Post by kensei on Aug 17, 2012 12:09:11 GMT
Hey Gang,
I am reposting this in a more friendly way......
Rank should never be seen as a measurement of teaching skills, or even skills in Karate some times!
I know of many senior ranking instructors that are horrible instructors and not ver nice people, I also know of many junior instructors that are fantastic instructors and great people. I also know of people who are highly skilled Karate-ka who are horrible people and people with fine charactor that are not as skilled at Karate.
I also know of several Karate instructors who are fantastic teachers who are broken down a bit and can not do Karate as well as perhaps they used to.
For instance, Stan Schmitd is a fantastic person. From all accounts he is one of the nicest guys you could meet, He has a vast knowledge of Karate and from what I have seen of him on tapes his understanding of how to do karate and get the best out of Karate people is on another level....but after hip surgery and years of training hard his body is broken down and He has issues with doing some very basic techniques....like side kicking.
I also trained with an instructor (Whom I will name) Jarvis Kohut, the man was a friggin Karate wiz....mentally. He has a great way of looking at things and his ability to teach was fantastically good. But, he had taken a different style of martial arts many moons before that and they had ripped all his leg muscles to hell! He was in the splits and someone pushed down on him till his knees ripped and his adductors tore, he never walked or kicked very well after that, and his stances were very weak.
He could teach a class and everyone in it had that "ah-ha" moment about something he said. But he was not able to really teach by example very well.
I also have trained with national champions and came out thinking "Really, thats what they teach" and wondered if they even did Karate often! The classes were basic and their teaching horrible.
I also trained with an instructor that was very high up in rank and had no connection to the class, he was teaching...but if we were their or not did not seem to matter! He was board and dull! another was always saying "in Japan..." or "back in the day..." and that was his whole class! other than "you guys are weak in..." and "you would not last long in Japan unless you...." and not really helping us out at all.
I think that far to many people equate rank with profficency in both teaching and ability to do Karate. My guess is that men like Nakyama Sensei were unique in that they could perform Karate into a rather old age. My instructor is 71 this year and about as good at Karate as anyone I know..of any age...and better. But even he says their are 7th, 8th and even a few 9th Dans out their that cant and dont really teach well.
Thoughts?
I am reposting this in a more friendly way......
Rank should never be seen as a measurement of teaching skills, or even skills in Karate some times!
I know of many senior ranking instructors that are horrible instructors and not ver nice people, I also know of many junior instructors that are fantastic instructors and great people. I also know of people who are highly skilled Karate-ka who are horrible people and people with fine charactor that are not as skilled at Karate.
I also know of several Karate instructors who are fantastic teachers who are broken down a bit and can not do Karate as well as perhaps they used to.
For instance, Stan Schmitd is a fantastic person. From all accounts he is one of the nicest guys you could meet, He has a vast knowledge of Karate and from what I have seen of him on tapes his understanding of how to do karate and get the best out of Karate people is on another level....but after hip surgery and years of training hard his body is broken down and He has issues with doing some very basic techniques....like side kicking.
I also trained with an instructor (Whom I will name) Jarvis Kohut, the man was a friggin Karate wiz....mentally. He has a great way of looking at things and his ability to teach was fantastically good. But, he had taken a different style of martial arts many moons before that and they had ripped all his leg muscles to hell! He was in the splits and someone pushed down on him till his knees ripped and his adductors tore, he never walked or kicked very well after that, and his stances were very weak.
He could teach a class and everyone in it had that "ah-ha" moment about something he said. But he was not able to really teach by example very well.
I also have trained with national champions and came out thinking "Really, thats what they teach" and wondered if they even did Karate often! The classes were basic and their teaching horrible.
I also trained with an instructor that was very high up in rank and had no connection to the class, he was teaching...but if we were their or not did not seem to matter! He was board and dull! another was always saying "in Japan..." or "back in the day..." and that was his whole class! other than "you guys are weak in..." and "you would not last long in Japan unless you...." and not really helping us out at all.
I think that far to many people equate rank with profficency in both teaching and ability to do Karate. My guess is that men like Nakyama Sensei were unique in that they could perform Karate into a rather old age. My instructor is 71 this year and about as good at Karate as anyone I know..of any age...and better. But even he says their are 7th, 8th and even a few 9th Dans out their that cant and dont really teach well.
Thoughts?