Going It Alone

I'm with C.M.A.A and they look out for the little Guys like you and I the "independants" the small clubs with not huge student bases and offer various courses etc and events etc. There's 40,000 members of this National Supporting Body as when you look at how much Liability Insuance costs THEN you got to get Student Cover etc it all adds up. But any of the NGB's out there will assist you just got to shop around for what is best. They do stipulate that the Senior Instructor must hold a valid Dan grade (Black Belt) with at least 3-4 years training (although there are some dodgy Black Belt in 18 Month McGoverning Bodies out there)

As long as you are not "concerned" about your grades being "Gratified" in Japan etc then your fine. I'll never get to Japan So My grade is for me and my school, IF I have to wear a white belt in Japan IF I went there, Hey no big deal, it wont change the way i train.

If you wanna PM me I'll give you my email if you wanna chat more about it as I know we have to be diplomatic on here but that's just the way we like it!

Hi Stephen,

I seperated from my governing body a few years ago, it's not as bad as you may think. I joined th Britsh Combat Association so thats where i get my student lisences from. As for instructors insurance i use TL Risk Solutions (www.tlrisksolutions.com) which are very reasonable, it dependes on how much you want the indemnity for. CRB checks are not difficult to get, they cost about £50 (http://www.basic-crbs.com/) I havn't  had any problem with venue hire, i don't think they really care if you are credited or not.

I made a big change in teaching style from competition to practial with a completely different syllabus which i spent a while creating, the BCA can approve it so long as it meets certain criteria. An email to Peter Consterdine can help with that.

The most difficult thing i have found is progression with my own training, my previous organisation didn't do anything like what i do now so i have to travel a lot to seminars. I suppose you need to decide how you want your training to go, are you planning on a big change? Would it be worth holding off the seperation untill you know exactly what you want to teach and how?

Hope this helps

Neil

stephen wrote:

Being self-sufficient in the sense of going wherever I like to progress my training, developing my own syllabus (or not!) and being able to grade people on my terms (grades are only valid within a club anyway)... they are an aspiration.

I'd be interested in your thoughts.

The One thing about C.M.A.A is that they will work with you to create a syllabus if you need one or you are welcome to adopt one of theirs and change it to you criteria

Hi all,

Thanks for the input, something to mull over. I did  spend a few years way back out in the wilderness, didn't even have insurance for a while. Utterly stupid I know, and I fixed that one.

My club is only small, it's never going to grow so we're not after anything special. I recently did a bulk (well... if about 20 is bulk!) licence renewal, so I'm staying with the people I've got  for another 12 months yet. I'm in no hurry. Luckily they don't interfere too much with the running of clubs, and I can use my own syllabus. I might be better off staying where I am.

I've been training for quite a while now (started in 1985!), got my shodan in 1995, but haven't graded since. My teacher was never big into grades and I've been a bit of a nomad since then. I'm not in any hurry to take another grade But that's for the other threads!

Stephen, No disrespect but you have a duty as an instructor to grade as you will be "holding back" your students.

I was happy to sit at the grade I was but most Organisations/NGB's only allow you to grade 2 grades below you so if you are shodan, you can only grade someone to 2nd Kyu/Gup etc without getting a higher grade in to sit on your panel

Good luck with your school

Yes, you're right, there is a sense of obligation to take grades for the benefit of the club.  If it were a personal choice I'd not bother at all, but there are other people to consider.

Of course there are other options.. walk away from the grading system and "karate" all together! Then I'll probably have zero students! I only have four regular adults training with me anyway, it's more of a group of guys training together rather than some semblence of a "club". If I had, say a dozen adults or more then yes, the need to grade would be more urgent.

The kids class is different, but I tend to treat that very informally too. Sometimes it looks more like a kickblxing group than a karate class. I don't do a lot of kata with the kids, it's mostly pairs work and pads.

Perhaps the ultimate solution is to close up and get the guys round to my house for training, it doesn't get more "traditional" than that!!!

So, for those that have "gone alone".... how do you handle grades / gradings? Do you all have senior ranks because you kept  up with the gradings in previous years? Or did you just scrap them or introduce beginner/intermediate/advanced levels? Or are you "just training"?

stephen wrote:

Yes, you're right, there is a sense of obligation to take grades for the benefit of the club.  If it were a personal choice I'd not bother at all, but there are other people to consider.

....................

So, for those that have "gone alone".... how do you handle grades / gradings? Do you all have senior ranks because you kept  up with the gradings in previous years? Or did you just scrap them or introduce beginner/intermediate/advanced levels? Or are you "just training"?

We kept the same System of grading and ALL Governing Bodies expect a Syllabus WITH timescales of some sort which the School follows, Now it is entirely up to you as the senior Instructor What the criteria is for these "promotions" if you want it on a Time awarded system then that's your perogative.

Its a long hall and I've been on my own and survived, I'm on my 8th year now as Senior Instructor of my school, And I'm at a level I don't need to worry about grading now (why because I wrote the syllabus in that way)

Good luck my friend

Thanks Black Tiger, much appreciated.

Stephen, youmight be interested in certain sections of the following.  I'm not trying to 'plug' my own interview but it beats retyping it. 

http://iainabernethy.co.uk/content/michael-thue-interview

Bottom line, 'doing my own thing' has been worth it for me, but it costs you and is a lot of work, mostly on the curricular side.   You will 'lose' the respect of many of your present peers, becuase whatever you all used to do together is still 'good enough' for them, so many will take your new found independence as a slight, even if you part on good terms and don't mean it that way.

On the other hand, you gain respect (from yourself first of all), and eventually, from others if your ideas make sense to one more person than yourself.  Here's a laugh about that...

Insurance I can't answer as I teach at a Y so they handle all of that.

Good luck whichever way you end up deciding.

If you learned any other craft you'd be apprenticed for a few years then (once qualified) be perfectly entitled to put your own name on your van.

I prefer it this way.  If we get no results I've got no one to blame but myself.

Gary