This week I’ll be sharing from my journal about what I learned about the relationship between martial arts student and instructor. Today’s sub-theme: Good instructors care. A lot.
2/1/16 College Dojo
I do know this already, but today it was really driven home to me how much College Sensei, who is also our organization’s Chief Instructor of Washington State, cares about my progress.
I have a rather unusual situation for a beginner.
Home Dojo is struggling, and it’s not Home Dojo Sensei’s fault. Due to his employer and the YMCA, we have zero time before or after class to ask him questions that involve him demonstrating movements. Home Dojo Sensei relies heavily on us senior students to teach new beginners. We’re willing, but that means we sacrifice a good bit of our own training. We used to have two Senseis, but Major Employer laid off one and nobody else can replace him. No brown belts live close enough or can schedule the time. So that is what it is.
College Dojo is a college class, so it’s really geared towards beginners. That said, College Sensei likes it that some colored belts are sticking around for fun – I overheard him telling the big group of new white belts that he’s trying to give them the experience of being in a real dojo. However, because this is a college class, often Sensei is busy with administrative stuff and, let’s face it, if someone is paying for a class they’re taking for credit, they get first priority for Sensei’s time (or even my time as the 2nd most senior student) after class.
I figure I will need to juggle training and teaching sooner or later anyway, so I’m not complaining. So this has come sooner in my career rather than later. OK – bring it. This is the path I’ve chosen, these are the dojos I will be teaching in once I reach Shodan. So I have to be clever. I train at a third dojo on Saturday and visit others every now and then on Fridays or during college breaks.
This hasn’t been a problem until I started learning Bassai Dai kata after I promoted in mid-November. It took me about six weeks to realize that it’s not my imagination, the three Senseis I train under have three different ways to do the last two ending movements. Yeah I’m kinda slow, but to be fair, there were hugely significant holiday breaks that majorly disrupted my learning this kata.
I wasn’t about to say anything but “Ossu!” and learn the three ways of doing things. I was going to simply pick my fave for tournament and do Home Dojo Sensei’s way for my next belt test. But long story short the cat was very definitely let out of the bag at an organization-wide event last month. All three Senseis who I train under regularly now know 🙂
Today, this, that, and the other happened and College Sensei couldn’t help me with my kata. But he stopped me after we bowed out of the dojo and asked how I was coming along with it. We talked for awhile about how I was learning three different things. He just needed to hear that I was not discouraged by my experiences. I was able to assure him that once I realized what was going on, I thought it was pretty cool to learn different ways of doing things. I affirmed that I just have to remember which dojo I’m in while I’m teaching kata (there are two extremely slight differences in two of the Pinan series as well).
I think College Sensei is a bit dismayed that so much is being put on a 6th kyu’s shoulders. So he was checking up on me to make sure I’m not buckling under the pressure. That was really, really, really cool of him. I’ve known him for a little over two years now (my daughter took his class before I joined the Y class) and I think of him as a teacher and friend. So yeah, he cares. But today it hit me that this Godan (5th degree black belt) who is Chief Instructor for Washington State cares about a lowly 6th kyu’s progress. Wow…
2/3/16 – College Dojo
Today’s lesson – continuing on the theme of how much College Sensei cares about my progress. He taught the other colored belts how to foil my signature move (roundhouse kick to the head). If you stop and think about it, if I’m to make any sort of progress, I can’t be a “one trick horse.” And if the rest of the class can’t counter what I throw, they need to make progress defending themselves 🙂 So College Sensei also cares about my classmates 🙂
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OMG I totally relate to the 3 senseis three ways of same kata (or technique even)…..you know my cross training experiences now (also as a 6th kyu / 9th kyu – cross grading was um fun….in an interesting sense)…..but now that I am only training with one instructor in one style (other than my kumite class) life seems a breeze (OK so the learning curve is steep but the progress is so much faster…). Ultimately having had that experience has actually HELPED my learning as I am sure you will find it has / will yours. Well done you! Osu.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Wow, so you probably encountered greater variations than I did what with the different styles. I’ll bet it helped you! Thanks for the kudos 🙂
Honestly, I understand that it is under the heading of how it is done historically but truthfully you shouldn’t be teaching until you reach at least san-dan (think of shu-ha-ri). I know from experience the hazards and obstacles that will be created trying to teach, learn and train at too early a stage.
Good luck!
Thanks for stopping by and expressing your concerns! Believe me, I do feel a bit of pressure, and I see you’ve some experience with that too. I’m happy to report that since the beginning of February (the time I wrote these journal entries) I’ve had some relief – Sensei’s wife helps once per week at Home Dojo, and both Sensei and his lovely blackbelt bride now teach an advanced class on Sunday mornings.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. As soon as more qualified people can relieve me, I will be off the hook. Fortunately, when I do teach, it’s usually newbies. I have a good deal of experience teaching newbies Karate from when I was a teenager – scads of “first lesson is free” and white belts who needed to be brought up to speed so they could be integrated into the classes. That experience gave me the self-confidence to home school my two daughters (one gifted, one autistic). Before and during those years I read books, attended seminars, and was mentored – so I learned a lot about how people learn. So the home school experience is now feeding my confidence in teaching Karate again. Full circle 🙂
Oh gosh, yes, it is really hard to juggle those balls of teaching, learning, and training. To keep the balls in the air, I train regularly at three dojos and visit a fourth and fifth intermittently. Getting to be just a student is guaranteed on Saturdays and Sundays, and as for the rest of the four days I train, I usually do get at least one or two days to be just a student.
Again, thanks – I’m really touched at your concern, but so far so good. I haven’t cracked yet 🙂
Or, wait – maybe I have cracked. I am, after all, doing Karate when most ladies my age are a lot more sensible about their choice of exercise 😉