JR 137
Grandmaster
The thing too is we’re only hearing @Bruce7 ’s side of the story. You know the saying: there’s 3 sides to every story - his, hers, and the truth.
No, Bruce, I don’t think you’re lying.
When we’re doing kata in class, we’re supposed to wait at the end of the count until the teacher says “naore” which is basically come back to a ready stance. It’s so the teacher can look through the dojo and make sure everyone did what they were supposed to and make any corrections if necessary. It’s certainly not like training a dog with “sit, stay, don’t move.” A teacher on a power trip could absolutely turn it into that, but that’s 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, let’s say I’m doing Seido 4 kata and a black belt is doing Kanku; Seido 4 has 15 counts and Kanku has 55. I’m supposed to hold that final technique and stance until the teacher says “naore.” If I stop when I’m done and start doing my kata over or backwards, or whatever else, I’m going to disrupt the flow of everything. I’ll distract the teacher, students, etc. In my dojo I’ll probably get in someone’s way because we’re pretty cramped in there often enough. And the teachers won’t make us stand there the whole time, they’ll tell us to stop while the others continue. Or have us do something else. And that’s when we’re doing it to the teacher’s count rather than our own count.
None of the teachers would get in someone’s face or bent out of shape over it. They’d politely tell the student to stand still until they’re told otherwise and explain why. Repeatedly doing it may get an interesting reaction, although I don’t 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.
Here’s the difference between some mature and experienced; someone who’s been around knows what’ll happen and will do things to avoid problems. They know what’s important and what isn’t. They won’t harp on things that don’t 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. They’ll 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 it’s something critical that typically brings out responses they don’t like or didn’t anticipate, they don’t get rattled and lose it.
Very few 18 year olds and younger know which rules are worth enforcing and which ones aren’t. They think “that’s the way my teacher does it and I’m going to make sure it gets done.” They have that mentality that they should be given the same exact respect their teacher commands. They fail to realize no one’s going to give you that same level of respect because they haven’t earned it.
Adults absolutely act like this too. Not nearly as often and not nearly to the same extent.
And Bruce, I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt here. I’m pretty sure you’re not doing things just to piss this kid off. I’m pretty sure you’re doing things that are acceptable in other people’s 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 they’re teaching, and suck it up when they unexpectedly teach a class someone else normally teaches.
There was an assistant instructor who’s classes I avoided. Great person, and I wouldn’t 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 don’t think you’re lying.
When we’re doing kata in class, we’re supposed to wait at the end of the count until the teacher says “naore” which is basically come back to a ready stance. It’s so the teacher can look through the dojo and make sure everyone did what they were supposed to and make any corrections if necessary. It’s certainly not like training a dog with “sit, stay, don’t move.” A teacher on a power trip could absolutely turn it into that, but that’s 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, let’s say I’m doing Seido 4 kata and a black belt is doing Kanku; Seido 4 has 15 counts and Kanku has 55. I’m supposed to hold that final technique and stance until the teacher says “naore.” If I stop when I’m done and start doing my kata over or backwards, or whatever else, I’m going to disrupt the flow of everything. I’ll distract the teacher, students, etc. In my dojo I’ll probably get in someone’s way because we’re pretty cramped in there often enough. And the teachers won’t make us stand there the whole time, they’ll tell us to stop while the others continue. Or have us do something else. And that’s when we’re doing it to the teacher’s count rather than our own count.
None of the teachers would get in someone’s face or bent out of shape over it. They’d politely tell the student to stand still until they’re told otherwise and explain why. Repeatedly doing it may get an interesting reaction, although I don’t 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.
Here’s the difference between some mature and experienced; someone who’s been around knows what’ll happen and will do things to avoid problems. They know what’s important and what isn’t. They won’t harp on things that don’t 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. They’ll 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 it’s something critical that typically brings out responses they don’t like or didn’t anticipate, they don’t get rattled and lose it.
Very few 18 year olds and younger know which rules are worth enforcing and which ones aren’t. They think “that’s the way my teacher does it and I’m going to make sure it gets done.” They have that mentality that they should be given the same exact respect their teacher commands. They fail to realize no one’s going to give you that same level of respect because they haven’t earned it.
Adults absolutely act like this too. Not nearly as often and not nearly to the same extent.
And Bruce, I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt here. I’m pretty sure you’re not doing things just to piss this kid off. I’m pretty sure you’re doing things that are acceptable in other people’s 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 they’re teaching, and suck it up when they unexpectedly teach a class someone else normally teaches.
There was an assistant instructor who’s classes I avoided. Great person, and I wouldn’t 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.
