Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Training ethics

I hope this post dont come off as selfgrandeur. Its just hard to explain my thoughts on the matter, without refering to myself as a good example. This because my training ethics is the one thing in my karate that i am the proudest of.

Karate in 2006 is different than in the 1980-ies (damn, now i sound old....). People have changed. They are more sensitive, and they are better at giving up than was the norm 20 years ago. I think that to really excel at any endeavour, you need to make a real decision to push through, no matter what. In this, i am actually as confident that i can keep a straight face and say: This part of my karate you can safely copy.

So what if you get a bruise on your arm? So what if you are a little thirsty? So what if your leg is hurting from a hard block? So what? You have two options: You can stop and whine about it (give up) or you can ignore it and keep pushing to improve.

Please note that i am not saying that you should disregard injuries that need to be iced, or stuff that needs to be kept still to not get worse. Listen to your body and also take serious care of your partner. (And dont misunderstand again: I definatly dont say that you should be so careful that your karate turns into the preschool-kind that dont work)

Waht i would like to see, though, is karateka that starts on the command of hajime, trains the whole time between start and finish, shows up for a bit more classes than the minimum to qualify for the next grading, joins in for gashukos (and i mean the whole camp, not just a class or two) and keeps a positive attitude in the process. I also highly recommend reading books or webs on whatever subject that you wanna improve.

If you tell yourself that you will never give up and that you dont allow yourself to be mediocre, then your karate (or any other endeavour you might pursue) will be highly successful.

Train hard, push your partners, take care of yourself and them in the process, and most of all, have lots of fun in the process.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Gashukos at Laugarvatn

Weeee!!!!

Two trainingcamps at Laugarvatn this summer. Gunni and his band of merry men and women is bringing Kato sensei june 9-11. Then Kawasoe sensei and Mr. Poh Lim is coming in july 27-30.

I suggest that you probably wanna do both if you have the chance. Meeting the other icelandic karateka and also getting a different point of view, instructional-vise is always beneficial.

Regarding the Kato sensei weekend, Gunni has kept a limited nr of spaces for me, so get back to me as soon as possible if you wanna join in. More info on the Haukar webpage.
 
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