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The
Effects of Ego When Teaching Martial Arts
I'm so proud of the fact that I have no ego. It
truly makes me the most humble person I've ever met. Regardless of
whether we admit it or not, we all have an ego. It's what we do
with that ego and how we demonstrate it among our martial arts
peers and students which determine how good and what type of
instructor we are....
With
over 36 years of martial arts experience I've seen a lot of
different types of martial arts and self-defense instructors. They
all, including myself, have their weaknesses and strengths....
In
Here I Am God
Granted
some ego, i.e. self-confidence, is needed in order to teach, but
there are those who teach for themselves and those who teach for
their students. In the few cases I've seen the god complex in a
martial arts or self-defense instructor, it's generally been for
the instructor. Even one very good combat veteran martial arts
instructor whom I personally knew, seemed to teach for himself.
Let's not confuse this with a military manner of teaching martial
arts. The word martial after all means war and many of the martial
arts taught have or had a military basis at some point in history.
His students had a lot of self-confidence, but they also, I
unfortunately noted when I asked a newly ranked advanced student
his name, had his ego and pride as well. This, in my opinion is
unfortunate since a martial arts instructor can, by example, offer
so many positive traits to his/her students. If you're looking for
a martial arts school or self-defense school, watch some classes
and remember the above comments I made. Talk to the instructor,
but talk to the students as well. Go with your gut as well as your
cognitive processes.
I
Cannot Be Hit!
I've
personally witnessed this in a lot of instructors. The instructor
gets gets hit, possibly slightly hurt, and is embarrassed by the
fact that his/her student was able to hit him/her.
I
really need to respond to this in this article.
WHAT ARE
YOU TRYING TO TEACH THEM?! Don't you think you should be proud of
your student for being able to hit you?! So what if you just got a
little boo boo on your nose and maybe on your ego if you think of
it in a negative manner. One of your students lessons HAS JUST
SUNK IN AS A LEARNED REFLEX! Isn't that what you wanted to happen?
NOW, you have two choices, you can make yourself feel
better by treating this in a negative manner. Demean your student
for his/her control. Tell your student that wasn't part of the
drill or why that technique wouldn't actually work blah blah blah
OR you can help your student to feel great about his/her
accomplishment. Here's what I've done and no I'm not perfect and
yes I'm sure I have an ego otherwise I wouldn't be able to write
this martial arts article,....
"DID EVERYONE SEE
THAT! That's what happens when you train hard GREAT job John! I
even felt that a little you're REALLY starting to develop some
power. Now
do that combination again so I can practice blocking that since I
made a mistake and you can practice that effective combination."
Is
that a perfect way to handle it? I'd need a big ego indeed to
say it was, but at least my student feels good about his/her
accomplishment.
It's
The Right Way Because I Say It Is
This
could be more of a teaching style. Traditionally, not a lot of
questions were asked in old school martial arts training, but I
tend to believe, in
this modern teaching era, not wanting questions asked is a
matter of ego or a matter of lack of knowledge. Even large classes
should be able to have question and answer periods. Naturally
I'll listen to any opinions on this anyone may have.
Feel
Free to Tell Me How to Teach During My Class
I
presently recall two people who went through this phase. A new
instructor a friend of mine and I tried to help and me.
There
was a martial arts instructor who used to come to visit my class
when I was teaching self-defense in college. As I was teaching I'd
look to him for approval, he'd shake his head no, then begin
teaching my class. WITH that attitude and that lack of ego, i.e.
self-confidence, I should not have been teaching in the first
place!
It was thanks to a professor in the Physical
Education department, whom I was interning under, who helped me to
think and act like a professional physical educator. In a letter
of recommendation to the director of the Physical Education
department I remember stating
"Whenever I want to act
in a professional manner, I find myself asking, What would blank
do?"
Later on, thanks to Methods of Teaching classes
and education training itself along with more martial arts
experience, when this same instructor came to watch my class and
he began shaking his head no I ignored this. When he began
realizing I wasn't responding he stated, "You're teaching it
wrong"
I looked directly at him and replied, "That's
something we can discuss after class."
I believe a
good mentor would have been proud of me for stating that. Instead
he seemed surprised and a bit insulted. This was many years ago
but I recall after class telling him that this was my class and we
can discuss teaching techniques after the students have left. He
never came to my class again after that.
The other
instructor my friend and I helped was in a similar situation. When
I would go by myself to watch his class I found him looking for my
approval. When I would inadvertently shake my head no he'd ask me
what was wrong. I'd reply nothing at all sorry to disturb your
class. I gave him some pointers after his classes, but it would
have been very easy for me to step in a teach his class, thus
questioning his knowledge and authority in front of his students.
Thanks to my previous experience I didn't do this. My friend told
me he did teach a few of his classes.
Conclusion
Regardless
of the humble martial arts and self-defense instructors you see on
television who take out 20 bad guys without breaking sweat and
agree to train one student after six months of begging, ego,
otherwise known as self-confidence, is a good trait. As with all
of our personality traits and interpersonal skills, it's what we
do with that ego, that counts.
Feel free to support my
efforts with my three most popular martial arts, self-defense and
fitness books and video
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About
the Author
J.
Richard Kirkham is a dual
certified teacher specializing in alternative teaching methods
and a martial
arts instructor. He currently resides in Honolulu with his
wife Jan and son Rylan.
He's the author of Step by Step
Learning Martial Arts Internal Energy Strikes Ebook and NOW FREE
Bonus Full Version Video by Kirkham
[url=http://kirkhamsebooks.com/MartialArts/InternalEnergyStrikesEbook_pd.htm]http://kirkhamsebooks.com/MartialArts/InternalEnergyStrikesEbook_pd.htm[/url]
Solo Martial Arts Drills for Training in Martial Arts by Yourself
by Sensei J. Richard Kirkham B.Sc.
[url=http://kirkhamsebooks.com/MartialArts/SoloMartialArtsDrillsByKirkham_pd.htm]http://kirkhamsebooks.com/MartialArts/SoloMartialArtsDrillsByKirkham_pd.htm[/url]
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