GeoGiant

Maybe some presidents / COEs / supervisors forget that their subordinates don't have the same ability to express their thoughts and opinions as they do. I laugh at his jokes, I don't correct him when he's wrong, and I don't pass judgement he does something that is inappropriate but when I'm off work and dealing with my close friends and family and don't my boss overseeing my interaction.

Dave - My boss is the owner of the company. This is a man i might see every couple weeks at best. He's very successful and very eccentric (to put in nicely). He's not the kind of person who would ever consider someone's feelings. Telling him FB is not for company use would be like a slap in the face to him. As it stands now i intend to tell him I kept getting spammed so I deleted my account.

I shouldn't even say my boss, the president of the company I work for sent me a Facebook request and I responded by deleting my account... I guess I'll find out the repercussions of my action sometime soon. I'm livid about this situation. I'm not friends with this guy, we don't get together socially and we don't have similar interests. I feel like this guy just trampled into my personal space. Trying to explain the obvious, like I prefer to keep FB for close friends and family, is not an option. Not sure how others feel about this but I'm disgusted.

Contact guy here. I wear soft 30-day disposable contacts. Glasses got in my way during training. It will take a week or two but you will get comfortable wearing contacts.

I've spoken with a few BBs since the test. Apparently more than one BB wanted to fail this guy but they didn't want to express their feelings because they knew that our instructor didn't feel the same way. I always knew that there was some animosity between some of the BBs and this person but I didn't know how deep it ran. Don't get me wrong, this guy has always worked hard and he has always been at class since I've been training there but he seems to have some kind of inside tract with the instructor. I don't know if its an age thing... older guy been training for years but something beyond his control always happens when he's finally ready to test ... etc, so the instructor has empathy for him... I don't know but whatever "it" is the other BBs don't share it. I've spoken with the guy twice and made an effort to really chat with him, no heavy discussion or talk of (dare I say it ) feelings, but just general chit-chat and he seems to have moved beyond whatever his feelings were - thankfully. I love my dojo and the people that train there, the last thing I want to see is some divide occur.

Wow, so its not uncommon for someone to act a fool at their BB test.

The guy did pass. He's been working off and on toward a BB for the last 20 years so he's been training for some time. Again, he's not a bad guy, he's just a little rough around the edges. After I had him wrapped up on the ground one of the BBs did step in and break it up but it was clear that he was being dominated. Part of me thinks that is what my instructor wanted to happen. I don't have a problem with the way it went down I was just a little freaked to see someone I train with lose it like that on someone else in our dojo (regardless if it was me or not).

I'm a brown belt and I train in an mma class that my dojo offers. During the mma class we full contact spar at times so my instructor knows that I like contact and I enjoy heavy sparring... he also knows that I don't lose my cool during contact. Well out of nowhere I was asked to spar with someone going for their BB. I'm 40 years old and this potential BB is 50. This guy known for man-handling others and a lack of control... he's old school gruff but he's not a bad guy. I'm assuming that I was asked to spar him because all the BBs sit on the panel to judge. Needless to say, this guy lost his cool and went after me. I had no problem taking his full aggression while still working him pretty good. At one point he grabbed my leg and tried to drive me to the floor... well mma kicked in and I dropped to the floor, pulled him on top of me, wrapped him up with my legs and I went for a choke. This guy doesn't take mma so he did everything he wasn't supposed to... we went down, he posted up and I easily slip under his arm and had him in solid choke. I looked at my instructor unsure what to do. I didn't want to let go for fear of getting hit so I started to apply the choke. After 15 seconds he started to go a little limp and the BB's separated us. I never lost my cool and all the BBs said I did what I had to do but looking back at the situation l'm left with an odd feeling and I'm not sure why. After a few minutes I walked over and gave the guy a hug and said he did a good job but he was clearly irritated. I guess I feel odd knowing someone came after with the intent to do.... not sure. I've seen people lose their cool but not like this. Not sure why I'm posting this but I thought others here would understand.

Very solid post. Quitting being number 1. A lot of those old says like winners never quit are old sayings for a reason.

As others have said, I think most new students would gravitate to the Kumite champion however Dobbersky makes a good point.

Thanks, a lot of good replies. Its odd how people's perceptions on this topic are different. I'm guessing that someone that is "sometimes unhygienic" would never explain their reasoning. Just this week i was asked to warm up two new students for a mma class. One of these guys, who was maybe 20 years old, started to stink immediately. I'm assuming that this guy doesn't / didn't wear deodorant. I wasn't teaching the class and I wasnt working with this guy so I just ignored it and figured I'd let the instructor deal with it. Probably a wimp move on my part but I have to oversee enough people with my job, the dojo is supposed to be my sanctuary - no politics, no stress, no management others.

Congrats!

Think how good my kata would get!

DWx this is the dojo I train at, not mine. I think the dojo is fairly clean but it seems like there have been a few things floating around. I've noticed powder on people's feet and a few people seem to be avoiding the locker room.

Oh the anonymity of the internet allows one to speak freely about these topics. First let me say that I would consider my dojo clean and the folks that attend seem to practice good hygiene but in the last few months there have been a few jock itch / athletes foot issues. I was wonder how others address / prepare for dealing with these issues. 1. Does anyone have any rituals they use to avoid being affected by bacteria and / or fungus in the dojo? Things like not using the changing room, applying anti-fungal spray before getting dressed, using hand sanitizer before you use the bathroom during class, etc. 2. How do you deal with keeping your gi, sparring gear, bag, etc. clean and free from undesirables? 3. Does anyone identify and avoid what they would consider as "hot spots" for contamination? 4. Anyone contracted athletes foot, jock itch, a staph infection, etc, from the dojo or gym. If so how did you handle it and move forward. I know this is a gross topic but I think its something that should be discussed.