This isn't my story but I will retell one I heard from a fellow instructor. They visited a club outside of our organisation just to do more physical training to fill their week out. There was an instructor filling in at that club, and he had that strange habit of doing loud nasal blowing on every technique.
I find teaching karate very enjoyable and rewarding. Frustrating sometimes, but that’s because I want everyone to do the best they can and progress.
Teaching a larger class also has its difficulties as there will be a range of abilities, but also trying to spread techniques and syllabus work is time consuming.
Because what we are doing is not “karatecise” or “kick punch fit”, it’s not alternative to some spin class, there are nuances to it and different things to different body types which can be difficult to explain in broad strokes to everyone.
Over the years I’ve had people tell me that the difference between their style and Wado Ryu is that our stances are shorter and we block jodan for shuto uke. Really, that’s decades of development and progress by the original founder to be distilled down to two main visual points. Is that the best that people can offer?
When we first learn karate or a new kata or pairwork combination, we start off learning the moves, the sequence and shapes. We all do it and that's a necessary stage, but once we have it a little more absorbed then we need to move away from just making shapes into something that is more dynamic and flowing.
A big thank you to all those that attended.
We managed to raised just over £200 for Sensei Shiomitsu. People had travelled from Covertry, Devon and even Norway to be here and I am grateful to you all for making the effort.
