Becoming a CI

[bushido_man96]

That program sounds amazing and well-thought-out.

Will you eventually launch a website or YouTube channel, just out of curiosity?

I concur! It sounds like you are headed in the right direction, and you've got things focused in.

[Zaine]

Thank you! One of the perks of having ADHD is that I can commit a lot of background RAM to thinking about this! My partner and I come from a schools that had less of a curriculum and more of a "when I think you're ready" type of deal. The latter has it's advantages, but I was a White Belt for a year and that was probably far too long. Having a distinct, clear path to the next level helps everyone.

We will have a website, along with a social media suite. We're looking designs for websites and pricing everything out. We're also working on designing a logo for patches that will also serve as our profile pictures. Once we have that done we will start creating social media content.

[ashworth]

Sounds like you are on a very exciting path! Wishing you all the best on your venture

[aurik]

I really like the way you have your system set up. I do see how you have kumite and self-defense techniques based upon their required rank kata. I was wondering if you had considered adding formal bunkai to your kata? I find that performing the bunkai for a given kata helps me to better understand the kata.

The flip side to that is that if you have a new kata at each rank, then the amount of material to learn for each rank gets unwieldy. Another option is as you're presenting the kumite material, be sure to explicitly tie it back to the kata, since sometimes the connections aren't obvious.

Another thing you may want to consider (if you haven't already) is to increase the complexity of the kumite drills as the students increase in knowledge. My CI just pointed this out the other day, but it should have been obvious from the beginning if I had paid attention earlier:

Our first yakusoku kumite (prearranged kumite) drill is basically strike/block, strike/block, and strike/block/counter. That's the first one students learn. The second one consists of one and two attack/defense sequences. The first two are required for 9th-7th kyu. The second set consists of defending against two, three, and four attacks with a counter at the end. This set is required for 6th-4th kyu. The final set in our system is technically 5 attack/defense sequences followed by alternating takedowns. However, in practice it is performed in "renzoku" style where there is no real pause between sequences. This last set is required for 3rd kyu through 5th dan.

The point I'm aiming at here is that as the students get more advanced they're expected to connect more material together in their two-person drills. Again, I don't know if you've already considered this, but something to possibly think about.

All in all, I'm excited to hear you've started on the instructor journey. Best of luck to you!!

[Zaine]

I really like the way you have your system set up. I do see how you have kumite and self-defense techniques based upon their required rank kata. I was wondering if you had considered adding formal bunkai to your kata? I find that performing the bunkai for a given kata helps me to better understand the kata.

Most of the two person self defense is taking directly from the kata. At this time, the only thing that isn't taken directly from the kata are the things that I have taken from our basics that they learn at White Belt. One of the very few gripes that I have about the Shobayashi/Shudokan dojo that I currently go to is that they don't have enough Ippon Kumite that is focused strictly on bunkai, so that was fresh in my mind as I was writing out the curriculum.

Another thing you may want to consider (if you haven't already) is to increase the complexity of the kumite drills as the students increase in knowledge. My CI just pointed this out the other day, but it should have been obvious from the beginning if I had paid attention earlier:

Our first yakusoku kumite (prearranged kumite) drill is basically strike/block, strike/block, and strike/block/counter. That's the first one students learn. The second one consists of one and two attack/defense sequences. The first two are required for 9th-7th kyu. The second set consists of defending against two, three, and four attacks with a counter at the end. This set is required for 6th-4th kyu. The final set in our system is technically 5 attack/defense sequences followed by alternating takedowns. However, in practice it is performed in "renzoku" style where there is no real pause between sequences. This last set is required for 3rd kyu through 5th dan.

This was something that my original teacher did poorly, but that my current dojo does well. It's a good suggestion, and one that I have already incorporated.