Ever had an instructor leave?

[KNOCKuOUT]

How many others of you have had an instructor leave to open a new school? And if you have, please tell whether you followed your instructor or not, or anything you would like. (This is in relevance to my other post 'Instructor Leave'.)

[setboy]

We have had instructors leave before. Most of the time they were going out of the state. So even if i wanted to go with them(never wanted to go. I was sorry to see them leave still) I could not of gone.

Raphael

[Rateh]

How about the Owner/Head Instructor selling the school to his hightest rank student, then start teaching in his garage taking some of the students with him?

[bushido_man96]

I have never had an instructor leave to start another school. However, I have had some leave to pursue other endeavors, such as careers, etc., so I voted no.

[Montana]

I didn't vote. My sensei moved 2,000 miles away and as far as I ever heard, gave up the arts except to teach his children.

[NightOwl]

During my TKD years....went to the school at a huge rec center, then it merged with another school and the ranking system was changed, then they left and we reverted to the old system and training style, then the exercise center closed down and I followed one of the instructors to a new place, then THAT place shut down and I found my old instructor, then the location changed AGAIN, and after training there for awhile I can to my own personal realization and quit martial arts for a long time....I recently stopped by to see if it was there, but I couldn't find it. There are TKD gyms EVERYWHERE though around here, so it might have merged again...

EDIT: Man! I really had a scarred martial childhood

[bushido_man96]

That is quite the run of bad luck, NightOwl! I feel for you!

[Zanshin]

I think you have to weigh up what's more important to you; the instructor as an individual or the school / association.

I would always go with what gives you more opportunities as a student.

I lost a truly talented instructor (who taught me from the ground up) to another association, and the decision to stay behind tore me in two.

In the end I stayed with the association I was with, as I felt that the depth of knowledge and access to other instructors / courses / competitions was far more advantageous.

Over twenty years later, I am still training and as far as I know the instructor in question gave up long ago.

That’s just my experience and circumstances though, yours may be very different.

[YoungMan]

We've had Instructors, myself included, leave teaching to pursue other endeavors (job, school, relocation etc.). We've also had one instructor and his wife "retire" from the organization and teach on their own. We've never had an Instructor leave to teach in direct competition to us.

Realize, by leaving to teach your own class, you'd be cutting your own throat so to speak. You'd never get recommended to test, and all your students would get cut as well. Aside from the fact that none of your former colleagues would help you. Seems like a pretty high price to pay to show your independence.

[karatekid1975]

My Judo instructor stopped teaching. He left just before I took my yellow belt test

My former TSD instructor was one that took over the dojang when the previous instructor left. That happened just before I started, though.