Envy / Jealousy / Competition Among Top Students?

[hunyuan24]

I apologize if this topic has already been discussed before -

Have you seen circumstances where top students in your class are competing with each other for whatever reason... Any interesting story to share?

I am asking, because people who are passionate about martial arts could be very competitive in nature.

Thanks in advance for sharing!

 

[Instructor]

If it's a sport competition style that behavior might be deamed appropriate...

If it's not, teach your students zen.

 

[drop bear]

Yeah some of our guys bang pretty hard. There have been times when they have just sat in the pocket and traded shots on each other.
But as far as competition goes we never compete against each other and are a fairly tight knit team.

Stories.

We had one guy who was bigger than most and used to throw people around a bit. So the coach knee rode him until he cried.

 

[Instructor]

Yeah some of our guys bang pretty hard. There have been times when they have just sat in the pocket and traded shots on each other.
But as far as competition goes we never compete against each other and are a fairly tight knit team.

Stories.

We had one guy who was bigger than most and used to throw people around a bit. So the coach knee rode him until he cried.

Sounds to me like a good place to learn to fight!

 

[hunyuan24]

stories.

We had one guy who was bigger than most and used to throw people around a bit. So the coach knee rode him until he cried.

lol!

 

[lklawson]

If it's not, teach your students zen.

Not a cure-all. Not necessarily even appropriate to all circumstances. Greatly misunderstood in Western culture. Most people who think they know about it, don't actually.

Might be a better choice.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[wingchun100]

At my teacher's school, I haven't seen TOP students get into it too much. However, I have seen it happen with beginner students. I remember starting at my wing chun school back in 1995, when I was also attending college. Two of my wing chun classmates (Chris and Alicia) also went to college with me. They started a couple months after me. I ran into Alicia in the library, and we started talking about wing chun. She was aggravated because Sifu had started teaching me chum kiu and chi sao, but he hadn't done so with her or Chris yet. She also expressed anger over something that had happened at class, where Sifu was teaching me something while Chris stood nearby, completely ignored by him. Well, what she failed to realize was that the month was half over, and she and Chris had YET to pay their tuition. Sifu lets people slide and works out deals with them, but you have to TALK to him. Don't show up, not pay and expect his undivided attention. It isn't fair to everyone who paid on time.

Anyway, they stopped coming to class. Sifu mentioned them one time and I brought up my encounter with her in the library. He said, "She didn't learn chi sao because she wasn't ready...and if she thought she was, you should have told her, 'Okay, let's do chi sao right now.'" He also laughed at the part about how he ignored Chris. He said, "He didn't pay...so he wasn't a student."

So as you see, most of the "competition" at our school doesn't really fit that definition. It is more the case of people who are of the instant gratification mindset, who think that learning all 6 wing chun forms in a week makes them a master. But Sifu sticks to his guns: he wants to make sure you have things at least SOMEWHAT refined before he moves you on to the next step. He doesn't care if it makes him lose those kind of students.

 

[donald1]

in the karate class i go to there is defiantly competition in things like sparring(very seldom) while practicing over kumite or bunkai defiantly. i never seen envy or jealousy ,but if those things were ever in the class room than it might have been from the students that have quit. sometimes the top students in my school compete but mainly friendly competition
as long as the competition is friendly, treats everyone with respect and is not harmful seems fine to me. it could maybe be a good thing it can get students positive motivated to train more and do better

 

[drop bear]

Sounds to me like a good place to learn to fight!

Yeah we do all right. It is mostly good natured beatings.

I posted here the mother of all drills. Which is just brutal but important. And that creates a bit of an emotional response.

You have to understand that if a person is gearing up for a fight. They are doing endless hard training with possibly very little food. The occasional flip out is not unexpected.

We don't compete as such against each other we compete against other gyms. And we treat what we do as a team sport.

 

[Jaeimseu]

IMO, healthy competition is a good thing. It drives everyone to be better.

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[wingchun100]

IMO, healthy competition is a good thing. It drives everyone to be better.

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Right, but not "hey you learned something I didn't and now I'm mad."

 

[Jaeimseu]

Right, but not "hey you learned something I didn't and now I'm mad."

Of course not^^ That wouldn't be healthy.

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[wingchun100]

Of course not^^ That wouldn't be healthy.

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That is what Sifu has faced at his school...a LOT over the years.

 

[lklawson]

Of course not^^ That wouldn't be healthy.

That depends on how vital to your well being that bit of instruction is.

In a modern context, no, probably not usually "healthy."

In a historic context it could be a matter of life and death.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk