Really need advice....

[Unhappy]

Hello guys/ladies.

I need some advice from you . I have been taking Karate for a cpl years so far. The school I belong to is a fairly new school . When I first started with them, they only had 1 assistant instructor, (who is really good!) and 0 blackbelts. In order to fill some positions, they promoted a few others (to assistants) who its pretty obvious do not belong in this positiion. They also allowed their first set of black belts to skip at least 6 months of training in order to get their first group. This is the type of school that you can realistically obtain a black belt in 2-2.5 yrs. I do not have a problem with any of this so far - it is their school, and they can do what they want. I am here for myself, and I would like to take my training to the next level. I have excelled since I have started, and its pretty obvious to all. The problem I am having, is when I have to be instructed by these assistants. only one of them is any good. The others do not know what they are doing, and their technique's are horrible. They are suddenly using their assistants almost exclusively, so very little training is being done with the Sensei. I am biting my lip and trying to deal, but its getting really hard. I feel I am not learning anything, and Im starting to lose interest. I feel it is unfair, that just because the school was new, and positions had to be filled, that we are stuck with these assistants. If it was fair, others should get a chance, including me. I have spoken to the head sensei discreetly and very vagely so as not to insult him or his method, but I feel unless I get right to the point it is not being understood.

I really love this school, dont get me wrong here. I train everyday at this so I can excel. All I want is this to be a fair school - give some others a chance to excel. Can anyone help me shed some light on what to do here?

thank you for reading this

[ps1]

The best advice I can give to anyone who has any questions or problems with a school is to speak with the owner/head instructor about it. Explain that you don't feel you're getting the level of instruction you used to get. It's possible that your instructor has some other issues that are keeping him/her from teaching as often. Also, maybe you'll be able to set something up where you get more instruction from your sensei directly.

Good luck. I hope things turn out ok. Let us know.

P.S. Welcome to the Forums!! Thanks for joining.

[Justin Treadaway]

Yes, I agree with PS1. I would go to the instructor and tell him what you just told us. That you feel the instructors are not really doing a good job and you would like to train more with him....

[G95champ]

Without a doubt I would go to the head Sensei. I would also see if other class members had the same opinion of these asst. teachers.

You don't even have to say I think so and so sucks as a teacher just say I have a hard time understanding what they are doing could you expalin it to me. If several go to him he may get the picture.

Their is nothing worse than any school haveing high ransk who are not that good it runs off many young quality students.

Are any of the Asst. Teachers his family?

[bushido_man96]

It sounds to me like you already know what you are wanting out of a school, and it sounds like you are not getting it from your current school. You may want to shop around other schools, and ask questions to the instructors about how they run things, what their requirements for teaching is, etc.

As the others have mentioned, you could confront your Sensei about these issues. However, seeing as he is the one who did all of the appointments, I don't know that you will be able to sway his opinion. Even if he does see your point, and assign you as an assistant, will it be something that you actually feel good about being a part of?

Just an idea.

Welcome to the Forums!

[french fri25]

your paying him for the instruction, not the assistants. i would agree with the otheres, talk to him and try to work something out.

[TraditionalDan]

This sounds very similar to a situation I have recently found myself in. I'm looking to join a new school now.

[DisgruntledGirl]

Hi,

I had fairly recently found myself in a similar but still slightly different situation as you... and what I would suggest as others mentioned is to actually sit down and talk to your Sensei.

Made the world of difference for me. I do not know if our "chat" resulted in things being "fixed" or if his life just happened to get in order immediately following our chat but point is... things are much better now.

Try to have this talk in such a way that few people are around if any, and when you do, dont be afraid to stoke his ego in that you like learning from *him* so that if you stress that enough (though dont be *too* much of a suck up also state that you are very unhappy) you might not have to mention the other assistant instructors who you feel are not that good.

When I did it he asked his typical question after class which is "Any Questions?" and I just asked then and there if I could have 5 minutes of his time after class to talk about something, and seeing as we are the last class of the day people move on out quickly and so me and him hashed it out. Of course if your Sensei is almost "never" there that might be a lil harder to do.

[jaymac]

I am beginning to feel the same way in my school. I think my instructor is great, but he is allowing too many young black belts run the class. He is so good at what he does, I just wish he would run the classes himself. I feel that I do an adequate job in teaching when I am supposed to, but that is because I had years of his instruction and watching and listening to how he handles things. Now there are many new, young black belts who are getting thrown in to teach - "just to gain the experience" and what I am seeing is alot of people leaving the school and hearing complaints on the outside of the school on how things are being handled. I want so badly to sit down and talk to him about this, but he REALLY isn't the kind of person who takes constructive criticsm without getting angry. I am afraid any approach would cause serious problems in my own training.

[Elky]

All of you - train somewhere else!

You're not getting what you need out of your training if incompetent kids are running the class. If your instructor is allowing this to happen, he doesn't have your best interests at heart.