Tips, advices, for beginner... onegai...

[KiRa]

Hi girls....

I'm planning to join Kendo club in January...

I always want to join since I was 14, and now i'm 20...

Yup... I know, 6 years of delay is suck (maybe I already have a lot sparring experience in those years). I even used myself to sit in seiza. But now I just have to wait another two months, I can't wait. coz it worth the wait...

I love Kendo Sooooooooooooo Muuucchhhhhhh...
So... please please please can any of help me by giving me tips, advices, preparations, do, and don't, or comments, or anything that can help me to become a good student... and hopely the best (wish me luck)...

I'm sorry if there any spelling error, just like I said I'm only a newbie here... For reading my first post... Arigato gozaimashita...

[8bitouija]

Heyloo! I'm much like you in that I've waited a long time to be able to join a Kendo Club, starting when I was 9 (I'm 17 now) and in Karate and Ju Jitsu, when the dojo would be opened up to the Kendoka to train I would watch them and be completely fascinated.

Of course things often don't work out and several moves later I'm finally near enough to a Kendo club that I can join one (which will be soon!), So I am as excited as you xD

I can't give much help, however, other than in your spare time study up on the basics (Terminology, practices, etc.), I'm doing that so that I'm not completely lost in the sea of new terminology when I begin training :3

[Sasayaki]

Hi there!
Alright, so I am so glad you want to learn kendo. We have another girl going for it! I'm excited.
So I pretty much did the same thing. I watched kendo for almost a year. I knew about it for about 4 years, and now I'm 18 and haven't been doing it long at all. But I am more then excited.

I will say do not get intimidated by the guys, most girls do, and do not get intimidated if you cant keep up. I still can't keep up. But you build up to the point where you can do everything full steam ahead.

If you go to the forum: Concepts, look for a thread, I think titled kendo resources, started by kendogrl, and she listed a few links. Check out a few of those. They give terminology as well as etiquette which will be important.

Other then that if you actually just look around the forums, you will learn tons of stuff here.
And probably be a bit entertained as well.

Best of luck!

[Exia00]

time study up on the basics (Terminology, practices, etc.)

I know that your intentions are good, but it's not the best thing to practice basic cuts before you start training. You start practicing it wrongly, then the bad habits would inhibit your kendo.
As for some tips, just start doing some cardio excercises to get into fitness. Other stuff is the things that previous people have said. Ettiquettes (really important), terminology, etc.

Have fun ^_^

[8bitouija]

I didn't mean cuts xD I know well what happens when people self-teach at that sort of thing :B (lol, we don't need anymore youtube ninjers)

by "practices" I meant things like etiquette and general rules that help you understand things better when you first join, not "practice doing kendo", sorry if there was confusion :'3

[Sasayaki]

I didn't mean cuts xD I know well what happens when people self-teach at that sort of thing :B (lol, we don't need anymore youtube ninjers)

You just made my day

[Exia00]

haha no worries. It's all good! ^^

Just wanted to state that before she goes off and does cuts on her own from 'youtube sensei's'. lol. Even if they were doing it right, the whole presence of other people around your training (which makes you train harder) and the sensei telling you what's good and whatnot is something that a youtube sensei can't do. (Unless it was interactive youtube which would be outright awesome.)

Tell us how your first lesson goes! =D

[8bitouija]

You just made my day

I always aim to please ;D

xD

[Grenamier]

I'm still sort of new at this... beginning Kendo again again. I wouldn't jump the gun on learning cuts or footwork before you start class, but it might be a good time to start looking at your general fitness and stamina. After a couple of weeks, the training can get pretty physically intensive (I'm looking at YOU, tattooedasshole!

Learning to count to 10 in Japanese is good.

And prepare yourself to practice and train big and loud, without reservation. You'll be doing everything with big kiai and big motions. The sooner you give yourself permission to do this without worrying about how you look or sound, the sooner you find yourself feeling relaxed and in the "flow" of things.

But then again, I'm only 4,533,655th-kyu, so what the heck do I know.

[Exia00]

Agreed about the kiaing. One thing about the beginners who start, is that they're afraid to kiai. If you kiai and warm up your spirit; then most of the other beginners would most likely to kiai as well.

Also some pointers about suburi during warm up (although, it may be specific to my dojo, so i'm not too sure)
When doing Joge Suburi (sp?); You count in intervals of "Yah" and "Toh", untill the person leading warmup starts to count to 10.
Nana Suburi is the same thing with the counting.

If the sensei lets you do men, kote & dou cuts before you actually know how to; take it slowly. You don't have to match the speed of the other senior players and just focus on stretching out your muscles and attempt to imitate your sensei. And in case you don't know, we count in sets of 10 in kendo.
first 10 = 1,2,3....,9,10
20 = 1,2,3,....,9,20
30 = 1,2,3,....,9,30

or in japanese if your dojo counts in jap. Just the general idea.

[atgm]

http://www.umich.edu/~umkendo/Kendo%...s%20050201.pdf

Some vocabulary if you want to memorize some of that.

I'm sure there are tons of youtube videos showing how to count in Japanese as well, if you need to know that as well.

Run, ride a bike, stretch daily before and after exercising... don't push yourself too hard, though. It would suck to hurt yourself before you could start practicing.

[KiRa]

Wow....

Thank U soo much for all of your reply and support...
I'll do my best...

[TheWanderingEye]

Still very new to this myself, and I'm 21. Compared to myself, you've got a head start.

[JaL]

KiRa
О! Great!
It is really cool when our wishes come to life.

So when I started kendo I wrote a plan. In it I wrote why I decided to start a new way and what I want to achieve.
For me it is usefull maybe becaus I'm future manager and prefer clearly understand what I want, why and how to success in it.

Any way it is useful analize yourself.
I advice to start some kind of diary when you can write your thoughts and feelings after class.

Good Luck)

[Raindrop]

Yay, more girls in Kendo!

6 years is nothing! It's 17 years for me. I'm 27 now and I only just started last year!

All I can say is, do your best and don't give up! There will be moments where you might get scared or feel insecure or you want to quit. However we've all had those moments and Kendo is about conquering those "dips" and keep going for it no matter what.

I hope you have great fun at your first training!!

Oh and yes, I agree with the diary thing! I also write stuff down after practice and it really does help!