How intimidated were you when you started?

[Aikikitty]

(From another past poll/polls on Aikiweb)

How intimidated were you by your instructor when you first started your art?

Were you intimidated by the more experianced students?

When I first walked in the dojo door, I didn't know what to expect so I was nervous about everything! But our first sensei was/is very nice and he helped us feel welcome. The other guys were all nice too but one guy in particular scared me because I thought he looked like a pirate! He turned out to be one of the nicest guys there but he was still very intimidating for the first couple of months.
%-}

Robyn :ninja: :asian: :samurai:

 

[dearnis.com]

terribly intimidated. On all fronts. Something I try to prevent my new people from going through.

 

[Cruentus]

I was 7 years old, completely wired, a little annoying, and excited to be taking "Karate". Absolutely no intimidation!

Some things don't go away with age!

 

[RCastillo]

Never. I was lucky, I guess. I was always treated fairly well by my instructors.:asian:

 

[dearnis.com]

completely wired, a little annoying, and excited

arent these the traits that earn you periodic martial talk sabbaticals????
:rofl: :rofl:

 

[Rich Parsons]

I started Martial Arts to get a release and to learn control. I was involved with a legal case at the time. I was first a suspect that became a prime witness. So, walking into the the dojo, I was respectful and open, yet, not intimadated.

i.e. after three/four classes, I had learned a few strikes and blocks with the cane. The instructor said he would strike x and you would do block y. Well when it became my time I was ready with the block he wanted for the strike he called. Only the instructor did a different strike, and I blocked. The instructor smiled. One of the senior students made a comment that I did the wrong block. The instructor smiled and said I did ok.

 

[Quick Sand]

When I first started my first art, ju jutsu, I wasn't intimidated by the instructor but I was intimidated by the other students. It was a brand new class so we were all the same rank and all starting this art from scratch. Unfortunately I was a 15 year old girl who had never been in any kind of physical confrontation.

The other students were: a girl my age that was very "street savy" and often talked about the different people she'd had fights with, a 6'4" guy in his mid twenties who was a former boxer and was in the army, a 39 year old man with a black belt in Karate, and a 6'2" guy that didn't have any fighting experience but was tall (compared to me) and in his early 20's. Shortly afterwards we were joined buy another guy in his mid 30's who had a blue belt in Judo and was a fairly tough guy.

They all turned out to be nice but I was definitly feeling very small and weak. Now, many years later 3 of them went on to get black belts and I think 2 are 2nd degrees now. I miss a some aspects of that art but I don't live there anymore so I couldn't go back even if I wanted too. I did go visit once though and I check their website once in a while. It's nice to see that the class has really grown since then.

 

[TheRustyOne]

I'm always intimidated by new things and occassionally people. I was when I started the Shepherd class, but got over it quickly enough. Stick Dummy was instructing the night I first came to the studio...he intimidated me. hoo boy.

I'll probably always be intimidated by Goldendragon...he's such a higher rank than me, and I definitely have test anxiety.

 

[RCastillo]

Originally posted by TheRustyOne
I'm always intimidated by new things and occassionally people. I was when I started the Shepherd class, but got over it quickly enough. Stick Dummy was instructing the night I first came to the studio...he intimidated me. hoo boy.

I'll probably always be intimidated by Goldendragon...he's such a higher rank than me, and I definitely have test anxiety.

Goldendragon intimidate you? Naw, he's just a big ole Teddy Bear........with TEETH!

 

[Aikikitty]

Originally posted by TheRustyOne
I'm always intimidated by new things and occassionally people. I was when I started the Shepherd class, but got over it quickly enough. Stick Dummy was instructing the night I first came to the studio...he intimidated me. hoo boy.

I'll probably always be intimidated by Goldendragon...he's such a higher rank than me, and I definitely have test anxiety.

>sigh< I envy you and your luck by getting to meet such "famous" Martial Talk people! :wah: :vu:

Robyn :asian:

 

[Ceicei]

I wasn't intimidated when I first came into martial arts (college class) because I had a specific reason for being there (see "Stalking" thread). I had friends there already who were very aware and gave me close attention to help me get through my anger.

Under normal circumstances, I probably would have felt intimidated. After I graduated, I needed a place to go. My second and third dojos were extensions from the first because the instructors had worked with the first dojo and were trying to set up their own. These two dojos didn't last very long. However, I did feel somewhat intimidated when I went to my fourth dojo and I knew no one there (other than the instructor who was on the belt test panels at the first and third dojos). It felt strange to start over from scratch with the fourth because I had been away from martial arts for a few years.

I left martial arts again for a few years because the fourth dojo decided to change to a different MA style. With my fifth and current dojo, I finally felt like I came "home" when I joined. I love the atmosphere and the people and feel very comfortable.

- Ceicei

 

[theletch1]

I wasn't intimidated at all at my first school. I've been told by some of the other students that joined after me that I was the one they found to be intimidating. I can only laugh at that. Intense, maybe, but never intimidating. My new school was not intimidating either, although, there was a different feel to the place and a much more respectful atmosphere between the instructor and the students. The respect for him is something that he earns on a regular basis and not something that he simply demands because it's his school.

 

[Cruentus]

Originally posted by dearnis.com
arent these the traits that earn you periodic martial talk sabbaticals????
:rofl: :rofl:

Absolutely, except magnify the the annoying part, added with a dose of mouth diarreha. :cuss: :rofl:

 

[Shodan]

The only thing intimidating to me about my first lesson was that the instructors started the class by asking us if we knew how ninjas got under doors. They then proceeded to both go down into full frontal splits and lie the rest of their bodies flat against the floor in front of them!! Then they said "They just get into this position and wait for a breeze to come along and blow them on under!!" Now, you try!! :rofl:

Guess that was their way of "breaking the ice" so to speak......but I stood there thinking........I don't think I can ever do this!! They turned out to be some of the nicest people I have ever met- and funny!!

Now........almost 18 years and 4 or more instructors later, I am still doing Kenpo!!

There have, over the years, been intimidating other students.......but I have lucked out and had all great instructors.

:asian: :karate:

 

[Cruentus]

My 1st MA clas was TKD when I was 7 years old; it was an all kids class and as I said before, no intimidation.

My 1st Modern Arnis class was REALLY intimidating for me, though. It was about 14 year ago, 1990. The reason it was so scary was because I technically wasn't supposed to be there. The instructor for Arnis who taught the class didn't want kids in the class. I asked him at least once a month from age 11 on. It was, "when you turn 12 come talk to me" then "when you get at least green belt come talk to me" then "when you get your blue stripe we'll talk." This went on for over a year, and FINALLY he caved in and said O.K., but only on a probationary level; I was told it was an adult class, and I needed to keep that in mind. Needless to say, I was under scrutiny from the beginning, so I was terrified that I wasn't going to do well enough, and that I would be kicked out. It all turned out for the better, though, because this preassure made me very serious about my Modern Arnis training from the start.

My 1st few Balintawak lessons August and Sept. 2002 were also very intimidating. My Balintawak training is essentially close door; I had to be recomended and accepted as a student, and even then I had to be taking the art very seriously for my 1st few weekends or I could have been thrown to the curb. Once again; a lot of preassure. I had this panicky feeling in the back of my head for the 1st few lessons that I was going to "screw up" and get kicked out.

This kind of pressure can be good to a degree, I think. It keeps up serious, and keeps us humble.

:asian:

 

[theletch1]

Now........almost 18 years and 4 or more instructors later, I am still doing Kenpo!!

Great!! But are you getting blown under doors yet?

 

[Jmh7331]

The only time I was intimidated was when I studied Isshinryu. The Instructor was incredibly friendly but his assistant and the other students, for the most part, weren't. They made you feel like you had to walk on egg shells around them. Things lightened up a little when, during my second month of training I went thru a wall. I'm all for tradition and formality but you don't have to be a jerk.

 

[jfarnsworth]

I wasn't intimidated at all. I just took a lot of @ss beatings though.

 

[tshadowchaser]

Never by my first instructor he wasnt that good or intimadating
My current instructor , now thats another story, this man can still hurt me.
Not sure if intiimadated is the correct word. not sure what is. Somewhere between awed and scared to death, with love and respect in the mix

 

[Shodan]

theletch- Nope- not getting blown under doors yet.......still waiting!! Maybe one day!!

:asian: :karate: