Your Instructors

CheekyMusician · Green Belt

So lets hear about you instructors past and present. Why do you/did you like them/dislike them? What were their methods of teaching?

I've not been involved in the martial arts long, but here's the instructors I've came across in that time.

Karate

I've got 2 instructors here. One is fairly strict and disciplined. He pushes us all quite hard, but doesn't really play the disciplinarian as much as I thought he would when I first joined. He's got quite a good sense of humour though, too, so he treads the fine line between teaching with discipline and letting us enjoy what we do quite well. He's a bit of a hero in my eyes right now. He's a big, scary looking intimidating guy, but is actually really nice once you talk to him...it just takes a few months for you to realise you can talk to him! When I first started I thought he was a right dragon! I thought he might kill me if I walked within a miles radius of him, but now I think he's awesome!

My other instructor is really nice and patient, but sometimes I feel he's a little easily distracted. He's got a good sense of humour and is definately a good teacher, just sometimes can talk when he should be teaching. Most of the time he's fine though and keeps us all working well. He's especially good with the beginners. He takes them aside and shows them the basics with the patience of a saint. Heavens knows, when I first started he must have wanted to kill me! Imagine two self conscious teenage girls starting at the same time and giggling everytime one (or both) of them got something even slightly wrong. I was such an idiot when I first started. He kept trying to get my friend and I to do Kihon kata on our own without him walking us through it too in my first few weeks and we just kept looking at him blankly and making stuff up. We were totally clueless....I'd have killed us if I'd been him!!

Aikido

I only went to Aikido for about a month or so due to the teacher there. He was an absolute *. I'd watched his class a few times and had got the impression that he was arrogant and egotistical from what I'd seen, but when I went along to talk to him he seemed like a right gem of a guy. He was really friendly and spent a lot of time talking about the art and about martial arts in general. The first week that I went along to participate I was impressed with him then too. He was extremely encouraging. He kept telling me that I was doing well and kept following me around checking I wasn't stuck, making sure I had a partner to practice with and sometimes taking over from my partner if I wasn't getting the hang of something and he felt he could explain it better to me. The next week he turned evil though!
One of the other students had warned me that the guy was extremely moody and would be Mr. Nice Guy one week and Satan the next, but I hadn't really believed him until the second week of training. All he seemed to do was shout and scream and make demands and I didn't like him very much. He didn't point out my mistakes. He just expected me to know what I was doing wrong and if I didn't get things 100% perfect he'd scream at me. Now it was only my second week and of course I was nowhere near getting things even 50% correct all the time. I was trying my hardest, but he didn't seem to acknowledge my effort. After that I only went back to classes a few more times but then stopped. I really enjoyed the aikido, but the thought of going and facing him every week made me feel sick. His class reflected that though. It was a small class and although they went through the motions of respect (he made them bow to him constantly...it actually became quite silly the amount of bowing that we were doing), they all disliked him and talked about him in bad terms the minute he left the room.

TaeKwon Do

I was at a TaeKwon Do "lesson" the other day. It wasn't a formal lesson at the dojo, it was just something in school to raise money for charity. The guy they got to take the lesson was amazing though. He was a 4th dan and was hilarious! He kept cracking jokes, but didn't let us get lazy either. He kept us all working hard and walked around encouraging everyone. It was only an hour long lesson though and since it was outside the dojo I don't know if he'd act the same in an ordinary class.
The only thing I didn't like was that I felt he moved too fast, teaching more and more complex techniques that we weren't ready for, but I can understand that he did this so that the people in the hall wouldn't get bored walking up and down performing the same technique all the time (after all, the people training weren't martial artists...they were just there trying to raise money for charity and have fun) and also, he'd have wanted a chance to display more complex techniques so that he might attract more people to his dojo.
He was great though and if I wasn't already in karate he'd certainly have attracted me to come train in TaeKwon Do with him and his club.
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ninjanurse · KF VIP

I have had a few over the years...don't have many complaints about any of them. I learned many things from each one.

Judo: Had a female sensei who was very patient and loved to get right in there with the students. She made classes fun. Unfortunately she left only after a few months and I changed to TSD.

TSD: Posssibly the greatest influence on me as a martial artist. He instilled a love of kata and lit my fire for martial arts. A large, quiet, and patient man who demanded discipline but never raised his voice.

MDK: I only spent a few months with this school while I was in town for a summer. The instructor was tall and quiet...didn't talk much but his classes were fast paced and never boring.

Shotokan: My sensei was a soft-spoken Hawaiian who spoke pigeon english and never frowned. He smiled all the time-even when he was chewing you out! This man instilled in me a belief that I could do anything I put my mind to and saw the Black Belt in me that I did not. He had great faith in his art and his students and I think that my teaching style was greatly influenced by him. He is a truly humble man.

TKD: I have had 2 head instructors in the same school, and of course the master instructors who in my opionion are two of the greatest men I have ever met. Soft spoken and motivated to help all students in their association acheive their true potential in life as well as martial arts. My jouney to Black Belt in their system was a journey that has shaped my life and made me the person I am today. All of them stressed attention to detail in everything...only one of them ever yelled in class. They all talked the talk and walked the walk!

JuJitsu: Soft spoken and patient. Always spoke well of others and often invited other Sensei's from different styles to share their knowledge with class. He always encouraged students to push themselves past their fears without making them feel embarrassed or stupid.

TKD: Only been with this school for a month so don't have any definite opinions, just observations. The chief instructor is patient and reserved, very big on basics. The master instructor is soft-spoken and very traditional in his manner and speech. He seems to have a vision of where he wants his schools to go and I reckon he'll get there. He is patient and corrects as needed.

After reading this I see that two things stand out that all of my past and present teachers shared...PATIENCE and a love of their art.

_________________
"A Black Belt is only the beginning."
Heidi-A student of the arts
Tae Kwon Do,Shotokan,Ju Jitsu,Modern Arnis
http://the100info.tumblr.com/

karatekid1975 · KF VIP

Here's mine:

TSD: My master instructor was like a brother to me. He took me under his wing, as a martial artist and as a friend. He showed me that I "can" when I said I can't. He taught me so much in martial arts and beyond. He was tough, but he made the classes fun. In class he was your typical MA instructor. Hard on you, tough with technique, and very respected. But when he was in street clothes, he was an average guy. Joked, laughed, and just a fun loving guy.

TKD (first dojang): My instructor Mr. C was cool. You can talk to him about anything. He made classes fun. Not up-tight one bit. Smiles all the time. The master instructor, however .... I don't agree with you, Heidi. I'm not saying you are wrong, just my opinion. He is very close-minded to his art. Yes, he was tough on basics, which is a good thing. But he doesn't allow cross-training, going to tournies outside his, and he charges way too much. There's definitely a lack of self defense at that school. It's sport, even if he doesn't admit it. There's a lot of other issues, but that's between me and him.

TKD MDK: My instructor is awsome. I love my new dojang. He is very tough on technique, but yet he is very laid back. Jokes during class, and makes classes fun. The self defense he teaches is second to none in this area as far as TKD goes. DEFINITELY NOT sport TKD (except for the sparring part, which we don't do often .... we usually stay with self defense techs).
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Laurie F

Karateka_latino · Black Belt

Let me tell my history.lol

SHOTOKAN KARATE:
My first instructor was a very VERY tough. He believed in the "old School" military type Karate training. It was sooo hard. Long conditioning, lots of drills and Lots, lots of sparring. He wasnt too much into Kata. We did trained, but the main thing was Fighting and Conditioning.
When my first Instructor moved, I started to go train with another Instructor in the same School. He was an active, flashy, instructor. Not too much into the All Tradition stuff. His classes were tough, but not as tough as with my first instructor. We did a lot of conditioning, sparring , kata and kobudo. With him i started with the whole flying, jumping, spinning kicks that my first instructor didn't like.
My 3rd Instructor was more into Sport Karate. With him i learned how to score points in tournaments, How to do "machine Gun" Kicks, etc, etc... almost NO kata training.

TAEKWONDO
My TKD instructor was/is a personal friend of mine for long time ago. He was a crosstraining freak in the time few people crosstrained. The Style in which he was Ranked was TKD but he crosstrained in Boxing, Fullcontact Karate, shotokan Karate, jiu-jitsu, Wrestling, Aikido and very heavily in Hapkido Art in which he could easily test for a 2 or 3 dan Black belt if he wants.
We did a lot of Full contact sparring, self defense techniques, NHB/MMA sparring, All this before the First UFC.
He was involved in street(for real), tornaments and challenge (against other styles of MA) matches so he knew how to make your techniques work for real.
He is a great fighter, great teacher and great friend. Too bad that due time and personal reasons, i couldn't train with him on regular basics. I trained with him when i had free time to do it.
Now he has been forced into retired because of problems in his eyes, and very busy College/Working Schedule. He's not teaching anymore

JUDO
Did it for a while, trained most in falling techniques, basics pins and throws. The Instructor was an International Coach and former Champion (in the 70's/80's) I still look forward to re-join to that class when i bare the time.

Karateka_latino · Black Belt

I also trained in this styles, but less time than the others

OKINAWAN GOJU RYU KARATE:
Did it for very little time. When i was looking for a new school to train. I learned the Gekisaida ichi Kata, We did Sanchin and some conditioning. The Instructor was just comming for U.S. He was ranked by Morio Higaonna. Then He moved to the Provinces and i haven't heard from him again.
Looking forward to train in this style Next month. Under a special Instructor's Program.

SEVEN STAR PRAYING MANTIS KUNG FU:
I trained Kung Fu with a friend of mine from College. I knew the guy for long time and never realized he was a Kung fu instructor. It all came from a conversation we had. When to his class a couple of times. It was interesting. He kicked my behind in Sparring.

Very Traditional Chinese system. Not flashy like modern Wu Shu. He lived and loved his Art. But again, Due time reasons, i couldn't continue going to his classes.

TAI CHI CHUAN/CHI KUNG:
I Took an Intensive one month Course with a Chinese Instructor. I didn't speak a word in Chinese and he didn't speak a word in Spanish and his english was very very basic. So we needed a Translator on the classes.
We learned the 108 long Yang Form of Tai chi. He not only teach the moves but how to use them for self defense. Since i was the only martial artist (the rest of the people were just new in the arts) I used to stay after the class and trained some Chin Na techniques with him.
He was very kind, gentle and nice person. He had like 1,000 years old. lol but he was very agile and quick.

Ok. that's all... for now...

ninjanurse · KF VIP

Laurie-It's OK to disagree.

We just have different reference points that we are looking from. I think Master Kuek is being true to HIS precepts-especially "Have faith in your art and trust your instructors"-and that makes him closeminded. It depends on what you are looking for. I am happy that you realised now that you and him have different goals for yourself-it would have really sucked for you later

.

_________________
"A Black Belt is only the beginning."
Heidi-A student of the arts
Tae Kwon Do,Shotokan,Ju Jitsu,Modern Arnis
http://the100info.tumblr.com/

BKJ1216 · Black Belt

Lol my intructor is a real chareter. I've been watching the classes and they guy is insane. Like if someone does something wrong He'll walk up to them looking really mad then just smile and show them how to do it. It's kind of funny to watch it.
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White Belt- Shudokan Karate

CheekyMusician · Green Belt

IAMA_chick · Purple Belt

tkd- my instructor is a third dan. she is awesome. i seriously don't think i could have a much better one. she is relaxed but pushes the limits. she is so fun too! me and a few other people go and chill at her house after promotion classes or whatever. it is totally cool.
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Tae Kwon Do
15-years old
purple--belt

karatekid1975 · KF VIP

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