Category: Articles by SRK Instructors

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Supporting Others

By Kim Mandy

What is support?  This is the ability to give assistance and help. This includes talking to each other, working with each other & listening to each other.  It can vary from pro-active in which we jump around, scream and shout; to those on the quieter side who also support in their own way, mostly “behind the scenes”.  Both of these are valuable and necessary for our club to continue to grow and become bigger and better; and above all to help the students become better and continue in their training journeys to achieve all that they can.

How can we support others in their training?  By supporting and helping others we are also helping ourselves improve and further our learning process; whether it is by taking advice from instructors or fellow peers (students).  In order to achieve this we need to communicate, work with each other and if necessary ask for help!

Training support structure consists of a combination of peers and mentors who help you to progress in your training.  Support structure consist of instructors who you train with regularly or periodically, fellow students you discuss ups and downs of your training with and your training partners who help you push yourself past your limits and provide relative resistance and pressure to your training.

At every class the support network kicks in automatically as you will find the higher grade or more experienced student will assist or aid you in correction and help in improving your abilities.  More often than not students are paired up with someone of a higher or more advanced level who will show the way and will help where necessary and in return the lower grade or more inexperienced student is also helping the more advanced student.

Without a training partner some techniques or new skills cannot progress.  This is also true for the support of your club.  Without students, instructors and parent or spectator support, a club of any kind would not exist.  Support in various ways helps the growth and continuation of any club and especially with our club Seitou Ryu, we are a “family” and therefore have an excellent support network including all the above, i.e. instructors, parents and above all students.   An example of this was shown through the generous support when we had our sponsored bike ride in order to purchase our training mats!  Thank you to all who supported the club (and the students & parents who took part in the bike ride too!).

With training partners/fellow students, finding someone who has been or is at the same stage of training where you want to be can help you find your way faster than you might on your own.  To be a good, supportive training partner you need to be accessible and need to care as much about your training as each other.  You need to show trust and respect for each other, encouraging each other, helping each other and giving necessary assistance and you need to both have an area which you perform better in than each other so you can help and in turn support each other. You need to be able to ask questions and feel confident in offering advice and assistance.  Trust & respect are a big part of support. We need to be able to give good advice and a good supportive training partner knows how to work with you and not against you.

Karate is not a “single-person” sport; it ultimately involves people working together by repetitive training and understanding of the art.  We therefore support each other throughout our training journeys.  As a fellow student we support our peers through mental and physical encouragement; as an instructor we support our students by physically helping them, giving encouragement, positive & negative criticism; and above all as parents we support our children in their training by always being there to give them the encouragement and constant reassurance they required. Good advice given to and taken from fellow students helps develop our own training and understanding.

Support given by fellow students, parents & instructors help us develop and progress in our karate journey.  A grading is an example of how support can really help a student when under pressure and stresses of their particular grade.  Without our fellow peers and mentors there when we need them most we feel let down and somewhat disappointed and sometimes even unable to reach our specific goals. By supporting our club we are in effect helping students improve their skills & abilities and further their training journey.

By supporting and helping others we are also helping ourselves improve and further our learning process.
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Breaking Through The Glass Ceiling

By Mick Simmonds

When we take that massive step forward on our karate journey by achieving the next elusive grade we are for that moment in time elated beyond belief, ‘Yes, I’ve done it, & now there will be others to the left of me in the line up’ are just a few things that go through the mind.

Depending on the individual this may last minutes or days, weeks – some even longer before they  realise that this was just one of many steps along a journey that can last a lifetime, and the learning process that now has plateaued  must now be re-engaged to move onwards .

This is where some will be pushed hard up against that imaginary glass ceiling and cause them to falter and some will even fall beside the wayside and give up rather than strive to find the way through the glass ceiling, this is seen a little in the junior kyu grades but is ever so visible once students reach 3rd Kyu Brown belt till 1st Kyu and on into Shodan

This is a  mindset problem, where the ‘can’t do’ in some will win over the ‘can do’ and cause the student to become down beat about their abilities and to even think of continuing along their karate journey is painful to contemplate. Where that next drill/kata just doesn’t click in the head and instead becomes a dreaded chore rather than something enjoyable to do, this is where the rot starts setting in.

It has been my privilege over the years to have met and trained with some great people, some of whom fell by the wayside when they fell into the ‘can’t do’ mindset trap. I have seen the frustration in people turn into a kind of depression that soured their minds and at the time wouldn’t allow themselves to snap out of the malaise they were in, despite efforts of others around them that could see what was happening.

But on the other side of the coin I have known people fail a grading and feel that their whole world had collapsed around them, they then come to the next classes and all their instructors and peers within the dojo rallied around to buoy their spirits back up again and within a period of time they were training as hard as ever and came back stronger for the experience and outperformed everyone at the subsequent gradings and have gone on to greater things since then.

Being honoured to be allowed to stand in front of classes and instruct students over the years I have seen juniors with so much potential it oozes from their every pore, only to see them stop attending classes because things started getting a little harder, a bit more difficult as they moved along their karate path, who getting no support from their family they became despondent and as with juniors they will switch their attention to another pastime with a fantastic potential going unrealised,  this is something all the senseis will have experienced and is so demoralising for the instructors that they/we can find ourselves being dragged into the ‘can’t do’/’cant be bothered’ mindset and then out of the blue you have other juniors take steps or leaps forward or just with fantastic enthusiasm that immediately brings us back with renewed enthusiasm for the class as a whole.

I have also seen in classes where juniors couldn’t grasp a particular drill or kata and see their heads drop, but by working on the fun/enjoyment angle of other things and then returning later to that drill or kata from a different direction in smaller segments and build things over a period of time, it is so rewarding to suddenly see them do the complete drill or kata and a light go on in their heads as they turn around all smiles saying ‘I did it’!

At some point the majority of us will have fallen into glass ceiling mindset, when the thought of going out on a cold evening is the last thing we want to do and staying at home to watch the ‘match’ or ‘soap’ on TV is much more appealing, but will the feeling of fulfilment you get from a good class be there afterwards – of course not, and those who chose instead to get up and go to class will at the end of the evening  be better in mind and body because of their participation.!

Look around you when you are in class to see those who are there rain or shine, illness or injury those are the ones who have a passion for this ‘art’ called karate, it is those who will change the ‘can’t do’ back to a ‘can do’ mindset and will slowly take steps forward once again on the journey with a renewed vigour and passion for what had started out eons ago as a hobby/pastime for most, that for some becomes more a way of life.

But once in this mindset how do you shake this off and break through the glass ceiling, a lot will say talk is cheap and I agree it is a very hard thing to do and is a very painful personal journey that the individual has to go through, from personal experience it starts by getting back to basics (how I love those k-k-k- classes), and think – why did we start with this hobby/pastime and stick with it – because we enjoyed it, so much so that we talked of nothing else to anyone who stopped to listen , but somewhere along the way we have forgotten how to enjoy a class and the passion/enthusiasm wanes, so a first step has to be to enjoy that what we do, this can only start when the individual puts their self back into the class, this is when others can help as it is aided by the close friendships forged along the way that help you enjoy participating in classes and then the process of learning something new becomes exciting once again and that this enjoyment will re-fuel our passion and without even noticing it that glass ceiling will no longer be there and  be nothing more than a dim memory.

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The Karate Slump

By Kim Mandy

Karate or any Martial Art is a journey which has a beginning, middle but no end. Most beginners see black belt level as their “ultimate goal”; however this is most certainly not the case. This is only the beginning of a much bigger journey.

 

When starting your own personal karate journey you are naïve and open to new experiences; however as time goes on you reach a stage in your training where you feel you have nowhere left to go. Whether this is conscious or subconscious, you need that drive to get you to class, seminar or even sometimes a grading.

After the first 2 years of training, you should have graded at least to your third maybe fourth level. This is known as your intermediate stage of training, where you learn the techniques, meanings of kata etc. You are generally at the stage where you can share your experience and knowledge with new students aiding with their personal progression. Throughout your karate journey, you strive to be better; and after your first 2, maybe 3 grade level progressions, people tend to fall into one of two categories. Those who want to continue and see nothing more but further progression; and those who feel they have achieved their goal of achieving a belt in martial arts and therefore quit.

Once past this intermediate level and on to your next training level, i.e. 3rd kyu to 1st Dan, you again hit your next “wall”. At Dan grade level you are now a “beginner” again; but not in the sense of white belt beginner, in the sense of mental beginner level as well as physical, as now you really get to understand more both about your martial art and yourself. You realise that karate is as much mental as physical.

Hitting the wall can be a big challenge to overcome

Our next major “slump” or wall in our training journey is seen at brown belt level; where we become complacent in our training and feel we can “sit back for a while”. While this is not always a bad thing, for some people it can deteriorate into a slump in which you may lose your focus and determination to achieve the next level in your training; by less motivation, attend class less and slack off in practice. This “wall” or “obstacle” in your journey is probably the most difficult to conquer and overcome. If you “take it easy” at this point and “take time out”, it is more likely you will never return to training.

At this level you may fall into a “false sense of security” in your training and you may end up quitting. You need to recognise the signs of this slump and “wait it out”. The best thing is to continue training in small doses, forcing yourself to go through the basic until the slump has passed. Once this stage has passed, a remarkable and unexpected ability to make an effort suddenly becomes apparent and there is finally “light at the end of the tunnel”.

The next stage in our “slump” is at 1st Dan (1st level ) black belt, where it is the end of one part of your training journey and the beginning of a new, higher understanding and greater learning experience. Unfortunately, some students reach their 1st Dan and decide they have mastered their art and achieved their goal; they end up quitting altogether. Quitting at this stage is like finally receiving something you have always wanted, but not taking care of it or putting it to proper use. To train successfully, regardless of grade or level, you need to practice regularly in order to maintain your skills. The attributes of reflexes, flexibility and power do not magically exist when black belt level in reached/earned. The way to overcome this sense of “disillusionment”, following attaining this level (Black Belt), we need the guidance from dedicated higher ranking students to show that this stage is merely the beginning of an exciting path that does not need to end. We need to remember that this is a process, not a destination, and if we can keep getting over those hurdles and slumps, our skills will remain with us.

We need to decide for ourselves whether we continue our training or we quit. Some people are just not ready to learn a martial art; however those who are ready to learn and develop their skills, will find they get a well deserved reward and there is no holding them back!

Personally I have had many “slumps” or walls so far during my karate journey and continue to endure these periods in my training. When you really feel like there is no more to learn, or you just can’t do it anymore, or feel like you are at maximum capacity and near overload, you need that inner strength (“inner peace” as Master Shifu says) to get you to that class or seminar. Once you are there it ends up being extremely worthwhile!

When you feel a “down” period in your training, just take the time to think it through and with the help of your instructors and fellow students you will come to a decision which is right for you!