New Gi arrived today

[Kyonovice]

Finally my new gi has arrived, all embroidered up with club kanji and I have to say it is lovely!

My only concern is that the new gi is not a heavyweight one, it is 100% cotton but is quite thin.

Although this is going to be a wonderful break from a heavyweight one, I am concerned about the following:

- The "snap" with it being light weight, I fear it won't snap as well as my old one and my technique won't "sound" right

- Randori - we do some randori now and then in lessons, I worry that this one won't hold up to the rigours of randori and will break which I really don't want.

I am now trying to decide what to do, I might just speak to my sensei about getting a judo doji (top only) for the randori or see if there is a way in which the randori can be included without as much force used to try and keep my gi from breaking at the seem.

[JR 137]

The snap sound is for kids IMO. More a trick than anything else. It's funny because my old sensei used to tell us to make or gis snap as loud as possible when he wanted us to throw some power behind techniques. My current sensei tells a few kids to stop trying to make their gi pop. They alter the mechanics of the punches to get the maximum pop sound.

As far as randori, only time will tell if it'll hold up. If your sensei sold you the gi and it breaks down a lot faster than he said it will, let him know about it (politely, of course). If you're doing heavy duty grappling/throwing, the best and heaviest karate gi won't hold up. If it becomes a problem, asking your sensei about judo/jujitsu gis is a good idea.

I've got to find out if I can get my gis embroidered, as I'm not a fan of patches. Our honbu sells embroidered gis, but I don't like the gi itself. I wonder if they have a company that I can send my gi to. Sorry... Embroidery is cool!