Right In The Kisser!

[sensei8]

Hypothetically speaking...

You're an owner/chief instructor of a martial arts school. One day this young man approaches you during a break between classes. You both exchange suttleties and encage in a mild convesation. At the end of your exchange, you invite this young man, who's a black belt, to tonights black belt class. He accepts!

Half way through the class, you have all of the black belts line up facing you, one before the other, and you instruct them to execute some techniques right at YOU in order to guage their control! You hands are at your side and your in an very relaxed horse stance. One by one, they do as their instructed.

Then, this young man assumes a stance, and then executes a change-up roundhouse kick, then it happens...BAM! This young man nails you right in your mouth. No apologies...nothing, you glimpse just an oh so slight smirk coming from this young man.

What do you do??

Edited August 1, 2010 by sensei8

[GeoGiant]

After class I'd explain what should have been obvious to someone, regardless of age, who earns a BB. If I'm given anything but an apologetic demeanor from this young man, i would politely tell him he is not invited back.

[GeoGiant]

I had to post again because this type of an issue came up last week.

We had a teenager show up for our MMA class. This kid claimed he had wrestled... "a little when he was younger". After we warmed up, worked the heavy bags, then worked the hand mitts (keep in mind this kid was able to keep up with no problem) we went into some controlled sparring - we start standing, Sensei yells & we lock up with over / under hooks trying to gain an advantage, Sensei yells and we go for a take down then submission, if possible.

You should have seen this kid. Head up, hands up, he was constantly circling and and throwing solid combinations - jab, jab, cross, uppercut, shifting his feet, jab, jab, hook. I watched him lock up with a very large 12 yr old... in less then 5 seconds he had this kid hip tossed, then had him in choke... tap. I felt bad for the 12 yr old, poor kid didn't want to spar anymore that day. This teen was nice, but even after class, he kept swearing he never trained in "anything".

I'm sure he was told by someone not to reveal his training but I found it inappropriate. I need to trust the people i train with. To me, this teen is a liar and he used his deception to take advantage of someone who he clearly out matched.

I could be over-reacting but I was half hoping Sensei was going to pull him aside after class and tell him about deceiving everyone in class.

[Kuma]

I wouldn't say his attitude was inappropriate, just his control. When I began training in Muay Thai, I didn't say anything about my previous training experiences but they could tell I've had some prior striking experience. However, when I train MT I use only MT techniques and don't crush my training partners who may still be learning.

[GeoGiant]

I wouldn't say his attitude was inappropriate, just his control. When I began training in Muay Thai, I didn't say anything about my previous training experiences but they could tell I've had some prior striking experience. However, when I train MT I use only MT techniques and don't crush my training partners who may still be learning.

Maybe I'm being hypersensitive but the way the whole situation went down left a bad taste in my mouth. It wasn't like this was someone who took MAs as a kid and now they were coming back to MAs as an adult so they felt more comfortable saying no experience rather then having us assume he had a skill set. This was a young man that actively trains in something...? Based on what he said his level of experience was, he was paired with a kid his size but, maybe, 3 to 5 years younger. After the one-one drills started this young man dismantled this younger kid. After the tap out the younger kid did not want to get back on the floor.

I hear what your are saying but if that young man would have been honest he wouldn't have been in a situation where he was man-handling a less experienced kid.

[Montana]

A couple of years ago we were talking in class about distance, and I, having had about 30 years in the arts at that point, stupidly stood in front of one of my students (female) to make a point about distance and told her to punch me right in the kisser. Well, I knew how long her arms were and how far she could reach (experience) and that in her current stance/posture, she couldn't reach me by a few inches. What I failed to take into the account was that the woman was going to lean into the punch and step slightly forward...and yes, she smacked me full on the mouth with my hands behind my back!

Needless to say, I won't be doing THAT again!

[sensei8]

A couple of years ago we were talking in class about distance, and I, having had about 30 years in the arts at that point, stupidly stood in front of one of my students (female) to make a point about distance and told her to punch me right in the kisser. Well, I knew how long her arms were and how far she could reach (experience) and that in her current stance/posture, she couldn't reach me by a few inches. What I failed to take into the account was that the woman was going to lean into the punch and step slightly forward...and yes, she smacked me full on the mouth with my hands behind my back!

Needless to say, I won't be doing THAT again!

Sorry to hear that, but...ROFL...and I'm still laughing. Sounds like something that I'd do! Doh!

[Montana]

A couple of years ago we were talking in class about distance, and I, having had about 30 years in the arts at that point, stupidly stood in front of one of my students (female) to make a point about distance and told her to punch me right in the kisser. Well, I knew how long her arms were and how far she could reach (experience) and that in her current stance/posture, she couldn't reach me by a few inches. What I failed to take into the account was that the woman was going to lean into the punch and step slightly forward...and yes, she smacked me full on the mouth with my hands behind my back!

Needless to say, I won't be doing THAT again!

Sorry to hear that, but...ROFL...and I'm still laughing. Sounds like something that I'd do! Doh!

After she smacked me I just sort of stood there for a few seconds while the rest of the class sort of "Oooooo....oh oh'd" and didn't know quite what to say. I moved my tongue around a bit to see if I was going to lose a front tooth or something, then said something quite profound...like "Well, that didn't work out quite like I wanted it to...". The lady in question, once she realized what she had done, was VERY apoligetic and said "Well, you told me to punch you in the face...so I DID!"

*sigh*..sometimes total obedience isn't always good.

[sensei8]

A couple of years ago we were talking in class about distance, and I, having had about 30 years in the arts at that point, stupidly stood in front of one of my students (female) to make a point about distance and told her to punch me right in the kisser. Well, I knew how long her arms were and how far she could reach (experience) and that in her current stance/posture, she couldn't reach me by a few inches. What I failed to take into the account was that the woman was going to lean into the punch and step slightly forward...and yes, she smacked me full on the mouth with my hands behind my back!

Needless to say, I won't be doing THAT again!

Sorry to hear that, but...ROFL...and I'm still laughing. Sounds like something that I'd do! Doh!

After she smacked me I just sort of stood there for a few seconds while the rest of the class sort of "Oooooo....oh oh'd" and didn't know quite what to say. I moved my tongue around a bit to see if I was going to lose a front tooth or something, then said something quite profound...like "Well, that didn't work out quite like I wanted it to...". The lady in question, once she realized what she had done, was VERY apoligetic and said "Well, you told me to punch you in the face...so I DID!"

*sigh*..sometimes total obedience isn't always good.

ROFL!!!!!!!! You're killing me...You've just gotta love it!

I'll say something along your lines when a student will accidently smack me right in the kisser..."Ah, I'll be teaching the advanced face block...later!"

[Kuma]

Based on what he said his level of experience was, he was paired with a kid his size but, maybe, 3 to 5 years younger. After the one-one drills started this young man dismantled this younger kid. After the tap out the younger kid did not want to get back on the floor.

I actually meant control also when I mentioned this part. If you're up against a younger less experienced person and you're training, you don't manhandle them. This would be like me going to Muay Thai and blasting a beginning student with full power strikes and kicks. You should be adjusting the skill and contact to what level the least experienced of the pair are.