How did your Sensei earn your loyalty?

[IcemanSK]

I had trained for more than 20 years when I was asked to teach at a local community center. I had lost touch with my master, but wanted to give my students a lineage and connection beyond my name in the Art. I sought out my current grandmaster because he had a good reputation. After being with him for 8 years, he's always kept his word to me. That's how he has gained my respect.

[mal103]

By being a good role model to everyone, training us hard and getting the best out of us. His Karate is not just external though, he lives his life with humility, respect and kindness.

From the first friendly greeting to the last lesson (last week) there is a continuity of being a good Sensei.

My best point in time was when I passed Shodan and went to train with others, I can now honestly say that I earnt Shodan and am at the correct level externally and also within myself. I am also happy to pass on this experience as best I can to my students.

[kensei]

I met my instructor when I was 8. I had come from a different club, same style however and did not like the instructor at all. Dingman sensei, my current instructor, scared the HELL out of me. He was intense, he worked as hard as the students in class and was able to best all of them in kumite and was just scary on the floor.

Off the floor however he was a different kind of man, he was kind, funny and liked kids. He was a tad shy with adults but intense with them. But he would always have fun wiht the kids, poke them and pretend that it was not him or smile at them and wink. He is Irish and had a great way about him off the floor.

Several years after I had been training I noticed how hard he worked for his students and even went out of his way to make sure they got picked up by parents or in my case he arrainged several times to get me rides home when the weather was poor.

I guess what cemented it for me was when he started mentoring me as a instructor and driving me to camps...which helped a great deal with the expenses....and even asked me to teach kids classes when I was in my 20's to off set the cost of camps while I was in university. It really proved to me he was loyal to those that were loyal back.

Dingman Sensei is now in his 70's and lets me do most of the decision making as long as I stick to what I think he would want and check with him on big things. His belief in me and my decisions further shows that he deserves my loyalty!

The fact that I feel lucky to be his student and not the other way around also shows that I think he deserves my loyalty, not in a groveling way, but in a way that I want to ensure his organization is going the right direction and all the students are taken care of the way he wants.

[cheesefrysamurai]

Wow great story.

I am glad that I started this thread. Its nice to know there are other people that have had such rewarding experiences.

My Sensei is loyal to a fault. He is loyal in business and is supportive of his students.

He is the type of guy who would go down with the ship to do the right thing. He has a old school mentality but adapts and is reasonable.

He appreciates what should be appreciated. I consider myself lucky to be with him at this point in our journeys

[vantheman]

My instructor would treat me like we were both people. He did not let his rank give him the grounds to make himself superior to everyone else. He showed he cared for me as a person, not just as an instructor.

[Tempest]

By being who he said he was.

My experiences with martial arts prior to my current instructor were somewhat less than ideal, to put it mildly.

So when I walked in to my current instructors dojo, I was a bit jaded, but when I met him I was instantly impressed by the fact that he claimed to teach only things he was qualified to teach and adamantly refused to claim it was anything else.

William Wallace in Braveheart said it best. "Men don't follow titles, they follow courage."

To that I would also add, they follow inegrity.

Courage and integrity are fundamental precepts of any martial way and go a long way towards earning my respect as a teacher.

[sensei8]

By being himself...not acting as though he was better than anybody on and off the floor. Yes, he was beyond amazing in each and every way one could imagine and more than one could ever ask for in a Sensei.

He was a taskmaster extraordinary, but not just with his students, but with himself, and then some. He had a unique way, that I still lack, in helping us to discover our most hidden "Aha" moments.

In the 48 years that I knew him, he never once lied to me...he became a "dad" to me when my own dad, for some reason or another. He didn't "handle" us...he inspired and drove us to understand ourselves as human beings first, and MAists second, and in that we all learned that while karate-do was important, it was secondary to us becoming complete as human beings.

I'd say that the very first time that I truly noticed it was when I was able to understand that while he was my Sensei, he was a nurturing soul not "AT" me, but "TO" me without any ambiguity whatsoever.

This topic was both hard for me, yet it was easy for me. I miss him...I love him...I need him...I respect him...I always knew that he truly loved me first for who I am, and while my own mom molested me when I was 16 years old, and my dad just wasn't always there for me, and when he was, I felt that he tolerated me, BUT my Sensei, my Dai-Soke, my bestest friend...he truly showed me that his love for me was deeper than student and Sensei, it was what I needed and what I wanted.

Please forgive me for lacking the vocabulary to properly convey to you that very moment, but know this, it meant the world to me as both a human being and as a MAist. Yes, he taught me Shindokan, but he taught me how to be a man...a father...a husband...a human being on and off the floor.

I LOVE YOU DAI-SOKE...MY BEST FRIEND...MY SENSEI!!

[Kusotare]

Sounds like one heck of a fella!

I'm sorry for your loss.

K.

[DWx]

Seems like the common theme in this thread is sensei's who are just decent human beings.

I don't think there was a defining moment when my instructor earned my loyalty. Above all, the things that make me loyal are his has integrity and the fact the doesn't necessarily think he's above everyone else because of his rank and standing. He admits when he's wrong and when he doesn't know something and he consults your opinion about things rather than just dictating what is right and wrong.

Him and his wife have also been like family to me and actually care what's going on outside my training. When I went away to uni they'd call to check in on how I was doing and when I spun my car off the road and into a ditch, when he found out my instructor immediately rang and was offering to drive an hour to come and get me.

[DoctorQui]

My Sensei is 8th Dan Shotokan and I joined his club about a year ago from Wado Ryu! He allowed me to keep my rank then after I fell on hard times after being made redundant, I was going to drop out and just bring my kids to train. He asked me if I would become club secretary and then told me that he is going to let me and my family train for free because he said losing us would be a travesty. His teaching is absolutely top quality, as he is internationally recognised and is often asked to teach and referee abroad! He deserves my loyalty and I will always work hard for him because his generosity is boundless!