Uechi-ryu Journal Blog

Public speaking is a nightmare for many people! Yet here you are standing in front of your first full blown Karate class! A dojo full of watchful youth…worse yet if their parents are there too watching your first class!Obviously there are ways to overcome this fear of public speaking/presentation; heck most teachers start out just like you; scared..now it is nothing to them, teaching/demonstrating is not even a concern in their routine!

So how can you get to this relaxed level? Easy, practice, practice, practice.

What you need is a method of calming yourself, and preparing your class lessons to be exciting and enjoyable. Here are a few ‘tricks’ to help you relax, enjoy and excel at public speaking.

1 Reassure yourself that the class will be interested in what you teach. They are there to learn from you…you need to know your stuff and should be well prepared for your class. ‘Winging it’ is obvious and can cause you to lose your pace in class. Know your class material and start running the lesson!

2 Hook the students by being an interesting teacher. Nothing is worse than a dull, uninterested lesson - seeing the class fall inattentive can be unnerving and cause you to lose confidence & result in student injury; prepare yourself well for the age group you are working with.

3 Inspire them with activities and hands-on demonstrations. Keep talking to a minimum, teach Karate through demonstration not a lecture!

Here are a few insights into how to relax and prepare yourself for a class, public performance, etc.

Tip One - Breath…no really, breath!

Quick nervous breathing can cause hyperventilation and worsens anxiety. Just before class take five minutes in a quiet area to relax with deep breathing. Run through what you want to do during class and also prepare yourself to be active and lively for the next 50 minutes or so.

Tip Two - Captivate student’s attention by using actions. Demonstrate the techniques (this cannot be stressed enough). When you do speak to give explanations, paint pictures and sensations in their minds with your words.

Tip Three - Alter your voice tonality and speed of delivery when describing concepts/moves. Explode with energy when need be and slow down when you need to have them hanging on the edge of their seats! You are the conductor and they are the orchestra.

Tip Four - Have fun!

July 19th, 2008 | Tags: Karate instruction, public speaking tips, teaching | Category: A Successful Dojo | Comments (1)

Over the past few days I have been getting more and more email coming in. A hearty thank you again to all of the Newsletter members who have taken the time to reply to my original email.

Here are the main three topics that readers would like to see more of:

1. Uechi-ryu History – This is a fascinating subject with so much information available! There are a couple of pieces coming up for the Journal’s Fall edition that won’t disappoint!

2. Teaching Tips, lesson plans, etc. - Excellent topic & there will be more of these offered to members in the coming weeks.

3. Members Only Forums – I will have to think about this one….

4. Practical Training Drills – This was a major request of readers & one that I take quite seriously as you already know.

I have decided to publish a series of drills that work under the umbrella of situational training; something that has been in the works for some time (as part of a larger work). I am thinking I will be breaking this section off to offer to members as a separate entity.

I will keep you informed as to when this will be ready for release.

Again, thank you to everyone who submitted a request for material. I will be doing my best to accomodate you.

July 9th, 2008 | Tags: Karate, Uechi-ryu feedback, Uechi-ryu Newsletter | Category: News & Events | Leave a comment

I am swamped!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to answer my feedback request from the Newsletter; I am currently wading through the email and taking all suggestions seriously.

I will post again soon on any changes I will be applying. Thank you so much!

**My web host was wondering why I had such a flood of email!

July 6th, 2008 | Tags: karate tips, Uechi-ryu Newsletter | Category: News & Events | Leave a comment

Sometimes I am amazed at what people are trying to teach their students, maybe amazed is too ‘kind’ ….

I am a member of several instructor mailing lists, forums, etc…. I enjoy scanning them to see how others deal with relevant topics.

This morning I received this ‘training’ suggestion in my email - “For instance, if
someone comes at you with a pair of nunchakas…”

Uhhh, what?

Do students pay for this type of ‘training’? I certainly hope not. The biggest movement in the history of North American Martial Arts has been in reality based training, yet I still come across this garbage.

Karate as a whole is based on realitic defense and protection, we know it changed and became more sport orientated, group focused in the 60’s …. but nunchakas?

It has been a rude awakening for many to find out that while their systems contain practical defensive techniques; they are seldom taught the way they were intended.

How about training students to defend against a modern attack? Pool cue, blade, an ipod grab…. but please leave the nunchakas at home!

A bit of a rant on this today, but I find the subject laughable.

June 29th, 2008 | Tags: crap karate, nunchakas, teaching karate | Category: News & Events | Leave a comment

It comes out on the 25th of this month; and you need to pre-order your copy today!

In the Uechi-ryu newsletter I present drills that pass on my opinions with practical, realistic defence with Uechi-ryu; the sport or casual attitudes about Karate just don’t do anything for me. I train to protect my family.

Rory Miller is a correctional officer & he has insights into real violence. This book is lining up to become a ‘must have’ for realistic self-defence; I have already pre-ordered my copy…have you?

June 15th, 2008 | Tags: defence, defense, realistic, Rory Miller | Category: News & Events | Leave a comment

It’s called Advertising. Generally speaking it gets a bad rap when applied to traditional Karate. No real reason; its a common misconception that it goes against what Karate stands for.

How that comes together is anyone’s guess….Many think that to market and/or advertise is to become ‘commercial’. If you think Karate Master’s taught for free back in the day, you are in for a rude awakening.

Times have changed for sure; we know for a fact Kanbun Sensei accepted students only on the recommendation of an existing student. In our time we don’t use this method as often but it still happens.

This was effective word of mouth advertising (yes, advertising) that ensured only quality students were attracted.

While methods can change, the purpose remains the same. Instead of limiting your view about advertising; use it to promote your club and help it grow!

By using ads effectively you can target your ‘desired’ student and share Uechi-ryu Karate with others.

If you have no students because no one knows you are teaching…..how will Uechi-ryu grow in your area?

The headline is true; by using creative advertising when I first opened a small school near where I live; I went from 1 to 60 in 24 hours.

I didn’t cheapen the quality of the art, I didn’t ’sell out’ (or any other nonsense term) … I used effective advertising to build a student base.

I used a short advertisement to draw in interested people; it was my ‘word of mouth’ advertising.

How do you advertise?

June 7th, 2008 | Tags: dojo managment, Karate advertising | Category: A Successful Dojo | Leave a comment

Part of my Saturday morning routine is to log in, read messages, email and prepare the weeks Uechi-ryu Newsletter. I also like to scan through the world news.

I came across this video on the front page of CNN’s web site; it is a video of a teacher and a student fighting. I think it is from Georgia.

Here is the video of the fight caught on a cell phone: Click for video

There is certainly a can of worms here opened, and more than likely both the student and teacher will face disciplinary action.

There is a language movement called ESP (English for Specific Purposes); basically stating that teaching English can/should be focused on the specific area the speaker needs it (business, medical, industrial English).

I have no idea how this brawl started or who threw the first blow; these are just a few general questions for you:

1. If you are a student defending against a large/older teacher; how do you react? What is your limit of force used?
2. You are a teacher defending against a younger/faster student; where do you draw the line to stop the student?
3. As a Karate teacher, how do you or even can you prepare your class for this type of attack?

Is there such thing yet as Karate for Specific Purposes? Do we train people differently for the various lifestyles they live?

Uechi-ryu techniques are deadly by nature of design, they were put together in Kata because they worked, the difference today is the litigation that follows the use of these techniques to protect ourselves.

So my question is can we teach others to use elements of the system effectively? Do we teach proper application and perhaps more importantly can we teach students when to use the right kind of defense to fit the situation?

I think this area is much more difficult than teaching just the techniques…

Please leave a comment with your opinion!

May 31st, 2008 | Tags: English for Specific Purposes, Karate for Specific Purposes, student teacher brawl | Category: News & Events, Personal | Leave a comment

This morning I had the chance to stop in at Dave Chow’s Invitational competition. Dave, who operates the Renshinkai School of Karate; was a gracious host and offered the spectators a well organized event, comfortable seating and refreshments (the chili dog’s were fantastic!). Present were dojo members representing Southern, Central, Western Alberta, as well as neighboring Saskatchewan.

Unfortunately another event kept me from staying to watch the adult forms and Kumite; however I left with a great impression of the youth competitors.

Smiles & enthusiasm seemed almost contagious among the close-knit group. It is was pleasure to attend!

May 25th, 2008 | Tags: competition, Dave Chow, Edmonton, tournament | Category: News & Events | Leave a comment

Last Tuesday night David Beckham was here in Edmonton for an exhibition game between the L.A. Galaxy & the Vancouver Whitecaps (The Galaxy lost 2-1).

37,000 fans turned out to see Beckham play; with the mania in full swing I took time to do a little research online and was pleasantly surprised to have Beckham teach me something about Karate!

It has been written that nobody can ‘bend it like Beckham’ and indeed I wonder if anyone can. He has the ability to ‘bend’ or curve the ball into the net. This is what led me to watch his technique more closely.

Other players kick the ball, that is they kick the ball towards the goal…..just like we in Karate kick our opponent; what makes Beckham different from his teammates is that he can kick to a specific, point or target in the net. Oh what we can learn from that!

Training consists of repetitious kicking, we do this to help build leg strength, and to be able to pull kicks off on the fly. But where are we kicking? How often do we visualize an exact point to strike?

Like Beckham we need to be able to kick from any point in the match (defensive situation) with such precision that we can pick and choose our desired target at will. Not telegraphing this is a definite bonus.

I am sure there are other players who have similar skill; and certainly Karate students should be training more for this type of direct kicking….rather than just kick ‘at’ the opponent we need to train to kick (and nail) a specific target of the opponent’s body.

Thank you David Beckham.

Here is just one of many books about David Beckham:

May 19th, 2008 | Tags: David Beckham, Karate, Soccer | Category: Training | Leave a comment