How Dare You!!

[sensei8]

Your an instructor of the martial arts. You're the owner/chief instructor of a dojo/dojang/etc. Your proud of every platitude. You're hard, but you're fair, sometimes to a fault. Not many things upset you, except one thing...

Someone has asked you for your permission to join your school; you've agreed. This same person informs you that they're a black belt with just over 9 years experience in a different style of the martial arts.

In this persons very first class, after only a few mere minutes, you've quickly became suspicious; something already looks amiss. You can tell a black belt; after all, you've been an instructor of the martial arts for quite some time and you've several students of your own who have been promoted to black belt yourself.

The floor has revealed quite candidly that this person isn't a black belt at all. Your blood begins to boil...

What do you do?

Do you ask this person to leave?

Do you escort this person out the front door?

Do you decide to teach this person a lesson that that will never be forgotten?

The list of things that you'd like to do are racing through your mind, so much so, that you're becoming dizzy.

How dare this person come to your school of the martial arts and blatantly think that you can be so easily fooled.

What would you do?

[Wastelander]

Your an instructor of the martial arts. You're the owner/chief instructor of a dojo/dojang/etc. Your proud of every platitude. You're hard, but you're fair, sometimes to a fault. Not many things upset you, except one thing...

Someone has asked you for your permission to join your school; you've agreed. This same person informs you that they're a black belt with just over 9 years experience in a different style of the martial arts.

In this persons very first class, after only a few mere minutes, you've quickly became suspicious; something already looks amiss. You can tell a black belt; after all, you've been an instructor of the martial arts for quite some time and you've several students of your own who have been promoted to black belt yourself.

The floor has revealed quite candidly that this person isn't a black belt at all. Your blood begins to boil...

What do you do?

Do you ask this person to leave?

Do you escort this person out the front door?

Do you decide to teach this person a lesson that that will never be forgotten?

The list of things that you'd like to do are racing through your mind, so much so, that you're becoming dizzy.

How dare this person come to your school of the martial arts and blatantly think that you can be so easily fooled.

What would you do?

Well, I am not any of the things that you listed at the beginning of this post, but I wouldn't become angry, first of all. I've met black belts that I feel I am more skilled and more knowledgeable than, and I've met people who have been training half as long as me that are more skilled and more knowledgeable than I am. It's entirely possible that even though I don't think someone should be a black belt, their previous instructor may still have thought they should be. Now, if you are talking about someone going out on the mat and it becoming obvious that they have NO training AT ALL, that's another story. Either way, it is something you would need to talk to that person about. Again, I don't think anger gets you anywhere in this situation, but you can still try to find out if they lied to you and why, or if their instructor truly did give them that rank and they just had poor training, or if they maybe experienced some injury or trauma that is causing them to perform badly.

[Newdesign]

If it was just a black belt without the mention of 9 years, then it could be just the quality of the training. But 9 years?? No way. And you can recognize a true black belt from the attitude too, not just the techniques itself.

I'm no instructor ether, but I don't think I'd ask him to leave.. maybe, because it doesn't matter too much. Of course it can be somewhat insulting, and disturbing .. But really, so what? He'll probably leave pretty soon himself anyway. Okay he hasn't trained for 9 years, let him train here until he gets bored and move to something else. I'd ask them about it for sure..

[sensei8]

Btw, the context/content of this topic is purely hypothetical across the board for the sake of having a conversation.

Having said that, I've had this happen to me many times. One doesn't invest as much time as I have and not have something similar to this topic happen to them.

What would I do? What I always do; I confront the individual privately in my office, and if after that, I'm not satisfied, then I tell them to leave immediately. First of all, I trust what the floor has revealed. In that, I've asked many to leave my dojo and don't ever come back until one can be honest with themselves first, and second with me, and they're willing to train hard and to forget rank. I don't teach rank, I teach an effective martial arts; Shindokan. So forget about getting a certain rank, and in that, let the rank take care of itself...it always has and it always will.

[Kuma]

We've had this a few times over the years pop up with my training group. We typically get a lot of guys who claim to have had boxing/kickboxing/MMA experience but you quickly see it's not the case. Fortunately they seem to never show up after they realize how our classes are.

[JusticeZero]

Someone has asked you for your permission to join your school; you've agreed. This same person informs you that they're a black belt with just over 9 years experience in a different style of the martial arts.

In this persons very first class, the floor has revealed quite candidly that this person isn't a black belt at all.

Honestly, I think you might be taking it too personally. Lots of people have a variety of dumb issues, internal or external.

Either the guy has 9 years of wasting their time at a very bad school under a fraud, or they're basically a stupid teenager babbling stupid drama stories even if they've got white hair and wrinkles. I've dealt with the guys who my teenager hung out around. Probably one in three of them had skills and lives straight out of bad fanfiction, according to their ridiculous and incoherent stories. Honestly, probably one in three people I dealt with in high school claimed fantastical martial or magical powers. As far as I know, all of them grew out of it eventually, though I have had to listen to a couple of middle aged people randomly explaining the depths of their telekinetic powers or their background as a Secret Service superspy before.

If the former they might be a good student, and the situation will probably work itself quickly out as they realize on their own that "wow, my 9 year black belt isn't worth the cloth it's dyed in.." and shut up about the former school.

If the latter, they will most likely never come to a second class anyways, after discovering that there is actual work involved and that nobody cares who they are. They'll probably come up with some ridiculous personal narrative that makes them the hero and which makes less sense than a fever dream regardless of anything you do, and again the situation works itself out on it's own.

If they come to a second class while spouting about their awesome Tibetan Jujutsu Skills then every other student in the class is going to raise an eyebrow having seen how foolish they look anyways. taking the guy aside at this point is pretty much a mercy - "dude, nobody cares about whatever you did before, and it just makes you look ridiculous. Here's a white belt. Work hard, be honest with people and get some skills and we'll put some colors on it the old fashioned way."

[sensei8]

Someone has asked you for your permission to join your school; you've agreed. This same person informs you that they're a black belt with just over 9 years experience in a different style of the martial arts.

In this persons very first class, the floor has revealed quite candidly that this person isn't a black belt at all.

Honestly, I think you might be taking it too personally. Lots of people have a variety of dumb issues, internal or external.

No.

I don't like thieves and liars; I've no time for them, nor do I want them around my students, my wife/kids, or me.

Other than that, everybody's welcomed with open arms.

[JusticeZero]

Then don't waste your time on them. Obsessing over and making a big production about some deluded fool who will never darken your doorstep again in any case because anyone deluded like that is allergic to the effort that is obvious in the class seems to me to be making time for them.

[Montana]

I've found this isn't all that uncommon of a scenerio in the 30+ years of teaching. Maybwe not a BB, but often times higher kyu belt, usually brown.

I say nothing and make the person wear a white belt like all beginners do in my class and teach them accordingly. If the person starts bragging in class about his prior experience and belt I will pull them aside and tell them they need to keep their mouth shut (nicely of course) because they aren't really showibng me any BB level technique in class thusfar.

If they get mad and leave...OH WELL!

[sensei8]

Great posts...keep them coming...thanks!!