All Wado Karate Forum

Congratulations.
It's a good feeling when hard work pays off.

Well done Andy!

Tim

Congratulations, Andy. Glad to hear all the hard work paid off.

Shep also said it best, "Now the journey begins". All the best to you.

Chris

monkey mind wrote:Congratulations Andy! Would you mind sharing more about your own preparation for the grading? What was most/least valuable in the end? I'm a 2nd kyu now & hope to be making similar preparations in the not too distant future.

Sure, I dont mind sharing at all. I can remember taking my 1st kyu and someone said to me, in terms of technical content, the 1st kyu grading isn't much different to the 1st Dan grading. Well thats kind of true and I was keen to take my dan grade soon after my 1st kyu. My sensei said I am not allowed to take it for 1 year, which at the time upset me, but I now see it was the right thing to do. The karate I did yesterday was so much better than it would have been a year ago.

So, training wise, from January this year I increased all my training. I changed my dojo training from two to three times per week and I worked hard at home. I am lucky to have quite a large garage and when I get the cars out, put my mats down. So from Jan to march I added into my training a bit extra at home or in the garage and started running to work on my fitness.

April to Grading I have tried to do something every day, this is easier said than done, hehe. So some days my training in my garage might just be some stretching and then work on kata single moves slowly, thats for days when you are aching too much. On the better days, I would start with a 2 mile run and then do my basics, kata and ippons full out. I found that work out was near impossible on the day after a dojo day.

I have picked up some inuries along the way, so it's now time to try and let my shoulder and ankle get better, also, I think my wife wants her husband back, haha.

Thankyou all for the warm wishes and just to add, my sensei never smiles on pictures, its not that he is grumpy, hehe.

Andy

He looks like a funny guy ;)

Well done Andy, shodan is a very significant step. Getting upset at your instructor is something you will get used to now if you don't understand your instructor's job.

oneya

oneya wrote:Well done Andy, shodan is a very significant step. Getting upset at your instructor is something you will get used to now if you don't understand your instructor's job.

oneya

I am looking forward to learning lots more, I aim to be a very good dan grade.

One of his jobs has always been to push my buttons to get the best out of me. He is very good at knowing which are the right buttons to push, in my case its telling me I cant do something, which makes me 100 times more determined to do it.

andyb28 wrote:

oneya wrote:Well done Andy, shodan is a very significant step. Getting upset at your instructor is something you will get used to now if you don't understand your instructor's job.

oneya

I am looking forward to learning lots more, I aim to be a very good dan grade.

One of his jobs has always been to push my buttons to get the best out of me. He is very good at knowing which are the right buttons to push, in my case its telling me I cant do something, which makes me 100 times more determined to do it.

It is a teachers job to see what kind of student you are. There are also (most of them) students that function on encouragement. If that kind of student hears, this is no good, that is no good, they will lose their motivation. Motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) is an element of kihon wen it comes to learning. Others just pick a role model and try to be like them. There are many kinds of students, they are all individuals.

AJ

WadoAJ wrote:

andyb28 wrote:

oneya wrote:Well done Andy, shodan is a very significant step. Getting upset at your instructor is something you will get used to now if you don't understand your instructor's job.

oneya

I am looking forward to learning lots more, I aim to be a very good dan grade.

One of his jobs has always been to push my buttons to get the best out of me. He is very good at knowing which are the right buttons to push, in my case its telling me I cant do something, which makes me 100 times more determined to do it.

It is a teachers job to see what kind of student you are. There are also (most of them) students that function on encouragement. If that kind of student hears, this is no good, that is no good, they will lose their motivation. Motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) is an element of kihon wen it comes to learning. Others just pick a role model and try to be like them. There are many kinds of students, they are all individuals.

AJ

Hi AJ,

Normally I might probably agree with you but in this case we are not talking about teaching children here - we are talking about functioning in a Japanese Martial art whilst the ego frailty seeking encouragement is actually being one’s own worst adversary. Japanese martial arts method of critique is called ‘hihyo’ where students are taught to deal with adversity and in doing so to develop an ability to look objectively at their own ego involvement when being faced with the self discipline required in matters of criticism from one’s instructor.

In western terms students may very well function on encouragement – which if we look at this ‘be nice encouragement’ objectively we can see this being nothing more than a tacit compromise on the instructors part which can lay the groundwork for the students defeat when dealing with adversity where there will be absolutely no ‘encouragement’ coming from the attacker or quite often from the world at large. A sensei’s task is to make sure that the student can handle any adversarial situation whether physical, mental or in matters of spirit and will power and this is why we use hihyo in martial arts. Hihyo is used to strengthen the student’s willpower and oversome his own weaknesses which - if not examined - may lead to his own downfall.

Hihyo constructive criticism is a way of shedding the traps and manacles of language and stops us throwing rocks in our own path. It is necessary to understand that 'hihyo' is not a critique of one's self or the ego, it is a critique of what one is doing that often involves unconscious behaviour. Western students often don't get this in a dojo for various reasons, one of which is its dollar value to the sensei and another is criticism is often mistaken for a negative comment by western students.

oneya

Hi Oneya,

I was not merely talking about children. (i'm not sure to what age you consider them to be children - as a term - , to me that is about 12 years old) I verbalized incorrectly, I guess it should have been stimulate instead of encourage. perhaps that Is why you thought I was talking about children alone.

constructive criticism, thats right. that is what I meant in a way.

but. It cannot be said that students should not be stimulated or even encouraged. Of course all you mentioned applies, but it cannot be ignored that learning is a process and that some need just that push to grow and mature untill they are ready to do this themselves.

example.
Summercamp 2008 we were running in the morning at 6 AM (this is standard at our camps). One of them wanted to give up because he (thought he) was exhausted. If I would have done nothing he would have given up. constructive criticism by words would probably not have helped that time. I ran back to get him and grabbed him in the neck and started running with him so he did not have a chance to quit. I then said stuff like ' come on just 10 more minutes, meters etc'. this is also encouragement and stimulation in my opinion. again, my words (or my definition of those words) might be incorrect for this use. not my mothers tongue..

In the end when he made it he said: "I didn't know you could die three times in a row". He is now one of my 2nd kyu students with an excellent mentality. He matured.

Anyway, within Dojo terms It's not a pink scene with red roses and hugging teddy bears. Please, do not get the wrong idea about my previous post.

AJ