DWx

I really don't like age minimums because I feel it should be on an individual basis. And I'm probably going to fall on the younger side of things. My style / governing body has strict rules for each Dan level and at what point you can be an instructor; you have to pass a course and be 4th Dan or above to open your own school. It's for quality control.

Thanks for your viewpoint JR. My Wednesday and Friday night venue is a studio in a private dance school and in speaking with the owner, she never lets parents watch in the class itself unless it is their first session. Just outside the door is a nice waiting area with sofas and she makes them stay out there. Inside the room I don't have chairs so if the parents want to stay I'm afraid they have to sit on the floor or stand. Part of me thinks maybe the lack of seats promotes the parents to talk among themselves? I don't have this issue in my Monday night class which is in the function room of a sports club. There I have chairs all in a line facing the class. Whilst a window would be a great solution, it's not my building so not really feasible for me at this point. My compromise if I was to ask the parents on Weds and Fri to leave is that I would still leave the door open so they can hear what I'm doing.

Hi all, Do you let parents watch classes? In running my kids class I'm in two minds over this. On the one hand it safeguards me and the kids against any untoward actions. Unfortunately in this day and age it's handy to have extra pair of eyes watching and witnessing what's happening in the room just in case someone makes a complaint or accusation. For the parents that are engaged it's also great that they are taking it in and can then help their kids practice at home and may even take it up themselves. However the flip side to this is parents can be really distracting to some kids and they don't learn to stand on their own two feet as the parents are hovering the entire time. Tonight I also had a pair of parents talking the entire way through my class which I find to be disruptive and really messes with the classes ability to pay attention. Thinking of kicking the parents out into the waiting area. Thoughts on this?

The hardest class is the first one. Once you get going it'll get easier.

Happy birthday Bob. Hope you had a great day

That's a good point. The general rule is that you should make reasonable provisions to accommodate everyone. What "reasonable" means is hard to define. I can't ask if he has additional needs but I can get around it by asking the parents if there is anything I can do to help him.

Might be a horrible idea but does anyone do themed classes for the holidays? Trying to build a bit of engagement in my kids classes (ages 5 to 12) so thinking of doing a Halloween themed one and then a Christmas themed one. Still want it to be proper Taekwondo but maybe throw in a bit of a twist when it comes to exercises and warms ups. What can I do for Halloween? Normally class is generally structured as follows: Warm up (agility game or exercises) Basics Forms Padwork or some partner work Fitness based game to finish (relay races, circuit or similar) For my warm ups I quite often get them to go up and down the room like animals (bear crawls, crab walk etc) or the same but give it superhero names (The Flash = sprinting, Hulk = lunges + smashing hands together). Suggestions for Halloween versions? Any ideas to adapt the rest of my class?

Does anyone have any tips for teaching speciall needs students? I have 2 students I have in mind that I'd like to adapt things for. The first has autism but is high functioning. His parents haven't highlighted any specific adaptions I need to make and he seems to cope with the classes really well. I'm wondering if there is anything extra I should be doing with him? Then there's one of my other students... His parents haven't brought up that he has additional needs, however it is very clear that there's something going on. It's not my place to diagnose but this child does seem to have additional requirements in that I struggle to get him to respond or react when I call his name and even have gone so far to pair up with him personally when doing exercises but it's 50/50 whether he will engage. He also struggles to understand what's being asked of him or even acknowledge my direction ls For instance when I did some relay races last week, he really didn't get what he had to do when the rest of my 5 year olds had no issues. Any suggestions for strategies to make training easier for these students? At the moment I try to pair them with more advanced students or myself but it can take focus away from the rest of the students. Just wondering if there is anything else I should be doing or if there are ways to modify the training or my teaching to accommodate.

At the moment I have 17 paying kids with a few more I expect to sign up in the next couple of weeks. So I think my kids classes are nearing capacity. My adult classes on the other hand have lower numbers. Not sure on the strategy to target them

I'm considering doing the 6 week courses. I have a friend who runs a successful full time gym and he does 6 week rotations of Ladies Boxercise type classes, self defence courses, intro to fitness courses etc. Even if they don't sign up for his main classes they tend to keep doing the next set of 6 week courses. The only problem I foresee with it is it's more advertising to get people to keep signing up to that. Possibly more effort than continuously advertising for my main classes. My plan is to contact some of the local schools and the local scout groups to offer alternative Phys ed classes and go from there. Though at the minute I'm probably close to capacity on the kids classes, need to recruit more adults.

Personally I make everyone drill both left and right. Certain drills only work if the stances are open, or closed. They in free sparring they can use what feels more comfortable.

As you may have read from my other posts, I recently started my own school, will be my 4th lesson tonight. Does anyone here use paid Facebook advertising? I have to say I'm completely sold on this. I did the traditional leafleting method and spent hours and hours posting leaflets through doors. I did over 1000 leaflets, got 3 responses. I'm not expert on paid Facebook posts but through paying to boost posts and paying to get my ads in front of people, I had 42 people sign up for a trial before I'd even started. My Monday kids class had 16 kids in it and my Friday class 14. I know other's on here are fairly active on Facebook with their schools, tallgeese? Wastelander? Any insights from your side?

Congratulations!

I can't say I quite agree it's to do with the internet. I think Martial Arts' popularities wax and wane. Sometimes the flavour of the moment is more traditional styles, now it's MMA and UFC. Despite there being a huge volume of information out there for MMA, people still go to seminars taught by the top level coaches and fighters.

Wow Ok. Sorry to hear this Bob. Forgive me but can I ask what the Kaicho and Kancho did or were they more ceremonial roles? What was the reason given for eliminating these positions?

Hmm I'm just starting out with my own school but I like the idea! Currently I have set up Facebook Page and Group but not everyone has Facebook. In addition to my main website I'm also working on a free Google Site which hosts all of my syllabus in PDF format plus club documents. All of the instructors have access as collaborators but students can just view and download.

I have to say I have been obsessive over my financial calculations. It is making me feel really ill the amount I've spent out so far but I worked it out as if I recruit around 20 students over the year I'll break even. I've gone in hard on the marketing and have had 37 sign on for trial lessons and I'm hoping I can convert at least half of them.

The bold is great advice. I guess it is a fine line between enough explanation and too much explanation.

I think this is at the heart of it. What does a black belt mean? And are all black belts equal? I come to this question having been a 14 year old black belt myself and having trained junior black belts as young as 13. Nowadays I tend to view it as a formality rather than anything special. Proof is on the Floor, as you'd say Sensei8. It's like passing your driving test or earning a bachelors degree. To me a black belt means that you have a level of ability or knowledge but there is a great spectrum of skill within that belt level. Was your Soke right? Well he was right for him and for his school. It's not for us to pass judgement on his decisions.

How much better is the other instructor? Honestly I would stick with the person you get on with better as long as you are still learning. They'll also improve over time with their own training and will pass it down to you too. No doubt you'll have other opportunities to learn from others at seminars and the like. Unless you are really concerned over stagnating with your current Ci I think it's important to maintain that relationship.

People train for different reasons and it's ok not to want to train for combat or self defense. If you enjoy going and enjoy the work out, that's a good enough reason to go. Though on the whole it sounds like you are disillusioned with the school more than the style.

As soon of you may have seen, I have officially started my own school! September 3rd is my first class and I will have an hour for kids and then an adult class after. Instructors, what do you wish someone had told you before you started? Need all the help I can get.

I hate training abs but they are a necessary evil. For me, rather than just the sit ups and crunches, I find static holds really beneficial. So the plank and variations of it plus hollow holds, side planks, reverse planks etc. As martial artists it's also important to work on rotations (and anti rotations) as we engage these muscles all the time.

Think it's the same reason as JR said. The words all mean slightly different things in Korean but non speakers tend to assign them the same English meaning. I've seen the same block be referred to as chookyo makgi (rising block) or olgul makgi (high block). Rather confusingly if you asked me what a high block was I'd be thinking the first move in Do San instead. You might find this interesting as to why we use the terms hyung, tul and poomse to seemingly describe the same thing http://jungdokwan-taekwondo.blogspot.com/2011/11/hyung-tul-poomse-poomsae-whats.html?m=1

Thanks for the birthday wishes