Leadership and Martial Arts: Way to Develop Better Leadership Skills in Kids
By Dustin Fennell
Confidence is one of the most important gifts that we can give to our children and ourselves. We know that for a child, confidence is a major ingredient for a successful life. Children who are enrolled in martial arts often discuss how martial arts develops leadership skills. This is because, at an early age at least, a child’s level of confidence is most affected by control over their environment.
A young person must feel the ability to achieve most of the goals that he or she sets. Being accepted as who we are by the people who are important to us is also an essential ingredient. The only difference between life as a gang member and life as a world class athlete may be the absence or presence of a supportive family environment. Read the rest of this entry »
Aikido in MMA
I am a MMA fighter trained by Alex Reid, I have a strong background in Traditional Aikido. I have studied Traditional Aikido since the age of 5 yrs with my father Henry Ellis 6th dan Aikido – International Birankai – .My father taught me the art of Traditional Aikido as taught to him by Kenshiro Abbe Sensei in the 1950s/60s. The modern misguided Aikidoka say ” there is no kicking or punching in Aikido ! “”"”" Believe me ! there is in my fathers Aikido “”"”"”…see my photos and fight films. The same sad people say on my video comments ” ” I don’t see Aikido ! ” “…..The reason they don’t see Aikido is because they are looking for their stylised dojo Aikido .
Anyone who has used Aikido in a truly hostile situation will tell you that it looked nothing like the training in the dojo, one needs to be able to adapt himself and his technique to that situation. My Aikido is in my mind and my body, I make no pretence of offering myself on a plate to my opponent with a stylised Aikido posture, the biggest mistake in the cage or street is to offer your opponent your leading leg or arm, you will be down before you know what has happened and all your Aiki nonsense will be pounded out of you. (welcome to the real world). Make no mistake, I respect Aikido and its principals. I do not respect the people who over the years with their inflated grades and ego’s have tried to change what was once a martial art into some quasi religion to suit their own purpose. These people use this BS to avoid a real situation or a conflict where they may one day need to apply some of the vaporised bs they have been harmonising and teaching for years.
Your opponent in the cage is for real, as would be your street opponent, the difference being that the mma guy is a professional fighter who has no intention of trying to harmonise with you. You will not see me turn my back on my opponent, I will, and do apply wrist locks and arm bars, nor will you see any large circular movements, if you open your closed Aikido mind to some reality ? you may just see a fighter who is “very“ relaxed before and during each fight, look a little closer, you may just see some “ very condensed `body contact techniques – irmi nage ` or an ` irimi tenkan and other techniques to turn my opponent either into or off the cage wall. My father came from Judo to Aikido, he always says that the best of the early Aikido masters came from Judo such as K Abbe – T Abe – M Nakazono – TK Chiba, the first British student of Aikido Ken Williams Sensei was a 3rd dan Judoka, these teachers know how to apply their bodies to maximum effect in tight techniques. Judo is one of the basic foundations for MMA.
If you think that your pure mind and body technique will help you in a real ` street ` situation ??, you are going to be sadly disappointed, you don’t have to believe me, just wait, trouble is never too far away in this day and age, or ask my father who has been teaching “ Traditional Aikido “ from 1957. ……If you are a student of Ki Aikido ? don’t wait around for your assailant to fall down, he doesn’t know he is supposed to do that, please don’t tell your opponent that Aiki is love ! when you wake up you will realise that was a really stupid mistake you just made. Why is it that Aikido now attracts so many of the tree hugging hippy type, Aikido to music and the bizarre example of Aikido movement demonstrated with multi coloured ribbons. My father has said many times that he would never have studied most of the Aikido that he sees on offer today. Visit the Rik Ellis Aikido MMA Blogsite at …http://rik-ellis.blogspot.com/
Rik Ellis a professional MMA fighter and a long time student of Traditional Aikido from the age of five years. His father is Henry Ellis 6th dan Aikido – International BiranKai. and a pioneer of British Aikido from its inception in the 1950s as a direct student of Kenshiro Abbe Sensei the legendary Budo Master.
About the Author
Rik Ellis a professional MMA fighter and a long time student of Traditional Aikido from the age of five years. His father is Henry Ellis 6th dan Aikido – International BiranKai. and a pioneer of British Aikido from it inception in the 1950s as a direct student of Kenshiro Abbe Sensei the legendary Budo Master.
Teaching Kids Martial Arts | How To Keep Them Coming Back – Part 1
Teaching Kids Martial Arts is a Business… and like all businesses you are better off keeping the customers/students that you have than you are spending time and money finding new ones to replace the ones that drop out. It is important for everyone involved that the kids stick with their training and grow into becoming a great martial artist.
For the student it means that they will truly learn skills that will give them a strong character, discipline, loyalty, respect along with better health, confidence and generally a host of other good habits.
For the parents it will be a satisfaction that they see their child develop into a confident teen and a respected adult. Many parents are truly disappointed when their kids drop out. Let’s be honest, most kids join a martial art program because the parents want them to. The parents have to pay for the lessons, drive them there, pay for uniforms, sit through gradings…etc. The Parents want their kids to do it because they know the advantages it will give their kids as they grow up.
For the instructor there are two motivations. The first is money because the students help pay the bills and like it or not money does help make the world go around…
BUT, I recently ran a survey to ask instructors what their biggest concern was about teaching kids martial arts and not a single one asked how they could make more money. The most common question was “How do I keep them coming back?” and the reason for that is because we want to see them succeed.
Having a new student drop out in the first few months is disappointing but having one drop out just before they get their first black belt is devastating. All that time and energy that they have spent learning the art and the time and energy that the instructor has given to teach them is just thrown away. It can really take the wind out of you.
Now I guess that explains why I’m writing this article so now down to the practicle part of it…
Creating longevity with your students starts at the first lesson and continues for the rest of your teaching career. You need to build in elements into your daily lessons, your weekly challenges, your monthly themes, your gradings/rankings. Try to step back from the daily activities and look at your school as if you were a fly on the wall. Your lesson plans for teaching kids martial arts should be setup like the structure of a long running TV soap opera. I can already see the guys scrunching their faces and thinking about clicking off to another article, but please stick with me on this.
A TV soap opera is successful because it captures the attention of a crowd and keeps them coming back for more day after day, week after week, for months, years, even decades. Personally I’m not a big fan of TV and I hate soap operas but they teach a valuable lesson. They have elements or triggers built into each section of their daily show that drag the viewers back for tomorrows installment. We all know the term ‘cliff-hanger’ and it comes from TV. They would literally have a main character hanging from a cliff at the end of an episode so you had to tune in the next day to see if they climbed back up or fell to their death. I remember an old favorite show of mine was ‘The Dukes of Hazard’ where almost every commercial break showed the General Lee jumping a creek and you had to wait through the ads to see if it made it to the other side. I always knew they’d make it but there was no way I was going to miss the spectacular landing.
The human brain just has to know answers to the questions that it receives. If you tell someone part of a puzzle or pose a question to them they will come back to you for the answer. So my point is this, when teaching kids martial arts think about how you finish your lesson. Do you say “Well that’ll do it for this week, good job everyone, come back on Tuesday and we’ll do some more” or do you say “Great job everyone, now that you have those basics I can finally show you a special move that will double the power of that technique and I have a new martial art game for you to play at next week so don’t miss training next week”.
It is almost ridiculous how simple this is to do at the end of every session. You should already know what you’re going to teach them so now you just have to phrase it the right way. Instead of saying “Next week we’ll concentrate on kicking” you can say “Next week I’ll show you 3 kicking techniques that will frighten off a bully” or “Next week I’ll show you my secret kicking combination that you have to promise not to use outside of this room”. Do you think the last two suggestions have a better chance of getting the kids back next week? They don’t want to be the only kid in class that misses out on the special info you’re going to teach them.
This article is just a starter for ‘How to keep them coming back’. I will post some more simple but powerful tips soon so keep in touch with this blog for more insights on teaching kids martial arts.
I appreciate your feedback so be sure to leave a comment below.
- Aaron Perry
http://www.martialgames4kids.com/MG4K-Blog/
How Karate Instructors Can Motivate Students
How Karate Instructors Can Motivate Students In Three Easy Steps
If you’ve been a karate instructor for any length of time you will no doubt know that your success in retaining your students comes down to one key factor – keeping your students highly motivated to continue training. How do you do this while still maintaining your focus on delivering a high quality program?
The majority of karate clubs have a wide range of students usually starting at around age 4 and going all the way up to 74 or older. Often within this student base there are the highly-motivated and gung-ho students who would practice running up a wall backwards if you told them it would help give them the edge over their fellow club members.
Then there are hobbyists who approach their training from a slightly more balanced perspective. Generally this group of students practice pretty hard and come to class regularly but karate is not the number one item on their daily to-do list.
The final group of students is made up of those who say they want to get their black belt but are strangers to the concept of doing the hard work to get there.
So how do you motivate this diverse set of individuals? Here are three simple tips to get you started:
1. Set your students up for success
As human beings we all need to feel like we are being successful. We like our efforts to be recognized and we seek approval from those whom we respect. Your karate students are no different. Positive praise produces positive progress.
There is nothing more powerful than a genuine comment from you that praises something about your student’s effort in class or their recent improvement. We’ve all heard the phrase “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Show your students that you genuinely care about them and that you truly want the best for them in their training.
2. Disguise repetition
Repetition is the mother of skill but at the same time one definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again with the expectation of different results. As a karate instructor your job is to make sure that your students’ skill level is constantly improving through repetition while making it seem to them as if they are constantly learning something new each lesson.
This is achieved by developing multiple drills and teaching techniques that focus on the same core competencies that are needed to grow as a martial artist. By doing this your students will always look forward to coming to class because they will be excited to see what they will be studying that day. Repeating the same lesson in the same way over and over is a sure recipe for low student retention.
3. Implement an effective ranking system
The path to black belt is a long and arduous journey and the majority of students won’t make it. Therefore it is necessary to recognize the importance of an effective ranking system so that your students have regular “success stepping stones”. These “success stepping stones” are your different colored belts.
Make sure that you have a clear belt system that students can strive for with regular testing – usually every three months. However be careful not to overwhelm your students with multiple stripes and sub-ranks that only serve to confuse them even more. Keep it simple and clear so that students know exactly what is expected of them.
With these three simple tips you can go a long way to effectively motivate your students. For additional relevant ideas on effective teaching methods please read my FREE Report on “Instructor Mastery: How to Become a Great Instructor Right from the very First Lesson.” Download it at http://www.freekraateinformation.com.
Good luck and best wishes to you on your honorable and noble role in teaching. Feel free to write to me at Paul@freekarateinformation.com with any questions you have on your practice or your teaching.
Martial Arts Instructors
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.
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 http://newbieservices.com/MAForum/index.php/topic,20.0.html Solo Martial Arts Drills for Training in Martial Arts by Yourself http://newbieservices.com/MAForum/index.php/topic,40.0.html and How to Exercise Throughout Your Day http://newbieservices.com/MAForum/index.php/topic,44.0.html
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