Teaching your friends...

[parkerlineage]

A lot of my friends - including my girlfriend, which I'm sure there are other threads on - have been asking me to teach them, and I'm a little wary about the whole deal. I've been teaching my best friend for a few months off and on now, and he's made it to his 8th kyu...however, I'm worried that if I got a bunch of them together, they wouldn't pay attention, wouldn't respect my knowledge, and somebody would get either physically or emotionally hurt.

There are some of my friends that I know would be good martial artists, and others that I know wouldn't be...but I can't very well teach some and not others.

And don't even get me started on sparring...

Advice?

Parkerlineage

[elbows_and_knees]

if they are that eager to learn, tell them to go to your school. friends training friends doesn't always work out, for reasons you stated. After they start, sure, train with them, but I personally wouldn't teach them.

[Aodhan]

That's pretty much it. For whatever reason, just a group of friends training soon devolves into a bunch of friends whacking on each other willy nilly. If they really want to train, have them come to the school. The sense of formality alone is worth it.

Aodhan

[McNerny]

Hey,

I agree with elbows_and_knees and Aodhan. Your friends that are interested should train at the school you go to. It would be a more disciplined environment so you wouldn't have to worry about your friends goofing off. But outside of formal training at the school, feel free to train with them and give them advice. Hope this helps.

[Sam]

good advice would be to lay down soem ground rules before you start trainign so they go in with open eyes and no one gets hurt from not understanding what will be required of them....

[parkerlineage]

good advice would be to lay down some ground rules before you start training so they go in with open eyes and no one gets hurt from not understanding what will be required of them....

You obviously don't know my friends...haha...actually, that sounds like a good idea - as in, "Here are my rules. Follow them, or don't bother coming back."

Your friends that are interested should train at the school you go to.

That's what I've told them so far, and I'm completely agree with that...

One of the main reasons I inquire is not that I plan to give them serious teaching now, but I am going to be opening a dojo at the college I go to...where I'm sure I'll either develop friendships with or already have friendships with a lot of my students. So, let's say I have no choice but to teach friends - how would you guys go about it?

Thanks for the advice so far;

Parkerlineage

[pineapple]

I train a lot of my friends and they are good students.

I think that the main thing is to be a good example for them to follow. If you show respect for everyone, they will also learn to be respectful during training.

[Menjo]

Yea it might get competitive or tense.........

[Sam]

also - by laying down the ground rules you dont risk offending anyone with a certain style of instruction....

so long as they know what the difference in training will be like [respect] etc.....

[Armbar]

I find the problem with training freinds lies in how they see you during class. If they see you as just another one of the guys when you're teaching them, the situation will break down fast.

If they see you a Sensei when you're teaching, things are much improved. As all ready suggested, ground rules are the best way to do this. Also, these rules are no good if you don't enforce them.