In 1998 I did a 3 month course in aikido...it was wonderful for a Judo guy like me. The first night was amazing..the instructor got me to try to apply a technique, that he had been showing us, on him. While I tried it he found a space in my motion and connected his elbow firmly with my jaw. I thought: wonderful. He really caught me there. At the end of the course 12 weeks later he got me to apply something else on him. Of course this time I was a bit more ready for him. This time when he broke my defence and struck at my face I booted him in the balls.
LMAO hahahahahahahahaaaaaaa ... though my teacher would truely kill me if i tried that with him or any other teacher lol
hahaha that is pretty funny, I wish i would have seen that as well, my sensei would have been far from pleased lol.
The thing is, if the sensei doens't want to be a hypocrite, he/she can't attack you when in a self-defencive reaction you hit him/her. PL
That's what I thought. Atemi was never taught as part of any of the lessons. It was so obvious that his intention was to hit me, I thought it was because it was the last lesson. You must never do that though, to anyone who teaches you or indeed to any training partner.
Dex... that is EXACTLY what he deserved and good on you mate.. RESPECT ! I really hate to read instances where an instructor wants a student to 'try' and apply technique on them, especially a beginner. I've seen this done in a Dojo near me when I was asked to help a shodan set up his own club and needed an Uke !! At the end of a class full of rank beginners (he'd seen fit to teach Shiho Nage all night FFS) he asked all the students to line up, he then walked the line and asked them to "Try to do it on me" Naturally everyone failed to execute the technique, not because they were new to it, (because there was some bloody good attempts at it) No.. It was because the pillock shodan thought it would be a good idea to 'stop' them. I was on the end of the line and he said out loud (as he pointed at me) "He doesn't get it easy" at that point he launched a reverse punch (and a **** poor one at that) at me. I parried the strike up (Cutting action as if raising a sword to Jodan) and did Jodan Irimi Nage (sharpishly) and he yelped as he bungled his way out of the technique in an equally poor ukemi. I don't normally contradict an instructor even if I believe he's wrong, preferring to ask questions off mat however, I was so incensed at his behaviour and, it has to be said, the daft things he was saying as he was justifying why each student failed to do the technique on him; that I had to do something completely different to what he'd expect. Needless to say he hasn't asked me back. DaveH
Teachers must be allowed to make their mark and show students they are the boss. Especialy in a new club. But it has to be done tactfuly and with respect to the uke and the class. Respect must go both ways. You're story Dave is a shining example as to why shodans should not be aloud to teach unsupervised. I personaly beleive students should be nidan and show a degree of maturity before they are aloud to teach. In otherwords they should serve out an apprenticeship helping their own teacher teach kyu grades before being let lose on the world. Where I practice all dan grades, (currently shodan to godan), are activley encouraged to practice with the kyu grades and work with them to help them develop.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by "make their mark" and "show students they are boss" so, could you elaborate mate ? If you mean that they explain to a group of new students, the rules of the dojo, the etiquette expected of them on the mat and, what they can expect of the instructor; Then yes I agree but, being a complete Pratt (as was the shodan in my case story) isn't making a mark or showing he was the boss, he did nothing but illustrate his ignorance for teaching methods and, respect for his students. All in all a pretty poor representation of what Aikido could have been for all those students who probably went away thinking "****er" (excuse my French) With regards to Shodan's teaching in general terms.. I don't have that much objection provided the individual has attended an assistant instructors/coaching course and, demonstrates his abilities. I wouldn't expect every dan grade to even want to teach on a regular basis but, in the case of the shodan I mentioned, pretty much after he got his shodan awarded to him, he branched out on his own, found a new organisation and started a club. In fairness, when I was asked by him to lend a helping hand I didn't expect much else of him and went, hoping that he'd see sense, alas not the case. Incidentally, after a year of his club starting he had promoted a student to shodan, he'd switched organisations again and been promoted to Sandan, his sons both pre teens were rapidly promoted and the last time I saw these people training (at a local course) one of his sons was a shodan but, whenever his father saw his son anywhere near anyone who'd know better, he'd pull his son away and pair him up with another of his own students. Locally this chap was known as the "Fat Professor" The same of it really is that he had/has some dedicated students who frankly know no better. Regards
Here's another McDojo/McSensei story. A number of years ago we had a dojo in our town which had a mixture of styles using it, The very same Shodan mentioned in my last McSensei tale, organised this so called Aiki budo seminar with a guy he was raving about as being very "street wise" Ordinarily I wouldn't bother with such ****e but given it was on my door step and out of morbid curiosity I went. We were all lined up and this guy walked out wearing a red and white belt (Nowt to do with Aikido I can assure any reader not associated with our art) He then proceeded to teach what was more like a very rough Jujitsu yet he was continuously referring to Aiki principles and O-Sensei. This went on for most of the day As the day wore on I was becoming less and less interested until he began to demonstrate the technique I'm about to describe. !!! Call the ambulance and get a good litigation/compensation Solicitor!!! OK, Uke was stood on the mat, McSensei explained and demonstrated that you could gouge out your opponents eye placing the thumb into the eye socket, whilst doing this, place the index finger of the same hand into the corresponding ear of the now partially blinded enemy; In doing so make a full positive turn with the body projecting off one's hip. DOH !!! The last thing I remember hearing him say as I stood up and walked off the mat was and I quote "Please be careful" Reeeeeeeally ! Gimme a fekin break Regards DaveH PS anyone one else got stories of their own ? makes for great reading ? Post 'em
Wow, I would be weary of a shodan primary instructor. My Sensei (godan) teaches class 50 percent of the time and the other half is taught by a Sandan assisted with a Nidan and a hand full of Shodan usually under the Godan's supervision. Its a pretty good system and we are also fortunate to have dans who keep their ego in check. I believe aikido should be taught in a constructive manor, even more so in the beginning. Aikido by nature is a pretty finite art involving ever constant fine tuning of techniques. This by nature makes it extremly frustrating at times. Frustrating and embarassing white belts is a horrbile approach to teaching, and even more so when it comes to running a buisness. It sounds like Dave's aquintance needed to assert and prove his ability to beginners which speaks volumes about his character. Good for you hombre
You've sussed this guy out already mate. Waste of space. He was pictured in our local news paper having run a woman's "self defence" course, in the picture he was surrounded by a few participants, he was stood in the middle behind one woman who was illustrating the hand position of Sankyo. Given the fact they were all static, standing and posing for the photographer, Mr. McSensei's hand was resting directly on this poor woman's left breast ! He had a cheesey grin on his face. Needless to say when members of our Dojo saw this, we had some good laughs about it at his expence. DaveH
What I meant was a teacher should be able to open up and perform some higher techniques with uke to show students what lie ahead in their training. Never should a teacher or anybody for that matter be doing anything that could be seen as condecending, taking advantage of someone, compramising the ukes dignaty or could otherwise be viewed as disrespectful. Nobody on an Aikido mat should be there with the intention of causing injury to anybody.
Once upon a time, two Aikidoists put on a weekend seminar in Skegness, (I was one of them) we invited our Principal Instructor - Mr. William Smith Shihan so Hombu (MBE) to teach the classes. We were both very pleased at the turnout having students arrive from far and away. One such student we'd never seen before stepped on the mat and introduced himself as a Yudansha from another organisation. Mr. Smith had been in the process of demonstrating technique from a Jodan Tsuki attack, He'd obviously seen that our new friend had problems with his technique and went to offer his advice. Mr. Smith was basically explaining that our new friend's technique had flaws in it's execution leaving him venerable to a punch in the face from his opponent, to illustrate this Mr. Smith asked the student to attack him slowly so that he could clearly show where that weakness was, unfortunately either our new friend didn't listen or he thought it was an opportunity to have a free 'pop' at a 6th dan (as he was then); anyway he lunged at Mr. Smith making a partial strike which was mostly dealt with By Mr. Smith however, and justifiably so, Mr. Smith was less than pleased and was in the process of politely educating the now 'under duress' student of the errors of his ways, thank fully one of Mr. Smith's Shidoin was very close by and removed the now 'upset' student from the mat. I followed this guy into the changing rooms and asked him WTF he was thinking but, I was wasting my time because by now he was shaking & blubbering away about how lucky he realised he'd been not to have sustained a 'serious education' for his actions. I've never seen anything like this happen before or since that day. The moral of this tale... Don't think you’re going to take a cheap poke at a 6th dan while he's devoting his time to you, and expect to walk away. Regards DaveH
And there's more.. thank you, thank you... I'm here all week ! If any of you have had the pleasure and I have to say honour of taking a class with the late Tom Moss Sensei of the Yama Arashi Ryu UK, you will know how popular he was and the courses he both participated and organised. One year a few of us travelled down to take part in one such event. During the course we were told that a 'guest' instructor was going to take a class. We all though "oh ok ??" Wondering who it was. Anyway, this chap took the mat; a smallish guys, can't recall his name however, I do remember him wearing a Kendogi - the black and white diamond patterned type which is actually customarily worn by children BTW anyway, he spouted on about this and that and eventually told us that he wanted us to "Thank your Uke for his practice" I thought 'that's a bit premature', I haven't done a technique yet...' As he proceeded to explain his intentions, he actually wanted us all to say "Thank you" to our Uke exactly as we executed technique ??? I stood up in slight disbelief (Given that we had some fairly senior Yudansha on the mat.. And credible ones at that) and proceeded to practice my techniques.. Each time saying thank you every time I projected or pinned my Uke. This chap walked the mat and eventually came to me and my partner, as he walked by he said "Doesn't saying thank you make practice much more pleasant?" I resisted the very strong urge to reply "Yeh..and telling you to ***k *ff would make my technique far more realistic" But I didn't, I just carried on. DaveH
Yama Arashi always perplexed me. I just never knew how to approach then and say 'You know, Yama Arashi means Mountain Storm, not Mountain throw?' Still a hell of a throw though...never seen it in aikido.
I knew Tom for around 11 years and I have to say he was one of the most genuine men I've ever had the honour to meet and train with. Sometimes the meaning of live and death simply escapes me when a man like Tom is taken away.. It just doesn't seem to make sense. Anyway, I have to confess to not ever knowing what Yama Arashi actually meant however, I am very pleased to have been influenced by it and by Tom and his students. You rest easy fella, DaveH
