Evolution in a club

[Ernst]

Hi y'all!
The last few years, me and a handfull of our club instructors have been travelling a lot, finding inspiration from a lot of sources i.e amongst JKS (Kagawa, Yamaguchi, Scott Langley and others),WTKOs Richard Amos, Steve Ubl, as well as a few JKA courses.Iain Abernethy and his approach to kata and bunkai has also been very eye-opening for a few of us!This journey have been very inspiring and enlightning for all of us, and of course we are very eager to implement a lot of the information given to us, to our members.
My club was founded 40 years ago and turned to shotokan in the early eighties. The last ten years we have been independent of any Shotokan association and it has been a pleasure not having to be dictated by an "office" in Japan. To train with whoever we want, what a pleasure

However, our club statutes says that we shall teach according to the principles laid out in Nakayama senseis Best Karate series because of its credibility and world wide recognition as a Shotokan Textbook/Series. Nothing wrong with Best Karate, it's a nice reference to turn to, but is it very deep and analytical in its approach towards Shotokan? I see it more as a "What is Shotokan" kind of book, written for beginners and intermediate karateka, to spread the art worldwide. It was also made in the seventies/early eighties, so the world must have evolved since then..? Also, there has been a slightly turn into the WKF way of doing karate, which is ok for competition but..

As we speak, the technical committe in my club(where I'm involved) i trying to work out a long term goal/plan for us to follow in the future, to help us grow as shotokan practitioners. We feel that we should try to implement some of the "new" information given to us during our "quest", but it is not easy. There seems to be a kind of resistance towards bringing in anything that is not in Nakayama senseis writings. As we see it, pretty much all shotokan instructors I have mentioned are taking care of Nakayamas heritage, with their flavour added to it.

I guess my question is, how do we get a large club(250 members) with a lot of experienced and, kind of," narrow minded" instructors to agree with us? They are all excellent instructors, but in my opinion, not very updated when it comes to Shotokan as it is taught worldwide today. Also, it doesn't help with a club board that are not seasoned karate practitioners, but parents and intermediate karate students, with no real "background information" in these matters After all, it is the board that has to approve what we want to do, since we are a democratic club.
Anyone with similar experiences in their group/clubs? How do/did you do it?

PS! I might sound negative, but im really not. Just want my dear club to the best it can be, because I thin we have a great potential to be even better at what we do

[jimlukelkc]

Personally, as a small club, we tried to have a committee composed of students and interested parents and found it did not work. I now consult only with my senior instructors on matters of technique and club finances etc but it pretty much runs as dictatorship!
With reference to stick-in-the-mud instructors, get them along to some of the more " inspiring and enlightening" courses. If they still show resistance without any real cogent argument then perhaps their influence should be as limited as their outlook?

[Paul Bedard]

As a club you make your own decisions, @ or more clubs becomes a collective decision.
Each Instructor adds his own flavour according to his ability & experience. There are times to stick to the grading format & there are times when the opportunity to add a different flavour shows itself. Particularly when the students hit brown belt level & above, expose them to what you have learned. Just be prepared to show where & how it relates to karate. IMHO
Osu
Paul B

[Paul Bedard]

Oops typo. 2 or more clubs becomes a collective decision..

[fujicolt]

Ernst, IF i am reading you correctly it seems to me that your 'club' has to make some amendments to your Constituion and Policy and procedure Documents.

Firstly, it is a simple matter of recognising that whilst a general committee can make general decisions regarding the functioning of your Club - it is not appropriate that Non Karateka should be able to influence matters such as the technical content of your clubs study and training content - this reguires qualified and experienced people - so create a technical committee.

Also, with respect - if your technical content is chained into the content of Nakayama Sensei's Decades ago published works then even he would, i am confident, be worried. A book can never contain all necessary info - even a series and, with respect you answered your own question:

As we see it, pretty much all shotokan instructors I have mentioned are taking care of Nakayamas heritage, with their flavour added to it.


Simply do the same!

If you go and research the Karate history of Master Funakoshi and Master Nakayama you will see that they were both dedicated to making sure Shotokan Karate (as it became known) was an evolving and improving Art that was not set in stone. They went and explored - as you have - and then brought things back and added it to thier arsenal - try ISBN 0-911921-00-1

I have written a chapter on exactly this and if you p.m. me Ernst I will send it to you. everyone else will have to wait LOL!

You need a technical committee!

But to be honest - I think your group - which it is even if you are pretending it is an unaffiliated 'Club' needs a Chief Instructor! Someone whom will make final decisions!

but heyho - that's just my solution/opinion.

Good Luck! OSU!

[deckerdude304]

I don't see anything wrong with the evolution of a club Ernst, nor even the evolution of Shotokan in itself, (lets face it, it IS evolving!), but i prefer the Japanese 'office in japan' take on things because Shotokan is essentially Japanese in origin, and i prefer that 'japanese flavour' of funakoshi's and nakayama's Shotokan Karate. Just my two penneth!! mikky.

[fujicolt]

It is a bit like saying that Chicken Vindaloo is now a 'British Dish' saying Karate is Japanese - at just about the same time that hot Curries from INDIA began the process of becoming Britains most popular Restaurant and Take away dish - Karate came out of Okinawa and changed its 'recipe' in Japan and then spread throughout the world where there are more Karateka than in Japan!

[fleur]

Steve, I dont think decker said 'karate is japanese' - he said 'shotokan is japanese' and in that essense he agrees with what your saying - he is just stating that he likes the japanese spin that Funakoshi and Nakayama put on the karate bought over from Okinawa - as you said 'changed the recipe'. Each to their own, we like different takes on it, thats why we're drawn to different styles. Ultimately time changes things - it's just the way it is. In essense I think we all agree - evolution is inevitable.

[deckerdude304]

You are quite right fleur. I am on two other MA forums, and the concensus of opinion of, say, some exponents of bak mei, or russian sambo, or the southern preying mantis system, or even TKD are saying that their chosen arts are all evolving, and indeed must evolve. It is the natural course of events in the order of the way's of the world that we live in i suppose. Mikky.

[fujicolt]

Hey mikky - I was merely commenting on your comment Fleur gets very protective with new members but don't give her your PIN number she'll spend all yer dosh on a suitable charity and chocolate for her and Megan! LOL!

[fleur]