Frequently Asked Questions
Here are a few of the questions often asked of our staff.
What are Family Karate Centres Guide lines?
Have FUN!
Remember to bow when entering and leaving the dojo floor
Students should address all Black Belts as their title; Sempai, Sensei, Renshi or Kyoshi. Feel free to ask!
Uniforms must be kept clean. Repair any rips immediately. When training in class, all students must wear appropriate FKC apparel, such as gi pants, t-shirt and belt.
Hair must not interfere with training. Hands, feet and nails must be clean and neat.
You are here to train seriously. No horseplay, profanity or loud talking.
Members are asked to respect classes in progress and wait quietly for their class to begin
No jewelry, bracelets or earrings are to be worn in class. This is for your own safety.
No food drinks or chewing gum allowed on the dojo floor or in the change rooms.
Full uniforms are mandatory for all graduations. No t-shirts.
You will only be as good as you train. Concentration and effort have to come from you.
DO NOT criticize other Martial Arts or Martial Artists. We can learn something from all others, regardless of their style or level.
What are the Curriculum Components?
Ippon Kumite: The purpose of practicing ippon kumite, called “one-point sparring”, is to familiarize you with the concepts of timing, proper judgment of distance, focus and how to remain calm in an escalating situation. Ippon Kumite is designed to protect against common attacks with quick, effective block & strike combinations with one step involved. These are much quicker than most of the other self defenses taught.
Self Defense: Our self defenses are taught to prepare different methods of defence against similar attacks. While they may be a little more complicated to perform than our ippon kumite, they may be more effected based on the situation you’ve found yourself in.
Sparring: Sparring is not self-defense, but it is a vital part of any self-defense program. It is a safe program designed to allow our students to experience a spontaneous attack situation using their knowledge and techniques in a non-competitive forum. Sparring requires feet, head, hand gear and a mouth guard as there will be light-contact made.
Kata: Kata is the foundation of any traditional Martial Arts program. Martial Arts and Kata have a strong lineage to China and there is evidence that some Kata were in existence prior to the 1600’s. As no written records of self-defense techniques exist, kata served as a perfect tool to transfer knowledge from generation to generation. Once the Kata is memorized, the application of all its techniques is taught to the student. These applications are called ‘Bonkai’ and are the heart of the kata.
Bonkai: The bonkai is the purpose of your kata. We take sequences from all under belt katas and allow our students to demonstrate and explain their way through their techniques to allow them to understand their katas with more knowledge.
What are the stripes on the belts?
The coloured stripes on the student’s belts show their progression at each belt level. They indicate having learned techniques to completion and are a short term reward while working towards the next level. They also let the instructors know what a student needs to focus on to fulfill their requirements. After achieving these stripes, attending the amount of required classes, being named on the Test List and attending Test Day, a student can attend Graduation and advance to the next belt level.