Curriculum
FKC teaches Shudokan, an Okinawan style that emphasizes punches, kicks, and blocks, but our curriculum also includes joint locks, throws, grappling, weapons defense and elements from the soft martial arts. Karate improves flexibility, coordination, self-defense and most importantly self-awareness. We develop our bodies so that in the end we can develop our minds.
There are five major areas of study in our art: basics, kata, self-defense, sparring, and mental awareness.
We begin by teaching new students (white belts) the rules of etiquette we follow in the dojo, the Code of Ethics we expect them to follow, and the fundamentals of a solid stance. We then teach “the twelve basics” – a series of blocks, punches, and kicks that form the physical foundation of our art. After our warm up set, each class begins with all students (from white belt to black belt) performing these twelve basic movements. (Think of the basics as being analogous to learning the notes when studying music).
New students next learn a series of drills designed to help them improve their coordination, awareness, and muscle memory. (Think of the drills as being analogous to scales in the study of music. New students also learn their first kata (a series of movements that incorporate some of the twelve basics) and the Ten Basic Breaks – methods of escaping from common holds.
We add more drills and another kata at the yellow belt rank. The student begins to become more aware of relaxation and tension. Learning to relax both the body and the mind at will are useful skills to have and will greatly improve a student’s self-defense ability.
When a student earns an orange belt, we begin teaching how to generate greater power in every technique. At this rank we add more practical self-defense drills and a third kata. This is the rank at which students begin to spar with each other in a safe, supervised environment. (All our sparring is no contact sparring). Sparring helps the student overcome the natural fear of facing an opponent and offers an opportunity to test and improve the skills the student has learned.
By the time a student earns a green belt we are confident the student has both the ability and the will to defend himself if need be. Green belts learn more drills, three more kata, and many practical self-defense techniques, including take downs, joint locks, and arm bars. Green belts are beginning to learn to “put it all together.” For promotion to green belt students must read about the history of karate and participate in a discussion of that topic with their sensei. Green belts also begin a more formal introduction to taking control of their minds through a technique we call Basic Self-Realization Training.
At the purple belt level students are developing power and snap. They learn another kata and refine what they learned as green belts. Purple belts also learn defense of club and knife attacks. For promotion to purple belt students must read several books about anatomy and vital striking areas, and they must participate in a discussion of that topic with their sensei.
Above the purple belt rank we have three brown belt ranks. Brown belts are advanced students that have passed the grueling Sankyu (third degree brown belt) test. For promotion to Sankyu, students must read a number of articles on the physics of karate and participate in a discussion of that topic with their sensei. Brown belts learn advanced techniques and more kata. Brown belts also begin to study the finer points of their art and learn various forms of meditation. We expect brown belts to know our curriculum thoroughly and to be able to teach all elements of it to students below the brown belt rank.
A discussion of the black belt curriculum is not appropriate here, but a student who earns a black belt knows that the journey is not over, but has only just begun. Black belts must not only be exceptional teachers, they must be masters of themselves.
Flatirons Karate Club is a Martial Arts school and a nonprofit corporation that provides practical self-defense training to students from Nederland, Boulder, Gilpin County, Rollinsville, Ward, Black Hawk, Central City, Ward, Jamestown, and Allenspark.
