Nervous about starting Karate

[Patrick]

Great replies, everyone. Welcome aboard, Biskit. Best of luck!

[Biskit]

Thanks so much everyone! I just got back from my first lesson, and it was amazing! I absolutely loved it. Thanks again!

[Blade96]

Hi,

I'm 14 years old and am extremely nervous about starting karate.

I'm really scared that I'll be the only beginner my age, that I won't know what to do, that I'll be bad at it, etc...

Should I be this scared?!? My first lesson is this week.

Its normal to be scared. when i first joined the shotokan dojo, (I've only been in it 3 months) I didnt know anybody and at the time i was the only rookie. But i wanted shotokan really baaaaaaaad so i didnt really care. But everyone is pocketfuls of fly there.....and they made me feel at home. If yours are like that (and they should be) they will too.

and don't worry about looking bad at something the first few times! Very few people can do something right or perfect the first time. Example was when I was learning to turn. Man did i suck, lol. Eventually, I learned that if I was gonna turn 180 degrees to the left, that the leg behind me, the left one, moves a couple inches to the right before you turn. that way, you're stance is wide when you do turn.

A recent example took place on Tuesday night. I'm pretty good with snap kicks (nearly took out a black belt with one, which i like to tease him about, that a little white belt almost took him out, haha) but when I first tried a front thrust kick (also known as a Mae Geri kekomi ); they're different than a snap kick because you're using your hips to propel yourself forward and push with the leg - on a punching bag (the first step to teaching us to sparr and kick a moving target) I lost my balance, missed the bag completely, and almost fell over. LOL. It happens. I learn fast though. After about 3 times I could hit the bag. Dont worry if you dont learn fast though. It comes with time. Karate-do, right. Its a way of life. and just like life, it has its challenges - and its joys.

[Patrick]

Thanks so much everyone! I just got back from my first lesson, and it was amazing! I absolutely loved it. Thanks again!

Great to hear.

[nanook660]

I too was scared of starting Karate (at 42) but I just walked in there and gave it a try. And I fell in love with Wado Ryu Karate.

My advice is this. Take you time and not rush to advance. It's not all about "the Belt" or the next Level. Just go and have fun.

[Capt Jakk]

Glad you enjoyed your first class. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned it yet but about the only thing that may help you progress faster is practicing at home. This allows you to focus more on the new material during classes. To paraphrase my sensei, if you spend all of class getting to where you were last time you won't learn anything.

[Fearun9033]

Hey don't worry. If it makes you feel any better, I started Shotokan at the age of 17. There were 9 year old kids who had higher levels than me.

But you know what? It was all very nice. My dojo feels like another big family. The best part about my karate experience is not how I got belts and levels, but how I got there; all the difficulties I got and overcame and the progress I made.

So definitely go for it! =D Make sure you just pick a dojo with a teaching style (not karate style) that suits YOU! i.e. if you like a patient sensei, don't pick a dojo with a drill sergeant.

best of luck!

[Blade96]

Make sure you just pick a dojo with a teaching style (not karate style) that suits YOU! i.e. if you like a patient sensei, don't pick a dojo with a drill sergeant.

best of luck!

I'd say listen to what this Shotokanka here says.

Myself, I got lucky. I went looking for a style (shotokan which I love) and not a teacher. I got lucky with our association and dojo and senseis and BB's and everyone there of all belt levels who I love and they are equally as fond of me and adore me. I always say I never went looking for it, it came looking for me. like it was Fate. But I dont think just anyone can do what I did. You may find a style you like, but you might not like the senseis or his/her BB's.

It happened that, in university, there were courses on terrorism and the cold war that I would have loved to take (as a History major which is what I did) But because I didnt like the professor (she insulted me by saying 'i thought you were intelligent' when i questioned her putting me on the spot in front of everyone because i quietly asked a classmate what the time was) I missed out on topics I would have really loved. And no other teacher taught those courses. Point being, even if you find something you will enjoy, a bad teacher can absolutely ruin it for you. So always pick by teacher. I've done courses with teachers where I didnt particularly enjoyed the material, but did well cause the teacher was just enjoyable!

Always choose by teacher, not material.

[Fearun9033]

Myself, I got lucky. I went looking for a style (shotokan which I love) and not a teacher. I got lucky with our association and dojo and senseis and BB's and everyone there of all belt levels who I love and they are equally as fond of me and adore me. I always say I never went looking for it, it came looking for me. like it was Fate. But I dont think just anyone can do what I did. You may find a style you like, but you might not like the senseis or his/her BB's.

This made me remember something If you told me this story a couple of years back before I started doing Karate, I would've been all like "Dude, you completely got that from some kung-fuey movie!"

But now that I've actually been through it, I can second that feeling you got!

I'm afraid that some kid in the future will say I got my story from some kung fu movie too haha

[Blade96]

Myself, I got lucky. I went looking for a style (shotokan which I love) and not a teacher. I got lucky with our association and dojo and senseis and BB's and everyone there of all belt levels who I love and they are equally as fond of me and adore me. I always say I never went looking for it, it came looking for me. like it was Fate. But I dont think just anyone can do what I did. You may find a style you like, but you might not like the senseis or his/her BB's.

This made me remember something If you told me this story a couple of years back before I started doing Karate, I would've been all like "Dude, you completely got that from some kung-fuey movie!"

But now that I've actually been through it, I can second that feeling you got!

I'm afraid that some kid in the future will say I got my story from some kung fu movie too haha

LOLLOLLOL! funny =]

Yep, pretty cool feeling when it happens to you. and nm what some kid says us MA's are sort of a different litter of kittens and its just like non ma's will never understand why getting thrown about the dojo is actually so great....so they wouldnt understand our feelings about this and that we get these feelings on our own, not from a kung fuey movie =]