Martial Arts Pet Peeves

[dancingalone]

It's been slow on the boards, so I'll list some of mine.

1. People who shout 'kiai' or 'kihap' for their kiai/kihap.
2. Mono tempo pattern performances, where everything is done on a 1-2 count
3. People who practice a bazillion different forms and it shows by their poor understanding and performance
4. Everyone has to be a grandmaster or a soke. I'm always amused by people on forums who feel you are insulting them by calling them 'Mister' or God forbid, 'Sensei' instead of whatever inflated title they feel entitled to. 'Sensei' was good enough for the likes of Chojun Miyagi. It should be enough for anyone.
5. Black belt clubs, master clubs, etc. Here's a novel idea: just charge a flat monthly fee and teach each student according to their level. Don't charge extra for a weapons class for Pete's sake.

What are some of yours?

[KELLYG]

People that don't pay attention and are disruptive
People that do not practice good personal hygiene
People that act superior due to rank
Long toe nails/fingernails

[ATC]

No effort.

[d1jinx]

ok.... I'm going to catch some flack for this but here goes.....
:soapbox:

Loosers in life who took TKD or any other martial art and thought they found thier place in life where they were someone important, walk around with their Black Belt on and dont even know how and the hell to tie it.
:mst::shooter:

YOU GIVE US A BAD NAME

sorry but thats it.

[terryl965]

For me it is a simple one people forgettin that they are not GODS, just a teacher of an Art.

[Omar B]

People who don't warm up! Class is 1 hour, don't waste time by going through 10 minutes of warms ups when everyone above white belt should know what needs to be done.

Also, the title thing bothers me too. If I'm not calling you Sensei then it's gonna be Sir or Coach, that's all you are getting. Fancy titles are for certificates and to impress people outside the dojo, inside it's about coaching.

[Marginal]

ok.... I'm going to catch some flack for this but here goes.....
:soapbox:

Loosers in life who took TKD or any other martial art and thought they found thier place in life where they were someone important, walk around with their Black Belt on and dont even know how and the hell to tie it.
:mst::shooter:

YOU GIVE US A BAD NAME

sorry but thats it.

Just to be sure I've been doing it right... You wear it around the neck like a tie don't you?

[d1jinx]

Just to be sure I've been doing it right... You wear it around the neck like a tie don't you?

yeah with the other end tied to something up high...... lol

[igillman]

I thought you wore it round the head like a headband.

[just2kicku]

For me it's people who don't practice at home and and miss classes, and then wonder why a year later that they suck

[TKD_Father]

Students promoted when they absolutely don't deserve it.
Students who are disruptive.
Students who only put forth effort when the instructor is watching them.

Instructors who allow items 2 and 3 above.

Masters who are too full of themselves to listen to anyone.

[ACJ]

People who have their name written in big letters down their dobok leg. Tacky much?


People who like to jump on every mistake you make, even if you are just quickly showing something.

People who don't show up to class for a month and then try enter the competition on that weekend.

[zDom]

• Enthusiastic new people who tell you all about how they LOVE martial arts and then vanish after about a month

• Students who SAY they want to improve but won't train to fix what needs fixin'

• People who think that: rank (automatically) = martial art knowledge

• Working with the hygienically-challenged

Of course, I've probably been guilty of three out of the above four at some time or another ;)

[myusername]

Good idea for a thread.

For me it is;

*People not giving their full attention when doing a drill or set sparring exercise. I absolutely hate it if I am faced with someone more interested in what their friend or the pairing next to us are doing.

*People who can only say negative things about other styles.

[Andy Moynihan]

Not sparring at at least a realistic contact level for at LEAST a short period of EVERY class, or even better, never sparring at all, period.

[terryl965]

Here is another one, people wearing the same unifrom for two three weeks and never ever washing it.

[ATC]

Here is another one, people wearing the same unifrom for two three weeks and never ever washing it.
Yeah, that's just nasty. We all hate that.

[phfman]

Students who insist on wasting class time with "what ifs".

[Andy Moynihan]

Students who insist on wasting class time with "what ifs".


Solution: Make him uke.

[ArmorOfGod]

Students who insist on wasting class time with "what ifs".

Ooh, you beat me to that one.

Also, does everyone here get that kid who wants to tell you "that is not how I learned it in boxing." Meanwhile, the kid is 12 years old, so he spent maybe 3 months in boxing a few years ago. To make it worse, he is telling you that you should keep your rear hand down, or to punch with your fist NOT closed (or things to that effect).
I am NOT saying that I know best, but if I am teaching a class, I am teaching the way I do things. Also, I have 18 years of solid experience to back what I personally believe works. I am not a 10 year old kid who took karate back when he was 4, so he is going to tell the head instructor (me) that I am doing something wrong.
This has happened several times over the years to me. Just yesterday a kid kept telling me that a move I was showing wouldn't work (I am teaching martial arts at a church day camp during the summer) so I moved everyone back and told him to submit me since he knows so much more than me. He moved in, grabbed my hand with both of his hands and fell flat on his face trying to pull me over. I didn't even move. I just stood there and watched him fall over. He got up, tried to sweep me and fell over again. I dropped back and pulled him in front of me and tapped him out with my legs wrapped around his waist and my arms in a typical choke.
I could tell several other similar stories. I always just give the kid everyone's attention for a few minutes and let him fail miserably trying to take me down (I never hurt them, just let them show how little they know).
MAJOR pet peeve!

[K31]

People who show up for class without their uniform, belt, sparring gear ("Yes we spar the same day every week"). Parents who for God knows why keep bringing their offspring to class even though it's painfully obvious the kid doesn't want to be there. People who think if they just hang around long enough they should get a belt. Parents that don't understand that that the Dojang is primarily for the students, not them or their stuff. People who constantly show up (conveniently, for them) after the warm-up. Someone already said the dirty uniform them but can you believe coffee stains and not small ones and not just once. People that disrespect their belt, drag it on the floor, can't tie it, keep losing it.

[taekwondodo]

- Kids can't tie their own belt at Red to BB level
- Kids come to class wear dirty uniform
-Adults comes to class with wrinkle uniform
-BB comes to class forget to bring their belt
-Kids comes to form class once and win gold in 2 person division and got a big head when they comes home.

[goingd]

1. Almost everything everyone has said so far
2. Masters who cannot spar (not because of physical limitations, but simply because they do not know how)
3. Black belts that are so wide they can fit a school patch on them.
4. All the stories about some kid with a black belt in Taekwondo who thought he could take on some skater punk and got his butt beat. You have no idea how sick I am of hearing that particular story.
5. Parents who expect their unfocused, never disciplined at home four year old to test
6. Taekwondoists who say they know Hapkido, but teach know like three things they saw on youtube.

I could go on forever so I'ma stop... for now.

^~^

[matt.m]

Student know - it - alls
Instructors that are too full of self importance to teach correctly
more talking = less practice time duh

[msmitht]

Masters who do not teach...they have teens do it 4 them.
grandmasters and masters who do not train.
parents who think that their child is the best and should test when they suck.
students who quit after 1 tournament loss.
inflated egos.
schools that seem to specialize in everything (at least until the next fad)
schools that use the name tkd but are not (yes, I am referring to the wannabee's....you know who you are).
teachers who go to a 2-6 hour seminar in krav maga/hagannah/bjj/mma/etc... and think that they actually know how to teach it.
teachers who give out patches/stickers/awards in every class just to keep them coming back.
4-8 year old black belts....it is just too young people. I don't care how good they are. Even if they have been training since they were 3.
and finally....when a 16-18 year old 4th dan comes in and asks me why I did not stop class to bow to him. After all, by kkw standards he is a master (of course he does not have a kkw cert) and has trained for 6-8 years and that is what they do at his grandmasters school (a 34 year old 8th dan...LOL)
For a good laugh check out youtube and search "Sky Martial Arts". I ran across a belt testing video of theirs from june....LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jade Tigress]

Students who insist on wasting class time with "what ifs".

Doh! You beat me to it too.

[d1jinx]

OMG...............:barf:

I Cannot believe what i just watched. Are you serious. Is this what we have representing TKD?

I just watched the youtube video that msmitht was speaking of.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mwAS8sfkSg

:duh:ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!

And the sad thing is, a few of them show "some" potential. They are attemping to do Taeguek forms which means they more than likely are going to issue KKW certs to those lucky students.:barf:

Sad. so sad. This is why TKD is loosing credability. :rpo:

[msmitht]

I thought it was sad. Their GM is out of Los Angles. on the Website he is listed as a KKW 9th dan...among many other things. It is almost a guarantee that they will get kkw certs.

[celtic_crippler]

OMG...............:barf:

I Cannot believe what i just watched. Are you serious. Is this what we have representing TKD?

I just watched the youtube video that msmitht was speaking of.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mwAS8sfkSg

:duh:ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!

And the sad thing is, a few of them show "some" potential. They are attemping to do Taeguek forms which means they more than likely are going to issue KKW certs to those lucky students.:barf:

Sad. so sad. This is why TKD is loosing credability. :rpo:

I thought I was watching the sequal to "The Foot Fist Way." LOL The instructor does kinda favor the guy in the moive...and the students..

Anyway...

I'd have to echo that I hate people that don't wash their gi and smell like hot garbage.

[girlbug2]

Ah yes, the Legend of Smelly Gi Guy! He does get around.

[miguksaram]

Parent pet peeves of martial arts:

- Parents who expect me to be the sole disciplinarian in the kid's life.
- Same parents who are upset when you do discipline their kid.
- Drive by drop offs of 5-7 year olds 30 minutes before class
- Parents who pick up those same kids 30 minutes or more after the class has ended
- Parents who wonder after a 2 years why their child isn't a black belt yet their friend/neighbor/cousin who takes it down the road is almost 2nd dan after 1.5 years
- Parents who argue with you on how you are teaching
- Sideline coaching from parents DURING class

[igillman]

Not doing proper push ups. We have lots of kids who say they can do 100 push ups and then demonstrate either "arm twitching" or "head bobbing".

[terryl965]

Parent pet peeves of martial arts:

- Parents who expect me to be the sole disciplinarian in the kid's life.
- Same parents who are upset when you do discipline their kid.
- Drive by drop offs of 5-7 year olds 30 minutes before class
- Parents who pick up those same kids 30 minutes or more after the class has ended
- Parents who wonder after a 2 years why their child isn't a black belt yet their friend/neighbor/cousin who takes it down the road is almost 2nd dan after 1.5 years
- Parents who argue with you on how you are teaching
- Sideline coaching from parents DURING class

I can only agree with everything that you mention.

[Jphtkd]

Parents who don't pay attention to the calendar that we mail out, the flyers we pass out in class, and the posters in the window all saying the day that we are going to be closed. They then get upset when they show up on the day/time and there are no classes going on.

"Nobody told me there would not be class"

[Marginal]

Random weapons annoy me.

"We train TKD!"
Ok... Why are you waving a katana/"numb chuck" around then?

[goingd]

Parents who don't pay attention to the calendar that we mail out, the flyers we pass out in class, and the posters in the window all saying the day that we are going to be closed. They then get upset when they show up on the day/time and there are no classes going on.

"Nobody told me there would not be class"

I... just had that happen. Signs were all around the community center ALL WEEK saying all classes were canceled for the next week. I even made an announcement twice that week after class. Still, like five parents showed up and complained that I did not tell them it would be closed. It took one parent remembering on her own and admitting her mistake to defend me... *sigh* This is why I will not teach full time.