As with school teachers, doctors, pilots, and any other profession, all martial arts instructors are not created equal. First of all, you have to remember martial arts are just that – an art form. Martial arts schools are not federally or state controlled. There are no national standards, criteria or requirements for martial arts. This is both a blessing and a curse. Essentially anyone can open a martial arts school. Decent schools have instructors with a reasonable idea about what they are doing with their art and their teaching ability and at the same time also understand how to run the school as a business so they can pay the rent and keep the lights on. That being said, what does that tell you about their martial art, their
15 ability to teach what you are looking for and the actual benefits that you will receive from studying with them. Nothing much.
In the previous section there were a number of questions that I asked you answer about yourself and your reasons for wanting to study martial arts. In this section we’ll address some of the questions. you need to pose to the martial arts school instructors and owners
Mini-warriors learn control and self-discipline under pressure
First a few rules of thumb to consider: You will encounter many Masters and Grandmasters. Schools and their advertisements will tout their owner’s amazing achievements in martial arts competition or in rank achievement. Many school owners will be high-ranking black belts such as 5th degree black belt up through 10th degree black belt. Every martial arts style has a slightly different scale of belts or sashes and ranks. Don’t let this confuse, impress or intimidate you. Think of it as nothing more than some one who has
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gone through elementary school, then on to middle school, high school. College and possibly Graduate school Rank means nothing if the knowledge of the “Masters” cannot help you achieve your goals. All schools will claim to teach the standard fare: discipline, self-confidences etc. All schools will try to impress you with the qualifications and accomplishments of the owner or master, however, you will almost never be taught by that person, but by his or her junior instructors – often times you may be taught by an 18 year old who is a 1st degree black belt or sometimes even a brown belt. There is nothing inherently wrong with this as long as you do receive some instruction from higher ranking black belts as you increase in rank over time. Some schools will tout the fact that they belong to some national or international association or federation related to their martial arts style. This is not a bad thing, but it is not a guarantee that you will receive quality instruction or that there will be good focus on self-defense or other key studies I have mentioned in my book, The Way of the Martial Artist: Achieving Success in Martial Arts and in Life!
Most schools will try to fit you into what programs they have to offer. You want to try to pry more info out of them on how they will fit your needs and specifically how they will meet the claims that they make. Finally keep in mind that martial arts schools are not miracle factories. You will have to work and put a lot into it in order to get a lot out of it.
As we go through each of the sections of this book there will be lists of questions for you. In the appendix, I consolidate the lists into one comprehensive list of questions that you can use as a checklist
17 to use in calling or visiting marital arts school in your search to find one that is right for you.
How many instructors are on your staff?
What are their ages and qualifications or ranks? How long have they been with you? (good schools will be good at retaining qualified and motivated instructor staff) Are there any non-black belt level instructors teaching such as brown belts or red-belts? In other words, how much black belt instruction will I actually receive?
How do you train or qualify instructors? Are instructors simply those who have earned black belts or have they been through any type of instructor certification or training program?
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Keep in mind that many schools may be staffed by one or two fulltime instructors or school managers while the rest of the teaching staff is composed of part-time black belts who may not have been through any type of comprehensive instructor training or certification. This is where my comment earlier about all instructors not being created equal comes in. You must keep in mind that even if an instructor is certified by some means under someone that simply means they have had some type of training program that they have passed or through which they have earned some type of certificate. It does not mean they are skilled at teaching, gifted, motivated or even very competent. I must stress the importance here of visiting schools and watching several classes
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and how the different instructors interact with students at various belt ranks and skill levels. their classes or answer If a school will not allow you to observe
Any martial arts instruction should emphasize discipline and
respect toward instructors and toward students as well as selfdiscipline. Instructors should be like an encouraging coach. There are times to be tough and times to be inspiring and motivating. Watch for this. It is important to discuss with the instructors how they handle discipline. What methods do they use? Do they consider or handle input from parents, school teachers or other concerned parties. Discipline is important to reinforce respect and to provide boundaries for what is acceptable behavior, but it should not become an open door for verbal abuse or demeaning students. Discipline should be a learning experience and have a positive outcome that helps the student grow from the experience.
While experience is important it is not the only thing that makes a good instructor. At United Karate we had one junior instructor who was eighteen and a first degree black belt. He was gifted with motivating children and keeping them under control, engaged and focused. Adults were also inspired by this young man.
Here is a list of some desirable traits you would hope to find in instructors:20
Focused – doesn’t get sidetracked from the lesson plan or the point that he or she is making.
Motivational – encourages everyone to dig deep and to want to work hard to improve.
Technically competent – must know the curriculum and be able to explain and break down techniques, kata/forms and all important strategies and concepts.
Knowledgeable – should have a reasonable grasp of the differences between major martial arts styles such as Chinese styles (Kung Fu, T’ai Chi), Korean Styles (Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, Tang Soo Do, Mu Duk Kwon) Japanese Styles (Karate Do, Aiki Do, Kendo, Jiu Jitsu) Brazilian, Pilipino and so forth.
Disciplinary – able to maintain order, keep attention of the students, commands respect.
Technically skilled – able to demonstrate any and all techniques and concepts the way they should be performed.
Detail oriented – able to focus on small details of technique and performance.
Traditional – able to draw upon martial arts history, traditions and values and teach respect, humility, perseverance and many others essential qualities that all martial artists must develop.
There literally hundreds of martial arts styles originating in countries like Korea, Japan, China, Burma, the Philippines, Okinawa, Brazil and others. At the core of all of the many styles from each of these countries is an approach toward self-defense. (Remember what I said earlier? Martial Arts are about survival). The differences are typically in the general types of techniques that are emphasized in a given style. The founder or creator of a given style developed his style based on some philosophy of defense. Different styles were developed with different influences from their creators.
A deep Kung Fu back stance
Some styles are based on animal or insect movements that gave clues to their creators about different styles of movement and defensive tactics. Other styles are based on a philosophy of attack and defense that is built upon by an assortment of techniques intended to defend against certain types of attacks against various
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types of weapons. The next section describes how some of these styles have evolved into martial arts organizations and what some of the philosophical differences are between styles.
The important thing to take away from this is that there is no one style that is better than another. It all depends upon the selfdefense situation, the skill level of the defender and the choice of techniques used in a defensive situation. Do not be fooled by school owners or masters who get involved in heated debates about who’s style is best. They are all art forms. Go to an art gallery and decide which painting is the best. It is all a matter of opinion and perspective. I would simply encourage you to study a little bit about several common styles and learn about their general types of techniques and training methods. Different styles are sometimes better suited to different physical builds of people, but this is not always the case. Hit the internet and learn a little before you commit to a style or school. You’ll feel more comfortable about your decision once you do choose a school.
There are many martial arts clubs, associations and organizations in existence today. Many of these organizations function as the caretakers of their various styles and keep close watch over the teaching of these styles and the standards of performance and advancement.
It is important for students to understand the importance and the role that these organizations play in the martial arts world. To better understand the structure and role of these organizations it is useful
23 to step back for a moment and consider the evolution of martial arts systems.
From the first time that primitive man discovered that he could stick his foot out and trip an adversary, fighting and martial techniques have evolved. The martial systems that we study today are largely derived from systems that were developed by individuals. These individuals developed systems of self-defense, gave them names, refined them and began to teach them to others. Students of these instructors were the proving ground for these martial systems and the masters continued to refine, innovate and evolve their systems and styles. As the systems developed into maturity, various ranking schemes evolved with most of them. Students were identified by their rank and instructors could gauge their ability even without personally knowing the student. As more curriculum came into being, higher ranks were possible. Students who stayed with a master for a long enough time could rise in rank and skill as the master’s own skill expanded and the curriculum with it.
Various systems adopted sophisticated philosophical and spiritual bases upon which they built their techniques, strategies and customs. Like any family tree, the martial arts family tree has many branches in many countries. Each time a senior instructor would leave a master, he would go to another location, teach what he had learned and in many cases modify, innovate and adapt his original system into a variant of what he had mastered. In some cases, major innovations came into existence by the hard work, analysis and creative insight of masters who devised systems that were significantly different from what they had originally learned.
24 Morehei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido (meaning “Harmony Way”) built his system based on the philosophy that he respected his opponent and therefore wished no harm to his adversary. The original techniques that he developed caused no permanent harm to the adversary. There were no strikes or kicks that would inflict damage that would prevent an opponent from recovering after a time and coming back to continue an assault. I believe that philosophy, although honorable, is not a practical basis for a robust system of self-defense. Opponents will get up and return to the fight, at least until the defender has shown through enough attempts that he is impervious. Conversely, the general strategy in Kenpo Karate is to cause maximum damage in a complete flurry of devastating techniques. These styles of martial arts are on opposite ends of the force continuum.
Later variations of Aikido began to incorporate some number of simple kicks and strikes for use on a limited basis for persistent attackers. Later students of Ueshiba and his son developed these variations and they are now part of the martial family tree.
Tae Kwon Do and all of the other major and minor systems of martial arts have evolved, branched and morphed into a myriad of flavors all having some common elements. It is part of the martial tradition for a senior student to leave his master, go on his own, reflect and adapt and hopefully devise some useful innovations or potentially even introduce a radically new style or system. This keeps the arts dynamic, vibrant and growing.
In modern times, along with the development of new styles and systems comes the evolution of martial arts organizations and25 associations. These organizations charge membership and testing fees and provide some degree of quality assurance over their domain. Students derive a sense of legitimacy by receiving black belt certifications. Aside from revenue generation for the leaders of the organizations, certification and rank testing are usually promoted as providing acceptance for the students. If you obtain a black belt from organization “A”, then you will be recognized anywhere that organization has a school or club. The problem with the recognition or certification is that many organizations refuse to recognize each other. These organizations typically require students to re-test on material that is very similar.
Often one organization may look upon black belts from another similar organization as being illegitimate. There are politics and egos involved and many organizations have come into being simply because the leadership of one organization had a falling out or fundamental differences so a divergence occurred and several new organizations then came into existence.
Another inconvenient feature of the organizations is that they periodically make subtle changes in the curriculum and the expected way in which the students are to perform the material. This is solely for requiring instructors to attend teaching seminars and to act as a control mechanism so that the organization maintains control over its affiliate schools. There are no practical, martial reasons for example, in changing how many Kihaps (yells) there are in a pattern, or on which moves they are to occur. This keeps instructors and students on their toes with useless and frivolous changes where time could be better spent focusing on the
26 Bunkai (practical combat application), which most organizations do not teach or even know.
What are the advantages of these modern martial arts organizations? There is robust curriculum; however, lacking it may be in specific focus on prevalent, instruction is self-defense. These organizations are
usually consistent, and instructors do receive thorough training, which improves the student’s experience. However, these martial organizations are highly politically charged often with much in-fighting. Self-defense and street survivability is often covered as more of an afterthought or an adjunct to the traditional curriculum, whereas if the focus were on the interpretation of the kata (Bunkai), then students would be learning what the movements of the patterns could do rather than learning to mimic a specific performance for purposes of passing a belt test. I have seen master-level classes where self-defense is not even discussed except in academic terms, not because there is any practical consideration of the need for it. The result, I believe, is students who are highly trained and tested in the tradition, etiquette, symbolic meanings and history of the kata and proper performance of techniques, but uneducated in the adaptation of these techniques and practical application for survival.
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A view from the front entrance at United Karate. The weapons room is in the rear. The lettering stands for “People of the Dragon” signifying wisdom, maturity and restraint.
Martial arts schools vary to some degree, but essentially a martial arts school is a big empty room. Some schools are nicer, cleaner and equipment with more accommodations than others. Some things that you may find or look for in a martial arts school are listed below.
Martial Arts School Accommodations
Bathrooms
Showers
Padded floors or large floor mats for throws and ground fighting
Large mirrors so that you can see how your techniques look
Weapons on racks (swords, bo-staffs)
Computerized billing and record keeping
A school web site
Customized school uniforms, gear and sports apparel A pro shop
Books or videos for the school’s curriculum
Handouts of the curriculum for each level
School vans for after school pickup (some schools have after school programs where they will help students with their homework
Adequate seating in the lobby – you will be spending time waiting for your children. Make sure you have a place to sit.
A display case with United Karate jackets, sparring gear, curriculum videos, student manuals and other goodies!29