In reply to Juego Todo, we are a very small country and do not have any masters currently, but the sabums from around NZ come and take classes once and a while.
How was this dealt with when you were coming up in the ranks? I recall the instructor correcting me thusly: Instructor: Do you understand why you pivot your foot? (for example) Me: Yeah. Instructor: (leans in close) Yes sir. Me: Yes sir! All I can say is that respect will come with time. Try to lead with good technique and poise. Be sure you're willing to do what you tell the others to do. Pick out skills that some of the seniors have that you find excellent. Have them lead the class in an exercise involving this skill. Even if it's just a short, in-front-of-the-class demo.
Do you think getting some of the students (that do not show to much respect) to take warmups might be a good idea?
It worked for me ShadowWarrior, that plus I agreed to put on the gloves with the biggest offender playing by his rules. After class of course, but he seemed to gain respect for me after that. Nothing ever happened but just knowing that he could not call my bluff did the trick.
I respect you Ryan. If you want to be a good leader you must show respect to your students. I learnt this after working on few fishing camps as a leader on Kapiti island. At the age of 13 it was though for me to teach a bunch of 12 and 17 year olds that lacked respect and discipline how to fish. In the end I had a nervous breakdown. But I learnt a few things working as a leader : 1. Never give up. 2. Don't show fear. 3. Be strict and polite. 4. Be patient and understanding. 5. Help people in need. At the end of the camp people showed great respect forwards me and I showed respect forwards them and the people that helped me on the camp.
I don't see why respect is a problem. There were young higher ranks at the TDK school I attended, but the adults always showed them respect. (Im not telling you how to run your class. The following are simply my point of view and suggestions that you can use if you want to.) The way I see it is that if they are older than you, you should refer to them as sir/mam or Mr./Mrs ____. If they are a blackbelt regardless of if you are a higher rank you should refer to them sir/mam or Mr./Mrs ____. Make sure your students know this if this is how you want things to be in your class. In the MA school no one should refer to you by your first name if your a BB. It should be Mr. _____, or if there is some title then perhaps that. When someone asks you a question and uses your first name or says yeah, then , as Lefty mentioned, make sure that you politely correct them by smiling and saying, "Yes Mr.____", or whatever you wanted them to say. You should NEVER let anyone in class call you by your first name. If any of this is something new, you should tell them at the beginning of a class how you expect them to address you and others. Tell the students that when they take a class to make sure that they bow to the instructor and thank him for teaching the class before they leave. If you decide to tell them these things keep it brief. They are adults. They don't need examples, and they will not like having a long speech take up class time. The shorter the better. Also make sure you say "bow to the instructor", not "bow to me". Hope this helps, Matt
everyone is respectful in class (ITA cowplain) due to there being a strong respect agenda enforced from white belt. a small 1 minute respect at beginning of class (bow to instructor, tenets of TKD, bow again) and the bwoing to instructor/senior student at the end of class. during lessons people call instructors or any higher belt than them "sir/maam" when you are told to do something you answer up and run if your asked to go somewhere... if you dont answer up when a reply is required out of respect, push ups/burpees/sit ups are the answer in mulitples of 20... it works, good environment here and no messing about
I cant be bothered reading the previous posts but i will say what earns my respect & the respect of everyone else im my class. The little things... - Being able to hold a side kick at head height for a long time usually makes people go "wow, he knows what hes doing" - Making the glove SLAP really hard whenever you kick it also earns respect - If they doubt your skill assign a crazy kick, demonstrate and then when no-one can do it walk them through it (like a 540* spinning kick)
Do you think showing off can earn respect? Somtimes students can think "Man that guy is a show off". You shoulden't have to show off your skills to be respected by students. Students should respect the belt holder as soon as they see them, Blue belt or black belt it doesen't matter. Students should respect them for the all hard work they put into getting their belt and the time they had put aside teaching students. Good teachers get respected by good students.
i consider show offs a pain in the **** and something to be 'put up with' rather than respected... "yes, very clever trick, please show us again...OooOooOO"
I really don't think NightcrawlerEX is saying "show off" to your students. The original poster is 15 years old (or rather was 15 since this thread is a year old now). The problem was that some adult students wouldn't take him seriously. Demonstrating he has acquired the ability as well as the rank, doesn't seem out of place to me. Sure nobody likes a show off, but people also do like to know that their instructor is able to do things well that they themselves are not yet able to perform at all.
if you post a new subject you get told "duh, this has been posted before, do a search" if you do a search, post on one topic you get told "why are you digging this thread up?!" If you dont want to read the thread again then dont click it, simple as. Quit whining and get back to whatever you were moaning at before this...
Nope. No way. Respect to a bit of black cloth ensures that a 'cult' mentality developes with people worshiping their instructor. A quick (kind of) story: About a ear ago I was training at a TKD place which was run by a few guys who were about to retire. One was a fireman that needed to go and run another business elsewhere. The other was a guy who was seriously diabetic. The only reason they were about was out of loyalty to their students. So naturally, once another instructor came along and offerred to take over they handed it to him. I was away for a few weeks when this process was going on. Anyway, when I got back I found a guy standing outside the club. I asked him how he was, what his name was, etc... About five minutes later he told me he was the new instructor. That came as a bit of a shock first off - I had no idea what had gone on. He had also raised the prices. I paid the ammount for four sessions and began to train under him. All I can say was that he was like a chef who constantly drops his pancakes. He did a warm-up which I found a joke. He never sparred with us. He always stated how we should be proud to be a part of his organisation. He always stated how he wanted people to call him 'Master Mark'. Now, out of the students, I was the best there. No one, if I chose, could last five seconds against me. I was faster, fitter and more powerful than everyone at that club. Although not the biggest bloke, I am 'chunky'. On my first session at that club I beat ALL the top ranking black belts (apart from the diabetic instructor who wasn't sparring). After that I decided that there's no point to decimating everyone I worked with every time. Hence I'd allow people to get strikes in, try different attack, etc... People respected me for this ability even though I was the third lowest rank there. I gave them respect because they tried when sparring, and they were willing to correct my patterns. Rank had nothing to do with it. This new instructor, on the other hand, I could not respect. He lectured without listening, looked down his nose at everyone and talked visible rubbish. Whereas I was strong he looked like he would have trouble lifting half what I can. In short he was all mouth and had no indication that he could fight. Training had also got easier. A lot easier. After a month I walked out and set up another club. (I had only trained at the other one because there was no other around.) This was out of sheer frustration. Respect has to be earned. That guy deserved none of mine. By contrast the old instructors had my respect because of the loyalty they showed to their students, the level of training they put in place and their mutual respect. If an instructor does not have that then perhaps they can compensate with skill. But if thats lacking... no hope.
So in your first session at the club, you beat everybody and totally decimated them? Then as a 3rd kup, you were ready to start your own club. How old were you at the time? You know, something doesn't quite sound right about that.
i tend to agree with you NewLearner, As a 3rd Kup you can't possibly know enough about TKD to start teaching. What would you do if a higher rank trained at your club, say a 4th Dan, would you show him the respect that they obviously deserved and most definitely would show towards to you. Am I correct to assume that you practice ITF TKD?
I agree, its laughable. I dont know about the ITF system, but if you are WTF affiliated you need to be at least a 2nd Dan to start teaching on your own. Obviously we have only heard your side of the story but you talk about the importance of respect and then keep referring to this guy as "the diabetic instrcutor". What has diabetes got to do with his ability to teach.
