Guess who i just had at the door!!!! He seemed to lose interest when i told him i was into wc/bjj and funnily enough he wouldnt spar with me even tho i have a matted space in my garage, kept telling me his sensei was the dogs nuts tho (i even told him i would spar with him and his instructor... am i a bad man cause i REALLY REALLY had the urge to just pounce on him but diddnt want to be arrested for assault!!!(plus my missus has told me no fighting at the front door :cry: j/k)
Knock Knock........ Who's there ? GKR ? GK.........who ? GKR, probably the most effective fighting system in the world, plus, you can earn your black belt in six months, open your own dojo and after paying us a hefty percentage, make squillions of pounds........... Heck, your too late.......... I've already signed up with a Matt Fiddes franchise....................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? quality, you pay for what you get.....................
GKR student/sensei I am not going to rubbish other martial arts because experience has taught me that there are good and bad martial artists in every club. I'm sorry if you have had a bad experience with GKR but there are many people who have been able to experience martial arts through this club who would not have otherwise known about it. Personally, GKR was not my first club and I have done full contact Karate. Now I am a higher grade, I take a fair bit of contact in kumite and have not found it any different to what I took in Kempo. I am not going to defend their sales methods but I am very glad they Knocked on my door. As a sensei I sometimes hear of inaccurate claims made to new students by club reps and I always pass that on to my sensei who manages this region. To my knowledge, they are not encouraged to make exaggerated claims. Anyway, I am loving my training and believe me, I sweat and hurt and blister and bleed. So as far as being a weak Karate........ I have found that the degree of development of the karateka is entirely dependent upon the karateka. Enough said.
Hi Barba Perhaps you could give us a brief summary of the kind of training drills that are practiced in your club? Mike
Yeh enlighten us my friend. Ive just thought, Go kan ryu is an Australian style of karate, and what is Australia known for?.........its Kan Go Ryus!!!! ahhhhhhhhahahahahah.
GKR = utter garbage They told me there was no contact (great way to learn self defence, no, really...) I wasn't allowed any free sessions I wasn't even allowed to watch until i'd paid a yearly membership McDojo at it's finest.
In our style, 3rd Dan earns you the title of Sensei. At 1st Dan, you get called Sempai (my Sensei accidentally called me Sempai the other day - I was flattered!). I do think that Kyu grades can take a class on occasion (in fact, I have once), but they shouldn't be running their own club.
There is no defending it - GKR probably has the worst reputation of any Karate club anywhere, and rightly so. We all know the stories - not insured, low grade instructors, etc, etc. It can't possibly get any worse than that can it? I just don't know how they get away with it.
When Sensei asked me to take a class, the first question I asked was about insurance. It would be irresponsible to take a class without insurance!
Replies to Questions yes I am a second kyu which means I will attempt to grade to black belt at the end of this year. Low grades running own club? Non-blackbelts teach in local dojo - they don't run their own club. Do I agree with it - Not personally. I would prefer to see blackbelts run the dojo and sempais be at least brown belt to assist. I have been teaching for 2 years and I would say it took me the first 12 months to really feel like I knew what I was doing. However, I have some very loyal students who have been with me for most of that time and choose my class to improve technique and kata. I have always been honest about my previous lack of kumite abililty (which is no longer the case) and have encouraged them to attend classes with other senseis who are stronger in that area. (Also lower grades can only teach students of a lower grade than themselves) I still believe it is up to the individual to seek out senseis that meet their training needs. No one is forced to train with someone they dont respect. Personally I train 3-4 classes per week with mainly blackbelts (up to 3rd dan) and teach one kids class and one general class per week. I cant help but think some of you guys are exaggerating because what you are describing does not resemble the club I train in.
gkr training drills GKR classes cover three main areas- Kihon (basics), kata and kumite. Basics can involve standing in line and doing basics; standing or moving combinations and partner work Kata - learning patterns or practicing bunkai (self-defense applications) Kumite - footwork drills, combinations, point-sparring, continuous-sparring, fitness and conditioning work. Although we have a basic syllabus to work to, most senseis will vary the class to meet the needs of the students. Sweeps and takesdowns are limited to brown belt and above. In Adelaide we are fortunate to have an Advanced class which is mainly blackbelts with a few brown belts. This class makes any other session look easy. Hope this answers your question.
Personally I think you should be at LEAST 1st Dan to stand in front of a class and 'teach' and be called 'Sempai'. If I chose a school with brown belt instructors I'd walk out. I mean no offence to anyone here who are Brown belt instructors...but this is my opinion. I've been Shodan for 18 months now and I don't think I'm even close to being ready to instruct a class. I may well be comparing myself to my own instructors standard but...he's my role model, and personally don't think I could instruct a class to his standard. To be quite honest I wouldn't want to teach his class to a lower standard and undo all the hard work he's put it.
It is perhaps more common in the UK, but it still happens in Oz - students as low as green belt and even lower teach in their own dojo without any direct supervision. Yet the organisation does still hide its instructors grades behind the infamous 'black and white belt', and tells its kyu grade instructors not to disclose their real grade. Not from what I've heard. There are many instances of students getting hacked off because their instructor has been replaced by someone several kyu grades lower than the students they're meant to be teaching. In fact, the organisation attempts to instill in students the attitude that 'you can learn from anyone' and to refuse to train under someone of lower grade than yourself merely shows your arrogance. I've heard that one more times than I've had hot dinners. I've met GKR students who practically wet themselves with excitement at the thought of training with a "real black belt". It is so rare that they actually see one. Not exaggerating at all. But I can believe that your experience is not as bad as is possible within GKR. There is some variation from region to region, or club to club. The UK seems to be in a worse state than in Oz, but even in Oz there are many students who are receiving very shoddy tuition. The prescribed class structure in the UK is much much more basic than even this. Kihon is done on the spot. Kata is practiced by rote with no understanding. Any bunkai that is very occasionally practiced is laughable (see http://www.gkrkarate.org/pages/Kata/essays/saifaf.html ). Kumite practice involves sparring - that's it, no preparatory exercises, no footwork drills, just sparring). Little wonder that students then knock chunks off each other in their 'no contact' sparring, as they have no idea of distancing, etc. In the UK instructors are instructed to stick specifically to the class format I've outlined above. Variation from that is frequently not tolerated. I attended a GKR class to see what it was all about. Even that followed the basic class format, even though the instructor was a dan grade. I don't say any of this to be antagonistic to you personally. All of the above I have verified by discussion with many GKR students and instructors. Mike
At the bare minimum, someone should be at least nidan and well on their way to sandan ( Third Dan ), which at the very least means several to ten years training and then some, to teach. Anything less and you are probably getting naff instruction. I'd say based on experience after ten years or so you start to get an inkling what kata is all about and you start to progress beyond the shapes and basic movement. Intrinsically, you have to re - learn and re - define your kata to progress in to the Ha stage of the Su - Ha - Ri. NO GKR student EVER moves beyond the Su stage !!! And has for a second kyu teaching...................... teach what !!!? you know nothing at that stage. Sullivan never got beyond nidan / Su, so how can you ? All GKR and naff GKR instructors have done is essentially rip people off and damage the public's perception of the effectiveness of genuine Karate !!! Jaae
