sarah

The major factor here is body weight: competitions are separated into weight categories for a reason, and it is good to train with people of a similar body weight so you can anticipate the sort of contact you will receive in competition. Secondarily, I do witness a slight change in the men right before a competition, but it isn't about physicality, it is about a mental approach that I think is a bit different, broadly speaking, to the women's preparation. How does your assumption of physical difference play out practically speaking? For instance, would you ask a large man, an older woman, a teenage girl and a small skinny child to do the same number of push ups or kicks?

Six months on, how did this pan out?

That is brilliantly put, I love it.

I don't see such differences as you describe, and normally in class I would not think to separate by gender. If you assume that women are weak, then I think there is a high chance you just end up reinforcing that. In the couple of weeks before a competition, I mostly (but not always) separate the men for full-contact sparring, because they suddenly get adrenaline surges and can become very powerful, and in competition they will only fight other men. For students beginning to learn partner stretching for the first or second time, I agree that some care is taken in who to partner them with, as it can be a new experience for them to get used to.

Initially, I started teaching just because I couldn't think of a good reason not to. My instructor had 5 of his students become black belts and not one had actually started teaching, and so I just went for it. I got support from my instructor when I needed it, and gradually I came to realise that teaching opens up a whole new layer of learning. Plus kids are hilarious, they say some great things and they grow in confidence even after just a few weeks. They begin shy or even sulky, and after a few weeks, one will say "Can we do flying backflips today?" or something equally silly, and I smile because at least they think that in this class anything might be possible and they might be able to achieve it. I agree that most students won't necessarily need to defend themselves in a fight, but if they have a strong moral sense and a good physical presence, they will likely prevent fights in the first place, which I would rather see. Also, I appreciate my own instructor's hard work much more, now I know what is involved, and try to help him out even more and to pass on his high standards to my own students.

We fairly regularly have black belts come to our club from elsewhere, but they don't last very long, maybe 3 weeks. I think it's hard when you've learnt your martial art in a particular club, to adapt to the culture of another club, and to be open to any style differences when you think you know it all already. The only guy who lasted was one who had previously been a teacher in another country. He came very open-minded and friendly, and he proved himself by being a good student who just trained. He didn't try and teach, he just trained and he got a lot of respect for that.

Our association is run by a 9th Dan Grandmaster. He teaches all the courses, including the referee course. He also conducts gradings and is sparring coach for a national team. We have several multi-day sparring courses during the year that any students can attend, either run by our Grandmaster or a visiting Korean Master. They are all practical training and there is not a formal teaching element. I hadn't really thought about that before, but I guess the assumption is that if we train and compete ourselves, and know the rules, it is assumed that is sufficient to then teach. Regular participation in competition by your students ought to let you know if you are teaching them well, I suppose! We do give a lot of informal training to our assistants in class and they must attend all 4 formal courses before being allowed to instruct on their own. It is a balance of needing to give them exposure and needing to make sure your students learn everything they need to. We don't yet have any children who are senior enough to assist formally (I only started teaching children a couple of years ago and learnt myself in an adults-only club). What do others do with their senior children and allowing them responsibility?

We have quarterly short courses for instructors and assistant instructors. 1st course is on how to teach basics up to a first grading. 2nd course is on kicking, 3rd on forms, 4th concerns child protection, legal issues and more detailed discussion about teaching and running a club. In order to be a registered instructor, you have to be a black belt and attend all 4 courses regularly. That way we ensure consistency of teaching between clubs and have an opportunity to ask questions and support each other. Senior students are expected to assist with teaching in class and encouraged to attend the 1st, 2nd and 3rd courses. In addition, adult students have a requirement to both fight and referee in competition before reaching black belt.

They are playing to the electronic scoring equipment, and the equipment is there because the tv companies requested it, and the tv companies are only interested because it's in the Olympics... I heard the Olympic people were seriously considering ditching taekwondo for karate, is that true?

The 'aha' moment can often be when a student FEELS something in their body working the right way, rather than when they watch or listen. I suppose that isn't terribly helpful, as without knowing the specifics I don't know what to suggest.

I tell my students (adults and children) that bowing is how we say 'hello' and 'thank you' in Korean. Then after a few weeks I teach them the Korean word for thank you, to say when they bow to another person. They enjoy it. Even if the formality isn't understood culturally, it does encourage a group sense and keeps people safer when they train. But if you're inventing formalities because you're trying to get a bit more money out of students, it's not so great.

I thought I was starting to 'get' taekwondo during my last grading before black belt. I enjoyed it, I had physical power, and I thought I understood WHY. Some years later, I find that teaching adds a whole new level - you have the anxiety of being a beginner at something again, combined with developing a much deeper understanding of everything you've been taught.

Aw, thanks!

Yes, learning the rules is definitely an important step. I would say, why enter if you don't expect to score any points? Work out how many you'd like to score, what you would be pretty pleased with as a first attempt, and then start training with a view to achieving that. Then your training has focus and purpose. Good luck!

Ooooooooh, good tip.