I'm happy to report that I am "between schools" no more! I will be settling down in a new dojo next week. Because my karate flux lasted much longer than I thought, I feel like I just hit the daggone lottery!
My last visit to my old dojo was in early Fall. Although my attendance had slowed from twice a week EVERY week to about twice a month since summer had ended, it totally stopped one October evening. It was then that it became perfectly clear that the environment/vibe in my learning school was not, shall we say, conducive to my well-being. That was the night I decided that it was time to let go and move on.
So, yeah, I'd visited a few schools in the area, all with Okinawan roots, but none of them had quite what I was looking for. Keeping my rank was not important as I have more than a few white belts from new gis laying around, LOL - but I did want a school with some semblance of rei that wasn't a McDojo but that also offered some kobudo - specifically tonfa. Trust and believe I found a little bit of everything in my travels - and some of it was pretty frightening. It came to a point where I was either going to have to travel pretty far to train or settle for something that simply didn't completely jibe with how I wanted to continue on this path.
Basically, I wanted a knowledgable instructor who left his/her ego and the rest of the world outside of the dojo door with his/her shoes. I wanted a sensei who had been on the path for a while, but could still lead the training session by physical example. I wanted someone who was human, because Lord knows I certainly am. I'm thinking that I may have finally found what I was looking for.
I still will have to travel a bit (about 50 minutes each way) - but, heck, when you live in The Boondocks, you get kind of use to traveling to find things outside of normal small town fare. The fees are reasonable and, best of all, I'll be walking into a place where there are other black belts training besides the instructor (believe it or not, that was NOT the theme at my previous spots and I didn't realize the significance of that until some time later, unfortunately). Some of the students have been training with the sensei for 20 years, which is totally cool, I think.
So, we'll see how it goes. But it feels good to be optimistic about karate again - and to look forward to training once more, it really does.
Hey - I could be on a roll, you never know. Perhaps I should play the lottery today :-)
My last visit to my old dojo was in early Fall. Although my attendance had slowed from twice a week EVERY week to about twice a month since summer had ended, it totally stopped one October evening. It was then that it became perfectly clear that the environment/vibe in my learning school was not, shall we say, conducive to my well-being. That was the night I decided that it was time to let go and move on. So, yeah, I'd visited a few schools in the area, all with Okinawan roots, but none of them had quite what I was looking for. Keeping my rank was not important as I have more than a few white belts from new gis laying around, LOL - but I did want a school with some semblance of rei that wasn't a McDojo but that also offered some kobudo - specifically tonfa. Trust and believe I found a little bit of everything in my travels - and some of it was pretty frightening. It came to a point where I was either going to have to travel pretty far to train or settle for something that simply didn't completely jibe with how I wanted to continue on this path.
Basically, I wanted a knowledgable instructor who left his/her ego and the rest of the world outside of the dojo door with his/her shoes. I wanted a sensei who had been on the path for a while, but could still lead the training session by physical example. I wanted someone who was human, because Lord knows I certainly am. I'm thinking that I may have finally found what I was looking for.
I still will have to travel a bit (about 50 minutes each way) - but, heck, when you live in The Boondocks, you get kind of use to traveling to find things outside of normal small town fare. The fees are reasonable and, best of all, I'll be walking into a place where there are other black belts training besides the instructor (believe it or not, that was NOT the theme at my previous spots and I didn't realize the significance of that until some time later, unfortunately). Some of the students have been training with the sensei for 20 years, which is totally cool, I think.
So, we'll see how it goes. But it feels good to be optimistic about karate again - and to look forward to training once more, it really does.
Hey - I could be on a roll, you never know. Perhaps I should play the lottery today :-)
Awesome.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck, Felicia. Looking forward to hearing about your new adventure!
ReplyDeleteGlad you've found somewhere suitable. I hope it really works out for you this time. Best wishes x
ReplyDeleteWonderful! I hope your new dojo is everything you want and need.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with the new school. It sounds like a better choice. Well done!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Looking forward to hearing how the first few classes go :)
ReplyDeleteYay! very glad for you. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat style/org did have you chosen? just curious.
Goju-ryu. I studied USA Goju fr eight years prior. Similar, but different!
DeleteSo glad you've found a school much more suited to your needs. It sounds like a much better option than the previous one. Can't wait to hear how it goes.
ReplyDeleteGood for you! :)
ReplyDelete