I have been doing Tae Kwon Do for many years and I am visiting a Kenpo/Krav Maga school next week and I was wondering what kinds of etiquette are the norm in not-so traditional Kenpo schools. For example, do you bow to each other? Hands at sides or hand over fist in front of you? Do you bow to the training area upon entering or leaving?
I'm sure that they'll clue me in on this stuff but I was just curious.
If its American Kenpo, the ettiquette/ritual is more scaled down than some other flavors. Generally speaking in American Kenpo, the bow is hand-over-fist. Some implement a bow and simple greeting (ie: Good Evening sir, Good Evening ma'am) when you walk through the front door, others don't.
AK schools do a bow upon entering/exiting the mat, as well as a bow to one's training partner before beginning a technique or a drill. A bow to the instructor isn't generally done unless your instructor is your partner for a particular activity, but most classes start with a salute that is done by everyone simultaneously. Many AK schools use some sort of opening pledge, such as the
Kenpo Creed
AK typically doesn't ask for people to bow to "things", such as flags or pictures of the founder. AK also typically doesn't ask that the student wait for the instructor to put his/her belt on...instead the student puts on the uniform before class and slides the belt knot to the left (for men) or right (for women). Knots in the center designate the instructor.
Each class usually ends with a salute, and usually some kind of simple ritual such as high-fiving each one of your classmates or a round of pass-the-punch.
Generally instructors tell everyone in the class (black belt or not)to addresses a black belt by "sir" or "ma'am" or with an honorific (Ms. Hsu, Mr. Jackson, Mrs. Winters). In practice, sure your BB instructors expect this, your BB classmates are just as likely to tell you to just call them by their first name.
Some schools borrow a Chinese or Japanese title here and there (Sensei, Sifu, etc). Ed Parker created academic-sounding titles for each belt rank so it is possible to see those titles used in class, but typically you are not expected to refer to your instructor as "master" or "grandmaster" (as Mr. Parker did not use those terms). For the most part, most AK teachers are just fine with being called Mr. Jones, Ms. Smith, sir, or ma'am. Some even drop the formalities all together.
Hope that helps
