The WSKF Instructors Seminar and Black Belt Awards Ceremony and Formal Dinner is an institution with a long history, dating back to the early 1980’s. This annual milestone brings together instructors, senior students, and karate-family members from across South Africa. This year, the training venue which seemed adequate in size during previous years, was bursting at the seams as a large number of brown and black belt karateka trained together.
The National Instructors’ Seminar, at its core, aims to standardise components of etiquette (saho), kihon, kata and kumite across the diverse spectrum of dojos that ascribe to the WSKF ethos of karate. And, yet, in this modern world which celebrates diversity, individuality and non-conformity, what is the role and justification for standardisation within an organisation?
Perhaps part of the answer lies in the definition of “standardise”. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “standardise” as the action “to bring into conformity with a standard especially to assure consistency and regularity”. Although this practice ensures Equality (equal treatment, opportunity, and access to resources ), it seems in conflict with Equity - the personalisation of resources to the needs of individuals that will optimise their learning experiences.
