Way of a Swede (from 8 kyu to...)

[DarthPenguin]

What style does the new club teach in? Will you be picking up an additional style too or is it one of the existing ones you practice?

More training is a good thing though!

[sensei8]

Thanks Darth

My daughter has decided to quit our club and will try training in one that has many more children (our current doesn’t take in any new children, she’s the only one left in her age and rank). I realized that I also will have to start training in the new club if she decides to join it.

For a while I felt sad and dissapointed, as my current club teaches both Shito and Goju ryu and katas from both styles. Then I found a solution: I will join my daughter for the basic sessions in the new club, but keep training the basic+advanced sessions in my regular club! (if I have the stamina left for those that particular week )

Seems like there is a chance that I suddenly will be training in two clubs in 2024 and that there some weeks may be up to 4 hours karate club training instead of the regular 2. We’ll see. Exciting and somewhat daunting weeks ahead…

Daunting is to say the least. You and your daughter will have your training hands quite busy. Cross-training on the side while training in ones current style(s) isn't that mind-blowing compared to training in multiple styles unless their methodologies and ideologies are similar. Even that being said, very daunting across the board.

Your daughter will have it easier because she'll be concentrating on the one style, even though what she's already been training should hopefully remain inside her muscle memory.

I do agree with DarthPenguin..."More training is a good thing though!"

Hang in there, you both. Please keep us posted.

[bushido_man96]

That sounds like a positive spin on things for sure! Please keep us posted as to how things go.

[Wayofaswede]

What style does the new club teach in? Will you be picking up an additional style too or is it one of the existing?

The new club teaches Shito-Ryu and is run by former students to the C I in my current club. So no additional styles (and I could wear my brown belt during today’s training)

[Wayofaswede]

Thanks sensei and bushidoman,

We went and trained a session in the new club. The first thing I was told even before training started was that my current C I doesn’t accept that students train in two clubs, that other students who wanted to train in both had had to choose one.

In my case I hope there wouldn’t be a problem, as I would only train some extra sessions when my daughter would train (instead of just sitting on a bench watching her train for an hour). I would keep seeing my current club as ”my club”, and would only be guest training occasionally in the new one.

But on the way home my daughter surprisingly said that she wants to continue with Karate but that she missed our old dojo, where she had the opportunity to train with me during the session.

We’ll see what she decides and what my C I says about me cross-training IF she decides to actually switch club. Glad she wants to continue anyhow and we had a good guest training session. It was fun to meet my old trainer (my C I:s old student) and some old training partners from the old days when my current club was the only one, but with two dojos.

I’ll definitely keep you posted. The main factors that separates both clubs is that one takes in children (and has lots of them!) and that it is situated only 10 minutes by car from here, the other 25 minutes by car.

[DarthPenguin]

Sounds like it is all getting sorted.

If you daughter prefers to stay in the current club then that removes any issues with training at another school for you before they even materialise

[Wayofaswede]

Indeed it does. Next training is on Saturday and she says she’s made up her mind: She prefers our current club. Children…

[bushido_man96]

Indeed it does. Next training is on Saturday and she says she’s made up her mind: She prefers our current club. Children…

Sounds like it's all worked out. Too bad your CI has that outlook on cross training.

[DarthPenguin]

yeah is a shame on the cross training though tbh it's not really cross training since it is some of his old students and they will be covering his style (plus some goju).

Maybe it's the same style that is more of an issue to the CI- i can think of former instructors of mine that were fine with you going for extra training at classes run by their seniors (indeed it was encouraged at more senior grades) but were a little less keen about going to classes run by their juniors

[Wayofaswede]

Yes, I would like more training sessions and two dojos each week to choose from to maybe be able to increase the amount of training each week. But today we were back in our club dojo, my daughter was happy, enjoyed the session a lot and was more committed than any session last semester. Maybe she needed to ”see the grass on the other side” of the proverbial fence to really appreciate the training of our club. She really enjoys to keep performing techniques on her dad as well .

I told C I afterwards that she had been thinking about quitting but now have decided to continue in our club. He answered that they will make sure to take more care of her progress as well and help her improve at her current level.

Of course it’s a challenging situation for her. Today we were all teenagers and adults, only brown and black belts - and my little brave 8-yearold with her yellow belt with a single stripe.

Anyhow, the decision has been made, the semester fee has been paid. And I will keep cherishing the father-daughter-time we will keep having together each Saturday.

Bruised but happy after three rounds of ”full contact” kumite with three different partners before the advanced session ended, I can finally definitely say: Spring semester of club training has begun!