Had a girl (14) and her parents come by and watch a class a few days back. They asked some questions and watched a bit more. I asked if the girl wanted to join the class for the day and she did. We did not do anything TKD related as it was the first day back to class after testing. We usually don't do anything after testing but have some fun, rolling, flips, or demo type kicks (360's, 540's,and so on). That day we were doing rolling and flips. So she joined in the fun. While she was in class I took the time to talk some more with the parents. Mom is an active MMA practitioner and former kick boxer. They stated that they were looking to change the school that the daughter was in now as they did not feel it was giving what they expected. I did not ask what they expected but only offered what we taught. Because the class was not any real class I told them to come back in 2 days when the adults had class again but that she could stay and have a bit of fun today.
Fast forward 2 days later. I am in the front of class about to start and I notice the same parents and the girl sitting in the stands before class (they came back, good sign). I approached them and shook their hands and said good to see you made it. The girl was not in any workout clothes so I did not know if she was looking to join the class or just watch. I ask if she wanted to join the class again, and let them know that today would be a normal type class. She said sure so I gave her a new uniform to wear. The girl has been doing TKD at another school in the area for about 14 months so I decided to do focus on basics and forms that day. I asked my daughter to shadow the girl to make sure she understood everything we were doing and to help when needed. We went over all the basic punching and kicking for that day and then broke off into rank groups to do forms. I dismissed my daughter to her group and focused on the girl one on one.
Now with my full attention I asked the girl to do her form. She did a form I have never ever seen before so I asked what it was called. She said the name of the form was called Tango and that it meant heaven. She did another form and it was called Tucson and I think she said it meant earth. Again I have never seen either form but told her that the techniques used in the forms looked pretty good. I was able to show her our kibon form and Taequeks Il and Ee Jang. She picked up each rather quickly, with some small mistakes here and there.
Making the story short, after the 1.5 hour class was over I brought the parents into the office to see if they like the class, and was going to offer a 2 weeks trial to them. To my shock there was no need. They pulled out the credit card and paid for a full year on the spot. The mom was very excited and relieved. She said that they had been to quite a few schools and was very disappointed in them all. The mom was impressed with the respect and discipline first. She could not believe how respectful all the student were to one another and the instructors. She stated that after 14 months at the other school she felt she wasted her money. She loved how techniques were explained and broken down and that we did not just let the students do things wrong. She liked the positive feedback even when correcting techniques.
After talking for about 30 minutes with he parents I went back out on the mats where the girl and a few other students were talking and asked the girl how she liked class, she stated that she liked it. I asked if it was different from what she had been doing and she said night and day different.
I won't get into the details of class and what she said her class was like but it is always good to know that what you are doing seems to be the right thing. I know we all want to think we are doing what is best, but we never truly know. So every now and then it feels good to know that you are at least doing the right thing for some.
Fast forward 2 days later. I am in the front of class about to start and I notice the same parents and the girl sitting in the stands before class (they came back, good sign). I approached them and shook their hands and said good to see you made it. The girl was not in any workout clothes so I did not know if she was looking to join the class or just watch. I ask if she wanted to join the class again, and let them know that today would be a normal type class. She said sure so I gave her a new uniform to wear. The girl has been doing TKD at another school in the area for about 14 months so I decided to do focus on basics and forms that day. I asked my daughter to shadow the girl to make sure she understood everything we were doing and to help when needed. We went over all the basic punching and kicking for that day and then broke off into rank groups to do forms. I dismissed my daughter to her group and focused on the girl one on one.
Now with my full attention I asked the girl to do her form. She did a form I have never ever seen before so I asked what it was called. She said the name of the form was called Tango and that it meant heaven. She did another form and it was called Tucson and I think she said it meant earth. Again I have never seen either form but told her that the techniques used in the forms looked pretty good. I was able to show her our kibon form and Taequeks Il and Ee Jang. She picked up each rather quickly, with some small mistakes here and there.
Making the story short, after the 1.5 hour class was over I brought the parents into the office to see if they like the class, and was going to offer a 2 weeks trial to them. To my shock there was no need. They pulled out the credit card and paid for a full year on the spot. The mom was very excited and relieved. She said that they had been to quite a few schools and was very disappointed in them all. The mom was impressed with the respect and discipline first. She could not believe how respectful all the student were to one another and the instructors. She stated that after 14 months at the other school she felt she wasted her money. She loved how techniques were explained and broken down and that we did not just let the students do things wrong. She liked the positive feedback even when correcting techniques.
After talking for about 30 minutes with he parents I went back out on the mats where the girl and a few other students were talking and asked the girl how she liked class, she stated that she liked it. I asked if it was different from what she had been doing and she said night and day different.
I won't get into the details of class and what she said her class was like but it is always good to know that what you are doing seems to be the right thing. I know we all want to think we are doing what is best, but we never truly know. So every now and then it feels good to know that you are at least doing the right thing for some.
