tkdBill

You have got to take control of your classes! MA classes are not a democracy, and we do not need parents and/or students telling us how to teach class. They are paying you because you are the expert, and know when and how to teach people. Your responsibility to the injured student is to keep her safe while training her. If she further injures herself while training with you, you might even have liability issues. If mom wants to help make training decisions, try handing her a gi and let her start working on her own BB and instructor certification so that in 5 or 6 years she can help. Until then, she must trust you. Remember, there are some students you just don't want, and often it's because of their parents. In the second case, you need to set the tone and do not let a student be a bad influence on the rest of your students. He is disrespecting you. Take control and be firm. Pull him aside and tell him how to act in you class. You are not making suggestions, you are telling him how it will be if he wants to train with you. Again, there are some students that you just don't want. If he can't straighten out, get rid of him. --

Steve_K, you make some excellent points. Their are plenty of morons running around with fake or undeserving college degrees, but that's not a reason to dump the whole degree programs in educational institutions. The diploma alone does not make one qualified, but it serves as a point of reference and a starting point to make sure that someone (or yourself) has had at least a certain level of training and education. One can then look further into the reliability of the institution which granted the degree. A black belt is very similar. Yes, there are many unqualified morons running around with black belts. But if he received it from a reputable school with a real program, he should be proud to have earned it. Like almost everything, the belt ranking system is far from perfect. But it does provide people with important milestones that can help motivate them and let them see how far they have come and where they are headed. --

I quit the ATA when I moved too far from the nearest school. I was a second degree when I quit. That was many years ago, and I totally left MA's for a few years. Although I like the training I received, I was getting a little soured about the politics. I'm sure that like any large organization they have good and bad schools, but then there are good and bad independents too. Their instructor training is among the best and most rigourous around. The school I went to was owned by Robert Allemier, who was a professional full-contact fighter at one time. Since some of the other instructors at the school were into full-contact and MMA competition, our training was pretty intense. --

Absolutely. We practice sparring two different ways: Practical (self-defense oriented) and competition sparring. Of course we don't use the arial kicks for self-defense, but I have a number of talented students who can pull off (and land) beautiful jump-spin kicks and disguise them enough so that their opponent doesn't know it's coming. --

No you won't. I got my black belt many years ago and I'm still waiting. --

By paying in advance, you have effectively done the same thing as a contract. All a contract does is guarantee the dojo payment of a set amount over the term of the contract, typically one year. You have already done that, so of course a contract would be pointless... Except that the other side of the contract usually guarantees you certain things as well. For example, a contract usually states that it can be voided if you move, if you become sick or injured, or if they go out of business. You can stop making the payments under these circumstances. By paying in advance, you gave the dojo all the security it needs, but unless you also have a contract you didn't get any security in return. --

Wow, a 3 year contract. Some states do not allow these types of contracts to be enforced for more than 1 year. All of my students are on a one year membership. We have a 30 cancellation provision which gives the student the opportunity to change their mind after a few weeks if they don't really like it. You should read your contract thoroughly and see if it has something like that. If I have a student that really wants to cancel, I will let him pay a "cancellation fee" of $75 plus one month's tuition. This way he's happy and it doesn't impact my immediate obligations. See if they will offer something like that. Most instructors realize that an unhappy student is not something they want to keep. --

Never trust the eyes. Experienced fighters use their eyes to deceive novices. I do it...I will look at my target before striking a few times to suck him in, then out of the blue I will look at one target but strike another. I look at the hips and lower abdomen. All kicks and stances start with hip movement, and I can still see the hands with my peripheral vision. --

BurnMyEyes, I went to the link that you provided. They will sell people complete DVD course that will take you all the way to black belt, and even let you test for rank in the comfort of your own home. I'm personally not a big fan of video martial arts training, and in my opinion throws up big red flags about the school overall. If the video training is as good as the training with an actual instructor, why does anyone need to go to an actual dojo. On the other hand, if the video training is not as good as training with an instructor, how can they award the video students the same ranks as the students who train at the dojo? --

Belts are not the problem, it is people who misuse belts that are the problem. There will always be a full range of quality in MA training, just like anything else. Some people will buy a Kia and some will buy a Cadillac. Some will pay too much for what they get. Their is no reason to get rid of all McDojos any more than we should get rid of all Kia's (or Cadillacs). The only thing that we need to worry about is whether or not we are happy with the quality and price of our own training. --

That is wrong. You or I cannot take an x-ray of the miracle cure recipient or do a double blind study of 200 diet pill subjects any more than we could check the conscousness of a victim of the "no touch KO" at a seminar or on video. That's how every charlatan with a successful scam works. Make an outrageous claim that he "proves" on his own terms and that his audience cannot disprove. One more thing: apparently it is known that this guy has lied about who taught him. Since his integrity is suspect, everything he claims should be automatically considered suspect. --

That's no different than the TV faith-healer who makes crippled people rise out of their wheel chairs and then cures un-curable cancer by placing his hands on the victim. It works fine on TV and at the revival, so it must be legitimate. I can't prove definitively that he doesn't really heal people, so I shouldn't be skeptical. Right? Or how about the guy selling weight-loss pills that let you lose weight without diet or excersise. It works great on TV, and he even has before and after pictures to prove it. I could never prove definitively that it doesn't work... --

I teach my students to not play around or play-fight with their non-martial artist friends specifically because of that. Especially at lower ranks, students develop power and speed well before they learn control. The beginner student may have no intentions of harming his friend, but he just doesn't know how much power he has. --

I teach traditional taekwondo and we absolutely teach high kicks and arial kicks to kids and even to the adults who want to learn them. --

Let the parents be a little upset. You are teaching their children respect, and you must define what is acceptable in your school. Outside of the school is one thing, but inside it is the instructor's rules and they are not negotiable. I doubt that anyone would quit because you are being respectful. --