Do any of your students " try" you?

Have any of your student ever tried you?

  • Yes

  • No


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Drac

Sr. Grandmaster
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Its doesn't happen at our school alot, but occasionally one of the younger students will try something to catch me or Father Greek off guard..The results are never pretty, they usually get slammed, not too hard but enough to remind them why we are the instructors..So has this ever happened at your school???
 
We have them as well, but once they hit the floor they seem to go back to the task at hand and that is training.
 
A little confession:

Years ago when I started Kenpo, I was full of naiive ideas about martial arts. For some reason I thought that a true test of the skill of a master was if they could "expect the unexpected", anticipate an attack out of nowhere and counter it perfectly. Yeah, I watched too many movies :D.

Anyway, several times during a private lesson these urges would surface to reach out and try to slap him just to see if he was on his toes so to speak. In my mind, he'd be talking intently about something, his face would be close and I'd think to myself, just try it...if he's good, he'll catch it, no problem, maybe he'll even grin and congratulate me on my spirit or some such.

OMG, I am SO GLAD I never actually had the nerve to do that!

In fact, now I wish he had slapped ME a few times for even thinking it! Sheesh, the idiocy of youth...
 
The students won't usually try anything with me, but they have done that with my assistant instructors. It never ends up in a good situation. One ended up with a dislocated shoulder, you get the picture.
 
One of my favorite students was a big guy who loaded and unloaded trucks for a living, he was big, and very strong. I would be explaining and demonstrating a technique and he'd raise his hand and say " Sensei, I don't think that would work on someone my size." The fact is that at that time, I wasn't quite sure either, so I'd say " Well, let's see" and have him attack me. We both learned alot about the effectiveness about what I was teaching, he became a believer, and I learned to trust what I'd been taught.
 
I won't lie I did tried my first Sifu a few times here and there to see if I could cath him during a drill. He'd do something and knock me to my *** and would smile.

Way of showing me why he was the teache and I was the pupil. He would also say later why it didn't work and liked that i was getting confident but remind me not to get too cocky.
 
I've had beginning fellow students try me. When I was a blue belt we had a new student with an extensive amount of training who felt it was his obligation to instruct when he was working in groups or pairs. Sensei called him on that a few times. One day he tried it on me. We were doing a different drill that Sensei had just introduced. He started telling me how to do it.

I stopped, looked him square in the eye and told him, "You are not here to instruct me."

He was gone in a week.
 
:uhohh: What can I say, sometimes I am an total idiot:uhoh:. I'm lucky I didn't get my fanny tossed streetside.
lori
 
I've had beginning fellow students try me. When I was a blue belt we had a new student with an extensive amount of training who felt it was his obligation to instruct when he was working in groups or pairs. Sensei called him on that a few times. One day he tried it on me. We were doing a different drill that Sensei had just introduced. He started telling me how to do it.

I stopped, looked him square in the eye and told him, "You are not here to instruct me."

He was gone in a week.

It is sad when a student forget he is there to train and not teach.
 
I've had beginning fellow students try me. When I was a blue belt we had a new student with an extensive amount of training who felt it was his obligation to instruct when he was working in groups or pairs. Sensei called him on that a few times. One day he tried it on me. We were doing a different drill that Sensei had just introduced. He started telling me how to do it.

I stopped, looked him square in the eye and told him, "You are not here to instruct me."

He was gone in a week.

*smiles sheepishly* That's actually me a bit right now. I'm relatively new in a new style, but my background means I understand a lot of the technique and movement already. I just try to make an effort not overdue it or come across like I think I'm a know it all, and just clarify when I think something's off. I don't think I've pissed anyone off yet. :uhyeah:

On the other side, the people that frustrate me are the ones who are bad partners. The ones that think that in every exercise and drill they have to show how good they are, or that they know a counter move, or never want to let their partner perform a technique so they can show their strength, control, etc.
 
*smiles sheepishly* That's actually me a bit right now. I'm relatively new in a new style, but my background means I understand a lot of the technique and movement already. I just try to make an effort not overdue it or come across like I think I'm a know it all, and just clarify when I think something's off. I don't think I've pissed anyone off yet. :uhyeah:

The guy I'm talking about would actually tell others that the teacher's doing it wrong. "Do it this way; it works better." To quote my friend, Bill Mattocks, "He can kiss my crusty..." Never mind.

I know what you're talking about. My background is HKD. I can twist wrists with the best of them. In some of my close-quarter Systema training, my HKD kicks in, and I end up doing it "my way." I've explained to my teachers that I have a passing familiarity with being grabbed, and an automated response mechanism that kicks in. When I do that, I'm not trying to re-teach what my new teachers are telling, I'm just defending myself.

Hopefully I haven't pissed anyone off either.
 
i've had quite a few make a run at the plate. most always some type of little 'ambush' too. it's no problem. that is just how those types validate their teacher and training.
 
Occasionally... but I also play the following for my class every so often, and it generally gets the idea across.

BOOT TO THE HEAD

performed by the Frantics


PART I : THE LESSON


MASTER: Approach student, close the circle at the feet of the master. You have come to me asking that I be your guide along the path of Tae Kwon Leap. But, be warned: To learn its ways, you must learn the ways of your own soul. Let us meditate on this wisdom now. So: Ohhhhmmmmm...

STUDENT1 (Ed Gruberman): Uh, sir! Sir! (Oo!, Oo!) Sir!

MASTER: Who disturbs our meditation, as a pebble disturbs the stillness of the pond?

EG: Me! Ed Gruberman!

MASTER: E-Ed Gruberman.

EG: Yeah, uh, no disrespect or nuthin', but, uh, how long is this gonna take?

MASTER: Tae Kwon Leap is not a path to a door, but a road leading forever towards the horizon.

EG: So like, what, an hour or so?

MASTER: No, no, we have not even begun upon the path. Ed Gruberman, you must learn patience.

EG: Yeah yeah yeah, patience. How long will that take?

MASTER: Time has no meaning. To a true student, a year is as a day.

EG: A YEAR??? I wanna beat people up right now! I got the pajamas! Yah yah yah hwoom!

MASTER: 'Beat people up'...

EG: Yeah! Just show me all those nifty moves so I can start trashing bozos! That's all I came here for! YO ASTA STA STA!!! Pretty good, ey?

MASTER: The only use of Tae Kwon Leap is self-defense. Do you know who said that? Ki Lo Ni, the great teacher.

EG: Yeah? Well the best defense is a good offense, you know who said that? Mel, the cook on 'Alice'.

MASTER: Tae Kwon Leap is the wine of purity, not the vinegar of hostility. Meditate upon this truth with us. Ohmmmmmm.....

EG: Listen, shrimp! Now are you gonna show me some fancy moves, or am I gonna start wipin' the walls with you?

MASTER: Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Tae Kwon Leap. Approach me that you might see.

EG: All right! Finally some action!

MASTER: Observe closely, class. Boot to the Head! (SH-ZOOMP!)

EG (drunkenly): Owww! You booted me in the head!

MASTER: You are lucky, Ed Gruberman. Few novices experience so much of Tae Kwon Leap so soon.

EG (quietly, to himself): Ow, oh, my head!

MASTER: Now we continue. Ohhhmmmmm...

EG: Hey! I wasn't ready! Come and get me now shorty, hah? Come on, are ya chicken?

MASTER: Boot to the head! (SH-ZOOMP!)

EG (again, drunkenly): Oww! Okay, now I'm ready, okay, now, come on, try it now.

MASTER: Boot to the head! (SH-ZOOMP!)

EG: Mind if I just lie down here for a minute?

MASTER: Now class, we shall return to our..

STUDENT2: Master?

MASTER: It is wrong to tip the vessel of knowledge, student.

STUDENT2: Many apologies, master. But I feel Ed Gruberman is not wholly wrong.

MASTER: What do you mean?

STUDENT2: I want to boot some head, too.

MASTER: Have you learned nothing from the lesson of Ed Gruberman?

STUDENT2: Yes, master. I have learned two things. First, that anger is a weapon only to one's opponent.

MASTER: Very good.

STUDENT2: And secondly, get in the first shot. Boot to the head. (SH-ZOOMP!)

MASTER: You missed.

STUDENT2: Yeah. Well...

MASTER: You too shall be honored to learn a lesson...

STUDENT2: You don't have to, you know. I gotta be going...

MASTER: Boot to the head! (SH-ZOOMP!)

STUDENT2 (agonizing pain): Oyyy oy oyyyy.... Oh....

MASTER: Can anyone tell us what lesson has been learned here?

STUDENT3: Yes, master. Not a single one of us could defeat you.

MASTER: You gain wisdom, child.

STUDENT3: So we'll hafta gang up on ya! Get 'im guys!

(Master throws many Boot-to-the-head's and SH-ZOOMP's, and people are groaning in pain)

MASTER: And now class, let us rejoin the mind to the body and gaze into the heart of the candle of meditation.

UNISON: Ohhhmmmm....

MASTER: Very good, class.
 
Back when I was a sandan, I had one of the yellow belts that had a bit of a background in other arts try to beat up in a sparring match to impress a girl that he was interested in that had stopped by. Now the sparring was light contact and I was doing instructional interludes with him when he decided to suddenly up the scale to all out contact and was prancing about. After I blocked the backfist, I realized what was going on. Before I could yell break he threw the next technique.

This student had recently done very well at a tourney and was, I supose, feeling very confident. He Thought a high hook kick to my head was a great move. On a day he didn't wear a cup.

And hadn't mentioned the lack of a cup to anyone.

Front snap kick to the groin, followed by a modified osoto-gari, and a punch to the face as he was falling worked wonders to ensure that he never tried to kick my but to impress a girl again. She didn't seem that interested in him, what with the ice pack on the stones and the bloodied face.

That student turned out alright though, we still talk about that now and then and get a good chuckle out of it. He uses it as a cautionary tale for his own students.

Good times.
Mark
 
Anyway, several times during a private lesson these urges would surface to reach out and try to slap him just to see if he was on his toes so to speak. In my mind, he'd be talking intently about something, his face would be close and I'd think to myself, just try it...if he's good, he'll catch it, no problem, maybe he'll even grin and congratulate me on my spirit or some such.

I am trying to picture it...
It's not a pretty sight...

:eek:verkill:

I can see this ending badly.
 
Every Saturday after class, anyone is welcome to have a go-anyone "feeling froggy" before that is told to come back on Saturday ....I'm looking forward to the day my son or Lt. Mills puts me on my butt......guess it could wind up being someone else, though....
 
I think I should change my username to "Ed Gruberman."

:angel:
 
This sounds like the type of thing my sifu would enjoy. Our school is BIG on sparring and if (IF) you manage to land a hit on him, he'll congratulate you, then, he'll show you why he is The Man.
 
I don't know if anyone ever "tried" my sensei, but students have tried the rest of us blackbelts. At first it was hard for me to tell if a guy just had a lack of control or if he was challenging me without saying so in words. I've since learned to tell the difference and we blackbelts show the overly eager students how much more they need to study. Usually it only takes one time to put them in their place.


We do have a serious problem in our dojo of lower rank individuals trying to teach their training partners instead of training. We usually have to walk up to them and say "train! don't teach!" No one likes being taught by someone who knows less than he.
 
One of my favorite students was a big guy who loaded and unloaded trucks for a living, he was big, and very strong. I would be explaining and demonstrating a technique and he'd raise his hand and say " Sensei, I don't think that would work on someone my size." The fact is that at that time, I wasn't quite sure either, so I'd say " Well, let's see" and have him attack me. We both learned alot about the effectiveness about what I was teaching, he became a believer, and I learned to trust what I'd been taught.

When I was in the advanced academy obtaining my teaching permit they brought in a Judo master to teach us the Shime-Waza on of the class knuckle head walked up to this 6th Dan and announced that " it didnt work on him'..
 
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