Teacher Qualifications and Experience

[Thomas Vince]

I have read here in this forum that some BB's have given student's a "not so good" image and i would like to read both the bad and the good. Let's all think back to the best and worst of our instructor's and what makes the best and worst instructor's. Let's be good about this one! I need positive influence!
Thomas

[pesilat]

Originally posted by Thomas Vince
I have read here in this forum that some BB's have given student's a "not so good" image and i would like to read both the bad and the good. Let's all think back to the best and worst of our instructor's and what makes the best and worst instructor's. Let's be good about this one! I need positive influence!
Thomas

Well, I've been pretty fortunate in finding good instructors.

The best instructors I've seen have all been good communicators. Able to take a high level concept/principle and break it down into bite-sized pieces that everyone can partake of. Everyone, from the newest newbie to the most senior practitioners, eats their fill and gets what they need and are ready for.

The worst instructor I've seen (and I've only actually trained under one like this) tried to teach discipline through intimidation instead of through respect. Each class was centered on proving to everyone how bad he was and bullying the students to try to make them "tougher" and "better."

In short, I think the difference between a good instructor and a bad instructor is the difference between generosity and selfishness. A good instructor will be generous and selfless and serious about guiding the student purely for the love of doing it and the intent of helping the student. A bad instructor believes that he is training his students only so that they can make him look good.

Mike

[Saz]

The worst instructor I had was one in Cheltenham. He claimed to be teaching Shotokan, but it was nothing like any Shotokan I've seen (we did throws and joint locks for a start). No matter what you did it was wrong, only he could do it properly. He let everyone fight full contact with no protection on the first session, and had no disicpline or patients. Total prat.

A good instructor is always patient, but firm, and never rushes the student to do things they can't. Pretty much the opposite of the guy mentioned above

[Thomas Vince]

Kyokushin girl,
i just had a foot note, it's more of a matter of fact thing. Your quote Mas Oyama made me immediately recall the first time my instructor Ed Parker met Mas Oyama. It was in Mexico and Mas Oyame was fighting bulls with his bare hands. Sometimes he would chop of their horns and other times he would actually kill them with his bare hands. Just though you might that interesting.
Thomas

[Tseek Choi]

There are many bad "instructors" out there.
I believe that there should be tighter control on who can claim to teach martial arts.

The problem is that bad clubs can get affiliated to big associations.

People that have only limited skills, set themselves up as Si-jo, master whatever! makeup their own crappy style and con cash out of innocent people.

Even within established groups there are many bad instructors. As Ky-girl said, part of this is caused be the selfish egotistical attitude many have.

But don't be too dis-heartened as there are a number of quality instructors, teaching authentic arts out there, and as more people get on places like this forum and find out more, the bad instructors will have fewer places to hide.

I think we should have a "Name em & Shame em" thread, so people can find out who not to train with.

TC.........

[Thomas Vince]

KG found a guy in Florida that looks like he'd fit the part-but you'd have to be real careful you can get suid by making that type of public claim, even if it were true.

[Freeform]

Kyokushin_girl, there are throws and locks practiced in shotokan karate, but its very rare to find an instructor that can apply his kata, let alone actually teach it, but I can't condone full contact sparring for beginers!

The best types of instructors, as has been already said, are the ones who can comunicate. You have to add another catagory to your bad instructors, or perhaps in should be 'poor' instructors. Those natural fighters who never really had to think about what they were doing, ever! They just can't explain to people what to do (luckily I've never been a natural at anything ;) 0.

Thanx

[waya]

Freeform,
On the other hand some are potentially good instructors that just never learned to teach or never had things explained to them.

Rob

[Cooler]

I agree with Thomas, this is not the place to "Name em & Shame em" as I can't afford a lawyer, LOL.

Cooler

[Tseek Choi]

Fair comment regarding the legal aspect of naming bad instructors.
It's a shame that we are basically powerless to stop charlatans from duping people in this way.

A classic example of this is the old "Kateda self defence" group several years ago.

I met a woman who had trained with them for a couple of years, earning a "black belt" in eighteen months, thinking that she was learning an ancient Tibetan martial art, when in fact she was being taught rubbish.
These people graded instructors on the basis of how many new recruits they got in the door! :(

They also taught ridiculus excercises like walking around for the whole lesson up on the balls of the feet!:eek:

I ended up going to the club and confronting the instructor personally as to his training methods.
I won't detail here what happened, but his class closed the following week.

I know we can do very little legally, therefore it is up to instructors from legimate groups to remove the rubbish, and prevent this type thing happening.
At the end of the day it is innocent students that ultimately suffer.

Colin............

[KickChick]

Thank you for opening the eyes of the blind to the reality of these "schools"

[Kwan Jang]

-I've got a guy in my town who used to claim to be the U.S. Olympic martial arts coach(not judo or tkd, but MA)he would have and would solicit funds to help send local kids to the Olympics. He used to wear the souvenier Olympic jacket like they used to sell at JC Penney's after Atlanta in "96 and he would have change for charity-type boxes in "Mom & Pop" stores on the lower income areas of town. I know of many people who "contributed" money that they really couldn't spare to" help these local kids. " When I tried to point out some facts to people (i.e. there is no US Olympic MA team; this guy who is a good 100lbs overweight is not any major MA competition coach; the Olympic trials are not in a suburb od Nashville w/ most if not all the team from this town) and was accused of being jealous and a liar. He now claims to be the only master of, and sole disciple of some grandmaster of an asian grandmaster who trained in all these different styles in different countries as he stayed in them for a few weeks to months and in that time mastered all these arts while he was a missionary. His website's story of the origin of their system reads like a bad kickboxer movie script written by a 5th grader.This guy is absolutely no direct threat to my school on a business level or espescially a quality level, but this type hurts the image of all MA's , particularly in the communities they infest.

[Jim]

Care to point us in the direction of his website, Kwan?

Back to Tom's original post all those months ago, I would say that inconsistancy is high on my list of things I don't like about instructors. Both in regards to what they teach and how they teach it. I'm all in favour of keeping your mind open to new ideas but to have a training regime that constantly changes given the whim of the instructor is pretty poor.

[shadow joe]

this is a good one


worst instructor I ever had: raped a female student who was 15 years old and then had his personal friends who were students lie in court to protect him.


best instructor: the Sifu I train with now is an incredible man who has trained with some of the greats of our time. He has immense knowledge that would take me years to explore let alone master. Beyond his martial knowledge he is absorbed in eastern philosophy and western thinking and he is continually attempting to be a better human and make me one in turn...



here's a good one


Skilled warriors of old were subtle mysteriously powerful
and so deep they were unknowable
just because they are unknowable I will try to describe them
Their weariness was that of one crossing a river in winter
their cuation was that of one in fear of all around
their gravity was that of a guest
their relaxation was that of ice at the melting point
simple as uncarved wood
open as the valleys
they were inscrutable as murky water
who can in turbidity use the gradual clarification of stillness
who can long at rest use the gradual enlivening of movement
those who preserve this way do not fullness just because of not wanting fullness
it is possible to use the full and not make a new



Master Jeff Patterson to a "T" - but he won't let you call him that -

[Sonshu]

I have only had one bad instructor and many good ones!

I think one of the best is not the greatest fighter I have ever come across as he is about 55 and not a stong man. However his good skills are but not limited to these.

1) He is patient with all regardless of level/style/school
2) He has many years training in multiple styles
3) He is honest with people
4) He is a realistic instructor, he knows there are some things we cant all do.
5) He has set himself up well with good facilities
6) Tons of contacts across the world and in many styles all influences he draws from reguarly.
7) He is knows his stuff and is technically profficient
8) He keeps himself fresh with the resources he has available
9) Tackles controversial issues and tries to dispel myths
10)Because of his lack of strength what he knows works on much stronger people thank himself
11)He makes little money from his training

3 of the most important that I hope to gain from him and add to my teaching

1) He is so good at communicating what he is saying the real beginers with no natural ability can pick it up
2) He can be a friend outside of the dojo and is very aproachable to all
3) You always feel like you have enjoyed training with him

All of these I feel makes him a good instructor and a good friend, I know because of his many years of training/teaching he has seen em come and go and he is a really rewarding guy to train with and learn from.

SONSHU

[sfjohn]

The only bad instructors I have met out in the martial arts community are the ones that forget that they themselfes are still students. When someone thinks they know it all, they are limited and teach you in this way. The ones that know that they can learn from even the beginners are great teachers, because in actuality they are just higher level students. I was lucky enough to find a great teacher when I was young and this quality fortunately has passed on to me ( through the remarks that my students make perse ( you are the second best teacher in the system). The first being the grandmaster this is a tremendous compliment wheter the students of our style know it or not.

Sonshu has a great list of qualities for a great instructor and I think we can all benifit by his insight into this topic. Thank you SONSHU.