GKR never denies a grading.

[Nidan Melbourne]

That's why I love how our Soke conducted any and all testing cycles...NO PREPARATION of any type. Come testing day, and you've been granted permission to test, you better know your syllabus and you better know it very well.

Students, no matter rank, had to submit a request for testing, then, you were either denied or granted to attend the testing cycle. If you were a Hombu student, then Soke or Dai-Soke would grant/deny requests. If you were a student of a Shindokan dojo, your Sensei had to forward your request with your Sensei's recommendations attached to it for the Hombu to deny/request.

No testing allowed without the expressive consent of the Hombu, no matter the rank!!

That was then...and that is still how it's done.

that's quite a smart thing to do in terms of having people grade. I'm guessing your hombu has a file on every single student (+ photo) that trains at all your dojo's?

Since my school has only 1 dojo we don't worry about a massive file. But apparently my sensei is opening 2 more schools and will be having me at one of them (oh boy that will be insane) he will be most likely following suit in what your doing. As he wants to open 2 dojos; 1 will be open in the next couple of years and the other one in about 10 years time. as we are looking for places to open them obviously and that has excellent exposure (so lots of foot traffic and cars will see it) and parking. Oh and also has an affordable rate of usage of the space.

Our Hombu carries the Master File for each and every student.

All testing, and I mean all testing must be approved by the Hombu, no matter the rank/tenure. Soke was adamant about that and there was no way to get around that.

Even if you owned your own dojo, you still had to get the approval of all tests in-house by the Hombu, or the grade was not valid without Soke/Dai-Soke's approval.

Now that they're gone, our Testing Department approves all testing cycles both in the Hombu and in each Shindokan dojo. No exceptions!!

It is good to hear that your hombu approves everything when it comes to grading. It must really help to keep numbers down at a grading for quality assurances.

What do you have in the master file?

Our sensei has told both myself and the other instructor who are going to head up the two new dojo's that we have to be ensuring that everything that the students are going to learn there are going to be of a high quality and that we don't let people grade until they are ready. And that he will be popping into those dojo's every couple of weeks to check on what we are teaching and if anything needs to be changed.

We get advanced warning when he comes, as all students at our specific dojo must attend. As it is to check to see if all students are learning their specific syllabus according to rank.

All our gradings in the future once we open up our new dojos will be at our hombu (which is our current dojo). And we have to provide a list of all students who are eligible for the grading. As we might have too many students that are wanting to grade so we will either tell them to wait till the next grading (which is usually 2-3 + weeks later) or we will hold two/three gradings over a couple of days.

Say we have 80 students wanting to grade, we will split it up into 4 groups and grade two groups one day and the other two the next day. So it will be over the course of a weekend. So group 1 will grade in the morning, group 2 in the afternoon. and the same process the next day for groups 3 and 4.

and apparently when my school opened 5 years ago, the very first grading that was held had close to 50 participants. so we had to do three gradings over the course of 1 day. As we had 35 juniors grade and 15 adults. Each of our gradings are 2 hours long (except for black belt gradings) so overall it went for 6 hours.

[sensei8]

It is good to hear that your hombu approves everything when it comes to grading. It must really help to keep numbers down at a grading for quality assurances.

What do you have in the master file?

Still, our numbers aren't the Hombu's concern as to the versus ratio of whom can or whom can't test at the Hombu and the like. Our annual testing cycle at the Hombu is usually over 200+ students; all who've been approved by the Hombu.

Without explaining and/or revealing proprietary conclusions; our Student Master Files generally contain:

>Full name, current address, and phone contact(s)

>Birthdate

>Sensei(s) name(s)

>Rank(s)/Shogo Title(s) earned

>Pass/Fail Ratio

>Date of last testing cycle

>Whom administrated said testing cycle(s)

>Tenure Information

>Signature(s) of Authority

>Etc [Proprietary conclusions]

[quinteros1963]

That's up to the folks at GKR.

[Nidan Melbourne]

It is good to hear that your hombu approves everything when it comes to grading. It must really help to keep numbers down at a grading for quality assurances.

What do you have in the master file?

Still, our numbers aren't the Hombu's concern as to the versus ratio of whom can or whom can't test at the Hombu and the like. Our annual testing cycle at the Hombu is usually over 200+ students; all who've been approved by the Hombu.

Without explaining and/or revealing proprietary conclusions; our Student Master Files generally contain:

>Full name, current address, and phone contact(s)

>Birthdate

>Sensei(s) name(s)

>Rank(s)/Shogo Title(s) earned

>Pass/Fail Ratio

>Date of last testing cycle

>Whom administrated said testing cycle(s)

>Tenure Information

>Signature(s) of Authority

>Etc [Proprietary conclusions]

I can respect you for wanting to withhold certain information for legal reasons.

If I wanted to use that kind of formatting i would get permission from you first.

All my old school had on file was:

Name

D.O.B

Address

Parent(s)

Account details for direct debit (N/A if paid in cash or via cheque)

Grading history and who graded them

Start date (when they commenced training from the very beginning)

How many lessons that they are at (at) their current rank.

and any other notes for the student (ie if there is any outstanding fees owed)

[Safroot]

Yes GKR is a typical McDojo. I met their rep the other day, she wasn't that professional and she was trying to push me by all possible means to join them and sign a contract on that night ... but she failed

Edited January 18, 2014 by Safroot

[wagnerk]

GKR stands for Go-Kan-Ryu. It is a style of karate founded by Kancho Robert Sullivan. It is a mix of Shotokan and Goju-Ryu I think

Yes it is a mix of Goju and Shotokan. I was bored the other day and looked up their site

Which is funny as what other styles has the parenthood of Gōjū-ryū & Shotokan? Kyokushin karate and Ishinryu karate (the one created by Ticky Donovan, not to be confused with Isshin-Ryu karate. This also has elements of Wado), two very strong styles that I know about and there could be more. And they couldn't be any more different (in practices) to GKR.

Yes GKR is atypical McDojo. I met their rep the other day, she wasn't that professional and she was trying to push me by all possible means to join them and sign a contract on that night ... but she failed

While not getting into the debate or putting my personal views on what "type" of MA this organisation is. The reps that go out (the GKR self defence consultants) more times than not are sales people (on the odd occasion it could be an instructor). They actually advertise on job sites, for example: https://jobsearch.direct.gov.uk/GetJob.aspx?JobID=816210 however the salary is based on reaching X amount of sales, which I've been told is in the fine print.

[sensei8]

Previous experience is not essential as all relevant training will be provided

As a manager for them, this doesn't worry me. But if said manger is expected to teach, and isn't ready to teach from the start; that worries me. Not all black belts can teach, but first, they're black belts. What this ad spoke to me was that, while you're a manager of the location, we'll provide relevant training, well, that manager can't teach, nor should that manager teach the MA.

Management of said location, well, train for that, and that alone!!

[Nidan Melbourne]

GKR stands for Go-Kan-Ryu. It is a style of karate founded by Kancho Robert Sullivan. It is a mix of Shotokan and Goju-Ryu I think

Yes it is a mix of Goju and Shotokan. I was bored the other day and looked up their site

Which is funny as what other styles has the parenthood of Gōjū-ryū & Shotokan? Kyokushin karate and Ishinryu karate (the one created by Ticky Donovan, not to be confused with Isshin-Ryu karate. This also has elements of Wado), two very strong styles that I know about and there could be more. And they couldn't be any more different (in practices) to GKR.

Yes GKR is atypical McDojo. I met their rep the other day, she wasn't that professional and she was trying to push me by all possible means to join them and sign a contract on that night ... but she failed

While not getting into the debate or putting my personal views on what "type" of MA this organisation is. The reps that go out (the GKR self defence consultants) more times than not are sales people (on the odd occasion it could be an instructor). They actually advertise on job sites, for example: https://jobsearch.direct.gov.uk/GetJob.aspx?JobID=816210 however the salary is based on reaching X amount of sales, which I've been told is in the fine print.

Kyokushin and Isshinryu karate are very good styles to me. They let their art doing the talking instead of sending people out to bring people it. As students who train in those styles talk about it to their friends and family and it will spread like wildfire.

Both styles acknowledge their heritage and do justice to each of the styles that they are derived from. I have friends who train in both styles and their instructors are tough in terms of getting things correct and that they are going to be effective for their future.

[RAM18]

I had a friend with GKR.

To me it sounded a very muddled style and a bit of a belt factory. It certainly doesn't hold a good reputation with anyone i know.

That said if people enjoy GKR and get something out of it then ultimately that's a good thing.

[Nidan Melbourne]

I had a friend with GKR.

To me it sounded a very muddled style and a bit of a belt factory. It certainly doesn't hold a good reputation with anyone i know.

That said if people enjoy GKR and get something out of it then ultimately that's a good thing.

I agree it does sound really muddled up and it annoys me greatly. Also I read on one of their websites that they are planning on adding more things.