mocochoco

Let me start by apologising. I have to say that at first I didn't read this thread as thoroughly as I should have and therefore missed important points, such as the fact that the adult who witnessed it was in fact the child's father - which obviously does make a huge difference in terms of credibility of the incident. So I should have waited to comment until I'd had a proper chance to read the thread in more detail. However, I have an overwhelming feeling that what happened is being exaggerated somewhat. I don't know why, but I just don't believe that the picture that has been painted about the situation would be an accurate portrayal to what happened if we could somehow watch a video of how it went down. If it was really that bad of a situation that they felt so threatened/concerned that the possibility of getting authorities, lawyers etc involved... I think it would be clear cut and they wouldn't need to be coming to a martial arts forum to seek advice on that . If it was my child and I watched them get assaulted to the point that I felt they, or other people were in genuine danger.... I certainly wouldn't sit back and watch, pretend nothing happened... then go and ask random people who were not there what I should do about it. Also the fact that noone else made any complaints or reacted to the incident immediately also makes me doubt that it was really that dramatic. I think in general that JASmama has taken the right steps to deal with the situation. The main thing that concerned me is some of the people on here that I have noticed making pretty rash suggestions to JASmama about how they would recommend dealing with it.

My experience with any situations that are even close to something like this is that they are usually exaggerated. I'd look further into it obviously..... but I think the chances that the instructor did what we are all picturing in our heads from your description is very unlikely. You said they were in full gear, so I assume he was wearing a chest protector as well. I don't know.... call me cynical, but I find it hard to believe that an instructor who you and your son have obviously been happy with for some time, suddenly turns around and assaults a child. I also find it a bit disturbing how everyone here is pretty quick to pass judgement and make very serious suggestions on how to deal with a situation that they have no clue about other than what you have been told about it by someone who wasn't even there. I certainly wouldn't rush into "Getting the police involved" or contacting a lawyer straight away.... just take a step back and realise that in the mists of all this.... someone's life and career could be at stake here, possibly over something that has been completely blown out of proportion.

Thanks a lot to everyone for the warm welcome. Thanks. It went really well. We have three instructors there for the grading and one of them is from another dojo who just comes for these. He mentioned to me how impressed he was with the improvement he saw in me since the last one. Apparently he's a tough person to get a compliment from.... so, pretty happy with that

Hi, I've been a long time lurker of this forum. I often tend to go to forums and hide in the shadows reading However, I thought I would pop in and say a quick hello. When I was younger and into my mid teens I used to regularly train in different MA's. I held a 2nd kup (red belt) in WTF Taekwondo and 4th kyu in Shotokan karate. I also dabbled in some BJJ, Judo and Hapkido, on and off over the years Unfortunately I followed the road so many young martial artists do and ended up being a lazy teen and stopped everything. Stopping training had always been the biggest regret of my life, I thought about it so often and wanted to restart. However as time went on, and the more un-fit I got (desk job/never doing physical activities) and the longer I left it, the harder it was for me to get the confidence to go take that first step and go back. Well finally, after so much time, I finally came to the realisation that I'm not getting any younger so I took that leap and joined a club early this year. I've been training there doing Wado-Ryu and will be taking my 7th kyu (orange belt) grading on Saturday! Absolutely loving it! I feel like a kid again - and every week for this past year all I think about between classes is how excited I am for the next one. I feel fitter, happier, sleep better(because I'm so tired from training), got my confidence back and love having something other than work to set targets on and achieve in. Anyway, as I said, just thought after hiding away reading that it would be rude not to say hello. Also to thank you guys for some great tips, advice, info and generally some great reading.