Hello everyone,

Last night, my dojo had a visit from Doug Perry (Hanshi, Kudan in Shorin-Ryu) who taught a kobudo class and a karate class. He is a very skilled and knowledgeable karateka, a great teacher, and an entertaining speaker, so it was great to have him here to teach again. The pictures my wife took of the karate class can be seen here, if anyone is interested!

All that said, I ran into a bit of an issue that occurred the last time he was in town, although it had nothing to do with Hanshi Perry or his teaching. Just like the seminar last year, all of the black belts immediately partnered with each other--none of them partnered with anyone that wasn't a black belt. All but one other brown belt in the class were 14 years old or younger, and they all partnered with each other for the most part. I had really been hoping to work with an adult martial artist with as much (or preferably, more) experience as me, so that I could really dive into the material. I ended up partnered with an adult orange belt and helped him through a lot of the techniques, which is fine because I do love teaching and I have no problem working with less experienced people--it just wasn't what I was hoping to do in this particular class.

So, that brings me to my question--who do you prefer to partner with for seminars and special classes? Obviously, it would be a little difficult to list ALL the possibilities of people you could work with, so I tried to list options based on experience and skill level. Of course, I'm also aware that there are two sides to every coin, so I would expect there to be conflicting answers on this. I'm really interested in getting the opinions of the KF community on this one!

When I teach at courses and seminars, I usually have the students change partners after they have done a decent amount of reps.

That way, you get to work with different body types as well as attitudes and abilities.

Obviously there are limitations to what you can do, but at the end of the day, I like to think that people that attend the courses that I teach at - have a fully rounded experience.

K.

When I teach at courses and seminars, I usually have the students change partners after they have done a decent amount of reps.

That way, you get to work with different body types as well as attitudes and abilities.

Obviously there are limitations to what you can do, but at the end of the day, I like to think that people that attend the courses that I teach at - have a fully rounded experience.

K.

Yeah most of the seminars I've been to, I've had multiple partners of different ranks and skill

I like being with people who are more experienced than me because I can learn from them, but overall I like working with a variety of people, so switching off is good practice.

I prefer more experienced partners, so I can learn from them.

I voted that it doesn't matter but changing around is good so you get a variety, you may also get someone who will add another application in to the drills.

I was once partnered with a much more experienced chap who almost broke my arm so not always a good idea, I may be a Black belt but i've not got arms like Popeye.

We also have a green belt who puts his full effort and power into everything so that works both ways.

So long as you learn something from the experience.

I have my favourite training partners and these tend to be people who are the same skill level/experience level as me. Because we are on a par we can work the drills on the right level and have discussion about the technique.

From a teaching point of view sometimes it's good to go with someone more experienced as they can help you out but then I always feel like I'm holding them back from going at a higher intensity or doing the more advanced version of the drill. Likewise if you get partnered with someone less experienced, it's great to be able to teach them but you can end up missing out on your own training.

But yes, I agree switching around gives you the chance to train with people of all skill levels.

Nice topic!!

For me, it depends on the subject matter. I'm very comfortable with all levels of experience and I've no preference because I'm there to learn, even when I'm the one doing the teaching!!

For me, it depends on the content. For grappling content, I'd want someone way ahead of me in skill and experience, so I could pick up more pointers on the way. For some joint manipulation or otherwise, someone right about my skill level.