No Control Hi to all instructors, school owners out there. Recently we got a new student thats kinda heavy weight, and i mean his really heavy weight. This guys 6 feet ''8 inches and 300 pound muscle. He dosent have any control at all when he spars he fights like a madman, already 2 students got injuried by him and one of them is female. Usually if stuff like this continues, I'll do it old school style and give him some of his own medicine then explain it to him why it is bad to spar the way he did. Haha but to tell you the truth if is TKD rules i duuno if i can do it myself. lol Maybe I should just fight him in class instead of sparring him and teach him a lesson that way. But anyway my friend whos a assistant instructor and kinda did that while I wasn't here, but got whooped bad by him. Too bad I wasnt there that day. This knuckle head decided to quit, after all the incident that happened. Which is probably better for us, and our students. This guy just got no respect for us and our school at all. He was taunting and mocking the school behind our back with one of our student. The student he had a conversation with actually told me what he said, which I'm glad. He was saying "Even one of the instructor in this school got nothing. I was able to beat him easily. There is nothing for me to learn here, thats why im quitting." I really dont care losing a student like that, but just out of curiosty. What would you guys have done for those of you who teachs.
In my opinion, the martial arts are a spiritual discipline. The most important quality possessed by any martial artist is his character. He should be a model of virtue. Without a virtuous character, you are not a martial artist. You are simply someone with fighting skills. In that situation, I would have asked the man to adjust his attitude (i.e. humility and respect). If he failed to comply, he would be immediately expelled from the school. There is no room for macho displays of power in a martial arts school. Humility and respect are the order of the day. Jody Butt
He'd have not been allowed to spar until he gained enough control and patience to do so safely. If he didn't like that, he'd leave. Both would not cause uneccessary safety hazards.
I'm ashamed to say it but ritual humiliation usually works, howeve you can't guarantee to outspar them I usually find an alternative method. For example find a weakness in fitness and exploit it while some of my youngster studetns can do it with ease. Or complicated sequences of moves which junoirs always seem to pick up slower. He might be a great fighter or brawler but the number of times I've had these people humilated by some point sparring with a quick guy, it usually gets thier goat. Difficult though, why didn't the instructor take him aside if he was causing damage. I mena being able to fight is one thing but having no common courtesy is just lame! I smell a 300 pound bully. If he had nothing to learn perhaps he should have kept his mouth shut and gone elsewhere instead of bashing. No-one asked him to train so what's he got to lose?
Thats exactly what I though too Tosh, but he wasnt attending my class so there wasnt too much I can do about it at that time. And things didnt esculate that much, untill he took out one my instructor in sparing and started talking trash. Very good post Jody I agree completely thats about the only thing that seperate us from styles like kick boxing/boxing etc. Those guys train to kill and compete. Wheres the virture? I love the art, just hate the people.
Jody, well said. It is easy to remember the 'Martial' and forget the 'Art'. There are times however when an instructor needs to win respect, and one difficult student can disrupt a whole class. Tosh (where did the spice go?) gives some good advice on this - anyone else got any tips on how to deal with a difficult student?
It went since she....err.....he was accused of being a gal Ahem, the student sounds one of those macho ones to me, punish him as asy as that Bring his ego down, find something he lacks in.......umm....sorry, sounds pretty much what Tosh said Regardless, my instructor would try to do something about it for one day, it don't work and he still acts like a smart aleck beating everyone around, he don't be ever seen anywhere within a 20 feet radius of our class, it be heavily frowned upon! PS - bad grammar was on purpose with me trying to act like a tough russian |Cain|
aside from the ritual humilating fitenss routines, or sparring do your best to make that person uncomfortable at the school... i try not to hit those guys back except as a last resort. Because they're feeding you this intensity and possibly anger, and it doesn't help them to hurt them, it just makes it worse... explain to him continually the theories behind martial arts as in respect, humility, loyalty, trust, and righteousness... and if we won't listen, then put some pressure on him mentally and make him feel unwanted.... it doesn't do much good to talk about the Way in front of your students only to solve a conflict by hurting someone... personally I would let that person go, he doesn't have a desire to represent martial arts or a respect for the art or the people involved... you're better off his quiting was probably the right thing. No matter where he trains with an attitude like that he won't get far. peace, joe
Pretty serious topic When this kind of thing happens (original poster), it can compromise the safety of the students and the reputaion of the school. At our school, which is in a College, we get many guys coming in who want to "prove themselves" (usually the big weight lifters... in the same area of the gym). This is what we do: (1) New students do not spar until they've been to several classes. At these classes, they are observed by the master and instructors. New students get many opportunities to pair up with the master and instructor and this is how we evaluate their control and attitude. Bad attitude = no sparring until ready. Usually they quit or change their attitude. (2) If the new student wants to work hard even in self defence (hurting partner), they usually get paired up with the master or instructor who gives back about the same level while explaining control and how not to hurt your partner. (3) For the new student who wants to get rough or has a bad attitude, our last resort is to spar them against either our young hungry black belts or the cagey, mean senior ones and give them a good demonstration of the art. We don't hurt them but do return power to them at the same level they use. Result = they quit or reform and usually becaome great students. (If they are really tough or big, I use either a kidney hook punch off the start or a quick knee to the groin... there is no fooling around when someone is seriously trying to hurt me to make themselves look good.) (4) If none of this works, kick them out for a bad attitude. In this case the school needs, atmosphere, and safety of others outweighs the bad apple's need to go to this school.
