How/what is GKR karate?

[leedt]

Hi,

 

I read this thread back in October after searching for GKR information and stumbled across it by accident.

At the time I had done around three months with a local GKR dojo and was due to attend my first grading.

 

I signed up via the door salesman with the intention of training along side my son, I had no previous experience of martial arts and was pretty green to it all. I was suprised at the first class to be the only mature student (38) every other student was between six - thirteen years old.

Each class consisted of a very basic warm up & stretch followed by basic blocks, kicks, punches & kata, then followed a period of 'free sparring' with sparring mits and leg pads.

 

After my eighth lesson I was asked if I would like to become an instructor which alarmed me as I had no experience and didnt know what I was doing. My instructors wore the black and white belts and when questioned about their actual grades I found that one was previously a Shotokan brown belt and had reached the same grade in half the time.

 

During this time I had talked my brother into signing up, he had previous MA experience in the army, he attended extra lessons and graded a couple of weeks before me. At his grading (Yellow belt) he found what he saw a bit of a farce with students grading with no grasp of the basics or specified kata.

A week after his grading I read this thread and we left the organisation at the next lesson.

 

We have since been training with a Shotokan instructor who has twenty three years experience and is a 3rd dan.

There are no more than twelve students at the club and he charges a small amount of money for lessons, he is only interested in getting a hand full of students to as high a standard as possible. There are no pads worn during sparring and we are expected to defend and attack with intent.

 

I would just like to thank the people who have had an input to this thread as it made me seek out the club I am now at.

 

Cheers,

 

Lee.

[jmcee]

Paging Mr Miyagi..

 

come and sort these lot out!

[stu99]

Hi everyone on the Sheffield forum i happened to stumble across this forum ealier this afternoon and although i have not read every single page i have browsed quite a few. I'm not here to argue technique or etiquette or the rights or wrongs of GKR the only reason i have logged on is to try and offer an unbiased opinion of the club as best can. I have trained in GKR for over seven years now and currently hold the rank of shodan. Out of those seven years i have taught for six and a half ( I was an Orange/ 7th kyu belt when i took my first class as instructor/Sensei). I have seen most aspects of GKR within those seven years ranging from the full time side to the lowly instructors such as myself and am aware of how the business runs. Although many of the comments made on this site are more than valid regarding grades and ability I ask you to not tar all GKR instructors and regional managers with the same brush. We are not all as bad s we are made out to be. As for the ones who are- i asked you to please bare in mind that these people are only trying to develop their own skills ands help to pass on the knowledge that they have. it is not malicious or meant to boost egos although for many that is sadly what happens. I happy to try and answer any questions that people may have to the best of my ability.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Kind regards

 

Stu

[Protekt]

Hi Stu, the main problem (of many) I have with GKR is mentioned in your post.

You were teaching at 7th kyu, people were paying a training free to train with you (or at numerous other GKR clubs run by black and white belted instructors) when the could have been paying a lot less for much higher quality tuition. The main instructor at my club is a JKA second dan and is charging £3 for 90min class.

I got my Shodan in`94 and would not feel comfortable charging for tuition.

[Cyclone]

You're either being overly modest or you don't train very often.

If you've had a 1st dan for the past 15 years then I'd say it's probably the latter.

I do agree that someone who's been training for only months shouldn't even be teaching novices without supervision.

 

I ask my lower grades to teach small specific things to novices, it's part of their learning experience as well, but it wouldn't be right for them to teach anything more or without guidance or to a larger group, they just couldn't do it effectively.

[Protekt]

To be fair since becoming a Dad (6yrs ago)I have only trained casually,and of course I have taken begginers in small groups, the point I was making was that even at the peak of my training and holding a Dan grade, I didn`t feel I had the teaching experience to run my own club.

[stu99]

Hi

 

To be fair over the last few years i have developed a similar attitude in some respects. I thinks 8th and 7th kyu's are too low a grade to be teaching however this doesn't mean(in my opinion) that that person cannot pass on any infomation to new white belts. Even as an orange belt you know how the position of your hand is supposed to be during a punch. So why not help someone who doesn't know.

[themadrev]

To be fair since becoming a Dad (6yrs ago)I have only trained casually,and of course I have taken begginers in small groups, the point I was making was that even at the peak of my training and holding a Dan grade, I didn`t feel I had the teaching experience to run my own club.

 

I became a dad almost six years ago and, all being well, will become one again next week. Please don't tell my wife about this training casually attitude. She will probably think it's compulsory!

 

Little trick I found was to assist in teaching kids' classes and bring the child (good for him, she gets time on her own etc. etc.) and then stay on for the adults. Win, win!

[ShotoKarate]

Hi

 

To be fair over the last few years i have developed a similar attitude in some respects. I thinks 8th and 7th kyu's are too low a grade to be teaching however this doesn't mean(in my opinion) that that person cannot pass on any infomation to new white belts. Even as an orange belt you know how the position of your hand is supposed to be during a punch. So why not help someone who doesn't know.

 

If you were learning how to lay bricks and paying for the priviledge, would you pay for tuition from someone who had only been laying bricks for a couple of weeks? I doubt it - yes, it's fine for a lower grade to pass on advice to an even lower grade but for that even lower grade to be expected to pay for tuition from someone who is only 2 or 3 months ahead of them is a disgrace!!!!

 

My first experience of teaching in karate was as a brown belt - I'd been training for 2 years and was asked to take a kids class which consisted of 15 orange belts aged between 7 & 11 and even after 2 years (never mind 3 months) I didn't consider myself capable of teaching - all I did was lead the group through some movements - I doubt the kids learnt anything about karate itself.

 

You say that even as an orange belt you know hand position during a punch ..... after 23 years of training, I still struggle with hand positions sometimes. Even the most basic of things are difficult to do correctly and consistantly.

 

I remember as a white belt - the orange belts who tried to 'teach' us before or after a lesson, we always considered them to be gobsh***s who were trying to build their own ego up and would often be the ones who disappeared from training before their yellow belts ...... with GKR there seems to be a system entirly designed around these people - and the only benefit goes to the chiefs at the top ..... not to the people who are handing money over in good faith.

 

I've comented before that if you enjoy GKR then good on you, keep going.... and I fully accept that not all people in GKR fit into the stereotype ..... but please don't try to defend the business side of GKR because it is no better than pyramid selling IMHO!!! Caveat emptor!!!!!

[stu99]

Never at any point have i defended the business side of GKR. I myself have my own beefs with it. As i mentioned previously I am purely trying to give the people on the forum an insight into the people in GKR and do this as unbiased as posible. With all due respect im not going to try to change your mind as you have already made it up, therefore there is no point, i'm just asking people to try and see beyond what they have read on this and other forums and sometimes their own experiences.

 

Thank you for your time.