Champion, coach, teacher, or master. Which would choose to train with?

[Wing Woo Gar]

I used to belong to a now defunct forum ( Budoseek)..we had several seminars where Canadian and American instructors shared some of their knowledge. It was excellent.

In person meet up? That would be just awesome! There are so many skilled people here that know so much about MA that I have no clue about. I could spend a lot of time soaking that up.

 

[frank raud]

In person meet up? That would be just awesome! There are so many skilled people here that know so much about MA that I have no clue about. I could spend a lot of time soaking that up.

Yes, in person. Japanese jiu jitsu, Karate, combatives, hojo jutsu, Hapkido and aiki jutsu were some of the styles we explored.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Yes, in person. Japanese jiu jitsu, Karate, combatives, hojo jutsu, Hapkido and aiki jutsu were some of the styles we explored.

Wow. Open mat forum could be so great with this bunch of people.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Yes, in person. Japanese jiu jitsu, Karate, combatives, hojo jutsu, Hapkido and aiki jutsu were some of the styles we explored.

I just started a thread for this out of sheer hope.

 

[frank raud]

Wow. Open mat forum could be so great with this bunch of people.

We have an annual event here in Ottawa that brings in top notch instructors from around the world for a weekend. NOT suggesting this is a forum related event, but we have champion kickboxers, Olympian Judokas, former UFC fighters, BJJ black belts, FMA instructors, Karate, Kung Fu, Tai Chi and Japanese Jiu Jitsu, along with sword, knife, stick classes..In the past, we have had the Shaolin monks, original Dog Brothers, the whole gamut..I've been going to this event since it's inception over 30 years ago. First weekend of November, if anyone is interested. Capital Conquest

 

[Tigerwarrior]

As I move on in years, I've lost all my original teachers. They've all either died, retired, or moved on and I've been unable to reach them. So, recently, I've been reflecting a lot on my own personal journey in the martial arts, and how I was affected by my contact with various instructors. All taught martial arts, but the relationship they had with their students was very different. Some I would call coaches or mentors, others were martial-arts celebrities with champion-level physical skills, another was a "Grandmaster" of some renown in his day, and finally some were simply skilled individuals willing to share their craft.

What kind of instructors have you all had? How would you characterize your experience with them? And, finally, what do you value and look for most for in a martial-arts instructor?

All the "masters" have been more than just teachers to me, more like mentors who cared about my success not just in the arts but in life too. Champions I've trained with a few, some were good at teaching some were terrible teachers but had excellent skills as practitioners. Coaches are hit and miss for me I've trained with some very good ones and others who didn't really care. The best instructor I've ever trained with I called "kuya" he was more like an older brother and like family. Titles don't really matter to me personally I've trained with greats with all titles and also some who weren't that great with the same title. I hope to be a master of martial arts one day but my learning will never stop, master to me is more like grandfather in the arts, you have instructors under you who teach and you are more like the grandfather of your school.

 

[Holmejr]

Right now I’m choosing GM or top 2nd generation. Mostly due to the brutal concept behind it. When I started the GM’s we’re truly combative, with many fighting the Japanese and experiencing hand to hand kills and/or brutal village to village challenge matches. My current Instructor spent early life in Cebu and trained with GM daily for many years, till GMs passing. He is essentially now the GM of the art although he would never admit to it. I am confident that I’m getting what GM envisioned. He was one bad dude.

 

[drop bear]

I like this guys teaching style.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

As I move on in years, I've lost all my original teachers. They've all either died, retired, or moved on and I've been unable to reach them. So, recently, I've been reflecting a lot on my own personal journey in the martial arts, and how I was affected by my contact with various instructors. All taught martial arts, but the relationship they had with their students was very different. Some I would call coaches or mentors, others were martial-arts celebrities with champion-level physical skills, another was a "Grandmaster" of some renown in his day, and finally some were simply skilled individuals willing to share their craft.

What kind of instructors have you all had? How would you characterize your experience with them? And, finally, what do you value and look for most for in a martial-arts instructor?

I've had two sensei. First was Wado for about six months. Second was my current sensei, 15+ years. He prefers to be called sensei even though he's 50+ years experience and a 9th Dan Hanshi in Isshinryu. He's great. That's all I got.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I've had two sensei.

I also have 2 MA teachers. If I get into a fight, my

- 1st teacher (1926 - ) will pull me away from that fight.
- 2nd teacher (1908–1986) will put a knife into my hand (He did put a knife into one of my students hand during one conflict).

My 1st MA teacher is a normal human being, a civilized person.

My 2nd MA teacher competed in 1933 in the 5th National Guoshu Tournament (also called the "All China Full Contact Tournament") and won the heavyweight division over several hundred other practitioners.

Chang Dongsheng - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

My 2nd teacher was also an assassin in Chinese secret service (軍統局) during WWII against Japanese and communist. One of his secret missions was to get closer to Chinese general. He would kill that Chinese general if he could find any proof that Chinese general had contacted the communist party. When the communist party took over China, my 2nd teacher moved to Taiwan. His young brother in China was thrown into jail for being anti-communist.

I have learned a lot of spy skills from my 2nd teacher such as

- always sit near by an exit in a movie theater.
- always go to the kitchen and talk to the chef before eating in a restaurant.
- never allow anybody to close car door for you from behind.
- ...

 

[HighKick]

I've had two sensei. First was Wado for about six months. Second was my current sensei, 15+ years. He prefers to be called sensei even though he's 50+ years experience and a 9th Dan Hanshi in Isshinryu. He's great. That's all I got.

My instructor is much the same. He is up in years and a has been a 9th Dan for over a decade. Of course, many people address him as Grandmaster quite often, but he doesn't care if he is addressed as just Master Shin.