The goal when training is to become a better version of yourself every day, not to compare yourself to the progress of others in class. If you are giving genuine effort every class and feel that you are improving vs. your "yesterday self", that is all that matters. When you say that one day's events crushed two years of personal philosophies that you developed, you should be excited about that. Why? Because those philosophies were built on external acceptance from others. Now that those false walls have come crashing down, the true development of internal character and strength can begin! Go at it even harder in class, redouble your commitment, refuse to quit because of this!
There may be factors in the other student getting ahead of you that you are not aware of. It is not the responsibility of the instructors to give the reasons why they do anything related to managing and teaching other students. If the other student does not deserve his advancement it will show plainly in the class soon.
That said you need to get something straight or you will always have a problem with someone elses training and progress. You should be concerned about your training, not anyone elses. You should not be judging the instructors actions. You have not the experience and so have not earned that right. If you complain to the instructors or others (that may tell the instructors) it shows a lack of respect for their decisions. In my classes the students respect my decisions and trust me to treat them fairly. If anyone gets to the point where he is judging what I do or who I promote, then they should leave or get their attitude straightened out. A student that does not trust and respect his instructor should realize that if their attitude does not change they are going to have a heard time training there. No matter if what the instructor/s do is right or wrong, they are still in charge and you are still not. Perhaps you need to step back and take a break. Then once you get past the anger and hurt you feel you might see the situation differently.
Best of Luck with your training!
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"The Concept of Kendo:
The concept of Kendo is to discipline the human character through the application of the principles of the Katana (sword)."
What this boils down to is this - the only true competitor you have in Kendo is yourself. Everyone learns at a different pace. Simply aim to improve, even if with fractional gains, be better than you were yesterday.
One thing is for certain, if you QUIT, then yes, your training so far WILL have been wasted. Keep going and it all counts. Train hard, with full spirit, and you WILL get better, at YOUR pace. Compare you to YOU, not necessarily to others.
Is it worth learning?
It's a sport. That's like asking why anyone should play baseball or hockey. There's no reason other than to compete and have fun.
If you are going to do a sport and then not compete, or not have fun, then it is not worth it.
But if your goal is to keep up with other people, I think you got into it for the wrong reason. This is just one of many reasons I don't like the belt system that other martial arts have: people see these things as a sort of hierarchy, or even a skills indicator. Ask anyone here if they've seen a black belt get smashed up by a junior fighter. There are several black belts in my Aikido school - 1st dans - who are technically better than most of the 3rd and 4th dans. The reason is simple: they focus on their training, not on other people. When they're out on the street, they can only count on themselves, so, it makes sense for us to focus only on our development - not on other people's development.
Kendo is not meant for self-defense, so, the consequences aren't so dire. But the analogy is the same: being set back in comparison to others means others won't expect as much from you - that gives you an advantage and allows you to propel yourself further as others struggle to justify their levels.
Martial art development, as has been stated, is different for each person. Do not worry about others, focus only on you. Congratulate those who are advancing ahead of you, and encourage those who are behind you. You will need them all to help your training.
And by the way, quitting because you feel jilted (even if for another martial art) is still quitting. Life will hand you setbacks, and you can't turn your back on it. Take up another martial art if you want to, but do it for the right reasons. Just because someone advances faster, that doesn't make it a noble reason to quit.
There can be fairly significant variation in where different students technical skills are within their first few years of training. People naturally progress at different rates, and that is to be expected. Your energy is better expended working with your sempai and/or sensei to identify areas that you need to work on - the things that will make YOU a better kendoka.
I'd recommend checking out this article to help put things in perspective for you: http://kenshi247.net/blog/2013/05/30/tal...
"Compare natural ability, hard work and enjoyment of training: of the three, the latter is most important for becoming skilled." -Nakanishi Chuta
In my experience there are ups and downs when training. Sometimes I do great for few weeks, and then comes few weeks of doing horrible. I think it’s more like I engrain something new and it goes great and then it gets stale and the performance drops or others gets used to it. Then I hit on a new idea or something I been working on gets engrained and it goes great again. You probably hit your lows while he hit his high. The key is not to compare yourself with others, but to constantly just try to better yourself without comparison.
(Or if you must then compare you to yourself with some kind of definite measurement rather than feel.)
Of course it's worth it. There are a lot of benefits to taking up kendo like improved concentration and motor coordination. I am one of the slowest runners in my running club even though I have been running for 4 years. New runners who are 80 pounds lighter than me fly past me, but I don't let it discourage me because I am running for my health, not for competition. Most of the people there are running to be able to compete in marathons, but not me. I am running to keep my blood pressure low and to stave off type 2 diabetes, among other things. So, kendo boils down to your personal reasons your taking it.
hai buddy, all martial arts were created for self defense, if you hard work and focus you will be best anything your style.
One of the guys, who hasn't been to practice for 6 months and who started kendo at the same time as me, surpassed me today. And ever since I started, I went to every class and worked my hardest. I trained to become better than the person that I was.
But nonetheless, he still surpassed me somehow (all of the senpai implied so) :( Yesterday's training was incredibly unpleasant, not because it was tiring (because I love being out of breath) but because it broke me from the core.
Were those training sessions wasted? Or is kendo just something that nature can surpass nurture in?
So... should I do another martial art instead of kendo?
