I have a belt test in about 2 weeks.

[jaypo]

I'm not that big of a fan of it either. I think one issue is that this club is fairly new and not fully established. He has a bunch of newer kids in his beginner class. And I've spoken to their mothers a few times. I think Sensei is being questioned a lot as to why his classes aren't like the McDojo's that people are used to seeing around here which includes people decked out from top to bottom with foam pads free sparring and board breaking. So I think he's trying to introduce the right way to do those things to retain students by appeasing their parents, but he insists on doing those things the right way. Instead of just breaking boards to appease parents, he explained the history of tameshigiri and why it was practiced as it pertained to the application of striking and the parallels to bone breaking! Same with sparring. He doesn't particularly like having the kids free spar because of insurance purposes and because of their lack of control. But he has been putting more emphasis on application of the things he teaches them and how they can be applied to sparring. And in the private and advanced classes, we're sparring a little more. So I think he is introducing some of the things they asked him to, but he is taking it slowly and trying to educate us first.

As for my daughter, he actually excluded her from the board breaking, but she asked do to it. When he agreed, she got nervous!

[darksoul]

Well I think that when your daughter does break a board, it'll make her self-confidence sky rocket, so that is a good thing.

That's good that he is focusing on teaching things right and that he included the history and philosophy of the tameshigiri.

The focus on Combat is tough to pull off. You have to make sure no one gets hurt. You have to make sure that they are not just going in wildly swinging. For kids, I don't think free sparring is really helpful. Not until they grasp the focus of calm, collected combat anyway.

Taking it slow is definitely the best way. A smart fighter is a better fighter.

[jaypo]

Well, my exam is tonight. Sensei was telling us that are "going up for brown belt" what to know. So I don't know what the deal is! He previously told us that there was a chance we'd be able to achieve Shodan ho. So I think he's doing what he did last time before our exam-see what we can handle mentally! His system now has 1 levels of brown. He said that technically, we're both going up for brown, but it's up to our performance as to which level we get. I think that if one of us or both perform nearly perfect, he may meritoriously promote to Shodan ho.

I'll check back in tonight after the exam! I'll try to contain my excitement for the rest of the day!

[FangPwnsAll7]

Thanks!

Good luck jaypo.

[jaypo]

Here is the update from my exam Friday. I went in early to practice, and my Sensei had a discussion with me. It seems that when his assistant redid the syllabus, she made a huge mistake and gave it out to us. This one had us testing with katas that we hadn't worked on much at all. In the original system, we would be testing based on the Naihanchi's and all the heians and pinans. Bassai Dai was the next step. I've worked on those katas tirelessly. When I got the syllabus, they weren't even on there. The way the syllabus was drawn up was based on his beginner classes which consists of students that come from no training background. He grades them based on 2 different katas that we hadn't worked on in class. So I had to learn 1 of those 2 last week.

My Sensei explained that in the original plan, I would be testing for brown level 1, 2, or 3, but in the new belt structure, there is no level 3. When I started, I was working on the old system. He said that technically, there is less work required on the new system, and that the old system is "harder" to obtain a black belt. He said that if we were going by the new syllabus, I'd be testing for black belt, but not in the way that I had originally started. So of course, I chose the harder path! I told him that I wanted to work my way up based on the old system because it is more traditional. He felt that I had the knowledge to pass either way.

Fast forward to the test. Going through everything, I only had a miscue once when I used an elbow strike instead of a spearhand! I was the only one that broke the boards put in front of me during Katas. I performed all of the heians and pinans perfectly. Then, he put me, a girl that was testing for the same rank as me, and his senior black belt (who I've been working with on the 2 "new" katas for this test) up for the final kata. We all laid a big fat egg! The problem is that he had changed 2 movements because everyone was having trouble with a certain transition, but I wasn't aware of the changes. Plus, we were all 3 on the same floor at the same time, so that messed up the rhythm- I was performing it the way I was taught, and Jamie was doing it the way she was taught. It threw everything out of whack!

Then came sparring- my first opponent was the Sr. black belt who is about 6'1, 260. I'm 6'0, 190. His first front kick- I blocked it and dislocated my finger AGAIN! I pulled it back into place and continued. I went against 4 opponents, and I did not perform how I wanted to. I was too passive, and my concentration was off because of my performance during my kata. However, I did well. Just not as well as I wanted to.

Grading. Jamie and I were informed that we were kind of put up against a wall because of the confusion. He said that he knows how much we've improved and what we're capable of, and he understands that the changes in the system and the 2 changes in the kata caused us to perform it poorly. But he also acknowledged that the Sr. black belt that taught it to us also performed it poorly, so he could't fault us too much! So we were both promoted to 1st kyu! (2nd level brown in this system). He looked me in the eye after I received my belt and said "you'll be testing for your black belt in December. Or before that if I decide!"

So although I wasn't happy with my performance in kata and sparring, I pretty much aced everything else. And I got to 1st kyu with the understanding that I can possibly obtain my black belt by year end! I have some work to do, but I feel confident that I'll do it based on the old system. However, I want to surprise him and ace the kata I messed up on as well!

Thanks for all the well wishes!

[darksoul]

That's still great! Congratulations and good luck on your Shodan test! I remember mine... it was BRUTAL!

[Patrick]

Congrats jaypo!

Patrick