Your First Instructor

[Patrick]

I thought this would make for some interesting reading and sharing. What are your memories of your first instructor? Good or bad (since the first instructor isn't always the best!). No need to name the person.

Thanks,

Patrick

[glockmeister]

I thought my first instructor was somewhat intimidating. I went there to study full contact kickboxing and Moo Duk Kwan. He was very much into conditioning and I liked what his classes did for my body as well as my confidence. He was someone who believed in a lot of sparring and was very into discipline.

He was also a Viet Nam veteran. He still teaches today.

That was 14 years ago. I guess you can say overall the experience was good, but over the years he has built a reputation for also having a rather shady character.

[Montana]

My first instructor was Sensei Miller, who had just finished a stint in the Navy, stationed on Okinawa. While there he trained under the late Sensei Kuda Yuichi, head of the Shorinryu Matsumura Kenpo system.

Sensei Miller was a redneck cowboy who trained hard, and made us train hard also. It was a common event at the end of class to see who could get perspiration to wring out of our gi tops at the end of class.

We trained in a small, single car garage with a carpet tossed over the concrete floor. There was one small window that didn't open, so there was no ventalation. In the winter (Montana winters aren't known for their mildness) we had a small space heater in the corner that really didn't do much to provide any heat, and our feet were pretty well frozen by the end of a 2-3 hour class. I think the only reason nobody got frostbite was because we were training and working so hard that our body temps were high.

In the summer we had a small fan in the corner...but again, it didn't do a whole lot of cooling. We'd take 5 minute breaks every hour to hydrate from the garden hose in the yard. It was common to soak ourselves from head to toe before returning to training.

Ahhhh...those were the good old days! Training was intense, contact was hard and plentiful, and we had a heck of a lot of fun!

[DWx]

My first instructor, Mr. Higginson, is still my current instructor after nearly a decade. I think my first lesson was actually his first lesson taking over the club from our now assistant instructor Mr. Wells and I have never trained under anybody else. Mr Higginson has been the person to get me to where I am today and is an excellent teacher and I'm really sad that I have to leave my club in October to go to university.

At first he used to only teach a couple of days a week but gradually got more and more students until he final gave up his day job and now personally teaches 7 days a week to around 200 students & 30 blackbelts. Unfortunately for us that means he gets to train during the day so he's like super fit now and believes that we can all keep up with him in fitness session. The guy's like a machine

I can't begin to say how good a teacher Mr Higginson is and I'm seriously thankful that he is my instructor. (This is all going to sound like some cheesy ad for him, but he is like the best teacher). He used to be on the England squad (he is now on the verteran team), and we have about ten students now at National Squad training. Even more impressive I think is that we have 4 students from my village (yes village!) competing for England at the ITF European Championship, one of which is European patterns champion and got bronze at the Worlds after losing out to a Korean. He has been the only one to teach all of us from white belt. That's just tournament success though and I think he has done well to produce excellent MAists too. Mr Higginson was even awarded instructor of the year from Choi Jung Hwa (Gen. Choi's son) and has been on seminars from and graded by the General himself and M. Rhee Ki Ha.

The club itself has a great atmosphere too. We don't have a permenant venue yet but wherever we train its like home because of the people. I am seriously going to miss this club...

[IcemanSK]

My 1st instructor was Master Yun Kil Kim. Master Kim was young man (early 30's) who was an excellent teacher & motivator. As a 14 year old kid who was anything but athletic, I wasn't exactly the "ideal student." But he pushed, pulled & encouraged me until I became one. The day that he put that BB around my waist, I'm not sure who was more proud: my folks or him. I was his 1st US BB.

Sadly, he sold the school & moved away. I understand that he is no longer teaching. But I cannot overestimate the positive impact he has had on me.

[bushido_man96]

My first instructor was a 2nd degree, who just took over the club when I joined. He was a pretty mellow guy, and he believed in sparring for the last 15 minutes of class, with no pads. He was a pretty good technician, and I learned quite a bit from him.

[Rateh]

My first instructor gave me two bits of advice when he knew I was moving away, on looking for a new school. He said 1. don't sign a contract and 2. dont join a school that spends a lot of the time warming up. I have no idea why those were the two guidelines he gave me, maybe they are just what popped into his head at that moment. Another instructor I had, told me when I was moving again, to not join a real traditional japanese school. Again I have no idea why this was her guideline to me.

Aside from that I don't remember a whole lot about my first instructor. I know I enjoyed the classes, and I don't remember him being overly harsh or anything like that. I do remember, from having trained other places afterwards, that he wasn't very technical in his corrections of his students. When I moved away I got my techniques corrected up down and sideways. I also remember him when he gave me my three green stripes. (testing was every 6 months, everyone tested. All belts had up to four stripes on them, but there were only specific testing requirements for belts. When you tested you were testing for your next belt, and you either passed and got it, or got 1-4 stripes based on your performance). So I tested as a yellow for my green, and I earned 3 green stripes. And he said something along the lines of that I did very well, but needed a bit more work, so he was giving me three so I would get my green the next test.

The first school was a program run by a community center, we met in different schools (high schools, middle schools, and elimentary schools), and signed up for 6-10 weeks at a time, depending on the session. There were two 10 week sessions a year, and those were the testing sessions. We met for 1 hour on mondays, and if you wanted to you could stay after another hour and basically get private taught (which is what I did). I remember when I first stayed after and he assigned his assistant to work with me. We spent the entire hour of him trying to get me to kiah louder than a whisper. In the end (and I did try very hard) I kiahed at talking volume.

[ShoriKid]

My first instructor had been teaching for years and had seen a lot of people go through his doors. He taught Shotokan before he had switched over to Shorin Ryu. He believed in the basics, drilling them hard because that is what you would fall back on. He liked to spar and work kata hard and wanted us to do the same. We had things a bit better than Montana for set up, with the dojo in an office line between an insurance place and a skating rink. A small space heater, which you sort of got closer to as you go up in rank. Not be default, it just seemed to work out that way.

Ahh, the joys of learning to break fall in well joisted plywood floors!

Good or bad instructor? Good in his love of the basics and his hard nosed, 'get in there and stay in there' way of inspiring fighting spirit. His bredth of MA knowledge may not have been the best, but he at least encouraged learning anything you could.

And, I owe my start in the arts, my base (which has served me well) to this man. So, he's great there and I can't say enough good about the man. Oddly, we now work in the same business and same company.

[Patrick]

Great replies so far. Thanks for sharing, all.

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

Well, i have had two 'first instructors'. when i was a real little kid i did chinese kempo with my family, and got halfway through the ranking system when my mom got pregnant with my twin brothers, so as a family we withdrew. because i was so young, i didnt know there were different kinds of 'karate'...i though there was one, and just one. so when i was in middle school joined the tang soo do after school program. well years and years down the line im with both places, to make a long story short.

But, my kempo instructor, or professor is his official title, is a great man. one of the best fighters i have ever seen. he knows everything and beyond about theory. why you do this and why you do that. everytime i leave my dojo my head is spinning like im a white belt all over again.

my first tang soo do instructor wasn't the head of the school(who has now been my instructor for several years) but i started my first two years off with him. he is a very, odd, tough, funny and quirky guy. it's weird how i've followed in his foot steps, i even chose the same career path and we both had the choice to do very different and great things but leave martial arts behind, and we both opted to stay. he is a very inspirational and motivating man, not by his words, but actions.

i have a very deep respect for all of my instructors and i love them all very much.