Three of our assistant instructors tested for Shodan in Kobudo

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Congratulations to our new Kobudo Black Belts here at Hidden Sword

On November 18^th 2017 three of the Hidden Sword assistant instructors took their shodan (1^st degree black belt) exam in Kobudo.  In January of 2015 they started the AKATO class with 35 students who were all brown belts to multi degreed black belts.   Over the course of almost three years they took their green belt exam, their brown belt exam and finally now their black belt exam.  All of the while the class kept shrinking.   In the end there were eight women and seven men taking the exam.

Jackie Bradbury was a shoe in for the class, Kimberly was 11 years old (truthfully, I thought she was 12) so I had to ask special permission for her to attend since the requirement was the student was a brown belt and 13 years old.   Both Jackie and Kimberly had been training in the Kobudo class at Hidden Sword for over a year so GM Proctor and GM Yates allowed Kimberly to join.   After the first year Tomas who had since rejoined our HSMA program was allowed to also start the AKATO Kobudo program.   Tomas had been working with our Kobudo students during the year so while he had some slight catching up he practiced hard in between the AKATO classes and kept up in the class.

Tomas, Jackie, and Kimberly all worked very hard getting ready for the black belt exam often times spending several hours a week on the material.  For this exam they had to know and demonstrate several drills, one steps, and several kata.   The kata or forms were more numerous than in the past classes; for the Bo (staff) there were 3 kata, for sai there were 2 kata, for tonfa (rice grinder) there were 2 kata, and for the nunchaku (flail) there were 2 kata.

Over all Tomas, Jackie, and Kimberly all had a good exam since they were well prepared.  Jackie for the most part took on the leadership role encouraging and really working with both Kimberly and Tomas.   Tomas would spend the hour before our arnis class working on his material or stay after and work.   In the end Kimberly who was the youngest and smallest student starting the class was mentioned by GM Proctor as having the best test over all.

I’m proud to have these students/assistant instructors here at Hidden Sword, while we aren’t the home of former “World Champions” like some schools in our area advertise, our assistant instructors have been a good example for our students in other ways; like having strong work ethic, and continuing to train and explore other martial arts. 

School Culture

The sparring school part 2

Libby (red belt) sparring with Kimberly (brown belt)

There are many different aspects about a martial art school's culture; is it inclusive, is it secretive, is it focused around building the community, student or character development etc. etc. and all outside of the scope of this series.  This series has a more narrow focus in relating the culture of the school as it relates to training.  This is a continuation of school culture as it relates to the sparring focused school so please read that post first for context.

As I watched Libby perform her kata, her form was very good, however later in the instructor’s conference, I pointed out some concerns to Mrs Hawkins which she replied was their (the instructors) fault.  Specifically some of Libby's blocks weren’t in the right places, twisting of her hips for power generation was non existent, at times her hands weren’t clenched tight when punching, there was no turning of the head prior to turning (to see where she was going), her stances were off slightly etc. etc.   

At one point during the exam, I asked Libby after watching her run through Chug-Mu where a particular technique was, she replied “to the neck” but she was striking about rib level.  I then had her run back through the kata again with more power and told her to focus her techniques and to her credit she did, although her focus for other techniques were still off. 

When asked later by sensei Hawkins what was the reason that she practiced kata, Libby recited verbatim why you practice kata for belt tests listing out four reasons without hesitation.  But when sensei Hawkins told her “that’s good for why you do it for tests, but what is the purpose of kata or why should you practice it?” Libby didn’t have an answer.

 
In short I believe there was no real thought behind the techniques of the kata other than needing to memorize the movements for her next rank promotion.  Compared to the amount of time devoted to the sparring part of the exam and her skill in sparring, it seemed clear where the focus of the instruction lie.

This isn’t alone to sensei Hawkins’s school by any means.  I’ve talked with many other school owners and instructors and it is common to hear something like the following “We only practiced kata for tests, we mainly spar.”  “My instructor didn’t like katas, so he took out some”.  I’ve seen this not only here in Texas, but also in Oklahoma where I lived and trained for a time.  While in Oklahoma I met a whole group of instructors  who didn’t know any kata or forms above Wha Rang which is our 2^nd brown kata.  A general view on internet forums is that it is more important to spar than to learn kata so I believe that many many schools focus more on sparring and sparring related themes such as prearranged punching and kicking combinations etc. etc. for advancement than kata,  and proper basics (blocks, hand techniques and kicks).

So is this bad?  It depends upon how you look at it .  On the face of it focusing on sparring and fighting can produce really good people who spar, if that is the focus of the school.  Likewise having only a few kata to learn means that the student can really perfect those kata and have really great looking forms.  Having only a few self defense techniques to practice also allows more time to spend on punching and kicking combinations, more time for sparring etc. etc.  So schools with a sparring culture I believe will produce some students who are good at sparring and who can look good at kata as well.  I though see some down sides to the sparring culture school.

Let me be clear here I’m not saying that the sparring culture school is bad, or that Mrs. Hawkin’s school is bad, or Libby didn’t or earn her rank; far from it.  The sparring school culture generally produces a type of student and it is what it is, nothing more and nothing less.  In future posts as I write about  the other types of schools my reservations about the sparring culture type schools, as well as the other cultures, will be brought out in greater detail than trying to discuss them here in this post.   

Next week I’ll discuss my experience coming up in a sparring culture at my sensei’s private dojo.

School Culture Series

The Sparring School

In this series I’m going to talk about different school cultures and use examples of different schools and how that can effect training, what is learned and so on

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Libby side kicking Julia as Master Starnes observes

This past weekend our school was invited to participate on another school’s black belt exam for one of their students; specifically Kevin and I were part of the exam board and two of our 3^rd brown students were extra people for the young lady to spar with.  I encourage our students to take part in cross training opportunities like this because I believe it is good for them to see other schools and be watched by other instructors.  It’s also good for them to see other students earn their black belt and it can help them stay focused on their goal of earning their future rank.  It can also be a good learning or teaching opportunity for me to discuss subject matters like these with them afterwards.

Originally we had four students going but Kate was hurt in an accident at home the week prior, and Emily ended up having a test for band at school so we only had Kimberly and Julia go. This particular exam was a good one for our students to have seen, and I wished more of our young ladies could have gone because the school culture is very different from ours.

Messerschmitt AKC located in Jacksborro is a small school (by DFW standards) in a small town.  From what I saw of Libby (their newest black belt), and from Laronda Hawkins (their chief instructor for the American Karate) they really have a big heart.  Their school is built around a sparring culture for the martial arts and that was the main focus of the exam. 

 

 

Libby sparring Julia, with some of the fighter's in waiting looking on

Libby on her exam had to spar a set amount of rounds for 2 minutes with one minute rest in-between.  I believe she had close to 12 rounds with a couple of them with instructors, the vast majority being brown and purple belts, and only a couple of beginner belts.  She had one match of two vs. one.  It speaks to her heart or attitude that she, as a small 13 yr old, toughed it out and made it through this part of the exam.  She fought students of all ages, sizes, different ranks, both male and female and she did a really good job.

The first part of the exam Libby had to demonstrate 5  (Chungi, Do San, Won Hyo, Hwa Rang, and Chug Mu) katas and then go through 6 one steps (traditional attacks with a punch) that I believe she made up on her own. After her one steps each of the students that she was later to spar with came up and did some sort of attack on her a couple involving a knife, a couple involving a gun, a couple with a stick, and then rest with some sort of a grab.  Libby had previously performed her board break and something else at a earlier demonstration.

In part two of this series I’ll talk about why I came to the conclusion about the culture of this school and how this affects the training at the school etc. etc.