Spat the Dummy

[Miick 11]

.... then stomped it into the ground.... then kicked it in the river .

I probably should not have , but lost it due to frustration . I think , I should have been more patient and explained what was going on for me but then ..... I realized that has been my approach for over 5 years ! nothing seems to get through or make a difference.

I may well have given up martial arts . I dont want to , but I dont know who I am going to train with anymore ? I live in a rural area ... and NO ONE else does anything like I do .... except for one person who 'gets it '. I train ; 17 empty hand katas ( plus a heap of bunkais and drill developed from them ) and the same with 17 katas ; bo , jo, eku, sai, kama, tonfa and a lot of boken ... I guess that is all going to be done 'in the air' now .

I suppose I will wait until the dust settles from the explosion and see what happens then .... but no way can I go back to what was happening

(eg. I am not going to list all my complaints .... too many, but an example of 'annoyance' :

sword match .... slow speed so we can observe and learn ( yet another thing instigated by me ) , my partner ( the one guy that 'gets me' ) enters with a nice tsuki , and slices the 'blade' across my throat , I stop, bow to him . We start again , I mange to come in over the top and down and stab him in the shoulder and push him back ... he goes back, I pull the blade out and slash , he stops and bows to me .

I do the same technique to 'instructor' .... he refuses to go back when pushed with the sword tip ( a slow tsuki) after I get past his guard , he gets annoyed , lets go of his own sword with one hand , grabs my 'blade' with his hand and 'annoyed' pulls it out of the way ! .... I have to keep telling him " dont try to grab a sword blade , you keep saying to train with a boken like it is a real sword ... now IS IT , or is it a 'sword jo' make up your mind - then he will not answer . That and other behavior has driven students away or any new interested person . About 40% of applied technique he 'teaches' comes from me .... yet I pay him to support a hall rental for the club for night classes I dont even go to, nor really does anyone else nowadays . . . then he moaned to the remaining guy that 'no one pays me for instruction ' .

Thats it ! I am out .

[bushido_man96]

Well, I can't say as I blame you for leaving. Try to find another place to train, even if you have to travel there once every few weeks. Otherwise, continue to train on your own, and try to stay sharp. You should get that other guy to train outside the dojo with you.

[Miick 11]

Thanks, your feedback is appreciated .

I did write a long post in response , but I have no idea where it went ?

Anyway , this has broached into another general subject, which I hope to post on later about : the Student instructor relationship .

The other day I saw a good video from a many years long Iaido practitioner ; " Why I hate Iaido . " he bought up some relevant points to 'karate instruction' that I'd like to discuss here in another thread .

[Miick 11]

The other issue is , its not about 'another place to train' . I am beyond that now, and in any case too old for it . I am more of a coach ; I can show young fit people with experience in karate how to apply what I know ... but I am certainly not up for 'a 50 man spar'

I am more interested in doing seminars and offering what I have in that type of environment . I have been to a few seminar type instructions that other clubs put on, they where great and I learned a LOT from them . ... and , of course, a 'certain person' would never accompany me to these , even though a few other local club heads , teachers and seniors went along .