Accepting back past students to the dojo?

[Jiffy]

We actively encourage people to train elsewhere as well as with ourselves. Sure, it's probably not the best thing for student retention, but who cares, it's what's best for the student that matters. People like this really annoy me!

As for honesty, this is paramount!! I judge a person by how honest they are. There is nothing worse that says one thing to your face and another behined your back. Liars are my pet hate!!

[bushido_man96]

It is hard to find instructors who encourage this, at least in my experience. If I wanted to train in something esle, like judo or BJJ, my instructor would not allow it. I would have to quit his school to do it. I guess it is lucky for me, there is nothing else around here to do.

[shotochem]

Richard i completely see where your coming from. I had done shotokan for a long time when joining his shukokai club. The main reason i left there was because i wasn't reaching my full potential and rather than him checking out my skills and maybe doing an assessment i had to start from white belt again, this annoyed me a little because he didnt seem interested that i had many years of martial arts training in the past..

I don't mean to bash so please don't take it that way.

Does the belt and rank really matter all that much? I have recently left my Shotokan dojo. I had been studying the style for 7+ years under a few different Senseis. I joined a Kempo club nearby that has more agreeable hours to accomodate my job and family needs at the moment.

I started as a whitebelt again. Do I care? Honestly, No. The value of the belt is in the eye of the beholder. I did not get any less skillful by putting on a lesser ranked belt. Everyone I train with knows what my skill level is. It is a new dojo and a new style my rank may not apply but the knowledge is still there.

I too have also trained with my son at a previous dojo (he was 8 at the time). We moved on due to the unfortunate death of our instructor and when I later joined another school it just wasn't the same for him. Kids want to have fun and their concept of what fun is changes at a constant rate.

Let him choose what he likes to do, I pushed my son to train with me and he started to hate me for it. He went on to another art with a few of his school friends then quit again a year later. Typical kid.

[Shotokan-kez]

No i guess belt and rank don't matter a great deal but when you are forced to start from the begining again without anyone even considering i was better, covering everything i had done before was a little irritating.

[alsey]

i've had to start again twice in jujitsu due to changing dojos, and i can understand the frustration of anyone who has to go back to the beginning. you get really solid with the basics though, which certainly isn't a bad thing.

[Jiffy]

Shotochem, I agree with you whole heartedly. I too have studied multiple arts (see under my avatar) and each time, I have started at white belt. As you said, grade is in the eyes of the beholder.

I would much rather start as a white belt and be taught like I was a complete novice than wear a black belt just to inflate my ego, but then miss an important part because it was assumed I knew it (or if having already done the style, miss an interesting way of doing things differently)

[bushido_man96]

Shotochem, I agree with you whole heartedly. I too have studied multiple arts (see under my avatar) and each time, I have started at white belt. As you said, grade is in the eyes of the beholder.

I would much rather start as a white belt and be taught like I was a complete novice than wear a black belt just to inflate my ego, but then miss an important part because it was assumed I knew it (or if having already done the style, miss an interesting way of doing things differently)

This is good when going from something like Shotokan to BJJ---they are two different arts. But when going from one shotokan school to another, you might expect that your rank would be somewhat recognized. I went from one TKD school to another, and started from scratch. It did not bother me, because I knew where I stood, as far as ability and technique. But I can understand why it bothers some people. Sure, it is just a rank, and everyone says it doesn't matter. But when you work that hard to achieve something, I can understand why some people get upset, when they have a great achievment like that discounted by someone else.

[jaymac]

I think if I switched to another school, I wouldn't mind starting over. It was so fun and rewarding to go through the ranks, but I am sure if I started over, it would be with another style other than shotokan and I would expect to start at white belt.

[Jiffy]

Shotochem, I agree with you whole heartedly. I too have studied multiple arts (see under my avatar) and each time, I have started at white belt. As you said, grade is in the eyes of the beholder.

I would much rather start as a white belt and be taught like I was a complete novice than wear a black belt just to inflate my ego, but then miss an important part because it was assumed I knew it (or if having already done the style, miss an interesting way of doing things differently)

This is good when going from something like Shotokan to BJJ---they are two different arts. But when going from one shotokan school to another, you might expect that your rank would be somewhat recognized. I went from one TKD school to another, and started from scratch. It did not bother me, because I knew where I stood, as far as ability and technique. But I can understand why it bothers some people. Sure, it is just a rank, and everyone says it doesn't matter. But when you work that hard to achieve something, I can understand why some people get upset, when they have a great achievment like that discounted by someone else.

Yeah, I suppose I can see your point, but I can also see the point of the instructor that won't recognise the grade.

[bushido_man96]

Shotochem, I agree with you whole heartedly. I too have studied multiple arts (see under my avatar) and each time, I have started at white belt. As you said, grade is in the eyes of the beholder.

I would much rather start as a white belt and be taught like I was a complete novice than wear a black belt just to inflate my ego, but then miss an important part because it was assumed I knew it (or if having already done the style, miss an interesting way of doing things differently)

This is good when going from something like Shotokan to BJJ---they are two different arts. But when going from one shotokan school to another, you might expect that your rank would be somewhat recognized. I went from one TKD school to another, and started from scratch. It did not bother me, because I knew where I stood, as far as ability and technique. But I can understand why it bothers some people. Sure, it is just a rank, and everyone says it doesn't matter. But when you work that hard to achieve something, I can understand why some people get upset, when they have a great achievment like that discounted by someone else.

Yeah, I suppose I can see your point, but I can also see the point of the instructor that won't recognise the grade.

It is the ones who get defensive about it that bother me. "Well, the black belt is not in my style, and that style doesn't do this or that, so blah, blah, blah." When it is ego in the way, that bothers me.