Dan Shi Martial Arts Club

A Black Belt’s Influence

Som Dan Thesis
Marian Hartman WIlleke
2005

An important quality for every black belt is to understand the impact and influence they have on other people. While training for perfection is a life-long endeavor to never be fully achieved, black belts carry a significant role in the responsibility of sharing their knowledge with others. An experienced martial arts student has considerable amounts of qualities to contribute, such as discipline, confidence, and self-worth. Some of the best learning experiences for a black belt are to teach others. Patience and self-control is often tested when teaching, as well as realizing how much more knowledge it takes to teach than to learn. It is one thing to learn and understand a technique, but another to teach another the same technique so as they understand it. Students learn differently, and have different goals; these two aspects are extremely important to remember during teaching. Also, as students learn and improve under instructors, the student’s respect and belief in that instructor grows, making it essential for the instructor to provide the correct influence and attitude.

Some black belts are more prone to teach, while others simply are not a good fit for teaching; however, it is still important to at least have some experience in sharing knowledge so as to appreciate the need and importance for good instructors. Sometimes the instructing experience makes us better students in the realization of the frustration that is involved with students not doing their best or giving the training their full attention. Even if a black belt does not formally teach, it is still important to understand the sphere of influence that is represented just in being a higher level martial artist. The example that the black belts set in a training studio usually sets the tone for the entire school. If a black belt does discover a desire to teach, such as myself, then they should not be afraid to pursue it, as it reaps many rewards. There are many valleys of depression or fear that time is being wasted with students throughout the teaching experience, but the overall experience and rewards far exceeds those moments of feeling failure.

There are many difficult issues involved with teaching, which are often only truly learned except by experience. This paper focuses on lessons I have learned through teaching, both in how to teach and personal growth as a martial artist. Some of the best lessons are learned through mistakes and pain, but again, the overall rewards are well worth the effort.

Understanding Your Student
This is sometimes the most difficult issue, yet the most important. An instructor cannot appropriately teach if they don’t understand the student’s needs, fears and desires. Students have different goals, which include competition, exercise, self defense and family bonding. Parents often join to do an activity with their children; women often join for self defense or exercise, while young men and teenagers usually love competition. These are stereotyped; however, so it is important to get to know each student, discuss their goals, and help them set standards for themselves. Often students are unaware of their true needs and goals until at least some training has taken place, but as they continue training, their expectations of themselves will adjust, and the instructor should assist them. It can often be difficult, at least for me, to not put too high of expectations on other students. It is easy to put other students on the same standard of your personal training or goals, but this is a fatal mistake that can result in the loss of students. The instructor must remember how long it took for him or her to develop personal rigid standards, and that they cannot be applied to new students. Each student improves at different speeds, some with amazing potential, and others with limited potential. It is the instructor’s job to ensure without bias that each student meets their potential, regardless of how limited or unlimited it is.

Most instructors are fortunate in having students that want to train. They are unlikely to pay tuition, or parents are unlikely to pay for tuition, if the students are not interested in training. This enthusiasm helps the instructor connect with the student’s needs and desires faster, developing a good rapport quickly. I have experienced, however, that it can be very difficult to instruct and mentor without this enthusiasm. My personal goals include teaching children that would not have opportunities to train financially or logistically include after-school programs and summer camps for the Indianapolis downtown community. Without fail, there is resistance, distrust, and even anger that they have to attend training, which is usually enforced by the administration of the after-school programs and summer camps. There are rarely occasions that kids are actually enthused, so my first order of business is to convince the kids that training can be enjoyable, challenging, and good for them.

Balancing discipline and encouragement is more than difficult. Not only do I have to find out who the troublemakers are and who is open-minded enough to learn, it must be done quickly or the peer pressure of the troublemakers will ruin the open-mindedness of the other children. There is then the fear that children that have potential are being thrown out pre-maturely, but this is addressed later in the paper. This occurred with me in a very dramatic way a couple years ago within an after-school program. The class contained teenagers of exceptional physical talent that included acrobatics and wrestling. Two of the students took to the training well, one was on the fence, and one hated it beyond belief, to the point of purposely causing problems to get eliminated. The school would not allow him to drop, so he slowly infected the others to the point where they were all out of control and refused to cooperate. One student with an unmovable bad attitude can ruin an entire class, so it is important to pinpoint and take out the problems as soon as possible.

Knowing When to Promote or Hold
Getting to know your students and recognize unchangeable behaviors in these more difficult environment gets easier and faster with time; however, it is still not difficult to misjudge a student based on how they act. Children are often products of what they see, even if it’s not their own personality. The children that I teach often have very tough, defensive shields, and usually express it with trying to control the situation, or try to be invisible, but could still have the same needs, fears and desires; they are just expressed differently. Another problem that occurs is that two children will attempt to control the situation; one is really interested in training, but fears letting down the guard in case it is not “cool” to desire training, while the other does not care at all, but is bored and determined to at least have all of the attention. Two children with the same attitude, but one has potential while the other truly does not care. This has occurred in my classes many times, and it is very difficult to differentiate. The instructor has to be extremely observant and spend personal time with that student before judging whether the student has enough desire to train for the instructor to spend the time to break down that defensive shell.
A good way to motivate the children to train is promotion tests. If there are no goals, then it’s almost impossible to motivate the children, but giving them goals and rewards usually encourages them to train, and quickly separates the motivated from the unmotivated or uncaring children. The first rank, white belt, is always the most difficult because it’s still so easy for even the motivated children to be distracted and experience peer pressure since everybody’s the same level. Once those difficult months pass, and they achieve yellow belt, they usually feel superior and care lesser what the others say. Achieving orange belt and higher starts making them realize that this was more than a game, but they are actually learning something important. Once they obtain yellow belt, however, it is very simple to enforce discipline with the pending promotion tests since they better understand the value of testing. Also, additional motivators keep them training their best by only allowing a certain number out of the group to attend a tournament or special event based on their performance and effort.

As I mentioned previously, the biggest difficulty is the white belt months. Children are rarely consistent in the environments I have taught, with most having their bad weeks and good weeks. While I have rarely run into children in the downtown community that were not naturally well coordinated, they are often on a fence that could go either way in regards to discipline and mental preparedness. The decision of allowing them to test allows them to blossom and take the training more seriously, or they take advantage of the privilege and do not take it seriously. As a result, it is good for a child that is on the fence ready to go either way to watch the more serious students test, and see the advantages that go with that privilege so that they can appreciate the goal more. If a child is not eligible for testing, it is so essential to explain exactly why, and what they need to do in order to improve. If it is not explained very thoroughly, they get frustrated and quit. Often, if this occurs in my classes, I still have those children attend the test, and join the after-test party so they can better visualize what they missed and appreciate it more.

Another reason to hold a student is to motivate them to take more responsibility. I recently had four children physically ready to test. They knew their requirements very well, and were gifted with coordination and physically ability. Unfortunately, they did not take the test seriously, as they assumed they could promote in a make-up test. They had irresponsible excuses, and were not ready when they were to be picked up for the test. The following week I was asked by them when they were to perform the make-up test, I explained there was no make-up test and they would have to wait until the next available promotion test in three months. The resulting tears made it very difficult for me to stand firm on my decision, but it was much clearer to them how important it was to keep their word when they were to be ready, and they had to be personally responsible for their actions. This rather extreme action was taken after many irresponsible incidents, and it should not be overused, but it is a good way to help students understand that promoting involves more than physical ability.

Knowing When to Let Go
Some students care so little they will do anything to get out of the training. This is a struggle between letting them get their way and eliminate them from the program, or keeping them in the program long enough for them to realize what they could do with themselves positively. Instructors, or at least I, never want to lose a student by eliminating them from the program, or cutting them off from the opportunity to train. Unfortunately, there comes a time where focusing on one very misbehaving student is hurting the rest of the class. If the student refuses to change, they have to be eliminated if the other students are to benefit from the training; otherwise it negatively effects everybody. Misbehaving can be a relative term referring to a child who is purposely mean, or who is just maintaining a façade to cover fear or insecurity. I have been bitten, kicked, punched, sworn at, tire slashed and threatened; yet sometimes there can still exist potential in that child if the instructor is patient enough and can maintain self-control. I have had students that had the same lack of caring, but when complimented and given personal attention, they strive for approval rather than dismissal.

There are several examples I could share in regards to the importance of knowing the student well enough before letting them go. One includes two boys about the same age in separate programs. Boy #1 was playing roughly with a little girl, so I pulled him off and yelled at him to never treat another student or person in that manner. As I was pulling him off, he completely freaked out punching and screaming at me. I locked him down until he theoretically calmed down, but instead he went completely out of control screaming and hurting himself trying to get to me. Later we had a discussion about the whole incident. He seemed confused and didn’t remember. I started spending more time with him, keeping him away from the other children, and trying to motivate him through different ways to subsequently understand consequences. Months later he earned the Most Improved trophy for that semester, a second place sparring trophy, promoted, and most importantly, helps the other children now in class without being asked. It was a slow process, but well worth the effort. Boy #2 was very similar in his reaction of being chastised for playing roughly with the other children. Being reprimanded resulted in biting, kicking, swearing, and general screaming. My husband was with me to assist, so he held down Boy #2 until he calmed down. While he stopped screaming, he continued to try and hit and bit, making it obvious that this was more than a tantrum or fear flash. Talking with him even when calmed still only resulted in anger and hatred towards Tae Kwon Do and training in general, so I eliminated him from the program.

These examples are somewhat extreme in retrospect, but at the time of incidents, they seemed identical, and both worthy of dismissal. Now it is obvious that Boy #1 reacted out of fear and Boy #2 was just mad, but sometimes the obvious is not obvious at that time. If an instructor is not careful, the wrong students can be dismissed, and their fears and insecurities only driven more deeply. Unfortunately, this means trying to sort out the true resentment and uncaring from the children who truly need attention. Again, experience is helpful, but it is still easy to miss the little signs and lose a child that could really have maximized his or her potential.

Balancing Student’s Training with Your Own
A big issue for any black belt that teaches is remembering to personally train. Teaching often results in self-improvement for technique since they have to slow down enough to explain the techniques, but endurance and higher level techniques potentially get sloppy if the instructors forget to maintain their personal standards of training. I often get so involved with teaching that I am too exhausted to personally train. An easy excuse to avoid personal training is the rationalization that “I am working out while teaching.” While working out during classes does not hurt, it certainly is not a substitute for appropriate training. Developing a personal training schedule to never break regardless of circumstance is a good way to avoid that rationale. Also, maintaining personal competition through tournaments is a reminder of the need to personally train, and provides an example to the student, both in losing and winning. Not training makes it unfair to the students because they look up to the instructor as an example both physically and mentally. Students want their instructors to be good martial artists, as well as good with teaching. I have heard black belts comment that while they were never really good physically with Tae Kwon Do, they teach naturally so that is their focus. I definitely respect any black belt that teaches, but the instruction needs to be balanced with continual training. Training does not stop with becoming an instructor; rather, it just adds another dimension to the training.

Another important issue is for the instructor to ensure that any assistant instructors that may be under them also balance their training with teaching. Even if the assistant instructor is enthusiastic about teaching and teaches at every opportunity, it is necessary to limit that teaching in regards to their personal training to avoid burning out; especially in some of the environments I have taught where students do not show gratitude. Assistant instructors have to feel like they are also advancing, and not that their skills are being thrown away on students who do not appreciate them.

Conclusion
Many of the issues discussed in this paper were discovered through experience. While it is helpful to be told what to do, the best instructor is experience. Some of the disappointments resulted in my self-questioning as an instructor and martial artist in general. Not everything is the instructor’s fault, and students will simply take advantage; however, that does not take away from the hurt that is felt. Also, when the instructor does make mistakes, there is a crushing feeling of failure. I have questioned my ability to teach many times, as well as questioned the value of what I am doing and have done, but it is important to equally note the successes that are sometimes more easily forgotten.

It is not difficult to get so involved with the students that the instructor’s personal goals get lost. I often have to re-define my personal goals, and consciously balance those goals with the needs of the students. There will always be students, but if the instructor burns out or gets too discouraged and quits, then there is a big loss since there will always be more students than instructors. As black belts, we have to remember the sphere of influence that we maintain by just being an example as a higher rank, but especially by being an instructor and leader.