JR 137
Grandmaster
The thing too is weāre only hearing @Bruce7 ās side of the story. You know the saying: thereās 3 sides to every story - his, hers, and the truth.
No, Bruce, I donāt think youāre lying.
When weāre doing kata in class, weāre supposed to wait at the end of the count until the teacher says ānaoreā which is basically come back to a ready stance. Itās so the teacher can look through the dojo and make sure everyone did what they were supposed to and make any corrections if necessary. Itās certainly not like training a dog with āsit, stay, donāt move.ā A teacher on a power trip could absolutely turn it into that, but thatās not the genuine reason for it.
Our kyu/colored belt katas typically have 20 counts. Many black belt katas have far more. Using an extreme example, letās say Iām doing Seido 4 kata and a black belt is doing Kanku; Seido 4 has 15 counts and Kanku has 55. Iām supposed to hold that final technique and stance until the teacher says ānaore.ā If I stop when Iām done and start doing my kata over or backwards, or whatever else, Iām going to disrupt the flow of everything. Iāll distract the teacher, students, etc. In my dojo Iāll probably get in someoneās way because weāre pretty cramped in there often enough. And the teachers wonāt make us stand there the whole time, theyāll tell us to stop while the others continue. Or have us do something else. And thatās when weāre doing it to the teacherās count rather than our own count.
None of the teachers would get in someoneās face or bent out of shape over it. Theyād politely tell the student to stand still until theyāre told otherwise and explain why. Repeatedly doing it may get an interesting reaction, although I donāt think it would get an in your face reaction. It would get you pulled to the side and a conversation about why we do what we do.
Hereās the difference between some mature and experienced; someone whoās been around knows whatāll happen and will do things to avoid problems. They know whatās important and what isnāt. They wonāt harp on things that donāt matter. They know the intent of the rules and go by those rather than just knowing the rules and blindly enforcing them to a tee. Theyāll know when to relax and when to be a hardass. They know certain things bring out a BS response and will alter things whenever appropriate. And when itās something critical that typically brings out responses they donāt like or didnāt anticipate, they donāt get rattled and lose it.
Very few 18 year olds and younger know which rules are worth enforcing and which ones arenāt. They think āthatās the way my teacher does it and Iām going to make sure it gets done.ā They have that mentality that they should be given the same exact respect their teacher commands. They fail to realize no oneās going to give you that same level of respect because they havenāt earned it.
Adults absolutely act like this too. Not nearly as often and not nearly to the same extent.
And Bruce, Iām giving you the benefit of the doubt here. Iām pretty sure youāre not doing things just to piss this kid off. Iām pretty sure youāre doing things that are acceptable in other peopleās classes. But different teachers expect different things and have different hang ups. And some people are just bad teachers and/or just not my type of person. I just avoid going to classes I know theyāre teaching, and suck it up when they unexpectedly teach a class someone else normally teaches.
There was an assistant instructor whoās classes I avoided. Great person, and I wouldnāt hesitate to pull her aside and ask for some one-on-one help with anything. But just awful at running a class IMO. Just about every time I attended her class, I just went through the motions and got it over as quietly as possible. She was on a regular rotation, so I knew when to not go. And when she filled in for someone else, I knew what to expect.
No, Bruce, I donāt think youāre lying.
When weāre doing kata in class, weāre supposed to wait at the end of the count until the teacher says ānaoreā which is basically come back to a ready stance. Itās so the teacher can look through the dojo and make sure everyone did what they were supposed to and make any corrections if necessary. Itās certainly not like training a dog with āsit, stay, donāt move.ā A teacher on a power trip could absolutely turn it into that, but thatās not the genuine reason for it.
Our kyu/colored belt katas typically have 20 counts. Many black belt katas have far more. Using an extreme example, letās say Iām doing Seido 4 kata and a black belt is doing Kanku; Seido 4 has 15 counts and Kanku has 55. Iām supposed to hold that final technique and stance until the teacher says ānaore.ā If I stop when Iām done and start doing my kata over or backwards, or whatever else, Iām going to disrupt the flow of everything. Iāll distract the teacher, students, etc. In my dojo Iāll probably get in someoneās way because weāre pretty cramped in there often enough. And the teachers wonāt make us stand there the whole time, theyāll tell us to stop while the others continue. Or have us do something else. And thatās when weāre doing it to the teacherās count rather than our own count.
None of the teachers would get in someoneās face or bent out of shape over it. Theyād politely tell the student to stand still until theyāre told otherwise and explain why. Repeatedly doing it may get an interesting reaction, although I donāt think it would get an in your face reaction. It would get you pulled to the side and a conversation about why we do what we do.
Hereās the difference between some mature and experienced; someone whoās been around knows whatāll happen and will do things to avoid problems. They know whatās important and what isnāt. They wonāt harp on things that donāt matter. They know the intent of the rules and go by those rather than just knowing the rules and blindly enforcing them to a tee. Theyāll know when to relax and when to be a hardass. They know certain things bring out a BS response and will alter things whenever appropriate. And when itās something critical that typically brings out responses they donāt like or didnāt anticipate, they donāt get rattled and lose it.
Very few 18 year olds and younger know which rules are worth enforcing and which ones arenāt. They think āthatās the way my teacher does it and Iām going to make sure it gets done.ā They have that mentality that they should be given the same exact respect their teacher commands. They fail to realize no oneās going to give you that same level of respect because they havenāt earned it.
Adults absolutely act like this too. Not nearly as often and not nearly to the same extent.
And Bruce, Iām giving you the benefit of the doubt here. Iām pretty sure youāre not doing things just to piss this kid off. Iām pretty sure youāre doing things that are acceptable in other peopleās classes. But different teachers expect different things and have different hang ups. And some people are just bad teachers and/or just not my type of person. I just avoid going to classes I know theyāre teaching, and suck it up when they unexpectedly teach a class someone else normally teaches.
There was an assistant instructor whoās classes I avoided. Great person, and I wouldnāt hesitate to pull her aside and ask for some one-on-one help with anything. But just awful at running a class IMO. Just about every time I attended her class, I just went through the motions and got it over as quietly as possible. She was on a regular rotation, so I knew when to not go. And when she filled in for someone else, I knew what to expect.
