SloMo

Definitely not unheard of. I think it's great when schools try to expand the students knowledge. As long as the core of TKD is taught then I'm all for the adding of new forms and techniques.

Already sounds like a good school if they are willling to give you a free month to try it! Good luck!

Our kids spar all the time. They do learn from the experience. Maybe not all the technique you would like them to learn but things like, to not be afraid to spar, sportsmanship and how to block! ( or not ) Also, our kids are required to wear padding when they spar. Figure they weigh about 60 lbs soaking wet and it would be tough for them to hurt each other. Our kids are always begging for more sparring classes. Something else you can do is have your kids spar your black belts. Our black belts know that they are basically nothing but moving targets for the kids so they have fun as well. They also have the control to just tap the kids to remind them to keep their guards up.

I don't see what you did wrong. Stuff does happen when you spar. I've been kicked in all sorts of illegal areas... and have kicked others in illegal areas as well. I always feel bad when it happens. But you gotta move on and deal. Maybe she came out of that experience with some new knowledge. At least she knows that you can beat her at sparring! My only advise is to watch her if you ever spar together again. She may be out to prove something and play dirty. So keep your guard up!

awwww shucks..... kidding, usually, I just say thank you.

What brought one of the ones I was talking about was a tournament. Now, this guy is a natural. ( You know, the kind that you wished you were! ) Very flexible, very fast and excellent coordination. He went to compete at a tournament and got waxed pretty badly. ( He did take third place though ). Now if he would have won, it would have been a different story but he didn't. It's probably wrong for an instructor to hope his student loses but I think he learned more from the loss than he would from any first place medal.

Is irt any jump kick or is it jump spin kicks? Don't feel bad though, a lot of people have a little trouble with it at the start. You can also practice by doing the jump part without the kick. Then throw in the kick when you start feeling more confident. Good luck and hang in there! Mo

There was much feasting

I always tell my students to focus on speed and technique. If you have those then power is very easy to attain. My only advise about breaking bricks is to make sure you break it the first time!

welcome and good luck!

How do you deal with cocky students? What do you do if you have a student that is full of themselves and is very skilled? We have a couple of students like that in our school and we were able to bring them back down to earth but I am curious how some of you deal with it. Mo

Sounds like good advice overall. If you think you are ready, test. Your school sets up minimum number of hours and such and if you meet those and have been working hard then you will not have a problem. I've had students that would never test unless we almost forced them to. Part of what you learn in MA is to be honest about yourselves and your abilities. Good luck! Sounds like you'll do great! Mo

okay ( deep breath ) Godfather I & II Bladerunner Dark City The Professional The Truman Show The Green Mile Shawshank Redemption The Matrix Auntie Mame Rear Window Zulu Mr. Smith Goes To Washington Philadelphia Unforgiven The Magnificent Seven The Seven Samauri Alien Star Wars Young Frankenstein Fight Club Gattaca Glory And many others!

I don't know the history of it but it is the effect of having someone go to a neutral corner. It's to put the person into a non-threatening postion until the judge restarts the fight.

My advice is to go try a few different styles and see which one you like the most. Learning MA is more than about the style. YOU need to like the instructor, the school, the other students and enjoy what you are learning. So I say, go try some. Which ever style you enjoy the most will be the right one! Good luck! Mo

I'm not one to bad mouth any school. I think ATA is just like any other place. You are going to have good schools and bad schools. I am suprised at the difference of opinion that I get from people who tried ATA. SOme love it, some hate it. Very few in between. Maybe the contract thing colors peoples opinion. If I signed a long term contract and realized that the instructor stunk, I would be a little peeved. And, regardless, it's people like Bill Clark that help to increase the interest in martial arts. Maybe he has gotten too commercial. But I would judge each school on it's own merits. Mo

Personally, I think you should go to a TKD school rather than learn on your own. TKD is very kick-centric. I don't think anybody would debate that. There are a lot of nuances to kicking that you learn to get your kicks to really excel. Also, your body is trained for one style. Going to a TKD school will help train your body a little differently. You won't lose anything you have now, but it will work other areas of your body that may not have gotten that level of attention before. Just my 2 cents! Good luck, Mo

I have no issue with the "greedy" aspect of your statement. There are a lot of intructors who turned into business people first and forgot about the whole reason they started doing martial arts in the first place. My issue is with "Greedy Koreans". What if your instructors were white or black? Would you have put any qualifier on that statement or would you have said "greedy instructors"? Anyway, water under the bridge. I understand your frustration. The message here is "Buyer Beware"

Normallly, it takes about 3 years assuming the person is dedicated and comes to class on a regular basis, However, we have moved people who have already gained a black belt ( or equivilant ) really fast through the testing. Sometimes testing them for two belts at a time in the early stages. This is becuase there are some fundimentals ( balance, body control, etc ) that the person already has so there is no need to hold them back on the lower levels. Now how fast can you do it? Hmmm, it depends on a lot of things but it can be done in 2 years with that level of experience coming in. Mo

Greedy Koreans huh? Hmmmm, I'm going to let that one go for harmony's sake. I have found that you can find some great teachers and schools anywhere. But you do have to be careful. Some YMCA or similar schools are taught by people that are not really skilled enough or have enough experience to teach, HOWEVER they are also people who are not teaching martial arts for a living. So they are doing it strickly for the love of the art. When you check out schools, ask the instructor who they are certified through or who they learned from ( lineage in a way ). Then come here ans post a message. There are a lot of "Buy a belt" groups out there where I could get my dog a blackbelt if I wanted to lay out some money for.. Hope this helps. Mo

I may get a lot of flak for saying this but for kids, the instructor is more important than the style! Teaching kids isn't easy and not everybody can do it. You don't want to make the situation worse by putting him in a school where they make him feel worse about himself. We had a kid join our class with a similar problem. We stress to our kids that fighting is the absolute LAST resort and we mean it. He still got picked on for a while but he felt that he was at least doing something to correct the situation in the long run. After a while they stopped picking on him. If you ever see somebody who knows how to handle themselves they display what we call "a quiet confidence". People pick up on it and respond. In this case the people stopped picking on him ( eventually, it was not one of those movie plots that the kids suddenly respect him and they become best buddies ) and now he thinks they are ridiculous and wonders why he ever let them bother him in the first place. Now, I do live in reality. My daughter had a problem where a boy was toucher her ( kids stuff like lifting her skirt ) and I had her do everything she could, she told the teacher, then the vice principal, then the principal and nothing changed. So I told her the next time he does it to punch him in the nose as hard as she could. She did and I got called to the school. I asked them what she sould have done and they said all the things that she did do. I told them that my daughter should not have been in a position to have to do that and it was the schools fault for not dealing with it the first time. Getting back to my original point, find your kid a school that has good experience with kids. Talk to the other parents. Visit some classes randomly. And let your kid try it for a few weeks and see if they like it. Hope this helps.... Mo

My advice is to try a couple of different ones. Not every art is for every person. We don't even let people sign up to join our school until they have tried it for a couple of weeks. It's also more than about the style. Did you feel comfortable at the school? Did they seem to teach in a way that you can respond to? Some people like the drill sgt method, others like a softer approach. Just don't get locked into the "style". All martial arts are effective if used properly. Find one that excites you in a school that you feel comfotable in. Hey, I actually wrote this without plugging TKD! oops Good luck! Mo

I feel for you. I have a couple of students who have different degrees of learning disorders. It's easy to get sucked into spending a lot of time with those few ( especially if they are working really hard ) than with the rest of the class. When I have a student that is having problems I will have them work on one thing. Have them work with the rest of the class but have them focused on one aspect. For instance, if we are doing forms, I may tell them to just work on their stances. Give them a lot of encouragement. Don't try to correct everything at one time. Since they are focusuing on one thing you can spend more time with the other students. I hope I'm making sense. Mo

I agree whole heartedly with the advice that has been given. The only thing I would add is to be proactive in getting feedback about your teaching. Don't be afraid to ask for advice ( like you are already doing ) and don't worry about mistakes, we all make 'em. Oh yeah, you can also read up on teaching. There are books on teaching martial arts that are very good and have good recommendations. You can learn from any good teacher. Good luck! Mo

I teach TKD in Jacksonville Florida and I am a 2nd Degree BB. ( Hopefully reach 3rd by middle of next year.... if I can get my butt into shape! ) Looking for a good place to toss some questions out and maybe, be able to occasionally give someone else some good advice. I'd hate to see all those lessons I learn by making mistakes go to waste! Mo