You know I was sitting around with a friend today and we were talking about instructors and how they teach and such. I'd had something on my mind for a few days that had been bugging me and he was a good enough guy to dig it out. There had been a recent incident with another friend at a dojo that he attended and it had been bothering me. I'm sure this has been around a long time but lately I've realized it more and more and I wanted to talk about it in this blog.
There are too many instructors out there today that care more about having fun for themselves than actually helping their own students develop. most don't realize they are doing it and they aren't bad people...just unaware. Now my friend likes to go to this dojo and train and they spar all the time. Now before I move on I want to explain something. If you do a sport martial art then sparring is very important. You need to spar and get those reps in the last thing you want is ring rust. However studies in this field shows that if your in it for self defense that too much sparring can be a detriment and harm your development. For example let's say your a Tae Kwon Do guy. If all you do is constantly spar TKD guys then all you have really learned is how to defend yourself against other TKD guys because most likely you won't be attacked that way. The consensus is that scenario based training is much better for self defense regardless of the art. Let's say your a knife guy and you spar the same guy all the time. You pretty much know what he'll do before he does it and at that point it loses relevance. Now the instructor over this dojo knows all this and has been shown the data and knows what he's doing is counter productive but he does it anyway. Now sparring isn't the only example of this issue it's just the first one that came to mind when I sat down. To spar or not or how much is not the point of this article. The point is this guy is supposed to be teaching Jujitsu not kickboxing. So why does he make his students spar so much. Easy.. because he likes to spar and just wants to do it. He punched one of his students on the ear and caused the guy to have to go and have it drained. So I taught the guy how to use a shell better and upturned elbows so he went back and when the instructor tried that crap again he got his hands hurt and couldn't hit the guy he couldn't get past his guard. Guess what he did? Yep he banned his students from using the shell during sparring so he could hit them. This my friends is a shitty instructor.
This is an example of how some guys like to teach but what they teach isn't always to your benefit and even when they know it they don't care. When it gets down to it they care more about their enjoyment of teaching than they do your learning so you need to beware of these people. When your an instructor it isn't about you. It's about helping and educating others for their benefit not your own. Everyone wants to be a black belt and be an instructor because they think it's prestigious and all that crap. Well...it is if you do it right and have the right attitude. Too many today open dojos just so they'll have training partners it's ridiculous. When your a teacher it's about giving and helping others. Your enjoyment should come from helping your students and see them grow and benefit it isn't about you anymore. If your one of these instructors that's all about your ego and your prestige and seeing your name in magazines please stop teaching because you are probably not doing anyone any good. If you put your students first ironically you'll still end up with all that stuff anyway but you got it the right way. Get over yourself and help someone and be somebody.
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