Transitioning to Head Instructor
- Thread starter Azulx
- Start date
Start with the obvious questions..
What TKD system is it, how long have you been training, what is your rank?
What TKD system is it, how long have you been training, what is your rank?
- Thread Starter
- #3
We are not affiliated with any organization. We use the Ch'ang Hon forms. I have 2 years experience and I am a 1st Dan.
You may not like this advice...
Two years and a 1st Dan?
Consider yourself a placeholder, do the best you can, and start searching for someone with lots more training and experience.
Two years and a 1st Dan?
Consider yourself a placeholder, do the best you can, and start searching for someone with lots more training and experience.
Recruit other senior students to help you with the transition - basic management application in transitions. If you let them have a voice and a hand in the transition, they're more likely to be supportive in the long run.
Also, make no major changes in the short term. The very idea of a leadership change is upsetting to some, and adding any real changes to it will lose more students.
Assume you will lose some students - I've never seen it not happen in a change like that. It's nothing personal - any level of change will be enough to cause some people to stop showing up.
thanson02
Blue Belt
I agree with finding someone with a lot more experience so you can improve to be better. I ran a college club and because of the nature of the club, we cycled through students and Instructors every 4 years. So here is my advice:
1. If it is a college club, assume that all of your students will end up leaving after a few years because their graduating. But also remember that the college provides ample opportunities for recruitment of new students, so take advantage of their resources.
2. If it is a community club, focus on building your base and get a team together to help you with the day-to-day operations to make sure everything runs smoothly. The last thing you want to do is burn out because you're trying to do everything.
3. Keep focusing on improving your skill sets. Actively find a new instructor for your training who is far more skilled and can help you improve across the board at being a better martial artist.
4. Do well by your students, make sure they're getting what they need to improve their training, even if it means outsourcing to more qualified individuals. There's no shame in accepting our limits, that's how we grow and be better.
5. Don't make a lot of big sweeping changes all at once. Everybody is going to be going through an adjustment period and the less that you rock the boat, the better off it'll be. Besides, your main objective right now is to convince everybody that you're a solid choice for the new head instructor. You should be focusing more on building trust and confidence with your students then you are about making operational changes.
6. Of all things that, know yourself. If you truly want to run the club then take ownership of it and do it. If deep down inside you know that you don't really want it and that you're only holding the position because nobody else stepped up, then do the best you can and actively look for somebody else to take over your position so you can step down. Whether you like it or not, you are now in a leadership position and your actions have to follow through with what's best for the group.
I don't know what else to say without knowing more about your specific situation. Hope you find some of the points here useful and good luck. [emoji4]
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Kickboxer101
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Yeah I have to agree with what's being said 2 years to me is far to quick to even get a black belt let alone be a head instructor. Sure you may kmow your stuff but teaching is a whole different game when I teach I've found myself getting confused on basic moves, not because I don't know them but because teaching is just difficult. You don't have that experience or dealing with issues such as troubled kids or kids with attitude problems. Then there's the actual running of the school. You'd need insurance, a police check, first aid training. Then you'd have to deal with the school stuff assigning other people to teach, gradings and ordering stocks of belts.
Also to be honest the fact you haven't even been asked to take over surely if your instructor believed your ready then he'd have asked you. Then also remember if your running it you'll be in charge and have no one to actually train you and since you have only had 2 years training you still need help. My best advice is if no one else can take over let the school close and find a new place to train, if its not taekwondo try a differen martial art. Maybe boxing you've been wanting to get your hands good for a while this may be your chance
Also to be honest the fact you haven't even been asked to take over surely if your instructor believed your ready then he'd have asked you. Then also remember if your running it you'll be in charge and have no one to actually train you and since you have only had 2 years training you still need help. My best advice is if no one else can take over let the school close and find a new place to train, if its not taekwondo try a differen martial art. Maybe boxing you've been wanting to get your hands good for a while this may be your chance
Balrog
Master of Arts
I sympathize. In my first club, I became the de facto instructor at Blue Belt because I was the oldest and highest ranked adult. I enjoyed what I did, and it probably set me on the path to becoming an instructor, but we all knew that it wasn't practical to continue. We were saved (kinda sorta) by our employer messing up the contract and having massive layoffs occur. Everyone in the club rotated back to the States.
The best thing I can suggest is to quickly find another instructor to train under so that your skills continue to improve. Emulate your current instructor as much as you can in your teaching style, and never forget the class management skills:
1. Set mood and tone of class - you are in charge the students will fallow your lead.
2. Create positive climate - old school scream at the students does not work anymore. People shut down, people quit.
3. Personal approach/individual contact - make the student feel as if you are talking directly to him/her, even a controlled pat on the back is motivation.
4. Set direct goals - In this class this is what we want to achieve
5. Give thoughtful feedback to student response - keyword "thoughtful" (empathy)
6. Reinforce positive behavior - Positive reinforcement
7. Give realistic praise - Both kids and adults see thru false praise, but that's not enough. Praise must be specific for educational benefits (ex. Your foot position is good!)
8. Give positive correction rather than criticism - Praise/Correct/Praise (I think your chamber position is great, if you pivot your foot a bit more you will get more power. Then when the student does the pivot, point out how much better the kick was.)
9. Refer to students by name - Very personal, shows interest in that person. Use last names and Mr./Ms.
10. Teach concept of personal victory - "Who conquers the is great but who conquers oneself is mighty" and "Never mind what others do; do better than yourself. Beat your own record from day to day and you are a success. "
The best thing I can suggest is to quickly find another instructor to train under so that your skills continue to improve. Emulate your current instructor as much as you can in your teaching style, and never forget the class management skills:
1. Set mood and tone of class - you are in charge the students will fallow your lead.
2. Create positive climate - old school scream at the students does not work anymore. People shut down, people quit.
3. Personal approach/individual contact - make the student feel as if you are talking directly to him/her, even a controlled pat on the back is motivation.
4. Set direct goals - In this class this is what we want to achieve
5. Give thoughtful feedback to student response - keyword "thoughtful" (empathy)
6. Reinforce positive behavior - Positive reinforcement
7. Give realistic praise - Both kids and adults see thru false praise, but that's not enough. Praise must be specific for educational benefits (ex. Your foot position is good!)
8. Give positive correction rather than criticism - Praise/Correct/Praise (I think your chamber position is great, if you pivot your foot a bit more you will get more power. Then when the student does the pivot, point out how much better the kick was.)
9. Refer to students by name - Very personal, shows interest in that person. Use last names and Mr./Ms.
10. Teach concept of personal victory - "Who conquers the is great but who conquers oneself is mighty" and "Never mind what others do; do better than yourself. Beat your own record from day to day and you are a success. "
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- Thread Starter
- #10
Thank you everyone for the advice. Let me give more details on the situation so things make a bit more sense. My club was basically shutdown because everyone quit. We went from 30 members to about 2 within a year. I reached out to many members that just all of sudden stopped showing up to see what happened. Basically they all left because of the way our instructor taught. He wanted to have a no contact TKD club, where belts were given as soon as students attended 16 classes. I had an issue with this but I never quit, but there were students that were getting offended by him just giving out belts. For example he gave a student a green belt after only 4 classes, because he didn't want her to quit. So I was very disappointed in how everything was handled. Also right before we went down to two students he humiliated a student and kicked him out the club because he didn't want to pay the full months dues for 2 classes, because he came at the end of the month. Also students began to tell that he didn't care anymore. he would begin to say thing like "I don't lesson plan, I don't know who's going to come class. " Everyone in our school is 18+ , there were many complaints taht he talked and treated his students as children. Are female students were frustrated because he would cut everything they had to do in half. Not all women want to be told you only 25 sit ups while the men do 50. At least not these days, people were just getting constantly offended and leaving. So I asked around what would it take for everyone to come back and train, and they said for me to be the Head Instructor. I agreed and now I have 5 students, as I am slowly reaching out to all the other students that have left. My istructor is no longer teaching because he no longer has students.
I do consider myself a placeholder . I plan on doing my best until there is a better opportunity for my students.
My students are white through Green belts. So they are all beginners. I'm not trying to change too much, but my students really want change, they don't want anything to do with no contact sparring. My instructor also didn't like forms so we on;y did them once a month, even then he made a speech about how we do them too much. The students want to do more forms. I'm just listening to what they want and I'm going from there.
This was a great read. We are a college club so people rotate in and out frequently. out of 30 students, only 3 made it to a year membership.
I have branched out to jiu-jitsu and have been taking it since June, but I am currently looking for another TKD place to train so I can continue taht practice.
I believe I am qualified to be a placeholder for at least a year until we find a better opportunity. If I find somewhere else to train then I can do more for the club.
This was great advice thank you very much
I do consider myself a placeholder . I plan on doing my best until there is a better opportunity for my students.
My students are white through Green belts. So they are all beginners. I'm not trying to change too much, but my students really want change, they don't want anything to do with no contact sparring. My instructor also didn't like forms so we on;y did them once a month, even then he made a speech about how we do them too much. The students want to do more forms. I'm just listening to what they want and I'm going from there.
I agree with finding someone with a lot more experience so you can improve to be better. I ran a college club and because of the nature of the club, we cycled through students and Instructors every 4 years. So here is my advice:
1. If it is a college club, assume that all of your students will end up leaving after a few years because their graduating. But also remember that the college provides ample opportunities for recruitment of new students, so take advantage of their resources.
2. If it is a community club, focus on building your base and get a team together to help you with the day-to-day operations to make sure everything runs smoothly. The last thing you want to do is burn out because you're trying to do everything.
3. Keep focusing on improving your skill sets. Actively find a new instructor for your training who is far more skilled and can help you improve across the board at being a better martial artist.
4. Do well by your students, make sure they're getting what they need to improve their training, even if it means outsourcing to more qualified individuals. There's no shame in accepting our limits, that's how we grow and be better.
5. Don't make a lot of big sweeping changes all at once. Everybody is going to be going through an adjustment period and the less that you rock the boat, the better off it'll be. Besides, your main objective right now is to convince everybody that you're a solid choice for the new head instructor. You should be focusing more on building trust and confidence with your students then you are about making operational changes.
6. Of all things that, know yourself. If you truly want to run the club then take ownership of it and do it. If deep down inside you know that you don't really want it and that you're only holding the position because nobody else stepped up, then do the best you can and actively look for somebody else to take over your position so you can step down. Whether you like it or not, you are now in a leadership position and your actions have to follow through with what's best for the group.
I don't know what else to say without knowing more about your specific situation. Hope you find some of the points here useful and good luck.
Sent from my XT1096 using Tapatalk
This was a great read. We are a college club so people rotate in and out frequently. out of 30 students, only 3 made it to a year membership.
I have branched out to jiu-jitsu and have been taking it since June, but I am currently looking for another TKD place to train so I can continue taht practice.
I believe I am qualified to be a placeholder for at least a year until we find a better opportunity. If I find somewhere else to train then I can do more for the club.
This was great advice thank you very much
Even so, be slower with change. They don't like no-contact sparring, so start by talking about what sparring will be. After that talk, introduce small changes. You can progress with more changes as they adapt. The same would go for forms. This is something they already know how to do, so use what they already know in a meaningful way, while gradually decreasing their practice in classes. Even those who want change tend to feel disrupted by "too much" change. And you won't know what's "too much" until it is.
Something else you might do is look for guest instructors. If you have any friends/acquaintances in the area who are qualified, you could have one of them come in to teach a specific concept that would be useful to your students. They need not even be in the same art/style to do this, so long as you are prepared to help the students translate that concept to what they do.
I think quite the same. Be honest and clear about your background to new students, so they know what to expect (will tolerate some 'inaccuracies', for example) and will trust you. But find a school for yourself in parallel. Find friends (senior instructors...) in the TKD niche... Joining an organisation?
I am saying that because perhaps I would prefer (to continue with) you, even having short experience, than stop training or driving more somewhere else or changing style... So keep going. It is a good start for you. And if you retain enough students (and they will be asking for more/better each day), that's all right. It means they are happy, too.
PS: I know a national head instructor of a well-known discipline that started with as much experience as you. Is teaching is questionable (by me), but he has a lot o students. You can be a Head instructor, too. Just be honest, don't award yourself 3dan and 20 years experience
, but work for that.
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This.I think quite the same. Be honest and clear about your background to new students, so they know what to expect (will tolerate some 'inaccuracies', for example) and will trust you. But find a school for yourself in parallel.
I am saying that because perhaps I would prefer (to continue with) you, even having short experience, than stop training or driving more somewhere else or changing style... So keep going. It is a good start for you. And if you retain enough students (and they will be asking for more/better each day), that's all right. It means they are happy, too.
If I were in the OP's shoes, I'd treat this like a "study group".
To the OP: You're the most senior among them, but still clearly learning, and you're likely to find some startling new developments even in your most basic of basics over the next 2-3 years. If you make your learning clear to them - show them your explorations - they'll be more forgiving (perhaps even appreciative) of the inevitable changes in your approach.
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1. Be honest about your level of experience when you talk to potential customers
2. If possible find someone who can bring in additional experience that you may lack. Hopefully 2 instructors will bring in enough knowledge to make "half a teacher." This is something that I do at my school. There are elements that I bring to the table and there are elements that the other instructor brings to the table and as team we are able to learn from each other and provide quality teaching. We've actually impressed other Sifu's in our knowledge even though we ourselves aren't Sifu.
3. Most important part is to continue your training and try to get a deeper understanding of what you do. You want to do this by talking to other who train in the same system.
At a minimum...
You need to find someone else to train under yourself; you simply lack knowledge. You also need someone who can teach you how to run a school. (Can your original instructor stay on in an emeritus position, guiding you and perhaps continuing to train a few senior students?)
If you can find someone to train under, and who can give you the necessary guidance in running your school, you've got a chance. But it's an uphill battle; you're basically an apprentice, maybe journeyman yourself, but you're trying to take on a master level job. You'll be running to stay a few steps ahead of your students for a long time...
ETA:
I've seen the OP's reply. His original instructor is pretty clearly not available...
You're in a tough situation. There are legal & liability concerns (do you have insurance?), especially if you increase the contact thereby increasing the risk of injury. There are practical details about running a club, and you really need some guidance on them. And you don't really know how to teach, either...
I like the idea of treating it as a training group rather than a "true" school, at least for a while. That'll allow you to reduce some of the pressure of being "head instructor" since you'll become "training leader", kind of first among equals instead.
Meanwhile, find yourself another teacher, who will teach you how to teach and how to run a club. Because you really just plain need to learn more.
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Ironbear24
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I'm confused here. Is this a dojang or a free club people go to?
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Well don't do what you instructor did. To go from 30 members down to 2 is an amazing feat. If they didn't like the way that he taught the class then definitely don't follow that format. Belts given out after 16 classes is nuts. A person can take 16 classes in Jow Ga and still be lost on the basics. The belts should be based on skill level accomplishment, be it knowing how to use TKD or learning a form. If I had to guess, some of the students probably earned a belt, felt good about it, and then through talking to others or sparring with others, realized that they really didn't know as much as they thought they did. If any of that happened then it'll leave a bad taste in their mouth, similar to the MartialArts tutor guy.
When my school was in a similar situation, there were students who still wanted to train and didn't mind training together, we just didn't want to stop training because our Sifu couldn't physically be there. So we started out as group of students who were just going to train together. As we trained I got better, as I got better I gained knowledge that I could share, not only with the other students but with the Instructors. Now we are at a level were we can teach with confidence and accurate knowledge of the system and it shows in our sparring. To feed my ego a little I think we are good enough to stick with some of the other Jow Ga Schools. I'm not saying this to say that we are better than the other schools, I'm just saying that we work our butts off to be a good representation of Jow Ga in an effort that our school would be something that the other schools in the organization would be proud of.
2 years of Martial Arts really isn't a lot of learning unless you train 8 hours a day 5 days a week. My guess is that you probably have less than 312 hours of training within 2 years. If you didn't get at least 3 hours of training a week then you'll need to really become a hard study of TKD until you can find a better situation. By hard study, I mean that you should no longer do a form without understanding the deeper meaning and applications of the techniques in the form. The days of doing a form for the sake of doing a form are over for you if you are planning to instruct anyone. Start with the basics and get those techniques and applications correct before trying to advance. I wouldn't advance until I could use some of those basic techniques in free sparring. I think you'll be surprised just how much can be done with just the basics.
Other than saying Go for it since there are people who want to train with you. You have gotten a lot of useful information from others.
Ironbear24
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Tae Kwon do seems to follow the format of giving belts out quickly. This is common in Japan as well with most forms of karate and other Japanese martial arts.
In America we have the mindset of the black belt should mean expert, where over there it seems to be more like " a student learning beyond the basics."
Ironbear24
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I have seen some of your videos before and you guys were doing contact sparring. What happened to make him change his mind?
Anyway if he left and was this way then that is the best thing to happen because there is no way you can teach a martial art with zero contact. Is this guy still going to making money from this place? Does this mean you have to pay the rent of the building and all utilities now?
Did you basically inheritate a business or is it more like a space that is rented out for a few hours?
