Seeking advice

[yak sao]

I have never had this occur and I would like some advice.
As some of you may know, I teach Wing Tsun from my home. I have recently received an email from a young woman wanting to train.
She is unable to make my group classes and is wanting private instruction.
What would you do in this situation to protect yourself from any possible accusations or litigation?

Probably being paranoid, but these are crazy times and it pays to be careful.

 

[mograph]

I know what you're saying -- you are wise to be concerned.
Maybe you could rent a room at the local community center and tack the cost onto the bill ....? The public setting could make things easier all around. Or teach her in a park?
You could say that you don't teach women or children privately in your home. Adding "children" may make the issues clear without offending.

 

[Haris Lamboo Faisal]

I've never personally come across such a situation , have a tough enough time training myself but you should probe a little and ask the reason why the woman can't attend your classes and if you think its a legitimate reason then take a student along for the first few classes , someone who would be willing to train a little extra , train outdoors during the first few sessions so incase there is something fishy going on your student can identify it as well and you could probably refuse incase something strange does happen. Anyway there could be a hundred reason why the woman can't train with your group , but it pays to be safe.

 

[wtxs]

I have never had this occur and I would like some advice.
As some of you may know, I teach Wing Tsun from my home. I have recently received an email from a young woman wanting to train.
She is unable to make my group classes and is wanting private instruction.
What would you do in this situation to protect yourself from any possible accusations or litigation?

Probably being paranoid, but these are crazy times and it pays to be careful.

You lucky dog you! But if she's serious and committed to learn WC, an cheap video recording system with multiple cameras should provide the protection, should you incline to take on an private female student(s).

You could inflate the amount you had to charge for private lesson to discourage her, if that don't work, make sure she is inform the duration of the class WELL be recorded, and the additional $ you charged will help pay for the recording system.

 

[jks9199]

Do you want to train her? Do you want to teach women at all? (Not trying to insult you or insinuate anything -- but I know people who won't teach women, for a variety of reasons.) Do you want to and have the time to teach what amounts to a private student?

If the answer to any of this is no -- you have your solution. You can fall back on the explanation that you don't teach private lessons, only the group sessions, or that you won't teach private lessons to women/children in your home, or simply that you don't teach women, whichever you're comfortable with.

If you do want to teach her -- I would suggest using a park or community center or some other fairly public location, at least until the two of you know each other reasonably well. You might also consider requiring her to find a friend or two to train. That way, she has training partners (other than you), and you gain extra students and that safety factor of not training alone with a woman. Win-win, no? Or at least arrange another student or two to be with her for training partners/chaperones.

 

[mograph]

I'm not sure about the video recording ... it's only used in the interests of someone who wants to prove that something happened, not that something didn't happen. If she says that something happened, the fact that you don't have it on tape could be interpreted as you didn't tape that event, or you taped it and destroyed or hid the tape.

Look at it this way ... if your (hypothetical) daughter were to go to a man's house for music lessons, what would make you, her (hypothetical) father comfortable with the idea?

By the way, I'm assuming you're a man ...

 

[KamonGuy2]

Im sorry but this is ridiculous. By that justification, you would never ever be able to be alone in a room with a girl. I know that people try it on, but thats part of the job. I do private instruction a lot and have had no issues.

Kids are a different matter as they are too vulnerable to put up a defence or scream etc. An adult has the power to defend themselves even against a more skilled martial artist.

If you really are concerned, you could try getting her to sign a release, or have her boyfriend/friend come along, but you will lose people this way

 

[Dirty Dog]

This logic can easily be applied to ANY private lesson. After all, how do we (the putative jury) KNOW what your sexual orientation is?
Besides, what reason would a random person have to randomly accuse you of random criminal activities? Are you getting so rich teaching from your home that they can sue you and retire?

 

[yak sao]

Like I said, maybe I'm just being paranoid. My wife has been off work for a few days because of the holidays....maybe I've been exposed to too many hours of Lifetime TV

And for the record, of course I'm rolling in the dough...isn't every MA instructor filthy rich?

 

[KamonGuy2]

Like I said, maybe I'm just being paranoid. My wife has been off work for a few days because of the holidays....maybe I've been exposed to too many hours of Lifetime TV

And for the record, of course I'm rolling in the dough...isn't every MA instructor filthy rich?

Actually I know a few instructors who have gotten rich teaching MA! Ironically they tend to be the guys who arent McDojo guys.

Anyway, it is true that you will sometimes get crazy people asking for private lessons - I once had a guy who asked if I could invoke the spirit of Bruce Lee to help him. I told him to go and watch No Retreat No Surrender a few times...

But to be honest, I find teaching private students a pleasure and havent had much trouble. The other option is to find out if she has a boyfriend/lives alone and teaching at her place

 

[geezer]

Yak, I understand your paranoia. I'm a high school art teacher. I have open studio hours after school and I never, ever allow students into the room alone, even with the door open. But you are talking about teaching adults. I really don't think you have a problem. If you are uneasy, just make sure somebody else is around for the first few lessons until you get to know your student better.

And as JKS mentioned, the best option of all is to encourage her to bring a friend. I prefer semi-private lessons anyway. They are cheaper for the student, the student has a training partner, and they often learn faster since they aren't under quite as much pressure as when they are constantly working under the eye of the instructor. Regardless, keep us posted and let us know how things turn out.

 

[WCman1976]

I think if there is an overwhelming amount of people who know your character, then any accusation that could be thrown your way would be deemed ridiculous. Otherwise I would ask one of your more senior students to be at the lesson too until you see what kind of person she is.

 

[jks9199]

I think if there is an overwhelming amount of people who know your character, then any accusation that could be thrown your way would be deemed ridiculous. Otherwise I would ask one of your more senior students to be at the lesson too until you see what kind of person she is.

Sometimes, the accusation is enough, even if it's absolutely baseless and something that nobody who knows the subject at all would believe.

Most of the suggestions here are really reasonable common sense approaches to avoiding the appearance or suggestion of impropriety, and preventing the problems before they happen. Might be overkill... but then again, lots of what we train for is for stuff that we likely won't need, right?

 

[Domino]

We shouldn't question the reasoning, some people are lunatics, false accusations can ruin peoples lives.
Signing an agreement form should do it and I would question someone why they want to learn wing chun, correct etiquette, what you expect from students, health benefits etc.

 

[WingChunIan]

Like I said, maybe I'm just being paranoid. My wife has been off work for a few days because of the holidays....maybe I've been exposed to too many hours of Lifetime TV

And for the record, of course I'm rolling in the dough...isn't every MA instructor filthy rich?

Personally I don't accept private students to my home without them attending the public class for a while so that I can judge their character. As far as the potential for scurrilous claims to be made, given the need for contact and the prevalence of hero worship across martial arts its a high risk IMO. For 99 out of 100 people the idea would never enter their heads but that 1% could ruin your life and for the additional income it doesn't seem worth it. It doesn't have to be about money either, spurned romantic advances or unreciprocated romantic notions can lead to unthinkable things being done out of emotional motives with unbalanced individuals.
Ultimately if you aren't comfortable you shouldn't take on any student. You have to be able to relax whilst teaching and before and after the lessons.