put it aside or put it on. Reason being: it poses a safety hazard.

[ninjanurse]

I agree White Warlock. Safety is important especially with a room full of kids. I have been teaching at a new school and the first time I grabbed a belt from the floor (fell off during a sparring class) and put it aside the student didn't know what to do! I had to tell him several times that it was OK to continue!

One thing that I am very picky about is making sure everyone in the class has a properly tied belt BEFORE class begins-just to avoid this from happening regularly. I have the senior students help the juniors which gives them a start on learning to teach.