My sensei thinks I can do it, so why not my parents?

Question

I had my second karate comp recently and I placed first (in my first comp had no idea what I was doing and came last). I have been practicing karate for 10 years now and had only entered my first competition a year ago.

My sensei has been watching me train (mostly on my own) since I began his style 11 months ago. I've been helping to instruct practically since I began there and have had to learn full katas in one night and perfect them on my own for gradings.

Because of my rate of progress and my success in my last competition, he believes that I could perform extremely well in the Australian NAS competition and in the coming years, have the potential to reach the WKF level. I would love to get there and he's agreed to start training me privately twice a week after my next grading to take me further.

(For the record, he trained his daughter who ended up competiting internationally and gained top 3 placings in some of her events. Also, when I compete, I compete at my rank in my old style, not in my new style, so I'm not an experienced fighter up against beginners. I'm fighting those at my experience level.)

My parents have rarely been involved in my karate history. They've come to a few gradings at my old style and both my comps at my new style, so they pratically know nothing at all about it. When I told them what my sensei said to me, my parents gave me a look of "yeah, whatever you reckon" or "keep dreaming".

They support me in the sport, but they don't expect me to get anywhere. So I want to proove them wrong.

Just over a month ago, I've started to exercise more. Currently with my formal training, I've added in an hour and half of weight training 3x a week plus hard kata training for 30min twice a week. I'm going to step this up as the weeks go on, but what are some things I could do for training up until my next grading?

I don't usually do much other then formal training, so it's a little new to me. My old style, reason I kept grading, I was doing a fitness course at university, so I kept fit through our group fitness classes, I never had to do any extra work.

So any advice to improve fitness, speed, stamina and competition performance so that I can prove to myself, my family and any others that I do believe I am capable of a higher level of competition??

Answer 1

swimming and running.

Answer 2

Your parents are probably looking at it from the angle:

"Is karate going to put bread on the table for the rest of your life?"

This is a valid question and you need to have a reasonable response to it.

Answer 3

I have been competing Nationally (US) for about 8 years now. My first tournament I did horrible, same with my second and so on. Its hard to start competing and win right away. I started to place higher after gaining experience. That is the biggest thing you can do in order to get ready for a higher level of competition, just continue going to tournaments and gain experience. There is very little training you can do at home or at a studio that can outdo someone who is an experienced competitor.

As for proving your parents that you are ready, honestly the best thing for you to focus on is proving to yourself that you are ready cause you will be the one competing not your parents. I know it feels great to have your parents behind you but if you focus on how they aren't there for you, then you won't get better. Focus on yourself and eventually your parents will see how much competing is to you and they will be behind you.

Good luck and I hope this helps!  

Answer 4

wow a novel