Punishment in the Martial Arts

[Blade96]

sometimes I'll wind up watching the higher belts doing their katas (and btw I love katas, so pretty and artistic and spirtual, especially the fancier ones) but all the black belt teaching us has to do is get my attention with some small tiny method that attracts nobody's attention but mine and I get back to the task at hand. I'm a good girl =]

[unknownstyle]

depends on the situation, push ups for being latae not bowing, not showing proper respect. mostly just the children. if we have a student that becomes somewhat of a bully in the ring they are taught by force, we are told to get in the ring and eliminate the ego, not that we hurt them we just let them know that there is someone that is more skilled than they are and that they need to show courtesy to the lower ranking students by nopt fighting so hard or not bullying.

[ninjachamp8]

In the old days, we couldn't go to the bathroom until class was over, push ups were handed out like drill seargent verbal abuse and cup check meant you really needd to take class seriously.

Hardcore training and discipline has taken on some adjustments and if a instructor tried half of what we went through in the wonderdfull days of martial arts torture of the past, they would probably be facing lawsuits to no end.

However, there is still room for balance. We now that going to the bathroom is important and we understand that traditional sit ups damage the discs in our back. So we adjust. But we still need to offer discipline and direction which often requires some strategies that might be similar to punishment. Perhaps we can call it positive punishment.

For young students I usually take their energy and direct towards something positive. If a child is disruptive, I might ask them to help me keep the class from being disruptive. It is the homeopathic approach. If your class is boring - then don't discipline the kids for your inability to make it fun.

For adults, we still apply push ups - but this is not done for punishment as much as it is done for putting attention on the challenge at hand. Consider it the Bruce Lee slap (if you are as old as me and remember this strategy). It creates a very direct focus on the challenge and works as a memory tactic too.

If I have a student that is slowing down the group (for example being late), then I may have the entire group do push ups while that person watches to point out that they are working as a team and the chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

Though my students are on a long term ninja camp program and on a small island in Thailand - they can't run home if they don't like the punishments. And all of the students sign up for this type of training and expect a more rigourous challenge.

We all step out of line sometimes and as long as the punishment is BENEFICIAL to us and directs attention to the issue and forces the person to contemplate their actions - it can be a productive part of your class.

You will lose respect if you do not uphold the law. Just make sure that law is for the benefit of everyone involved and not just their to limit personal growth and self-expression.

Though in general, the idea of punishment should be removed and instead seen more like constructive criticism.

If you want to prepare your students for the real world then they need to be challenged and understand how to work with others. If you want to weaken them and send them out unprepared, then by all means - spoil them.

[Chitsu]

Hi Ninjachamp,

I am new here, but a saw your advert for you camp.

Can I ask, are you the instructor and what style do you teach.

Chitsu

[Throwdown0850]

Not really, but I don't work with too many kids.

same here, no kids.

[still kicking]

The main thing I don't like about pushups as punishment is that I think it gets across the idea that doing hard physical work to get stronger is a punishment. In our adult classes, discipline is not much of a problem, but if someone is being rude a harsh word from sensei nips it in the bud right away. With the kids, usually the most effective deterrant to bad behavior is to make the kid sit out for a few minutes until they think they can behave themselves. It is amazing how fast they can pull it together so they can get back to joining their friends in class!

[Blade96]

tonight again sempai had to discipline some students (brown belts and some black) for being late and not going through what they were supposed to do.

actually the whole class, Sensei said, was lax and he was getting pretty rough with them in class, even said 'shut up!' loud when people were chattering away when they werent supposed to. He reminded me of being back in army cadets doing drill and being screamed at by a drill sergeant and also he said a couple of lovely words which i cant repeat here because they're against the rules =]

I wasnt involved in all of that, because I 'm a excellent student. Just surprises me how even adults need discipline and not just kids. and oftentimes its like 3rd, 2nd, and 1st kyus who are the worst offenders. Shocking!!

[Lupin1]

When I was a kid I remember some people having to do pushups every so often, but that was rare. It's a free class and there's always close to a year long waiting list for kids to get in, so even the kids seem to realize what a privledge it is to be able to participate. If they're consistantly misbehaving and disrupting class, they'll be asked to leave. There are plenty of kids waiting to take their place who will follow the rules and show they want to be there.

For the adults it's usually just a verbal reminder. If we're standing around talking he'll tell us to start working on something because we're here to train. Although there is this guy who just got promoted to nidan who likes to argue with him constantly and talk while he's talking and he usually just says "don't argue with me. Just do it" but you can tell in his tone of voice that he's starting to get really annoyed with this guy.

[Lupin1]

I don't know if this counts, but I forgot to take my watch off for class yesterday (first time I've forgotten) and my instructor decided to use it as an opportunity to teach the class why we don't wear jewelry in class and he did something to my wrist that used my watch against me that had me bent over begging him to stop within a matter of seconds (and I have a high pain tolerance and he doesn't usually get much reaction out of me, so having me actually asking him to stop is saying something).

[Blade96]

Hehe, I bet you liked being used as the guinea pig