Jiffy

Hey there, Having been a guard and crowd controller, it became apparent that training is definately a good thing to have, but only the right type of training. Stand-up strike based martial arts like Karate (which is my primary style) are probably not the best to have in the field. While it is good to understand the strikes and how to work with them etc, we are constantly trained so that punching and kicking becomes instinct. While in a self defence situation this is great, as a guard, you have a legal duty of care to the person you are restraining. For this reason, grappling arts are generally more usefull in that scenario as they have less tendancy to get you into trouble. And to answer your question. In Australia at least, there are more security guards out there with no training then those that have been trained...... by far.

Hi There, I've never been in the service, but my brother is still in the Australian Army (11 years) and we have discussed this. Basically, the hand to hand combat they have received is laughable. He has come to some of my classes when he comes home and was amazed at some of the stuff we do. I couldn't believe he has never done it. Even though he has done two lots of active service.... still not much hand to hand training.

"Learning a technique makes it knowledge. Repeating the technique makes it instict"

I've come accross this scenario a few times. In the 9 years I have been teaching, I have had two of my bosses at work, a collegue, two close friends, a peer, and two girlfriends train under me. In addition, our head instructor is my father. It's hard to get them to seperate the personal life and the dojo, and for that reason, I make it clear as soon as they intend training with us, that in the dojo, they will get treated like everyone else, then when we walk out, it's different, and that's exactly the way my father and I am. In this scenario, yes you should have made more of an effort to make that clear, but I think the main blame was on the student. He made a deliberate effort to be a pain in the butt and that is not acceptable. Remember, in there, regardless of if you are the head instructor or just helping out, you are the boss. They follow the rules or cop the consequences.

Some excellent suggestions here. There are some things to consider. First of all, the problem usually doesn't exist very long because after the first couple of gradings, they tend to develop at different rates and therefore will be learning new stuff. If you are going to attach the scenario on the spot, make sure not to make a big deal out of it. Remember, to his son, he is the boss and by making a big deal out of it, you undermine him...... not just in the dojo. If you need to say something a little more substancial, just pull him aside and explain the situation away from the boy.

Hi There, Thered are a couple of things to remember here. First and foremost, look for the greater good. While it is important to try and work with this kid, you do need to remember that there are other students paying for your services and they deserve the same aount of attention. We never like kicking people out of our school, but he have had to do it. Second (and other side of the coin), he's autistic, not stupid, in fact quite the opposite. Autistic people are actually quite smart, but they lack the ability to control their emotions and live by the same unwritten social standards that we expect of others. When dealing with the child, be very direct. Ensure they look you in the eyes and get their attention. Then speak very clearly, make sure there is no doubt about what you are trying to get accross. If they dis-obey, make sure any punishment you give them is not only proportionate, but is also directly related to the thing they did. It needs to be made very clear what they are doing and WHY it is inappropriate.