Hi all,
Over the last few months I have been going through a lot of changes in regards to my karate. A few months back I gave up teaching from sheer frustration with GKR, and have recently made the decision to no longer train with GKR at the present time. It has been an incredibly stressful and difficult time and making these final decisions have been painful as there are other good friends in the club that were, although not surprised, saddened by my decision.

I have done a bit of ringing around and may have found a Goju ryu/kai club that will suit me. Tomorrow morning I go and try it out and meet the people involved. The instructor has been teaching for many, many years and when I spoke to him on the phone was very helpful. However they have a lot of BBs (a good sign I thought).

The truth is I am shitting myself, will I be really crap, will they tell me to leave and never come back, will I will I will I.........?

This is a big step for me and something I never expected that I would be doing. The main reason it came about was out of coming onto this site as well as white ox and others and reading posts from Mick, Boz and more recently JC (it's all your fault guys and I blame you for any stuff ups ) and others that I started to question what I was doing as I grew in my karate journey.

The thing is I have no idea what to do when I walk in the dojo at all. Any tips from those of you who have been there, done that?

Enjoy!
I dithered a long time before starting kobudo - partly because people scare the heck out of me, partly because of the questions and self doubt - the "will they tell me to leave and never come back, will I will I will I.........?" - and I got as far as the dojo and sat in the car debating over whether or not to just go home. New place, new people, nobody I knew... it was (like you said) terrifying.
Turns out, I was right. I DON'T know anything - and I sucked big time. And it doesn't matter at all. Forget the belts, forget that you know anything and just open yourself to learning. Go back to thinking like a white belt.
But do it. Just... do it. Show yourself that one thing you have learned is courage.

Helpful, aren't I?

Yes you are helpful Nooms,
I am actually looking forward to becoming a white belt again, and I fully expect to suck. It is still scary ....and nice to know somody else understands my feelings.

Tis scary... but feels SO good to get past the scariness

Just go along and try it out and try to enjoy it. Mostly you'll find people are pleased to see someone new who enjoys karate. I've found there to be far less elitism and more friendliness from "smaller" clubs in this regard, because you represent somebody new to play with. In a good way.


Mick

Well done leela for having the courage to make what was obviously a difficult decision. I'm sure though there's no need to worry about starting in a new club. If you went along with your existing belt and kept prattling on about "well we do it this way in our style" and so on then you'd probably win yourself few friends (you may laugh but there are plenty of people who do this). But if you simply go along with a white belt and a sincere desire to learn then I'm sure you'll find them most welcoming.

One word of advice: one difficulty I've noted that people starting in new systems have is that often they can't help making comparisons with what they've done before. Sometimes you may (perhaps quite legitimately) feel that something you've learnt before is actually better than the way they do it in the new style. That's OK, but remember you're there to learn the new system, not to pass judgement on it. So just do the techniques as your new instructor requires. Once you have become as familiar with the new techniques as you were with the old, you will be better placed to judge which you prefer.

Enjoy your new training.

Mike

Very good advice that.

I did exactly the same thing a little over a year ago - packed in teaching for GKR having taught for 18 months and left the club to take up Goju Ryu. It's a wrench at the time, but you'll get over it.

You have my total respect for having the courage of your convictions and making the jump. It's not easy, but you're going for the right reasons and from the sounds of it, to a good club.

I'm sure you'll settle in just fine. Let us know how it goes.

Good one Leela, go for it!

I cant waite to hear how you went, I reckon you are going to be pumped when you get home.

rocket

Just remember how nervous you felt the first time you went to GKR classes.....

It's a similar kind of feeling...

I went from a GKR class to a kung fu class and still remember my first time at both classes.... like nooms i didnt want to get out of the car. but with an appointment for a one on one class i kinda had to go in...

just remember they want you there as much as you want to be there...

go for it...

Excellent advice Mike, and I wish Id read some time ago. From personal experience it makes it harder to learn if you do this, and is pretty unfair to your instructor.
That was back when I knew everything of course

I hope and believe you will be surprised how welcoming they are. On occassions Ive gone to others seminars and classes its been a fantastic experience. Please let us know how you go.

All I can say is WOW it was great. Nothing at all like GKR and I just went with it. I sucked - but not majorly as I have a bit of knowledge. Hard to describe what it was as they are very very traditional - basically you keep up with the pace or you don't. Everybody does everything together regardless of grade as well as the applications - except for some of the more full on BB ones.

Did some kata - sanchin, tensho, senseru, saifa and seiunchin - I struggled more with saifa as it was different enough from the GKR version to throw me a bit. Sanchin I started to pick up pretty quickly as well as tensho, the main difference with seiunchin was some of the hand work but that wont take me long to make the adjustment. Senseru was...well I sucked, totally crap, it is not a kata that I have an affinity with, I always feel I am moving around in circles, but I will eventually get it stuck in my head.

Kata applications were very very good, I had no real idea about what I was doing though it was starting to makes sense by the end of the class...welllll......sort of...

After I had finished I just thought to myself "so this is what I have been missing out on" It was like a light bulb coming on. I was totally pumped and I really enjoy it. I worked hard but I feel inspired and will be going back again Tuesday.

I thought I did really well as I have an awful cold and feel like crap. Going to bed soon for a sleep.

Great feeling isnt it!!

Thats exactly how I felt, there is so much more out there to learn, it really opens your eyes up doesnt it.

rocket

Well done Leela, I am proud of you for taking the plunge! At the moment I am just sitting on some information about alternate clubs, waiting for that final thing to push me over the GKR edge. I'll always be here for you - enjoy the new training! You deserve far better than what you were getting with GKR.

Hi Leela.

Well done, the first step is aways the hardest. I too am looking at my options, and attended a Goju class with IGK last Wednesday and loved it.

Class was not rigid and militant like GKR. The Sensei was a very nice guy and totally welcoming, something I found encouraging.

After doing some basics we did some partner work for the bunkai of Saifa. It certainly made the bunkai GKR teaches seam lame and unbelievable. It certainly opened my eyes.

I will be going back.

I will be training in both styles tillI make up my mind but I already think I know the answer.

Hey gordo

good one mate! That would have opened your etes doing the saifa bunkai the igk way, it is one of my favourites.

Which dojo did you train at and who was the sensei?

rocket

Hi Rocket

sent a pm to you but I trained at Inala with Sensei Al