AngelaG

Why? He is a teacher himself! Surely if he cares about your, and the other students' development, then he would take the time to make sure that you know how to teach effectively? Just knowing your martial art is not enough... teaching is an entirely different animal.It seems like it is already fostering resentment. This may be jealousy, or it may be because people feel that by having an untrained instructor teaching them that they are not getting "value for money".

Well in that hypothetical situation I personally think that his behaviour would be twice as bad. You are a student, and he should not be using you. Especially not for some ulterior motive.

If you do not want to teach, then do not teach. It really is as simple as that! If your instructor wants you to teach, and you are in agreement, then you should be taught how to teach before you are put in front of a class! http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2006/10/13/assistant-instructors/

That would depend on the training methods. We do actually train against fully resisting opponents in my dojo, and I consider myself Shotokan.

How long ago did this happen? To be honest if it was a while ago then I would just let it drop. You will have moved on in your technique by now and he will have probably forgotten what he said anyway. If I said that someone kicked like they do in TKD I would probably just be wondering if that person had done some TKD previously. It's usually fairly obvious to an instructot if someone has done a MA before.

However he is doing karate kata, with the Japanese names.As I said elsewhere, differences in style do not make up for bad body dynamics or poor technique. true, but not all techniques are the same, thus you may see differences. you see something similar to a bow and arrow stance in capoeira a lot, but it is a dynamic position and you are supposed to lean. when I trained jung fu, they told me my roundhouse was wrong - it came from muay thai and hard contact karate. No, not all techniques are the same. This I totally agree with, but ultimately there is always a few factors that mean it is either right or wrong. For example punching with a bent wrist is likely to end up with a sprained wrist, regardless of style.

The kanji for: Tou Kon Kai The Toukon/Tokon = fighting spirit

However he is doing karate kata, with the Japanese names.As I said elsewhere, differences in style do not make up for bad body dynamics or poor technique.

Interesting... I think most groups would agree that 18 is an acceptable age for shodan (Although a lot don't have any age limits). So say 18 for shodan Plus two years At 20 they get Nidan Plus 3 years At 23 they get Sandan Plus 4 years At 27 they get Yondan That's not exactly rushing through the grades (some groups do 1 year, 2 years, 3 years etc), and as I said it is not gaining a black belt at an age where they are doing "kiddy karate". Bear in mind that a lot of groups say ages 14-16 for black belt and that can come down quite dramatically.

Does anyone believe in exceptions to this rule? By the time I am eligible to test for 4th Dan I will have been running classes every week for 10 years...but I'll only be 22. Is Montana saying I should test just because of my age, and not because of experience? Don't get me wrong, I understand that there are many immature instructors out in the world, some in their 20's...some in their 50's. I may be showing immaturity by questioning this, but I feel I should. I look forward to hearing some opinions on this. Personally I think that 22 is VERY young for a 4th dan. But more to the point I think 12 is far too young to be taking lessons.Certainly in the UK you have to over 18 to get instructor's public liability insurance. Whilst I admire your spirit and consciencious attitude, I personally would have doubts about any dojo/dojang that was letting a 12 year old take a class. But as always, that is my own personal opinion.

The user Sensei_Rick trains under him I think.

I used to brag about my bruises . . . . . . . Now I brag about THEIR bruises.

Please please PLEASE be careful with doing kicks with ankle weights on, especially at high numbers as you can cause serious damage to yourself. The problems with high numbers of kicks (with or without weights) is that unless you do every single one perfectly it will not help your training, and in fact every one you do sloppily will detract from your training. You will also run the risk of over-extending your joints if you get tired from multiple repetitions. In order to gain speed in the relexes and accurace get some focus pads and get a partner to put them on. Then they present a target for a short period of time and you have to kick it before they remove the target. Start on the spot and work up to moving around, and gradually turn up the speed. For working up speed work on the heavy bag, or again get a partner with a tombstone pad or thai pads. Work it at various heights. A partner is always best because they can give feedback as to how your kicks are coming along.

But little children are bound by the timetable of their parents. We have several that turn up just as the lesson is about to start and so do not get the time to go before they start. You can ask the parent to try and get there a little earlier, or make sure that the child goes before they leave their house, but if the parent does not listen then will you punish the child?I still think you are approaching it from the point of view of an adult, with an adult's bladder control. If they are going to be late, then tell them to go before they come in. However, it should be made known that when they start their first class, that they need to take care of bathroom breaks before class starts. If you give an inch, kids will take a ruler. They know it, too. You have to stay on them. I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. My experience differs, so either a ) I am awesome at teaching children or b) we have the best behaved children in the world in my junior classes.

But little children are bound by the timetable of their parents. We have several that turn up just as the lesson is about to start and so do not get the time to go before they start. You can ask the parent to try and get there a little earlier, or make sure that the child goes before they leave their house, but if the parent does not listen then will you punish the child?I still think you are approaching it from the point of view of an adult, with an adult's bladder control.