Bored

[Manny]

Last class I felt super bored, only one guy came, the dojang has kup test next sunday so I review with the student basics (sogi-sul, makki-sul,chagui-sul and hand techs) however I felt terrible bored, felt like I have nothing more to give.

I am a little dry if you know what I mean, like a squeze lemon, nothing new in class, just the same old song, also I was tired too, don't know if it was the hot weather or what.

My wife will need surgery and she will have to take things easy, so there is a chance I will have to take some TKD vacations to take care of her and my girls.

Don't know what is happening, sometimes I feel I need something new and refreshing to do.

Sorry to anoying with this kind of stuff, but believe me teaching class yestarday was like in slow motion, bored and with some kind of bad feeling, like I wasn't in the mood.

Manny

 

[dancingalone]

We all suffer from the doldrums from time to time. Nothing wrong with a short vacation to recover and re-energize our enthusiasm for training or teaching.

I'm actually in a bit of a hiatus myself from teaching group classes. I'm letting my assistants cover for a few weeks. The experience will do them good and the time off is permitting me to write and film some formal lesson plans, complete with supporting drills, that should keep us busy well into next year.

On a more general teaching note, I find that when I am 'bored' with teaching, it's because I have not engaged the students enough to excite them. It's very boring to teach a bunch of guys standing around giving only half-effort. On the other hand, if you have some earnest people in the room who thirst for the knowledge and experience that only YOU can give them... well, it's hard not to be thrilled yourself as a teacher and you'll find it hard to end class on time yourself.

What is fun and interesting for us as teachers? What is fun yet instructive for the students? Can we find ways for the two to coincide? Of course we can. Example: I am a kata fanatic. Forms are the foundation for everything I teach - everything flows from it including free sparring and self-defense. On the other hand, some of my less experienced students, for whom the light bulb has yet to come on, dislike forms practice. I sometimes liven up things for them by attacking them as they run their forms. They are expected to defend and counter fluently, ideally using the concepts and motion contained directly in the form, but if not, they still need to resume and continue from the exact spot in the form that they were interrupted in.

 

[Cyriacus]

It happens.

Take a Break.
Reconsider things.
Call yourself a fool for losing so much time you could have spent being productive

Seriously though, sounds like you need a Break.

 

[ATC]

Mix in some hapkido or even some rolls. I even do a boxing class every now and then. You must do something different to break up the routine. Plus it is good to mix in some different stuff every now and then to keep them thinking.

 

[StudentCarl]

I suggest spending some time on your own, training on just your own skills, to get back in touch with what gets you excited in Taekwondo. Rekindle that fire in yourself, and you'll have it to share. It can also help to attend seminars and tournaments. I always get re-energized when I meet and learn with and from new people. I would be excited to train with you, Manny.

 

[Manny]

I suggest spending some time on your own, training on just your own skills, to get back in touch with what gets you excited in Taekwondo. Rekindle that fire in yourself, and you'll have it to share. It can also help to attend seminars and tournaments. I always get re-energized when I meet and learn with and from new people. I would be excited to train with you, Manny.

Yes, I've been doing that, once a month a select group consiting of an aikidoka,a karateka,a lima-lama, a kenpoka,a iaido master and myself (tkd) get together to train and show/learn some about each others martial art, this has been fantastic, some times I show my students the diferent techs that we do in those training sessions and we have fun too.

What bores me it's the same kicking drills to the air or the padles, what I like is the aplication of the techs using parthners (tori/uke).

Thjis week I must to work in the kup program because my students maybe test but next week I will do some changes to the class.

It will be nice to train under or with you too.

Manny

 

[RobinTKD]

Manny, have you thought about transferring from WTF/KKW style TKD to a more traditional ITF style? Reading a lot of your posts, you obviously prefer the older ways, we practice just as much hand techs as we do kicking drills at our school, along side Tul, we learn a hell of a lot of SD techs, some of which are potentially lethal if used correctly/incorrectly (depending on your point of view). Maybe then it would rekindle some of the passion again? Alternatively, at what level is the guy you trained with? Last week we had a class that was just me and my instructor (school holidays, it was a late class and only i turned up), we padded up and sparred the entire night, not only was it fun but I learned more from that than i have from the last 6 months of sparring with different partners.

 

[Manny]

Manny, have you thought about transferring from WTF/KKW style TKD to a more traditional ITF style? Reading a lot of your posts, you obviously prefer the older ways, we practice just as much hand techs as we do kicking drills at our school, along side Tul, we learn a hell of a lot of SD techs, some of which are potentially lethal if used correctly/incorrectly (depending on your point of view). Maybe then it would rekindle some of the passion again? Alternatively, at what level is the guy you trained with? Last week we had a class that was just me and my instructor (school holidays, it was a late class and only i turned up), we padded up and sparred the entire night, not only was it fun but I learned more from that than i have from the last 6 months of sparring with different partners.

There si no ITF dojangs in my city, eben in my country there are very few so this is not possible. I teach TKD to two blue belt men, it's dificult to train with my master, the only way to do it is to be in the advance belt class that has kids and moms, the class that I teach is the last one.

My class is self defense oriented and in some way I try to teach the old way, you know using korean comands,some poomsae,some kyorugi,basics and yes we do some times high kicks but don't die for them, some times I teach some techs from another martial arts but trying to do this ala Korean Style.

Manny

 

[Cyriacus]

There si no ITF dojangs in my city, eben in my country there are very few so this is not possible. I teach TKD to two blue belt men, it's dificult to train with my master, the only way to do it is to be in the advance belt class that has kids and moms, the class that I teach is the last one.

My class is self defense oriented and in some way I try to teach the old way, you know using korean comands,some poomsae,some kyorugi,basics and yes we do some times high kicks but don't die for them, some times I teach some techs from another martial arts but trying to do this ala Korean Style.

Manny

In Mexico?

Now i can appreciate that we had a Mexican Blackbelt compete in the ITF General Choi Cup, earlier this year.
And from what youve said, you would probably like the style, particularly in addition to what you already know.
But alas

 

[ralphmcpherson]

Last class I felt super bored, only one guy came, the dojang has kup test next sunday so I review with the student basics (sogi-sul, makki-sul,chagui-sul and hand techs) however I felt terrible bored, felt like I have nothing more to give.

I am a little dry if you know what I mean, like a squeze lemon, nothing new in class, just the same old song, also I was tired too, don't know if it was the hot weather or what.

My wife will need surgery and she will have to take things easy, so there is a chance I will have to take some TKD vacations to take care of her and my girls.

Don't know what is happening, sometimes I feel I need something new and refreshing to do.

Sorry to anoying with this kind of stuff, but believe me teaching class yestarday was like in slow motion, bored and with some kind of bad feeling, like I wasn't in the mood.

Manny

Its funny Manny, I was about to start a thread similar to this one only the other day. It is winter over here currently which always affects my motivation , plus Im carrying some small injuries, plus the business my wife and I run is really busy at the moment and we are putting more staff on, plus we are in the process of buying a new car etc etc and I'm finding I am getting to class and mentally Im just not there, Im basically just going through the motions. Ive been doing tkd for a liitle over 5 years and its the first time Ive ever felt this way. It all came to a head the other night when I went to class after abusy day with the business and I was just useless, my kicking, my flexibilty just everything was terrible and I left the class feeling very frustrated. A few days on and Ive taken a new aproach and realised that these are the hurdles you face occasionally when doing something 'full time'. When Ive done other sports they have seasons, by the end of the football season I had 6 months off to rest and recuperate and by the start of the next season I was champing at the bit ready to go. Martial arts are different, you do them all year round without the chance to occasionally have a break and rekindle your enthusiasm. I am now looking at this as a positive and lifting myself out of this will be character building and will be part of what makes a good martial artist. I now look forward to the challenge. Class tonight, bring it on!

 

[Manny]

Well no ITF dojangs near by, and feeling little tired, you know the simphtoms a little pain here, a little pain there, sleepy, a little lazy and feeling like sick, maybe mentaly, but don't know what to do to renergyze myself, I don't like to take cafein pills or red bulls, don't know if you have taken some suplemnt to stay sharp when you fill down.

I have a class to teach this evening so I hope I can be ready at dojang.

Manny

 

[Manny]

Only one guy came to class last night and I felt sad, any how I teach to this guy but we did things diferent trying to motivate me and motivating him too, we did some joging and then we did some judo rolls and breakfalls, this was the warm up, so then I proced to show my student how the break falls can be a nice thing to know when somebody trows you, so we practice one judo (ipon soe nage) trow and one sweep (dashy baray). So we get hooked on the self defense moves and do as many one steps sparring as we acn remeber finishing with some aikido joint manipulations.

Overall the class went fine, we finished soak wet and a little tired.

Manny