AUSKF April Board meeting and Kodansha testing

[JSchmidt]

Actually, AUSKF divided groups by age, 30s, 40s and 50s and on.. However, I have seen female compete against male kenshi. Even though they have spirit, I wan't quite sure if it was fair. Problem was that there were only two ladies and I don't know to schedule matches for those ladies. I am sure one of lady was super kick ass strong but hey what do I know....

Yeah, I don't see a 20% pass rate at 5th dan being a problem. If anything it's at the higher end of the scale. Gaining enough control over my opponents at the 4th dan exam was hard enough and I expect it to be even harder at 5th dan.

My point remains: At 4/5th dan+ people have the basic kendo skills. What they may or may not have, is the basic teaching skills. Not only the way you deal with age/skill (There's a huge gap between a 14 year old shodan and a 50 year old shodan and they'll need to be taught different things), but also each individual will vary and each group will vary...not only that, but also how to run a group practice, the group dynamics and how you can increase the focus/intensity,etc.

I don't think standardization is the key, rather adaptability and flexibility without sacrificing the core lesson.
For example, one the hardest practice I've had, was when I was invited to one of the Team Canada (West) practices run by Murao-sensei...it never felt *that* hard at the time because he kept the pace and intensity under control, but I've never been so tired afterwards(Granted, I was the least fit person there). The ability to adjust and control the pace and when the skill level is more spread out, the content of the practice, is what separates a great teacher from a regular teacher.
Some of this can be taught and I think spreading those skills are, at that level, more important than just improving the kendo of the teachers.

[hyuna]

I would strongly disagree that teaching is not really a major problem in the US. I think that, outside of a relatively few areas that are blessed with strong communities, I think it is a serious problem.

I don't know if this is what Stroud sensei had in mind, but I feel that a very big problem that is specific to the US and, therefore, needs to be addressed in a particular way by the AUSKF has to do with the sheer size of the country. To promote kendo across the US, small clubs need better strategies on how to both support their beginners as well as support the development of the more committed members. Moreover, sensei who take the time to travel to remote dojo need better strategies to maximize their teaching productivity. I believe there are two active threads right now on the forum that talk about this issue, and numerous people here who have first hand experience with the issue.

But even beyond that, sports coaching and whatnot is far more developed than what most people use in the dojo. How many dojo make use of current scientific information on things like stretching and warmups and injury recovery? And, for the more competition oriented folks, we can also include things like the development of cardio capacity and recovery through training methods like interval training and issues regarding strength training, nutrition, visualization, psychological performance factors, and so on. I am not so very well traveled, but I have practiced in 5+ US states and have a been a regular attendee at the AUSKF summer camps for many years and I find that most dojo teach and coach the way that you would expect a recreational club to do it. For example, people do drills but without any sense of what they are supposed to be learning or practicing in the drill. That kind of informality isn't a necessarily a bad thing, but I think the federation can make it a lot easier for those who are interested in taking things to the next level.

Finally, anyone who has seriously tried to teach a subject and then objectively compared their performance with that of an experienced and skilled teacher knows that teaching is hard. There is a reason that people go to school to study teaching.

I very firmly believe that it is possible to bring US kendo up to a much higher level than it is currently at and that the federation could do a lot to take us there.

[Toshiro Mifune]

Stroud sensei said Kodansha which is 5th and Up so I don't necessarily think he is talking about teaching ability but I'll let him explain. Yes finding teachers is a problem in a lot of areas but to some extent the AUSKF has Mentoring Senseis and we have the internet. As opposed to the 1970s and 1980s where you had even less people doing kendo and less ways to communicate. So it is still a big problem but just on my scale I don't see it as a major problem even though I'm sure to some people it is a major problem. Kendo practice has changed somewhat but basically any budo technology is not always the best way. Most dojos are for everybody and we all have families, jobs, school, etc and kendo is second, third, etc. Even in Japan you ask most of the 3rd Dan and below they perhaps might not even be able to tell you why they do a certain excercise. Even most practices in Japan I bet you little changes with their practice each year. Because they don't question it or have to think about it until they have to teach. Personally I think you learn more by doing then lengthy wordy lectures and some people hesistate thinking about 50 different things especially when starting out.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Personally I think you learn more by doing then lengthy wordy lectures and some people hesistate thinking about 50 different things especially when starting out.

Yes, but what are you doing? Or more accurately, what are you having your students do?

Each year we run a seminar, and we swap instructors every couple of years. You can learn a lot about teaching from watching somebody else teach for a weekend. Every year, the 5 dojos that attend have a lot of fun and learn stuff. But the most valuable knowledge transfer is to the sensei, who hopefully can impart what they have learned to their students.

Most of our guests spend time instructing basics. It's interesting to watch the students. It's all new to the beginners, so they probably don't walk away any better than if they had spent time with their own instructors. Intermediates are bored stiff - "when are we going to get to some cool new waza?" The most engaged are the most senior. They are very interested in any new viewpoint or way to teach these most important concepts. And if they can take away some new tools for their students, those beginners and intermediates will eventually benefit more than just from the short seminar.

I think such a seminar run just for instructors would be a big benefit to AUSKF. There are a lot of topics that could be covered. For example, Jakob mentioned getting run into the ground by Murao-sensei. Instructors could learn a lot about high performance coaching from a weekend with him. You'll never look at a whistle quite the same way again....

[JSchmidt]

Yes, but what are you doing? Or more accurately, what are you having your students do?

Not just that, but are they doing what you want them to do and if not, how do you make them do what you want to do.

[Kendoka]

Kodansha? I thought dan graded people were referred to as yudansha.
Someone smarter than me care to elaborate please?

[Toshiro Mifune]

Kodansha: 5th Dan through 7th Dan, also Shogo

Kodansha? I thought dan graded people were referred to as yudansha.
Someone smarter than me care to elaborate please?