Nokoso



Nokoso: Quitter's

Karate de shippai suru yuiitsu no hōhō wa, kunren o teishi suru kotodesu!  I say these words all the time to my students, friends in Karate and even a few seniors that are still training but teetering on the edge of dropping Karate…..granted I say them in English and not Japanese!

                The time I have spent doing and studying Karate has really been a life time. Even during the times I was not attending a regular Dojo, I was trying different martial arts to augment my Karate or training at home.  I have left Dojos before for a variety of reasons, but never martial arts and Karate has always been for most in my mind and heart. I have left to do Judo, and endevour my hips and shoulders remind me of daily now that I am older. I have left to do Jeet Kun Do, Kendo, Kung fu (a few kinds), wrestling (high school), and a variety of other arts….but I came back because Karate was the way for me.

                I have always said that no matter how hard Karate has been on me or for me I would never throw in the towel, the option simply is not existing in my mind.  I used to train 7 days a week about 2-3 hours a day….then I had a family and little girl that has taken first place in my heart, a wife that has taken second…but Karate still is third and a strong third at that.  I cant train as much as I want or used to…but I never said “well I am going to drop it then” or “ well people will get better than me so I will just give up”.  No, I simply said “my Karate time will just be that much more special for me then” and set out a plan with my wife that once a week I get to go to a Dojo…and on the week ends…and the rest of my training I will do at home.

                Karate is a funny thing. It will always be there for you, no matter what your situation is, your health, your family, your social situations ext. It accepts you and pushes you and leaves you feeling healthy and with life! You feel uplifted and while tired…you have lots of energy!  So, while we are all getting older and life tends to get in the way, Karate is a nice “time out” to get perspective and decompress from the daily activities that tend to build on our minds.  Why would you ever give away your life line to sanity simply to spend more time stressing out?

                I understand that some of us have even MORE complicated lives than I do.  Hey, I am only the bread winner in a single income family, with a special needs daughter who has some very special needs, and needs as much love as I can give her, a husband and son with demands on me at work, home and the chairman of the organization that I am in, the assistant instructor and administrator of my club and also have an older home that I am always watching fall apart for me to put back together!…yah, little stress…..I could very easily throw in the towel…but why would I.

                I realize that there are people out their that suffer stress filled lives and are really looking at Karate as a financial burden or have family responsibilities that pull them away from Karate or health issues that stop them from being part of a class…..but the truth is….none of this has anything to do with KARATE itself.   Throwing in the towel is a sign that you give up, you quit, you admit defeat!

                See I believe whole heartedly that Karate is a personal challenge to yourself. You are not competing with anyone else in Karate. You are competing against yourself, at rankings, classes, tournaments or any other Karate activity. You are saying I WILL NOT GIVE UP and I WILL NOT BE BEAT! Every time you strap on your belt. You are showing the world that no matter what it throws at you, you have one thing that you can do to let all the stress and calamity that is attacking you that it might be getting the better of you on some level, but it has not won!

                You are also growing as a human being and showing the world that your health and mental well being are your priority.  I always say to my wife that if I just sat at home and did nothing, watched my little girl get older for as long as I could and just worked and came home…I would not be around to see her graduate grade 12. The stress of life would break me! But by strapping on my Gi, working out, throwing my belt on I am giving LIFE THE FINGER and saying….Bring it on baby!

                I am not a quitter and I never will be! I am an bull headed Welshman that does not mind being misread by others, but damn it I wont EVER give up on something I feel so much passion about! My Karate training is for life, be it at home, in a dojo, in a headquarters club or on a beach/in a park some place. My Training is MINE!  I wont let life take it away and I sure as H…E…Double Hockey sticks wont throw in the towel and let someone or something beat me!

                If I fail a testing or if I have a bad day at the club I simply remind myself of my favorite saying Karate de shippai suru yuiitsu no hōhō wa, kunren o teishi suru kotodesu!  THE ONLY WAY TO FAIL AT KARATE IS TO GIVE UP! 

                When you think that you cant go any further in ranking, or you cannot figure out what the purpose of showing up to wear those silly white PJ’s really is…..Remember Ranking is simply a piece of cloth around your waste and the reason to show up….Its to show life you are not ready to curl up in a ball and throw in the towel!

                Other things may seem more important…for now. But years down the road will that “issue” that had you give up Karate seem that important?  Will that reason feel as important to you as all that lost time you gave away to it?  You may always come back to Karate…but will the reason you left be as important then as it seems now?  Will throwing in the towel feel good to you 15 years from now knowing that all that time has been lost and you don’t get a do over?

                Probably the best advice I ever received on Karate and continued training was from Tanaka Sensei at the very first Koyo Camp I went to. I was already a Black belt and he asked me if I was ready to Start learning Karate. At first I was sad thinking “man 20 years down the drain…now I get to start Karate” he however cleared it up and said “Karate is for a life, each day…you start learning real Karate…You get out of bed…you go to Dojo…you train and start all over again showing that you are now ready to learn Karate”. 

                The point being that you never fall behind in Karate, you never meet the end of training, Karate is for life and the only way to fail at Karate….is to give up!

Rules of Karate

When I teach Karate I often talk about my rules of Karate.  Not the Dojo kun, not the Niju kun or the specific rules of Karate, But my rules for Karate. These are not like “how to live” or any wise words that will make you Ghandi or anything like that. Just my guidelines on how I try and do my own Karate, and some fairly basic ideas on enjoying Karate and doing it correctly…here are my ten rules of Karate!

1.      Don’t get hit! The first rule of Karate is don’t get hit! This is true self-defense!

2.      The only way to fail, is to give up! I have seen way to many people join up and throw in the towel at various points of Karate.  Firstly the training should be for life, not till I get my “Add belt color here”! I have seen people train hard, come down three times a week and bust their butts, get a black belt and say “well that’s it isn’t it”…..NOT EVEN CLOSE!  Karate truly begins at black belt!  Or someone cannot test, or fails a test and says “well this is not for me”…the true failure is not in the testing but in the person giving up!

3.      A tiny bit each day is actually better than a 2 hour work out…once a week! I always joke and say “ we all do our homework right”, well I know that most people come to the club and “Do” Karate twice a week and don’t give it a second thought at home. We are not a exercise camp or Yoga class, Karate is much different. If you took 5-10 minutes a day and did some light stretching and threw a few kicks and punches in the air, maybe did your Kata…you Karate would grow in leaps and bounds!

4.      Be respectful to gain respect! One of my biggest pet peeves are instructors and students that DEMAND respect but act disrespectfully towards others. Why in Gods little green earth would you think that you could walk around like a putz and then get respect from others?  The key to respect is you have to give it to get it!

5.      You get out of Karate what you put into it! If you are here to be an athlete and compete, your training should focus on Shiai Karate! If you are here for your health and your fitness, well you training will focus more on basic work outs to promote these. Looking to not get sand kicked in your face or to fend off “Evil” muggers and violent criminals , well Goshindo Karate is your goal! If you want to take your training to the next level and learn and train in traditional ways and promote old style Karate then Showa Karate is the way for you.  However, no matter what your focus if you don’t put anything into it…that’s what you will get back…nothing!  Remember the instructor is there to guide you, the rest is up to you! 

6.      Do your best, that’s all we can ask! We have specific standards that we look for in each level of Karate. White to Yellow belts are given far more lean way to make mistakes than brown and black belts.  I cannot ask a 55 year old student to keep up and be as nimble as a 12 year old student!  I always say do your best and we will view you as an individual!  

7.      Test yourself every day…not just once every three months/six months/year at a testing! I know of students that slack off 2.5 months of the testing cycle then pour it on for 2 weeks to get ready for testing for green belt or purple or what have you. They come out or more times than not…miss classes…most of the time then expect to test and expect to progress.  If a black belt is that important to you…I will sell you one for about $50! But you wont get much out of the deal other than expensive cotton!  Keep in mind that Karate is about mental, physical and spiritual growth, you can not do that with focusing on testing alone.  Don’t be the kind of person that pushes only at the end, be the kind of person who does not HAVE to push at the end!

8.      Learn karate….don’t just do it! Karate is a unique activity! It is mental, physical and spiritual in nature.  Some people do Karate as a sport and don’t live it outside the dojo! Others think they have to be some kind of silly samurai wanna be to be doing Karate.  Karate is about exploration of the self, it’s a physical test that has positive effects on the person’s life, body, mind and spirit. Don’t just show up and kick and punch, drive yourself and be persistent in seeking new ways to learn and experience Karate.

9.      Balance your training! By balanced training I don’t just mean “remember the three K’s (Kihon, Kata and Kumite)! I mean go out and hit things, remember to do Karate in nature, Stretch out good, eat right, run, have fun and be serious! Its about balance in your approach to Karate!

10.  Have fun!        If you are not enjoying what you are doing…something is very wrong….wrong instructor, wrong Dojo, wrong style of Karate, wrong focus of the dojo or you need to ask yourself why you are training! Once you know why you train you can start enjoying it!  I don’t like it when students come to the club and don’t like training in Karate and are forced to stick it out because they have a contract or there parents make them, or some other thing. This is why I am happy not to have contracts with students but rather focus on ensuring they have good classes and can find something to enjoy about training.

Those are my key elements for training success!