different styles - good or bad ?

Discussion in 'Tae Kwon Do' started by neryo_tkd, Oct 5, 2003.

  1. neryo_tkd

    neryo_tkd Valued Member

    an American girl has recently joined the school i teach at. we do WTF style. she didn't, but TTA (traditional taekwondo association). she told me that she has got the black belt (1st dan) and that she trained tkd for two years before joining my class. the first time she trained with us i was disappointed, i have to admit. but then again, why should i be disappointed when she trained it only for 2 years? but what is she doing with the black belt then???? she has never had a fight. she has never participated in a competition and so far has done sparring at her school in USA only several times. she told me that they all get the black belts after 2 years, and that they don't do the warming-up and stretching. when the class starts, they have to be warmed-up. so they are left on their own. when the higher belts do the forms (which are different than the WTF forms) the lower belts just sit and wait for the others to finish.

    does this make sense to u people? because being a black belt means so much more to me. i have green belts who are better than her.
     
  2. Joe karate

    Joe karate New Member

    It shows the crap MA schools out there. They are a belt factory it sounds like, not the girls fault though mind you, so don't take it personally with her.

    Just teach her and make her good.

    Its a shame.
     
  3. flyingblackbelt

    flyingblackbelt New Member

    well, thats why you have to be careful, i mean i know that there is this one black belt in particular that came to our school and, i really hate to say this, did not earn his black belt. His technique simply was not there nor was his mindset. Our instructor wasnt going to "demote" him, but he drove him just as hard as the rest of us and corrected his mistakes. I guess he just couldnt cut it because i havent really seen him all that much.
     
  4. neryo_tkd

    neryo_tkd Valued Member

    thanx guys.
    I am not taking it personally with her, Joe. Don't worry. I am not that kind of a person.
    Everyone in the class has already accepted her. and i have done everything to make it for her as pleasent as possible. in the beginning she didn't talk much to the others and vice versa, so i was the one who greeted her every time she came and i talked to her, but now she has made friends with the others and it's ok.
    but i have to say that she definitely does not deserve the black belt. I think that she trained at the Sun Yi's Acadamy in Kansas.
    at least that's what she told me.
    i am teaching and correcting her. she gets the same treatment as the rest in the class. every now and then i notice differences in the way she and my students perform the technique. she told me that they use only 2 or 3 stances. when practising /drilling the technique she always used the same stance apkubi. she didn't know the difference between apkubi and absogi. when she started training, i have to say, that her dolyo chagi was a disaster. but she is improving. she comes regularly and started working very hard because she noticed that she was behind the rest. so will that be enough, we'll see, because the mindset is pretty important too.
     
  5. Joe karate

    Joe karate New Member

    sounds like your ok then, although i have NO idea what any of those stances are(only know english)!!
     
  6. Derrick

    Derrick New Member

    That makes me ask a question: Is it possible for one instructor to demote a student that comes to him/her from a different school?...also, why aren't there more women instructors?
     
  7. neryo_tkd

    neryo_tkd Valued Member

    I don't know about demoting someone. flyingblackbelt also mentioned someone who did not deserve his black belt but wasn't demoted. i'll definitely ask around to see what the rules are. i don't want to demote that new girl, i am just interested in finding it out.

    when it comes to women instructors, well...in my area the school i teach at is the only tkd school and i am the only woman instructor. but i have to say that it is also the first tkd school around here (I moved to this place as well as another guy, we met, immediately started talking about teaching tkd here and soon afterwards we put theory to practice). this area has a history in karate and judo. there are women instructors in karate schools and as i have heard they are doing a good job. when it comes to kung fu, kickboxing, boxing, judo...i know that there aren't any. girls train those martial arts, so...maybe in the future.
     
  8. stoppy

    stoppy TKD Disciple

    neryo,
    I think you are handling it fine, on the subject of demotion. It has to be seen in perspective, you could tell people that they are fine to train free for the first lesson say, and evaluate where they fit into your school. Then its not a question of demotion, more promotion into another style. One of my second dans (been training with me for about 3-4 years was already a blackbelt in ITF but said he had not trained for a while and so came to the WTF style at about blue belt, and progressed very rapdily (not saying WTF is better than ITF) just that to learn all the poomse would have been too much in one go.

    Stoppy
     
  9. KickChick

    KickChick Valued Member

    The mindset is very important! It is a good sign that she is coming to class regularly and putting in the effort that she needs to. I am sure that she is aware of the differences in her training as opposed to the rest of the class and as long as continues to train in a positive manner I am sure she will improve and learn to correct whatever poor techniques she may have learned at her other school... but it takes more time to unlearn a bad technique than to learn a technique correctly.... so bear with her.

    As flyingblackbelt mentioned, yes there was a younger blackbelt that came to our school to train from a WTF school. I am sure learning a whole new set of forms wasn't what he planned on doing and that may be why he has discontinued his training at our school. And yes many of his techniques lacked the effort that a black belt should put forth.

    ... well, considering that the martial arts are still dominated primarily by males.... (in terms of percentages, the number of women training is still low, anywhere from 5-8% in some schools up to 15 or 20% in others)
    Many women make an honest effort to continue with their martial arts training..... but the higher in rank you advance, the more physical it becomes and many woman drop out of training because it does get rough.
    But actually in my area there are quite a few TKD female instructors which I am training in hopes of becoming one day.
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2003
  10. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    Good topic...

    This can be difficult... as I always mention (it seems), we get lots of students from other styles and schools coming in to train with us. The question always comes up of what rank to wear (By the way, this isn't meant to bring up the old issue of why wear rank... we do wear rank at our school because the master says so!)

    This is what we usually do. We talk to the student first... which is why I recommend students coming in in civilian clothes and telling us their background before training (see related thread). This is what we usually do:

    (1) Student earned black belt in another style but hasn't practiced for a while: we start them out with a white belt and build them back up, promoting them informally as we see fit. When they get back to their original level, or close to it, they wear their black belt. This gives them a chance to get back into martial arts without being made fun of for being out of practice.

    (2) Student trained and ranked in another style (non-black belt) - They have the choice of wearing their rank (if they feel confident) or wearing white with promotion to original rank as they regain the skills. Students who wish to test/rank in our style MUST learn the required techniques and forms.

    (3) Students from another style who will be with us for a short period of time and want to train but not rank in our style - they wear their uniform and belt and train with us... if they can, they share their ideas/techniques/ and knowledge with us.

    For the original poster, it seems like the person was promoted without really earning the black belt. If she is comitted to training hard and making up for it, I think the situation is on its way to being resolved. When epeople come in who wear rank they don't deserve and show an attitude that is unbecoming, in my experience they tend to drop out pretty quickly in the face of dedicated and serious students who know the score.

    By the way, I love JoeKarate's quote "Just teach her and make her good." That's golden
     
  11. neryo_tkd

    neryo_tkd Valued Member

    thanx to u all.

    u r the greatest :)
     
  12. Taeho

    Taeho New Member

    Joe Karate:
    Dolyo Chagi (Roundhouse Kick)
    Yop Chagi (Side Kick)
    Apkubi (front stance)

    Hope this helps!

    TKDshane Ÿ
     
  13. neryo_tkd

    neryo_tkd Valued Member

    and what about 'apsogi'????


    he he he he :))
     
  14. Taeho

    Taeho New Member

    You mean "walking stance"?

    TKDshane Ÿ
     
  15. neryo_tkd

    neryo_tkd Valued Member

    and..... New Orleans 12 points :)
     

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