Musings of a Karateka.

Grading success?

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 22:11:56 +0100

I passed my grading today. I’m now a 2nd Kyu. The grading was a nightmare, and almost a total disaster.

I expect most associations handle gradings in the same way, but here’s a rundown of our usual process. We’re given a sheet of times in advance that say something like:

White belts - 8th Kyus : 9am
7th Kyus - 5th Kyus : 10am
4th Kyus - 3rd Kyus 11am
2nd Kyus - 11.30am

Then they always run ahead of time, and call people in early, so I always show up at 9am, so I can get changed and in the right frame of mind. And while I travel to the next town to train, the gradings happen only a ten minute walk from my house, luckily!

So I turn up today, in an odd mood. Not really chatty, not particularly in the mood to hang with the people from my club. They tend to annoy me at gradings. I don’t want to chat, or mess about, leave me alone.

We got called in early, but I was ready. I was warmed up in the corridor and set to grade. We get called in, we’re asked to sit in groups by grade, so we can be sorted into smaller groups ready for testing. We sit there for 25 minutes. The etiquette is that we sit in silence with our legs crossed. I bounce my legs a little to try and hold off the cramp, but eventually, my leg goes dead. My left leg always goes dead. Eventually my name is called, I’m taken into a smaller group, all of the adults (6 of us in my region) going for 2nd kyu. We’re then taken to one of the judging tables, and sat down again. Just as my leg recovers, I’m sat down again. This time it starts to hurt. By the time we were called up nearly half an hour later, I’m in a lot of pain, and my leg is so dead that I actually have to look at it while I’m walking to make sure I’m putting it down properly. I could hardly stand on it. So we go straight into the grading. Basics first. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, it was kicking techniques first. This got the blood going in my leg quite quickly, so I could feel it again - oh boy could I feel it - and move it. Ish. The pain in my leg, to be honest, made doing anything difficult, but I managed to push my way through the kihon section of the grading. To be honest, the mediocrity of my group more than covered for my problem.

Why do they call us in half an hour early, from the corridoor where we can stretch and keep moving, just to have us sitting cross legged in agony? POINTLESS.

Next, was kumite sets. Now, I recognised the guy I was paired up with, from the nationals. He competed against myself in the Kata and the Kumite (although I didn’t actually fight him). I remember wondering at the time if the guy had a problem. He has absolutely no physical control, and I seriously wonder how he got to be wearing a brown belt. The Kumite sets consist of two things. Attacking, and defending. He was attacking first, the easy bit. All he needed to do was one jodan (head height) punch, one chudan (stomach height) punch, one mae geri (front kick), one kekomi (yoko geri kekomi - side thrust kick), one mawashi geri (roundhouse kick) and one ushiro geri (back kick, with a spin first). I had to complete the block and counter. This is the actual bit you’re being tested on. But he couldn’t get the attacks right! This made us both look very incompetent. He seriously looked like he was having a fit, and I had little or nothing to block. Eventually we got through it, and it was my turn to perform the attacks for him to block. We were singled out, and had to repeat the whole thing on our own (while the group watched in amazement) time after time after time. The guy was actually teaching him what to do in the grading. Isn’t it a bit late for that? I was amazed he wasn’t asked to leave there and then.

After than, we were told to assume the dreaded position on the floor, legs crossed, while we waited for the chief examiner to inspect our Kata. I know I’m pretty good at Kata, at least compared to the other bits of Karate. Luckily, we weren’t seated long, and it was time to go. We did the Kata, tekki shodan, and several previous Heian Katas picked by the examiner. I felt mine went pretty well, although one lad in the group ruined his grading Kata.

Straight after that, we were all told we’d passed. To be honest, I don’t know how, or why. I don’t think many of us in the group deserved to pass, to be honest. It was a bit of a joke, that so much was overlooked. I wish it was about more than money, and I wish that people weren’t cut so much slack. I train hard so I can perform well on the day. I had a shocking performance, partly due to the leg, partly due to my head being all over the place with other things right now, but I still made myself look good compared to some of the idiots in the group.

I guess that’s why I took the 1st place Kata trophy at the nationals. Some people just don’t seem to take it seriously.

Tomorrow came around fast

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 23:34:37 +0100

It’s 11.30pm here right now, and I’m tired, but I can’t sleep. I’ll pass out in the early hours of next morning, then get up, feel awful, be ill, and head to my grading. I’m quite confident about my grading, I just have my pre-grading sickness ritual to complete, and it wouldn’t be right to do it on a full nights sleep!

Training and more training

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:12:19 +0100

Training last Saturday was fun. I went to our sister club in the morning, and helped out there before training at my own club in the afternoon. Was a pretty tough day, but I think I did okay. I did every lesson that day apart from the black belt class, and survived!

Tuesday, however, was intense. One of our sensei’s stamina lessons that I’ve grown to despise and fear. Being pushed and pushed until I literally have nothing left. Then pushed some more. Even as I’m punching and kicking I can feel I have no power, and that my technique and stances are starting to slide. Being pushed to keep on trying and keep on performing totally drains me, and 48 hours later I’m still feeling warn out from it.

Grading for 2nd kyu on the 9th, a week on Saturday. It’s flown around so fast because we concentrated so hard on the nationals.

I really can’t wait to be a 2nd kyu. A brown and white belt. So close to 1st kyu, the grade at which I will learn more than I foresee myself learning at any other grade. The grade at which I will learn what it means to be trying for a black belt.

I’ve got my grading syllabus down this time. The Kata, Tekki Shodan, is on fire. I own it. And my kumite sets are more than adequate. I’m happy with everything I’m taking to the grading. Apart from Manji uke. I just don’t like the block. I really don’t!

Please all keep your fingers crossed for me a week on Saturday morning! :)

Could you put up a video of your testing?

i would just like to see the katas performed
and see the differences in training and grading is all.
i always like learning new ways of approaching karate

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:39:23 +0000

Hello. Unfortunately our gradings are not filmed, due to the mixed age ranges in our club, they cannot be filmed legally in the UK without permission of the parents of every single kid involved. The Kata are performed fairly traditionally in terms of timing and speed, so check out “shotokankataman” on youtube, and you’ll get an indication of the way we perform our Kata! :)

Busy busy...

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:28:51 +0000

I’ve hardly found time to sit down since the nationals, so sorry it’s been so long since I updated this! The day after the nationals, I started a new job, with longer hours, further away. Which I hate. But all to be able to afford to continue training!

Training since the nationals has been a bit manic, straight back into grading syllabus mode. With the nationals on the 6th of March, and the grading on the 9th of April, everyone had a bit of a panic to get back into it. Luckily, I knew it was coming up, so I kept myself in a state of pre grading readiness!

Can’t believe I’m going to be a 2nd Kyu soon. Assuming I pass. The black belt grading is getting closer, and the gym has gone to pieces because of the new job. Hopefully I’ll get myself into a proper routine soon, and I can prepare for it properly!

A few people have dropped out at training, or at least I assume they have. The two idiot teenagers at my grade haven’t been seen since before the nationals, and now won’t have time to learn their grading syllabus, so I should outgrade them either way, fingers crossed! The guy who is the grade above me who I’ve never got on with has dropped out slowly but surely, and I hope never to see him again.

Other than that, training is brilliant, and I’m still loving it. Tekki Shodan to perform this time, and then Bassai Dai and Kanku Dai! Getting quite nervous about moving up eventually to first kyu, the pressure will really be on then!

I promise to keep up documenting my journey on here. Sorry I’ve been a bit rubbish lately. And thanks to Eleanor who left me a fantastic message the other day! It’s inspiration like that which keeps me training and blogging. Thank you. :)

Congrats on your kata trophy!!!!!

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 23:51:05 +0000

Thank you! :)

Congratulations on your success at nationals!! kata is the best for sure. make the most of this now before you move up to dan grade categories... they are sucky. congrats again!

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 23:50:49 +0000

Thank you! :) I have another chance next year to retain my 1st place trophy at the kyu grade nationals. Then I shall pour my heart into learning the Kata for the dan grade nationals! :)

The nationals, the short version.

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 23:45:36 +0000

Hey guys! It’s 23.41 here now, and I’ve been at the nationals all day.

It’s mostly good news! I won 1st place in individual Kata. And I now have the trophy staring at me to prove it. I can’t quite believe it. I was up against a higher grade in the finals, and delivered my finest ever rendition of Heian Yondan. A Kata I was truly proud of, and it saw me through to the 1st place trophy!

My Kata team unfortunately had a bad day, nerves, just fluke, whatever, and didn’t perform our Kata as well as we had in practice. Although, saying that, we walked away with a 3rd place trophy each!

In the kumite, I finished just outside of the trophy positions, but I gave as good as I got. I lost a small amount of blood, which I will now struggle to get out of my gi, and I delivered a pretty good uraken (backfist) to the jaw of the guy who knocked it out of me! My index and middle finger on my right hand are in so much pain, not broken, but very bruised. Must have clashed during the kumite somewhere!

I will post a long description of my day no doubt, but I really wanted to update quickly.

I’m immensely proud, Kata is my thing, for sure!

Good Luck at Nationals! I know how you must be feeling but just breathe and try to enjoy it too. I'll be sending positive vibes your way and expect a full report!

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 23:40:49 +0000

Thank you! :)

1 more sleep...

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 00:29:57 +0000

So, technically the nationals are today, although it’s only 00:27 in the UK, so I have another sleep to go before I get destroyed, although I hardly see much sleeping happening. Got my gum shield as comfortable as it’s ever going to be. Hate hate hate wearing them.

Training today was okay, pretty much just team Kata practice for us, and I feel like we’re as good as we could be at this stage without months more practice, so I’m happy enough. Depends on tomorrow though, any one of the three of us could crack under the pressue, I already get a knot in my stomach thinking about people looking at me and judging me! ARGH!

I will post back after the nationals, unless I embarrass myself, in which case I will delete this blog, grow a handlebar moustache and move to Mexico, where I will assume my alter ego, Pedro, and live out my days Karate free speaking Spanish and building schools for underprivileged children.

Although my Spanish and DIY skills are worse than my Kata.

It's all about the nationals now...

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 11:20:07 +0000

Training has been pretty intense lately. Lots of fighting, which isn’t my favourite thing to do.

I’ve injured several of my toes which are now a nice shade of deep purple, and I got kicked under the chin, a mae tobi geri (jumping front kick) which was painful to put it mildly.

But it’s all going to be over this Sunday. I’m going to throw everything into the kumite, which is the last event of the day. I won’t worry about being injured, because this is what I’ve been training for, and I don’t want to shy away from the action and walk away with nothing if I have a chance.

I’m grateful it’s the last event of the day, as I can get warmed up, do my individual Kata, then do my team Kata, then really thrash myself in the Kumite. Then I can go home and relax or suffer on my own!

Team Kata practice tonight in a hall we’ve been renting, then training Saturday. I will definitely make sure I post how I do in the nationals, should I survive. But I don’t want anyone to get their hopes up!

Are you "good at Karate"?

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:58:52 +0000

I was having a discussion with a friend from Karate recently about what it means to be “good at Karate”.

Yep, it’s one of those posts. Nothing in here about my own activites, just a random musing on the nature of Karate, Karateka, and the soul of the martial artist living in a modern world. No-one would blame you for not clicking to read more!

Is being good at Karate about winning fights in the club? No, I don’t think so.

Is being good at Karate about getting into fights and winning them outside of your club? Definitely not.

Is being good at Karate about avoiding fighting outside of your club? Partly. But not wholly.

Is being good at Karate about studying the philosophy of Karate, and living the niju kun as much as possible in your daily life? Definitely required, but not the whole thing.

So what is being good at Karate??

The thing that sets Karate aside from people who study MMA is a philosophy, a history, a code of honour, our etiquette and our ethics. And by “MMA” I mean people going to “MMA” class, not people who have studied many martial arts themselves.

To be good at Karate, you must seek to perfect your character (“The true aim of Karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the character of the participants.” - Gichin Funakoshi). So how do you do this? You read the dojo kun, and the niju kun. You comtemplate them, you understand them then you live them. Do I do this? I try, although I’m by no means a perfect character, and there are times in my life where I’m tested, and fail, to act with the character befitting a Karateka.

To be good at Karate, you have to be good at punching and kicking? Yes, to some extent. I mean, if you learn nothing physically, then your training is really not benefitting you, and you would do as well to study as a scholar, not as a martial artist. Do you have to be the best at kicking high, or punching hard to be the best at Karate? No! Just keep improving, keep training hard. Whatever you can do to make your Karate better, do it!

Avoiding using the skills you learn in class actually aids towards the perfection of character, in my opinion. Why would I need to put myself in a position where I fight with three guys? I can walk the other way, cross the road to avoid them, or just not be there if that’s possible. It doesn’t matter whether I would win or lose.

A karateka should be humble. Definitely. And this creates a bit of a paradox for me. I know where my strenghts and weaknesses are in Karate, as I’m instructed to do so by the niju kun (“First know yourself, then know others.” - Gichin Funakoshi), but in being proud of the things I consider myself good at, or by being pleased when I get the hang of a new technique, or kata, I am technically not being humble. I, more than any, am aware I will always be learning (“Karate takes your entire life to learn.” - Gichin Funakoshi) but I can’t help being happy when I pick something up finally.

The paradox is this - “If you think you’re good at Karate, you’re not.” So to be good at Karate, you have to think you’re not.

I try to remain humble though. I am asked quite often by my (few) non karate friends if I’m any good, can I do this or would I be able to do that if I had to. My answers usually range from “probably better than if I never went to Karate” to “I’m still learning, but I always do my best” even to “lets hope we never really have to find out”.

Is the act of accepting a trophy for your Karate counter productive to your training, and the subsequent perfection of character? I think so. I heard a Karateka I know once point to his trophy stand (which was quite full, and deservedly so, some might say) and say “I never think I’m any good at Karate, but obviously other people think I am, or I wouldn’t keep getting these”.

Is displaying your trophies humble? Is telling people you don’t think you’re good at Karate humble, or is it trying to act humble because you’ve been told you should be?

I don’t think being humble is something you can be taught, or try and do. Either you are, or you aren’t. You can be humbled, beaten by someone smaller and weaker than you because they have perfected their Karate, but will you still always believe you are superior to some people inside?

Can you perfect your character? Or does a leopard never change it spots?

kumite is hard. Its a lot to do with chance - who do you get in your first round vs who you get in your last. I have a habit of scoring the top ranked girls first, which makes life interesting thats for sure. In my groups there are Australian team members and 4th Dans because we have an open black division. I hate point sparring, but I generally get through with my continuous. I find the more I can mix it up with people better then me the better my sparring eye gets and the faster I get. I see more and develop more as a fighter. Alot of fighting higher ranks comes down to not stiking unless you KNOW you will land it and if you land it keep it rolling. The second that doubt flashes in your mind you've all ready lost because they know you doubt yourself.

What rank are you btw?

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:11:49 +0000

Thanks! I’m relieved to know my experiences aren’t unique! The way our nationals work, it depends who turns up on the day as to which group I will be in. If there are only a handful of us, and a handful of the grade below, we will all be put together, whereas it could go the other way, and I end up with higher grades. Maybe there will be a whole bunch of my grade and I’ll only fight my grade?

I’m a brown belt, which is 3rd kyu in our association. A nervous one at that!

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for..."

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:43:54 +0000

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

- Friedrich Nietzsche

"First, know yourself, then know others."

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:33:17 +0000

“First, know yourself, then know others.”

- Gichin Funakoshi

Theres about 25 people enrolled. Only 15 kids on average show up the two days out of the week we train. We mix ranks, and higher ranks help lower ranks. I am the only first degree in the class

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:28:56 +0000

It must be difficult being the only person of your rank. I don’t know how your class works, but I can imagine it’s a struggle for you to develop yourself in any way, when you’re outnumbered. Although with a relatively small group, maybe it works? If we had less than 50 people show up to a lesson it would look embarrasing in the dojo we use, but occasionally we are rather thin on the ground. Summer holidays are always bad, and people like to sneak a few lessons off over Christmas sometimes. I, however, have not missed a lesson for 18 months, and intend to see how much longer I can go without missing a single one!

Yeah, thats exactly it. I mean my sensei tells me every student naturally encounters a plateau of laziness throughout his journey of training, and we all must overcome it. But many people don't, and unfortunately i am stuck with lower belts. Never much time for improvement unless guest black belts come in to train, which i am always excited and grateful for!

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:23:30 +0000

So what’s the structure of your lessons then? We’re grouped by grade, so the black belts have their class, then the 1st kyu (brown and red belts) down to 5th kyu (purple belt) students have their class (which I am in) and then the 6th kyu (green belt) down to 10th kyu (blue belt) have their class, then the beginners class. And we’re always welcome to stay and make up numbers and help out in any classes below ours. I’m usually kicking around in the lower grade classes to be honest, as I enjoy going back to basics every now and then. :) How many in your club?

The things I am bored of seeing...

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:21:16 +0000

…whenever I search Tumblr for “Karate” or “martial arts”.

A poster for a Karate club, with rows of broken school desks “chopped” in half.
A photo of a dojo with an entry door, and an exit sign, but no exit door.
A cat “roundhouse kicking” a dog. Or any cat in any Karate pose.
A band called “Karate”.
Two small toddlers sparring. Firstly, it’s Tae Kwon Do, secondly, it’s pure rubbish, and I’m pretty sure I could beat up both of those kids if I got a break in the middle to catch my breath.
Steven Seagal. He doesn’t do Karate, and he never will (excusable if it’s tagged ‘martial arts’ not ‘Karate’).

How many people train in your class? Unfortunately the economy is horrible in the u.s, and there are barely people training in my class.

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:14:02 +0000

In my club there are perhaps 120 students split across two dojos, with the majority at my dojo which trains twice a week. The other dojo trains once a week, although their students regularly attend our second lesson too, which is fun. Our last beginners intake we had about 14 beginners across the two dojos, which is an improvement on any intake in the last year! The association as a whole is shrinking, or staying the same size, but our club is consistently growing, which means we must be doing something right!

The economy here is dire, it really is. It’s nice to be part of a club that’s still growing though, even if it’s not growing as fast as it was. Annoyingly, we’re losing a few higher grades as well, people who just lose interest or fade away due to the recession.

Thoughts on Kumite

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:31:34 +0000

I’ve been wondering lately about my chances in the Kumite event at the national championships. Not so much the chances of winning a trophy, but just the chance of making it out of there alive.

We’ve been practicing in classes, and I’ve been paired up with 1st kyu students, and 1st dan black belt students. Now, as a 3rd kyu the 1st kyus are between 6 months and 18 months ahead of me, and the black belts a further six months ahead.

I’ve been getting beaten, to say the least. I’ve hardly had a chance. Literally been coming out the worst in 99% of my scraps. And although I’ve landed a few good hits, which I have been quite proud of, I’ve never really done enough to dominate an opponent.

Tuesday night, we did some Kumite practice, and just where I was position in the hall meant I ended up pairing up with both a 4th kyu, and a 5th kyu. The 4th kyu I have been training along side almost since I started (he was 3 months behind me) and I found I dominated him easily. I could see when he was coming in to attack, and block easily, and found ways to get inside and land the hits on him without him being able to react. The 4th kyu joined us from out sister club about 6 months ago, so I haven’t got as much experience with him. And, he’s a man mountain. The guy is easily a foot and a half taller than me, and a hard hitter. We had a good scrap, which I still think I dominated! He threw some good techniques, with some good power, but I was blocking well, and landing the counter shots! One ushiro geri he threw I jumped out of the way of (thank god, it was immensely powerful!) then landed a mawashigeri on his ribs. Maybe I do have a chance at the nationals? It just depends who I get grouped with I suppose!