To be honest, in martial arts, the basics is really all there is. You don't tell a novice from an expert by which katas they know, or even their belt.
You tell them apart by their attitude toward training (patient, calm, focused) and their mastery of the basics (accurate targeting, completely relaxed body, powerful delivery).
One thing I've enjoyed in martial arts training is that taste grows faster than ability - which means that subjectively you get worse the more you practice. To compensate, training teaches you to be more patient with yourself - when we screw something up, we just do it again, there's no need to say anything or get annoyed.
Attitude is the biggest thing to focus on in the early grades (the technical stuff can only be learnt by repetition, so it's not that hard - just repeat). I don't think it's a drag at all.
You tell them apart by their attitude toward training (patient, calm, focused) and their mastery of the basics (accurate targeting, completely relaxed body, powerful delivery).
One thing I've enjoyed in martial arts training is that taste grows faster than ability - which means that subjectively you get worse the more you practice. To compensate, training teaches you to be more patient with yourself - when we screw something up, we just do it again, there's no need to say anything or get annoyed.
Attitude is the biggest thing to focus on in the early grades (the technical stuff can only be learnt by repetition, so it's not that hard - just repeat). I don't think it's a drag at all.