OP
F

falcon

Orange Belt
Joined
Jun 23, 2018
Messages
80
Reaction score
9
2. They like to hit stuff as opposed to just kicking/ punching/ blocking air. Have some good shields / targets for this.
i rarely have any of my students hit or punch there air other then forms, i do have them do it just not a lot cause i personally see some value for work on technique but not that much cause you can work on your technique well hitting a bag to so i dont do alot of stuff in the air except the forms.
 

isshinryuronin

Master of Arts
Joined
Feb 28, 2019
Messages
1,870
Reaction score
2,032
, telling people things are difficult is no way to motivate anyone let alone kids
No one accomplishes anything worthwhile by avoiding things that are difficult or just distasteful for us. Part of growing up is learning that many things ARE difficult, then preparing themselves to overcome that. That's what teachers and parents are for. For most of us, getting A's or B's in school is difficult, relationships are difficult, public speaking is difficult or distasteful, cleaning our room is difficult or distasteful. Setting someone out with them thinking everything is a cakewalk is setting them up for failure. Failure is not motivating for kids.

What motivates kids and adults is learning they CAN overcome difficulties and meet challenges. This is called "confidence." The key is starting with small ones, and gradually moving to bigger ones, as the student progresses. Personally, when I apply myself and work hard and accomplish something, overcoming some challenge, I feel good. Feel good about myself. So good, that I want to do it again, maybe something a little more difficult and challenging next time.


.
 

jobo

Grandmaster
Joined
Apr 3, 2017
Messages
9,762
Reaction score
1,514
Location
Manchester UK
No one accomplishes anything worthwhile by avoiding things that are difficult or just distasteful for us. Part of growing up is learning that many things ARE difficult, then preparing themselves to overcome that. That's what teachers and parents are for. For most of us, getting A's or B's in school is difficult, relationships are difficult, public speaking is difficult or distasteful, cleaning our room is difficult or distasteful. Setting someone out with them thinking everything is a cakewalk is setting them up for failure. Failure is not motivating for kids.

What motivates kids and adults is learning they CAN overcome difficulties and meet challenges. This is called "confidence." The key is starting with small ones, and gradually moving to bigger ones, as the student progresses. Personally, when I apply myself and work hard and accomplish something, overcoming some challenge, I feel good. Feel good about myself. So good, that I want to do it again, maybe something a little more difficult and challenging next time.


.
very few people achieve anything worth while, there's only so many nobel prizes a year. the rest just mudle by n0ot achieving very much at all, getting a karate black belt for instances is not a significant achievement, very nearly anyone can do it.

which gets me to my main point, giving confidence is getting people to believe that everything is easy, thinking something is difficult is the exact opposite of confidence, because everything is easy or doesn't matter. public speaking is very very easy if you believe you can do it. you just open your mouth and words come out, why would you tell someone its difficult /? how is that supposed to help them ?
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

MT Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
12,209
Reaction score
6,307
Location
New York
i do sparring and self defense in the classes, one step drills, i just laid out the average class cause they arent done as much. what would you recomend i do every class or another way of putting it what is your average class look like?
As an adult, I always loved places that had sparring most classes, or optional sparring at the end of each class (after class times up, we can hang around and spar, often with the instructor partaking or watching).
 

Kung Fu Wang

Sr. Grandmaster
MT Mentor
Joined
Sep 26, 2012
Messages
14,041
Reaction score
4,488
Location
Austin, Tx/Shell Beach, Ca
sparring at the end of each class
In my class, we usually spar in the beginning of the class (as warm up).

- All students are divided into 2 groups.
- One ground make a big outside circle. One group make a small inside circle.
- The person in the inside circle spars with the person in the outside circle.
- After 1 minute, the inside circle rotate clockwise. Each inside circle person then have a new sparring partner.

The group sparring usually take about 10 minutes. Each student has sparred with 10 different opponent's.
 
Last edited:
OP
F

falcon

Orange Belt
Joined
Jun 23, 2018
Messages
80
Reaction score
9
which gets me to my main point, giving confidence is getting people to believe that everything is easy, thinking something is difficult is the exact opposite of confidence, because everything is easy or doesn't matter. public speaking is very very easy if you believe you can do it. you just open your mouth and words come out, why would you tell someone its difficult /? how is that supposed to help them ?
confidence to me means that knowing something is going to be difficult put also knowing that it you work at it enough you can achieve it.
also i would not say public speaking is easy for some it definitely is but for others like me, i have anxiety an about have a break down every time im in front of people. so every finds different things easy for some getting a black belt is easy for others its extremely difficult. everyone is at different points in there life.
 
OP
F

falcon

Orange Belt
Joined
Jun 23, 2018
Messages
80
Reaction score
9
As an adult, I always loved places that had sparring most classes, or optional sparring at the end of each class (after class times up, we can hang around and spar, often with the instructor partaking or watching).
i plan on doing thaat but i need adults to sign up first, i wish my dojang did that.
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

MT Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
12,209
Reaction score
6,307
Location
New York
In my class, we usually spar in the beginning of the class (as warm up).

- All students are divided into 2 groups.
- One ground make a big outside circle. One group make a small inside circle.
- The person in the inside circle spars with the person in the outside circle.
- After 1 minute, the inside circle rotate clockwise. Each inside circle person then have a new sparring partner.

The group sparring usually take about 10 minutes. Each student has sparred with 10 different opponent's.
Before class works just as well (although I prefer more than 10 minutes, but I'm also greedy). My only concern would be sparring without warming up could result in pulling something. Doing it afterwards also lets you work on what you were practicing in class, as some reinforcement for it.
 

jobo

Grandmaster
Joined
Apr 3, 2017
Messages
9,762
Reaction score
1,514
Location
Manchester UK
confidence to me means that knowing something is going to be difficult put also knowing that it you work at it enough you can achieve it.
also i would not say public speaking is easy for some it definitely is but for others like me, i have anxiety an about have a break down every time im in front of people. so every finds different things easy for some getting a black belt is easy for others its extremely difficult. everyone is at different points in there life.
public speaking is indeed easy, that you have a problem that makes it difficult for you doesn5 change that, your the difficulty, if you had more confidence it would be easy for you as well. if you wished to address the issue, then building up your confidence in your public speaking ability would be a straight forward process, join a debating club or an amature dramatic society and slowly expose yourself to it. that's it, that somethings take time to achieve doesn't equate to them being difficult to achieve. something take time. I've done public speaking training for people and seen them go from quivering wrecks to to not that bad at all, in three exposures

everything is just a series of easy steps
 

dvcochran

Grandmaster
Joined
Nov 7, 2017
Messages
7,047
Reaction score
2,297
Location
Southeast U.S.
confidence to me means that knowing something is going to be difficult put also knowing that it you work at it enough you can achieve it.
also i would not say public speaking is easy for some it definitely is but for others like me, i have anxiety an about have a break down every time im in front of people. so every finds different things easy for some getting a black belt is easy for others its extremely difficult. everyone is at different points in there life.
The leadership classes I mentioned can help you with public speaking. I am sure you can find one specifically tailored to speaking.
 

WaterGal

Master of Arts
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
1,795
Reaction score
627
i try to rotate like that to keep them interested but some times i dont cause they end up struggling a lot with something so i focus on that. but i dont have enough students to break them up right now.

They might not all get it the first time they see it. That's totally fine. Probably half/two-thirds of our kids actually test each time we have a test, and the others continue on at the same level until we get back to that part of the curriculum. If they're struggling with a certain set of kicks or a certain form and just aren't getting this one, after a couple of months they can move on and try a different one and come back to it later. This at least keeps them from the frustration of basically bashing their head against the proverbial wall over and over again until they can make their body do a proper roundhouse kick, or whatever it is.
 

Earl Weiss

Senior Master
Joined
Jan 27, 2009
Messages
3,581
Reaction score
926
i rarely have any of my students hit or punch there air ............... i personally see some value for work on technique .............................
Exactly - However sometimes I will see one of my assistants trying to work too long on technique which can lead to boredom.
 

Buka

Sr. Grandmaster
Staff member
MT Mentor
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
12,952
Reaction score
10,443
Location
Maui
confidence to me means that knowing something is going to be difficult put also knowing that it you work at it enough you can achieve it.
also i would not say public speaking is easy for some it definitely is but for others like me, i have anxiety an about have a break down every time im in front of people. so every finds different things easy for some getting a black belt is easy for others its extremely difficult. everyone is at different points in there life.

An important part of teaching is communication skill. You should work on this with your posting. It's difficult to understand the nuances of your posts in the way you write sentences with little thought to punctuation. Working on this can also help your public speaking skills a great deal. AND your teaching of Martial Arts. Honest.
 

dvcochran

Grandmaster
Joined
Nov 7, 2017
Messages
7,047
Reaction score
2,297
Location
Southeast U.S.
confidence to me means that knowing something is going to be difficult put also knowing that it you work at it enough you can achieve it.
also i would not say public speaking is easy for some it definitely is but for others like me, i have anxiety an about have a break down every time im in front of people. so every finds different things easy for some getting a black belt is easy for others its extremely difficult. everyone is at different points in there life.
I can appreciate some of what you say. We all have our own weakness and issues to improve upon.
That said, you have chosen to take the helm of leadership. With this comes great responsibility. It is not about not "showing weakness", it is about doing a good job in spite of them. Respectfully, a tenured Black Belt who owns a Dojang/Dojo should be more than able to handle anxiety (something we all get from time to time)and not let it spill over into the classroom.
It sounds like you are overwhelmed with the burden of the responsibilities of Owning/Running a Dojang/Dojo. They are Not something to be taken lightly and a plan must be in place that tries to cover every contingency. A lot of people who are very good Martial Art students are not able to make the to Owning/Running a MA Dojang/Dojo. I have also seen very good MA instructors that could not handle the mantle of ownership. They are two distinctly different things.

So, how do you fix this? I outlined some ideas in previous post but lets bounce some other ideas around.
Let's establish a background to better understand how you got to where you are.

You are young (23 I think). Not a bad thing. Maturity can be a big issue.
  • How many years of MA experience do you have? Was this all training or were you teaching for part of this time?
How did you become the owner of a MA dojang/dojo? A big question that I hope you go into great detail about.

Is this your only source of income? Is this a For profit venture? Is this more of a passing hobby? How committed to this venture are you?

What resources do you have? Are you totally independent (a sole proprietorship)? Are you associated with any other school/system/organization?

Let's work through these questions and go from there. There are a lot of passionate people here on the forum who have a strong desire to help you and we all want to see you succeed. This is a great knowledge base. I hope you stay in touch and stay invested.
 
OP
F

falcon

Orange Belt
Joined
Jun 23, 2018
Messages
80
Reaction score
9
I can appreciate some of what you say. We all have our own weakness and issues to improve upon.
That said, you have chosen to take the helm of leadership. With this comes great responsibility. It is not about not "showing weakness", it is about doing a good job in spite of them. Respectfully, a tenured Black Belt who owns a Dojang/Dojo should be more than able to handle anxiety (something we all get from time to time)and not let it spill over into the classroom.
It sounds like you are overwhelmed with the burden of the responsibilities of Owning/Running a Dojang/Dojo. They are Not something to be taken lightly and a plan must be in place that tries to cover every contingency. A lot of people who are very good Martial Art students are not able to make the to Owning/Running a MA Dojang/Dojo. I have also seen very good MA instructors that could not handle the mantle of ownership. They are two distinctly different things.

So, how do you fix this? I outlined some ideas in previous post but lets bounce some other ideas around.
Let's establish a background to better understand how you got to where you are.

You are young (23 I think). Not a bad thing. Maturity can be a big issue.
  • How many years of MA experience do you have? Was this all training or were you teaching for part of this time?
How did you become the owner of a MA dojang/dojo? A big question that I hope you go into great detail about.

Is this your only source of income? Is this a For profit venture? Is this more of a passing hobby? How committed to this venture are you?

What resources do you have? Are you totally independent (a sole proprietorship)? Are you associated with any other school/system/organization?

Let's work through these questions and go from there. There are a lot of passionate people here on the forum who have a strong desire to help you and we all want to see you succeed. This is a great knowledge base. I hope you stay in touch and stay invested.
okay to start i can get in front of people its just hard teaching i class isnt to bad, but the main thing is more giving speeches to a group of people i can do it its just hard and not something i enjoy.

for experience its something around 8 years. with 5 years of training under some one and about 2.5 years of teaching and 2.5 years of bjj training, which i started when i opened my tkd school.

most of my family started tkd together and 3 of us got our black belts together, one a few years later. so we decided that we wanted to open a school when we moved back to our hometown. over the years it has turned into me being the head instructor since i am the most passionate about it.

i have been working a full time job throughout the process of running the school, but i recently lost it so right know i am living of of my savings cause my gym only pays its on bills, i am trying to get this to be my only source of income cause i would like to do this full time, and also get into some mma fighting. I would say I am extremely passionate about it martial arts has helped me with a lot a i want to be able to share it with other people.

I am associated with an organization called AMA american masters association. its a association that my instructor as well has some of his friends from a few others arts created. i can give more detail on this if you want and if its necessary.
 
OP
F

falcon

Orange Belt
Joined
Jun 23, 2018
Messages
80
Reaction score
9
An important part of teaching is communication skill. You should work on this with your posting. It's difficult to understand the nuances of your posts in the way you write sentences with little thought to punctuation. Working on this can also help your public speaking skills a great deal. AND your teaching of Martial Arts. Honest.
I know its something i have to work on, cause I personally suck at it. I will try to put more thought in the punctuation so people can understand me better. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
 

dvcochran

Grandmaster
Joined
Nov 7, 2017
Messages
7,047
Reaction score
2,297
Location
Southeast U.S.
okay to start i can get in front of people its just hard teaching i class isnt to bad, but the main thing is more giving speeches to a group of people i can do it its just hard and not something i enjoy.

for experience its something around 8 years. with 5 years of training under some one and about 2.5 years of teaching and 2.5 years of bjj training, which i started when i opened my tkd school.

most of my family started tkd together and 3 of us got our black belts together, one a few years later. so we decided that we wanted to open a school when we moved back to our hometown. over the years it has turned into me being the head instructor since i am the most passionate about it.

i have been working a full time job throughout the process of running the school, but i recently lost it so right know i am living of of my savings cause my gym only pays its on bills, i am trying to get this to be my only source of income cause i would like to do this full time, and also get into some mma fighting. I would say I am extremely passionate about it martial arts has helped me with a lot a i want to be able to share it with other people.

I am associated with an organization called AMA american masters association. its a association that my instructor as well has some of his friends from a few others arts created. i can give more detail on this if you want and if its necessary.
If you are supporting yourself and/or Especially a family it is a very tall order. It took us about 3 years to get a solid momentum and consistently making a profit. And we own our building. I have not heard anything from you about a business plan, advertising, P&L, etc...
I have been in similar shoes. Me and another student started our school after our instructor bailed on teaching classes. We were able to take nearly the whole student base with us so we had a very good start. Still, it was not lean pickings, it was no pickings for quite some time. After a couple of years my partner moved out of state. We were just starting to make a Little money and I had to decide how vested I really was. I had a very good job and was very, very into competing. Losing my main 'assistant' instructor was a big hit. Fortunately we had three adults who were close to getting their BB that were very vested in the school. I started paying them (a small amount) for each class they taught. Soon after, the school exploded and we opened another location. I had to make some hard decisions and had to sacrifice a lot of time that I did not have to learn how to run a business. I had to give up competing and focus on how to make our dojang the best it could be; yes that included how to make it the most profitable it could be without any sacrifices.
This is not something to do just because it is really cool to say "I own a Dojang". The failure rate for those schools is incredibly high.
I no longer own the schools (the business) but still own both buildings and actively workout and help in the background. The Martial Arts have Never been my only source of income, but like you mentioned they are such an integral part of my life.
I hear the ideals of a young person who is healthy and fit; thinking they will run a full time dojang and be an amateur/professional fighter. Without a substantial base of students and a strong group of senior belts/leaders (that would be adults) it is beyond difficult. You mentioned family; are they adults and part of the teaching structure?
What is your teaching model?
Who, what, when do you teach?
Who helps out?
Do you own or rent?
Who does all the other stuff (cleaning, advertising, paying bills, collecting, etc...)?
Don't half-*** this. Get in or get out. Hitting up a forum is a logical choice but I would not even call it a start. More of a casual reference, even given the vast amount of knowledge here. You have to seek and find, and most importantly do the work.
I found an AMA on Facebook. That is not the support mechanism you need. That appears to be an "official" certificate source, not a means of experience, support and tools you need.
Research seminars and special or open classes in your area. Soak them up like a sponge. Make introductions and relationships. Vitally important.
 

Latest Discussions

Top