New students

[03youngd]

I was taking the class with my two fellow black belts the other night when two students who had attended a seminar of ours turned up. They told me they do a style called Hap Ki Mudo and i cant find much about the art (if anyone has any info it would help).

Now with students i am very friendly and always have a smile on my face as i love to teach my art, however when these two came along sadly, it is the very first time where i have generally become very angry.

I began by showing them a simple white belt technique, they turned to me and told me they had done this move and reassured me they knew how to do it. So i demonstrated through it step by step and they said 'yer we know, watch', they di the technique however in a different way, therefore i went through it again and again still with no provail. They kept telling me they know how to do the technique and tried to teach me how theres was aparantly better!!! Then she went through moves that i showed her and how she thinks they should be done!!!

Then it came to kicking when they told me about a great stretch to do and began lifting the legs above there head, and gesturing for me to watch so i did and they kept doing it and smiling and nodding. Then she could stretch this high because she was a Taekwondo black belt, well i nearly keeled over in laughter when she came to kick as her foot couldnt even go above waist height.

She then told me to watch the other guy with her as he was also a black belt in taekwondo and once again i was very unimpressed at this TKD black belt as he gave a feeble attempt at a 360 kick. I then concluded the class and had them both going on about there other clubs repitoure.

I personally think they are on a 'im doing your art, but ours is better' so i turned roung to them as they showed me another 'great way of doing a techique' (so they claimed) and i told them straight that "you are studying Hapkido not your other martial art so either learn or leave", i personally dont think this was out of line because i have done other martial arts and attended with a fully open mind to learn.

What do you guys think about the situation?

[Gambatte Karate]

I have had this happen before also...This is how I handle the situation:

Student comes in and says they have previous experience.

I try to teach student.

Student says "This is how we do it at XYZ dojo."

I say "Look around you...Where are we? We are not at XYZ dojo. If you think it's better there, then go back. Otherwise, be quiet and do it the way I told you to do it."

[03youngd]

Originally Posted by Gambatte Karate

I have had this happen before also...This is how I handle the situation:

Student comes in and says they have previous experience.

I try to teach student.

Student says "This is how we do it at XYZ dojo."

I say "Look around you...Where are we? We are not at XYZ dojo. If you think it's better there, then go back. Otherwise, be quiet and do it the way I told you to do it."

thanks for the help, some people just dont have a clue, it was the fact they kept saying how they do the same move but this way, and as soon as i resisted there techniques they could not get them to work

[Shinobi_Kokujin]

i think you handled the situation thoroughly

i hate when people act like they got too much pride. one of my seniors is currently on a training trip in Japan. incentally he mentioned that his group was at a bus station on the way to a class where they

covered the basics. there was another group from Germany going out to the club so they asked "you guys going to class now?" my senior replied yeah and thier response was "ahh screw that its the basics...we know the basics"

word of this got back to Hatsumi....so when they showed up to his class...he didnt teach them some advanced techniques what he taught the other students, cause they couldnt even comprehend what he was teaching anyway due to having too much pride and ignoring the basics from the other day.

some people also dont get that when your under instruction, just shut the f--k up, and listen and train.

[john55]

Why didnt you spar them to show your technique is better? This is why I love bjj. My instructor would be like fine, try your 360 spin kick while I take you down and choke you out Whenever wrestlers, judokas, hapkidists, or anyone comes into class with previous experience, they always spar with the instructor the first day so they can get a feel for their experience.

Although its your school, they were arguing their point and you were arguing yours but no one was trying to prove who was right.

[SuperCrew]

You did the right thing. They came to YOU to learn. Their previous MA experience should help them, not hinder them in their training.

So do you think they'll be back?

[souldrum71]

You handled the situation well. They should have shown you and your school enough respect to keep their mouths shut.

While I'm a black belt in TKD, I've visited and trained at karate dojos and BJJ facilities, and I know that, when I'm out of my school, I'm just another student there to learn.

[TKD&JKD]

One time a couple of new students came to my school and thought they knew everything about MA. Mostly from watching UFC and Human Weapon. One student kept insisting on not using any controll when sparring, and continually acted like a know it all(He was a white belt). He thought he was hot stuff. My master put him in with one of our purple belts, and after a black belt. He told them to teach him a lesson. After that he smartened up big time. It was sad it had to come to that but some people can't learn any other way.

[WC_Lun]

You handled the situation just fine. When in a school your rank in another school has no bearing. even if your technique is more sound, have enough respect to keep your mouth shut.

John, we handle students from other schools who want to come in and "teach" us thier stuff instead of learn the same way. If someone comes in with this attitude the response is "show me how it works fighting." If it works we listen, if it doesn't then the student listens or leaves. Have yet to have someone like this stay.

[TRIANGLEFROMGUARD]

I agree with John 150%. I'm sure Joe will agree with me a combat sport based gym you have no idea the amount of Johhny black belts that come in and want to prove something. I can honestly say I have to check about one person a week on the mat because they come in knowing what's what and want to prove it. So then you just dominate them

[TKD&JKD]

Originally Posted by WC_Lun

You handled the situation just fine. When in a school your rank in another school has no bearing. even if your technique is more sound, have enough respect to keep your mouth shut.

John, we handle students from other schools who want to come in and "teach" us thier stuff instead of learn the same way. If someone comes in with this attitude the response is "show me how it works fighting." If it works we listen, if it doesn't then the student listens or leaves. Have yet to have someone like this stay.

Your right the know it all at my school wound up quiting. It was better for the school though because he would have wound up hurting someone.

[grasshopper]

you handled it well in my opinion.

Im just a student (and always will be) but whenever I am taught by another instructor I try to open my mind to whatever they are saying, sometimes yes, perhapes in the back of my mind I think 'I would probably be told to do that differently in taijutsu' But I dont disrespect what the instructors teaching me.

As students we must always open our minds to new things and experiences, otherwise we would never learn anything, I struggle enough learning even the simplest techniques, without argueing with myself weather the technique is any good.

I think its improtant to simply allow the teacher to open the door, and concerenctrate your energy on walking through it, not questioning the door.

[Gambatte Karate]

I will often have the student perform the technique on me also. I have them do it their way....Then I perform it the way I was taught...I have not had this fail yet. They learn that, yes, my way DOES work. They also learn that while my way DOES work, their way might work better...OR worse depending on the practitioner. I have seen the same technique performed slightly differently by two different people...It was a Outside leg sweep like this one: YouTube - Judo Lessons for Beginners : How to sweep to Outer Side in Judo
I do it slightly differently. When I do it, I put the foot in deep...I then plant the ball of my foot on the ground with my heel still up and leg slightly bent. Then, I straighten the legg and put the heel down. The back of my knee is on the back of the opponents knee and lifts their legg off the ground.

Is either one "wrong"? No...He had trained for a decent amount of time in Judo...It was simply different. He tried it in our class, and it didn;t work for him so well....While when I did it to him, it worked like a charm. Then, I gripped his gi like we do in Judo....and my way still worked...But so did his. He never once said "my way is better". He TRIED to do it the way I taught it...but kept doing it the Judo way....So I corrected him...Once he saw how it worked, he began doing it the way I taught.

I caught up to him a few months later (he was just visiting) and we spoke. He said he tried doing the take down the way I taught him in my karate class, while in his Judo class and he got in trouble. LOL So....The individual circumstances may dictate the appropriate actions to take and which specific version of any given technique are correct.

[Joemoplata]

Originally Posted by TRIANGLEFROMGAURD

I agree with John 150%. I'm sure Joe will agree with me a combat sport based gym you have no idea the amount of Johhny black belts that come in and want to prove something. I can honestly say I have to check about one person a week on the mat because they come in knowing what's what and want to prove it. So then you just dominate them

Happens CONSTANTLY. I can't tell you how many times this has happened at our Academy. I have one good story though.

A few years ago, when I was still a purple belt training at our Springfield, VA location we had a group of young, fresh out of boot camp Marines come into class. The black belt instructor was working with them through the techniques portion of class, but when it came time for sparring he started pairing off the new guys with us senior belts (standard practice at most BJJ schools).

First thing the guy says to me is "When we're sparring, can I do kill moves?" Now I gotta tell you, I have NEVER heard this one before! My response was "I don't want you to try to kill me, no! But what do you consider a "Kill Move"? And I get "If I can grab your head with one hand and chin with another I can break your neck".

This is the greatest thing I have ever heard from someone right before sparring with them, I gotta tell you.

So I tell the guy "Tell you what, I don't want you to try to break my neck but if you can manage to grab my head in one hand and chin in another for more than 3 seconds I will consider that a win and I will tap".

So we start sparring and he is going CRAZY, which usually makes me go lighter just to prove a point. I pull full guard and he stands up and drops me twice. I get tired of this so I sweep to mount and start playing a little harder. He now takes his middle finger knuckle and starts jamming it up into my ribs. So I reach down and pull the arm off and he goes for the head/chin-neck-break thing and of course I immediately swing over for the straight armbar.

He then slams me on the mat three times to get out. So I pop my hips a bit to get him to tap and his arm gives out completely. He starts screaming and rolling around on the mat holding his am. I start trying to comfort him a bit and he starts yelling at me "What are you trying to do, man?"

I look up at Neto, the black belt, across the room and he gets this angry look on his face and starts walking over. I kind of put my head down and sulk over cause I'm sure I'm going to get yelled at hard. Neto walks over to the guy, stands over him as he's rolling around crying (he's now crying) and says "You need to learn to tap!", pats me on the back and walks back over to the other side of class.

Guy never came back.

Being in the Washington DC metro area I cannot tell you how many ovezealous military kids come in thinking they're going to show us a thing or two and we just use them to wipe the mats clean. The ones who stick around end up being some of the best students around, but the majority don't come back.

[Gambatte Karate]

Bahahahahahaha!!!!!! Thats funny Joe! LOL

But I'm a bit concerned....The fact that it took so long for you to make him tap....It disheartens me. J/K