Troubles writing, "disrespecting Sensei"

I want to write here.

I really do.

I'm hoping that the start-back of the kyu club's training this Saturday inspires me towards writing, however, because there's a lot of positive energy there.

Within me, however, is frustration and a lack of faith in the future of what we know as "our organization".

When I'm in the kyu club, things are pretty great - I enjoy the people I see on a bi-weekly basis, I love watching everyone learn and progress and sweat and try hard. I love how they challenge me to keep going when I'm tired, how they help me learn further by allowing me to become their Sensei for a few minutes. I love how the instructors support my need to be a leader and learn from leadership of others.

But, outside of this little bubble of greatness, the world of "our organization" is very small these days. Fewer clubs, clubs with fewer students, fewer competitive-aged folk... Fewer is starting to look like a made-up word now.

There are whispers about new associations with larger karate bodies, but we're going from being "the center of things" to being someone else's periphery and that's a huge step back in my eyes, so I find it tremendously difficult to find any kind of excitement for it.

I actually hadn't realized that whole "from center to satellite" thing quite so clearly until now.

I started out in a smaller community that wasn't at the center of the things going on in our style of martial art - at a local YM/YWCA that rented facilities to my older brother, who had taken up martial arts after leaving home and had attained the rank of black belt before I left home and moved in with him to go to University. Being in the small community setting and being a low-ranked student, the fact that there was MAYBE one tournament a year that we'd go to didn't bother me. I didn't even know about the wonders of training camps or seminars or officiating seminars at the time, and I was still strongly addicted to karate itself.

Then, I moved to a new city and into the "center" of karate things within an organization. I was at the club where the Officiating seminars were held, the club with the guy who was one of three instructors at a big yearly summer camp and held his own camps and seminars at various times of the year - all of which were well-attended and a lot of fun.

But time has passed, times have changed. Students and instructors have come and gone. The head guy is still the head guy, but the followers are not of the same number or quality, especially after a large and painful split that happened about two years ago. Camps are non-existant. Seminars were as well for a few years but now there's a couple here and there - but I'm not entirely sure attendance foots the bill.

Seems to me that the "central" bit has gone down the drain fast. Now we've got a bunch of well-trained Officials and the tournaments are still being handled well, but the rest is in shambles at a high level from my view.

At a low level - life goes on. The regular club people have no clue that there were ever week-long Summer camps in the summer that were torturous and painful but some of the most incredible karate experiences they'd ever have and the most rewarding socializing they'd have on a repeat basis... that there were Seminars that would bring in people from many hours away and then bring you to THEIR club, many hours away, 6 months later to continue the karate friendships.

All they know is that they like their instructor and fellow karateka, what they're doing is fun, and (for some of them) sometimes they get to compete with it.

It pains me to think about retreating to that level of expectation for my martial art.

And for this reason, I cannot honestly say I have any interest in "ramping up" for a Nidan testing as I had been planning upon in the past. It feels dishonest to contemplate otherwise when all I'm truly interested in is enjoying the "bubble" that is my kyu rank club and staying away from the negativity that permeates the high-level dojo.

The next entry will be much more up-beat and talking about the fun parts of karate, I promise!

The Glory of Watching Kyu Ranks Improve

While I don't write regularly, I still train at least semi-regularly. Right now I'm training two days a week, plus weekends have been very full in the past month with seminars and tournaments.

Qualifying Tournament

Last weekend we had a qualifying tournament for kyu ranks/colored belts to secure their spot in our Provincial tournament coming up at the end of April, and we had 8 or so of the students competing. I believe everyone got at least one medal, and most qualified for the next tournament in each event they went into, as well.

It's sure fun to watch students develop throughout the years, and tournament time seems to be concentrated into a mode of "super fun". Nowhere (except perhaps during testing) will a student be more focused or do a more powerful kata than when competing in tournament, and of course, nowhere else will they get the chance to pit their fighting skills against their peers in quite the same way. Sure, we practice kumite in class, but without the control of the whole 'match' situation and the adrenaline that comes along with the event, it's not the same.

One of our teenaged brown belts recently turned 15 and because there weren't enough competitors in the 14-17 age bracket, got tossed into the adult category. Wow, did he ever shine! Being a tall guy all his life, until he turned 14 he had been pitted up against people so much shorter than him that he could never really get "in" to the whole fighting process. This time he was against people BIGGER than him... people who could take a few whacks - and he dished a few out, that's for sure! I know he took a few good smacks as well, but all in all he came out of his two fights very happy with how it went. A couple of us black belts said some nice things to him about it all and he blushed and got all shy about it - it was obvious how much fun he had and how happy he was with his own performance, but also obvious that he's a very shy and quiet guy.

Preparing For Testing

As usual in a kyu-rank club, there's a handful of people who are gearing up to test for their next rank over the next month or two.

We've got a "young adult" student (over 18, under 22) with a bit of a learning disability who joined in September and has VERY recently figured out the last wee bit he needs to figure out in order to successfully grade for his yellow belt (8th kyu). I was really happy to see him doing all of his turns correctly last night when I got a chance to stand back and watch him go through Heian Shodan. This guy's two brothers have trained for over a year each and in January his father joined in as well, so we regularly have three or four people from that family training at any class we have. They all focus mentally very well and have very strong techniques and put maximum effort into learning and performing. I love those kinds of families!

We have a couple yellow and orange belts who are likely going to test for their next rank come the end of March, as well.

Last night's senior class was all about the three 5th kyu purple belts and getting them geared up for the next testing as well. We worked on Heian Godan and each of the three students got a lot of individual attention from our 5th dan instructor, and each 5th kyu also got a chance to help correct the other 5th kyus, as yet another way to demonstrate their level of understanding of what they were working on as a group. It worked well, everyone demonstrated solid understanding even if they couldn't get their bodies to obey the mental knowledge. (welcome to purple belt, that's normal)

My Own Training

My training these days is mainly about keeping at it and trying to be relaxed as much as possible while doing it. I got my 1st dan/Shodan in April of 2005 and am planning to gear up for a December 2007 or February 2008 testing for 2nd dan/Nidan. In the mean time I keep training, keep officiating, keep instructing when the senior black belts can't be around. And of course, I'll compete in the upcoming Provincials and Nationals competitions cuz they're fun, too!

How's your training coming along?