What to do if your invited to instruct?

[ronin.74]

Ok so I have been training at this Martial arts school for about a month. I signed up their to study with a particular instructor in a system that I had an interest in. At this school they teach a wide variety of Martial arts including boxing. What's great about the place is the size of their facility. It's huge, so naturally I always arrive early to practice and review some things on my own. One of the things I review is Muay Thai. Recently the owner of the school asked me if I would teach a kickboxing class. I said no. I have trained for 13 years in the martial arts, 5 years of that in Asia. I am a certified Black Belt in several systems. But I am not certified in Muay Thai. I trained Muay Thai in Korea with a former middle weight champion from Thailand as well as a superb heavyweight pro from South Africa, but would not consider myself qualified to instruct. Then again I wonder if I could actually produce a quality fighter.

Hence the dilemma!

Do I go back to the owner and tell him that I have changed my mind, or do I just let the matter rest. I have seen the quality of the other instructors in the school and it varies. All of the instructors are confident which is good but some are (at least to me) clearly not qualified to teach the classes they are teaching.

Any suggestions out there? Anyone have a similair dilemma? Hope to hear from everyone soon!

Student," Their are no belts in Muay Thai"

Kru," You are mistaken. Their is one belt, the champion's, if you want it you must take it from him."

[elbows_and_knees]

The thing about muay thai is that there really is no certification. In thailand, there is a ceremony to induct new teachers, but outside of thailand, that's not the case. You know what your skill is like. If you truly think you are capable of producing a good quality fighter, then go for it. If not, then don't.

Or, you can test yourself. there is no one certification, as I said, but some associations have instructor courses and certs... these things mean absolutely nothing outside of their organization, but they may be what you need to give you an assessment of yourself.

master toddy is a good one. adjarn chai sirusute is another. attend some of their seminars and align with what you need to do to get them to test you. When they see where you are, you may have a more clear idea.

[ronin.74]

Thanks for the advice. I'll look into some of the seminars with those masters.

[G95champ]

Does he want you to teach MT for rank? As you said there are no belts so in reality no one has more certification than the next person. However, you have trained with some pretty good fighters so IMO that goes a long way. Fact is I have never trained in boxing but I did train a guy for a local Tough Man who won. So it can be done. Not all great coaches were great players or even players at all.

Is there a class you would rather teach or would like to teach first instead at the dojo?

If it were me I would tell the Sensei just what you told us and see what he says. My guess is since your school is so big he has a lot of guys teaching things he don't know himself like MT or whatever? You may just ask to teach a KickBoxing class where you use MT, TKD, Karate, etc moves and ideas instead.

[elbows_and_knees]

Not all great coaches were great players or even players at all.

they should be though. Actually, you will probably find that any sport fighting coach worth his salt has competed at some point in time. He may not have been good, but he competed. I personally would not train under a coach who had never competed, if my goal was to compete.

[ronin.74]

I appreciate both of your opinions. And you are both right. Their are good coaches who themselves were not great competitors so it is possible for someone with little experience or success to coach a successful fighter. But I also agree that I would not want someone who has never competed to coach me. Fortunatley I have competed but it has been some years since I last stepped in the ring or trained for a real bout in the ring. I just have been doing training on my own to keep sharp. As it turns out I may pick up a couple of young high school kids under the heading of "training partners" this way I can get a feel for what it might be like to actually teach a class and at the same time they get to learn for free, that way if it doesn't work out they don't feel cheated out of their money and I get someone to work out with.

[ronin.74]

I appreciate both of your opinions. And you are both right. Their are good coaches who themselves were not great competitors so it is possible for someone with little experience or success to coach a successful fighter. But I also agree that I would not want someone who has never competed to coach me. Fortunatley I have competed but it has been some years since I last stepped in the ring or trained for a real bout in the ring. I just have been doing training on my own to keep sharp. As it turns out I may pick up a couple of young high school kids under the heading of "training partners" this way I can get a feel for what it might be like to actually teach a class and at the same time they get to learn for free, that way if it doesn't work out they don't feel cheated out of their money and I get someone to work out with.

[elbows_and_knees]

sounds good. let us know how it goes. Do you have an idea for your curriculum and class structure yet?

[ronin.74]

The guys interested in training won't be available until after summer so I have a little bit of time to get a curriculum in mind. They have no experience so it will probably be mostly basics for a while. Thanks for the suggestions.

[y2_sub]

Not all great coaches were great players or even players at all.

they should be though. Actually, you will probably find that any sport fighting coach worth his salt has competed at some point in time. He may not have been good, but he competed. I personally would not train under a coach who had never competed, if my goal was to compete.

Soft instructors produce soft student , i have seen this quote somewhere in KF ....... And i belive in it .