Tonbridge Kyokushin Karate Club

Tonbridge
Kyokushin Karate Club

KARATE KYOKUSHIN HANSHI INSTRUCTORS TRAINING HOME ETIQUETTE PHOTOS MEDIA LINKS CONTACT GUESTBOOK
Beginners
Tonbridge Kyokushin Karate Club - Approach & Philosophy We are a small club and were formed with a steely resolve not to compromise the principles or hard training methods of Kyokushin Karate. If success cannot be achieved within these parameters the club will close, rather than facilitate further watering-down of martial arts. Potential students do not automatically have the right to join, or to remain. If what you are looking for clearly doesn't coincide with our approach or methods, you may be politely encouraged to look elsewhere for something more suitable. People with questionable motives for training (people we suspect of being thugs basically) will be quickly shown the door. People only interested in 'a bit of fitness' or 'getting into shape' need read no further than this: join an aerobics class. Right or wrong, the Chief Instructor's decisions are always final. Kyokushin is not for everyone and certainly isn't for the faint-hearted, but even a timid, slight person can succeed if they apply themselves fully. Willingness to persevere, learn and committment to practice are far more important than natural ability or physical prowess The club is not run as a company, costs are covered by the fees and any (rare) profit will usually be re-invested towards equipment or subsidising quiet periods. Most Kyokushin instructors teach out of a sense of duty, most feel indebted to Karate and are keen to put something back, we are no excepton. Discipline and etiquette prevail within the dojo (training hall). Karate begins and ends with courtesy. What Else? All BKK Kyokushin black belts are fully qualified and have been graded by Hanshi Steve Arneil personally. All have current first aid training, all instructors are fully indemnity insured, and the BKK has a comprehensive child protection policy in place. It is the original and largest Kyokushin karate organisation in the UK. Everybody is a beginner at something at some time in their life. This part of the page is dedicated to answering beginners' concerns and frequently asked questions. No doubt you will have many questions regarding martial arts. If you are new to martial arts then it really is a good idea to do your homework before you even begin to visit clubs. Many are extremely persuasive and have hard-driven sales tactics that might make you think you'd entered a double-glazing showroom rather than a martial arts club. 'First lesson free', 'sign up now for a big discount', 'special offer', 'easy payment by direct-debit' are all now phrases that seem to be synonymous with marketing of modern martial arts. All too often these deals may not be what they seem. Many organisations are reluctant to tell you directly how much a training programme will cost you until you're there for your first lesson, large sums of non-refundable money are often taken up front, and inevitably many people later decide the chosen art is not for them. Do a Google search on the term 'Mcdojo' and you'll see the phenomenon of martial arts equivalent of fast-food is a well-known one. That isn't to say all clubs operate this way, but as a potential beginner it's something that you should be aware of. Dispelling a few myths about the martial arts There is no such thing as the ultimate martial art 'The most complete system', 'most practical self-defence', etc etc. If you've done a little research these are the types of claims you may have already come accross. Any martial art is only as good as the person applying it. It is impossible to master every aspect of all fighting arts within a normal lifetime, in fact it is impossible to truly master any single martial art within this timespan. All have different strengths and weaknesses, the most important thing is to find the art that suits you best and stick with it until you've reached a fairly proficient level before starting to diversify your training. Too much of an eclectic approach to training at too early a level will leave many people confused with mastery of nothing and only a most basic grasp of many different concepts. Once a base level has been established then cross-training (the taking of different types of martial arts training to broaden skills) is undeniably valuable, but the same criteria to finding other styles and clubs will apply, and try to find something that genuinely fills a gap in your skills, for example if you've chosen to do your main training in Muay Thai Boxing then learn a grappling art like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or Judo. You don't need to become an expert but knowledge is power, but you have to be sure it is quality knowledge. Martial arts alone will not improve school grades or provide discipline where there is none already Read any gushing testimonial about how some little terror was turned into a budding Dalai Lama (that can now also dance like John Travolta when they could barely walk prior to martial arts) and you'd be forgiven for thinking that there was some magical side to training that wouldn't be out of place in old Kung Fu films of the 1970s! Often parents enquire about training for their children citing that they want discipline for them. Discipline within the training hall is to compliment the training, promote safety and security, and to aid the learning process for all, as well as to forge a strong fighting spirit. If a child does not receive discipline at home then their compliance to it whilst training in martal arts will be superficial and will always be unwittingly undermined by the parent. It is not the job of the martial arts instructor to introduce an undisciplined person to discipline with a view to adjusting their personality for what their parents or teachers may perceive to be the 'better'. Training in martial arts may enhance somebody's life as part of a rounded overall approach that encompass many other positive aspects of life, but alone it's contribution is mostly overplayed. In addition to this many martial arts organisations appear to have begun to cross the boundary into the realms of life-coaching and psychology with apparently little or no professional qualifications for doing so, we have heard stories of gradings in some clubs being reliant on a child's school performance and behaviour, some even using report scorecards to be signed by teachers or parents to verify good behaviour! We do not agree with this practice. There needs to be mutual trust between instructor and pupil that can only be built within realms of the training and we believe these controlling approaches have worrying implications, and create more academic pressure on young people that may enjoy martial arts for the very reason that it is something they can excel at, without the results-driven targets of the classroom environment we read about in the newspapers, in a straightforward, disciplined environment that they understand. It is healthy for a person to have an integrated view on different aspects of their lives but this intrusive mixing and overlapping of martial arts with all other aspects of a student's life in return for perceived progress through a grading system is something we do not agree with. It can easily create a perception of dependence on the training which isn't real. If you feel 100% confident walking the streets late at night then you haven't done enough training Real violence is, unfortunately, extremely ugly, frenzied and unpredictable. Many martial arts students with little experience can appear frighteningly over-confident, and once again it often features in those all-important testimonials you may have already read on various websites. I have heard a 7 stone female friend of mine claim that she was confident that she could handle almost any violent situation after only a few boxercise lessons! This is folly. In truth, the more realistic your training and sparring methods are, the more your weaknesses and vulnerabilities will be highlighted to a disturbing level. Add to this a bucket-load of fear and adrenaline as well as the prospect of alcohol and illicit drugs which most potential assailants will be under the influence of, and your odds of success are not brilliant by any means. Good martial arts training will even up your odds to a degree, but crossing the road is a far more sensible approach to an ominous looking group or individual, rather than ploughing through them with head held high because of your newly misplaced confidence, which might just get you beaten-up, or worse. You don't have to warn a potential assailant you are a martial artist! This is probably the oldest of the western urban myths about martial arts, some suggesting three warnings are necessary. It is best not to tell anybody that you practice martial arts, except close family and friends. Publicising the fact you are a martial artist can attract daft comments (like the above) , as well as unwelcome challenges, and it also diminishes any advantage and element of surprise that you may have with somebody that does know. It is a difficult balance to strike as all organisations like a little publicity (ourselves included) when, for example they may have done well in a tournament or fundraised for a good cause, but it is prudent to be very selective and careful about what type of publicity is sought and take guidance on the matter from someone who knows the pitfalls. Bigger is not always better Clubs vary in sizes dramatically, and it is a commonly held belief that a club with lots of students must be very good. Some of them will be good but the high number of students is no indicator of quality. Again it's a matter of deciding exactly what you want from training and martial arts before you set out to search, and not leave yourself in a position to be dictated to about what is 'good' or 'bad'. There are some excellent clubs out there with only a handful of regular students and the level of saturation of clubs and organisations that has occured in the last ten years means that most clubs are now much smaller than they used to be. Most buildings that rent out halls normally play host to more than one martial arts club and regular hall rental space is scarce because of the amount of clubs that have proliferated. Achieving a black belt is not the ultimate goal If your first question to a potential martial arts instructor is 'how long will it take me to get a black belt?' then our best advice to you would be to go out and buy yourself one. The modern grading system is a very recent innovation within the martial arts. The coloured belts and 'kyu' grades used by karate help to structure and track progress of learning and give the students something to strive for. In the early days of Kyokushin in Japan there were no coloured belts, just white and black, and there was no expected grading time for the student, people graded when they were told to, and often waited up to six months for their result. Anyone that has achieved a black belt in a genuine Kyokushin organisation will tell you that it means a great deal to them, because the road is hard and long, and most of us never believed we would achieve it. However, black belt really is only the beginning, hence the term 'Shodan' as opposed to 'Ichidan', which is the term for a 1st Dan black belt, and Shodan roughly translates to 'beginner's grade'. Ultimately, it is the person wearing the belt that counts, not the belt itself. In order to learn how to fight, you need to fight Much is said these days about safety in training. Our politically correct, health and safety obsessed society seems to suggest that we can achieve great things with virtually no risk, and it is common for martial arts clubs to pitch safety as a selling point. Obviously, no sensible instructor wants their students to become injured and from an insurance point of view it is critical that the club is run with a responsibility for everyone's safety in mind. However, if a person has managed to progress to a high level without ever having been hurt or afraid then they will be woefully unprepared for the reality of real confrontation. Training towards sport based semi-contact competition is fine, purely as a sport, as is training purely with a view to improving fitness or losing weight, but if you're serious about wanting to defend yourself then you have to get real. All systems have flaws, but there is no greater shortcoming than students being totally protected from contact and pain throughout their training whilst being told that they are learning a practical method of self-defence. Your instructor will not be there to monitor the contact if you are unfortunate enough to be attacked. Still interested? Click on the 'CONTACT' tab above and get in touch. There's no obligation and we'll be very happy to answer your questions. Hit the BACK button or press HOME to go back

KARATE KYOKUSHIN HANSHI INSTRUCTORS TRAINING HOME ETIQUETTE PHOTOS MEDIA LINKS CONTACT GUESTBOOK

Beginners

Tonbridge Kyokushin Karate Club - Approach & Philosophy

We are a small club and were formed with a steely resolve not to compromise the principles or hard training methods of Kyokushin Karate. If success cannot be achieved within these parameters the club will close, rather than facilitate further watering-down of martial arts.

Potential students do not automatically have the right to join, or to remain. If what you are looking for clearly doesn't coincide with our approach or methods, you may be politely encouraged to look elsewhere for something more suitable. People with questionable motives for training (people we suspect of being thugs basically) will be quickly shown the door. People only interested in 'a bit of fitness' or 'getting into shape' need read no further than this: join an aerobics class.
Right or wrong, the Chief Instructor's decisions are always final.

Kyokushin is not for everyone and certainly isn't for the faint-hearted, but even a timid, slight person can succeed if they apply themselves fully. Willingness to persevere, learn and committment to practice are far more important than natural ability or physical prowess

The club is not run as a company, costs are covered by the fees and any (rare) profit will usually be re-invested towards equipment or subsidising quiet periods. Most Kyokushin instructors teach out of a sense of duty, most feel indebted to Karate and are keen to put something back, we are no excepton.

Discipline and etiquette prevail within the dojo (training hall). Karate begins and ends with courtesy.

What Else?
All BKK Kyokushin black belts are fully qualified and have been graded by Hanshi Steve Arneil personally. All have current first aid training, all instructors are fully indemnity insured, and the BKK has a comprehensive child protection policy in place. It is the original and largest Kyokushin karate organisation in the UK.

Everybody is a beginner at something at some time in their life. This part of the page is dedicated to answering beginners' concerns and frequently asked questions.

No doubt you will have many questions regarding martial arts. If you are new to martial arts then it really is a good idea to do your homework before you even begin to visit clubs. Many are extremely persuasive and have hard-driven sales tactics that might make you think you'd entered a double-glazing showroom rather than a martial arts club. 'First lesson free', 'sign up now for a big discount', 'special offer', 'easy payment by direct-debit' are all now phrases that seem to be synonymous with marketing of modern martial arts. All too often these deals may not be what they seem. Many organisations are reluctant to tell you directly how much a training programme will cost you until you're there for your first lesson, large sums of non-refundable money are often taken up front, and inevitably many people later decide the chosen art is not for them. Do a Google search on the term 'Mcdojo' and you'll see the phenomenon of martial arts equivalent of fast-food is a well-known one. That isn't to say all clubs operate this way, but as a potential beginner it's something that you should be aware of.

Dispelling a few myths about the martial arts

There is no such thing as the ultimate martial art
'The most complete system', 'most practical self-defence', etc etc. If you've done a little research these are the types of claims you may have already come accross. Any martial art is only as good as the person applying it. It is impossible to master every aspect of all fighting arts within a normal lifetime, in fact it is impossible to truly master any single martial art within this timespan. All have different strengths and weaknesses, the most important thing is to find the art that suits you best and stick with it until you've reached a fairly proficient level before starting to diversify your training. Too much of an eclectic approach to training at too early a level will leave many people confused with mastery of nothing and only a most basic grasp of many different concepts. Once a base level has been established then cross-training (the taking of different types of martial arts training to broaden skills) is undeniably valuable, but the same criteria to finding other styles and clubs will apply, and try to find something that genuinely fills a gap in your skills, for example if you've chosen to do your main training in Muay Thai Boxing then learn a grappling art like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or Judo. You don't need to become an expert but knowledge is power, but you have to be sure it is quality knowledge.

Martial arts alone will not improve school grades or provide discipline where there is none already
Read any gushing testimonial about how some little terror was turned into a budding Dalai Lama (that can now also dance like John Travolta when they could barely walk prior to martial arts) and you'd be forgiven for thinking that there was some magical side to training that wouldn't be out of place in old Kung Fu films of the 1970s! Often parents enquire about training for their children citing that they want discipline for them. Discipline within the training hall is to compliment the training, promote safety and security, and to aid the learning process for all, as well as to forge a strong fighting spirit. If a child does not receive discipline at home then their compliance to it whilst training in martal arts will be superficial and will always be unwittingly undermined by the parent. It is not the job of the martial arts instructor to introduce an undisciplined person to discipline with a view to adjusting their personality for what their parents or teachers may perceive to be the 'better'. Training in martial arts may enhance somebody's life as part of a rounded overall approach that encompass many other positive aspects of life, but alone it's contribution is mostly overplayed.
In addition to this many martial arts organisations appear to have begun to cross the boundary into the realms of life-coaching and psychology with apparently little or no professional qualifications for doing so, we have heard stories of gradings in some clubs being reliant on a child's school performance and behaviour, some even using report scorecards to be signed by teachers or parents to verify good behaviour! We do not agree with this practice. There needs to be mutual trust between instructor and pupil that can only be built within realms of the training and we believe these controlling approaches have worrying implications, and create more academic pressure on young people that may enjoy martial arts for the very reason that it is something they can excel at, without the results-driven targets of the classroom environment we read about in the newspapers, in a straightforward, disciplined environment that they understand.
It is healthy for a person to have an integrated view on different aspects of their lives but this intrusive mixing and overlapping of martial arts with all other aspects of a student's life in return for perceived progress through a grading system is something we do not agree with. It can easily create a perception of dependence on the training which isn't real.

If you feel 100% confident walking the streets late at night then you haven't done enough training
Real violence is, unfortunately, extremely ugly, frenzied and unpredictable. Many martial arts students with little experience can appear frighteningly over-confident, and once again it often features in those all-important testimonials you may have already read on various websites. I have heard a 7 stone female friend of mine claim that she was confident that she could handle almost any violent situation after only a few boxercise lessons! This is folly. In truth, the more realistic your training and sparring methods are, the more your weaknesses and vulnerabilities will be highlighted to a disturbing level. Add to this a bucket-load of fear and adrenaline as well as the prospect of alcohol and illicit drugs which most potential assailants will be under the influence of, and your odds of success are not brilliant by any means. Good martial arts training will even up your odds to a degree, but crossing the road is a far more sensible approach to an ominous looking group or individual, rather than ploughing through them with head held high because of your newly misplaced confidence, which might just get you beaten-up, or worse.

You don't have to warn a potential assailant you are a martial artist!
This is probably the oldest of the western urban myths about martial arts, some suggesting three warnings are necessary. It is best not to tell anybody that you practice martial arts, except close family and friends. Publicising the fact you are a martial artist can attract daft comments (like the above) , as well as unwelcome challenges, and it also diminishes any advantage and element of surprise that you may have with somebody that does know. It is a difficult balance to strike as all organisations like a little publicity (ourselves included) when, for example they may have done well in a tournament or fundraised for a good cause, but it is prudent to be very selective and careful about what type of publicity is sought and take guidance on the matter from someone who knows the pitfalls.

Bigger is not always better
Clubs vary in sizes dramatically, and it is a commonly held belief that a club with lots of students must be very good. Some of them will be good but the high number of students is no indicator of quality. Again it's a matter of deciding exactly what you want from training and martial arts before you set out to search, and not leave yourself in a position to be dictated to about what is 'good' or 'bad'. There are some excellent clubs out there with only a handful of regular students and the level of saturation of clubs and organisations that has occured in the last ten years means that most clubs are now much smaller than they used to be. Most buildings that rent out halls normally play host to more than one martial arts club and regular hall rental space is scarce because of the amount of clubs that have proliferated.

Achieving a black belt is not the ultimate goal
If your first question to a potential martial arts instructor is 'how long will it take me to get a black belt?' then our best advice to you would be to go out and buy yourself one.
The modern grading system is a very recent innovation within the martial arts. The coloured belts and 'kyu' grades used by karate help to structure and track progress of learning and give the students something to strive for. In the early days of Kyokushin in Japan there were no coloured belts, just white and black, and there was no expected grading time for the student, people graded when they were told to, and often waited up to six months for their result. Anyone that has achieved a black belt in a genuine Kyokushin organisation will tell you that it means a great deal to them, because the road is hard and long, and most of us never believed we would achieve it. However, black belt really is only the beginning, hence the term 'Shodan' as opposed to 'Ichidan', which is the term for a 1st Dan black belt, and Shodan roughly translates to 'beginner's grade'.
Ultimately, it is the person wearing the belt that counts, not the belt itself.

In order to learn how to fight, you need to fight
Much is said these days about safety in training. Our politically correct, health and safety obsessed society seems to suggest that we can achieve great things with virtually no risk, and it is common for martial arts clubs to pitch safety as a selling point. Obviously, no sensible instructor wants their students to become injured and from an insurance point of view it is critical that the club is run with a responsibility for everyone's safety in mind. However, if a person has managed to progress to a high level without ever having been hurt or afraid then they will be woefully unprepared for the reality of real confrontation. Training towards sport based semi-contact competition is fine, purely as a sport, as is training purely with a view to improving fitness or losing weight, but if you're serious about wanting to defend yourself then you have to get real. All systems have flaws, but there is no greater shortcoming than students being totally protected from contact and pain throughout their training whilst being told that they are learning a practical method of self-defence. Your instructor will not be there to monitor the contact if you are unfortunate enough to be attacked.

Still interested?
Click on the 'CONTACT' tab above and get in touch. There's no obligation and we'll be very happy to answer your questions.

Hit the BACK button or press HOME to go back