New Journey with Kiddo

[Zaine]

It has been years since I've stepped foot in a dojo to be there long term. A large portion of my training since Shodan has been relegated to a lot of at home practice, forays into other styles, and when I could I got together with old training partners to practice. I've been pretty happy with this. I've moved around not a small amount since moving away to college 12 years ago so paying for a long-term membership to a certain dojo did not seem like a good use of my money (which was limited many times in the last 12 years) or time. However, now my child is interested in starting. My original instructor hasn't taught for over a decade, and there is no Matsumura Seito school anywhere near me, so we're both starting from White Belt again. It's cool being a WB again, but it is a little weird being in a white gi. My first CI preferred black and at 3rd kyu we wore a black top with blue pants. I'm looking forward to studying Shobayshi-Ryu, and seeing her excited for a lifelong passion of mine is great as well.

[aurik]

I'm a couple years further along that same journey as you are. Good luck and enjoy the ride!

[Patrick]

This is great, John! Thanks for sharing.

[Shojiko]

Good luck w/ your journey! I plan to have my kids start MA firstly from all the other typical physical activities children usually get involved in. Self defense is a MUST ( given the current state of society right now) Pls keep us updated and share your experiences of the Shobayashi system!

[sensei8]

As it's said over and over...the family kicks together stays together. Starting the journey at the same time are memories that are not replaceable...priceless. Train hard and train well, each and everyone of you. Remember, the MA isn't easy, but serious practice makes it seem easier. Good luck in your MA journey, now and forever...and welcome back to the wonderful world of the MA, Zaine!!

Beautiful picture; thank you for sharing it.

[bushido_man96]

Excellent! Enjoy your journey together!

[Zaine]

I had my first class last night. I went for a trial period before enrolling my kiddo so that I could get a feel of it and make sure it was a good environment for her. I caught the last 30 minutes of the kids class, but it seemed really fun and the Sensei was very interactive with the students. Since she inherited my ADHD, I think it will be a great place if what I saw was a typical experience.

I had genuinely forgotten how much fun I had in a classroom. I've been mostly solo training for the last decade and I've gotten used to that. I knew it wasn't ideal, but it was good enough. Stepping back in to a classroom was a breath of fresh air. I got to learn their first three kata, the first 3 in the Taikyoku series. There was a 7th kyu there who was learning Seisan, so the black belts and I got to talk about the differences between in the Shobayashi Seisan and the Matsumura-Seito one. Afterwards we did some Naihanchi bunkai drills.

I got the overwhelming sense that they were there to do karate because they loved it and that was so refreshing. The two black belts there have been doing it for longer than I have (and I have 18 years) and sometimes you find people like that who are burned on it and just going through the motions. Seeing that not be the case here was awesome. It was so much fun to train with people who are as passionate as I am about karate.

[sensei8]

I had my first class last night. I went for a trial period before enrolling my kiddo so that I could get a feel of it and make sure it was a good environment for her. I caught the last 30 minutes of the kids class, but it seemed really fun and the Sensei was very interactive with the students. Since she inherited my ADHD, I think it will be a great place if what I saw was a typical experience.

I had genuinely forgotten how much fun I had in a classroom. I've been mostly solo training for the last decade and I've gotten used to that. I knew it wasn't ideal, but it was good enough. Stepping back in to a classroom was a breath of fresh air. I got to learn their first three kata, the first 3 in the Taikyoku series. There was a 7th kyu there who was learning Seisan, so the black belts and I got to talk about the differences between in the Shobayashi Seisan and the Matsumura-Seito one. Afterwards we did some Naihanchi bunkai drills.

I got the overwhelming sense that they were there to do karate because they loved it and that was so refreshing. The two black belts there have been doing it for longer than I have (and I have 18 years) and sometimes you find people like that who are burned on it and just going through the motions. Seeing that not be the case here was awesome. It was so much fun to train with people who are as passionate as I am about karate.

Nothing but pure gold in your post right here. Solid and worth a fortune. Train hard and train well.

[Wayofaswede]

Thanks for sharing the wonderful pictures. Best of luck with your training, both of you

[aurik]

It sounds like you found a really good school there, with instructors who still really enjoy training and teaching after such a long time. I hope your mini-me learns to love karate as much as those instructors do. Enjoy the ride!