Loyalty: To Instructor, School, or Style?

[Lisa]

I have been through a style switch with my instructor. Stayed with him because he keeps me interested in what he has to teach. I have no desire at this point in my life to learn anything else. Perhaps someday I will, just not right now. I do, however, enjoy reading and learning about other styles, that is probably why I frequent this forum so often. Lots of good people from a variety of styles. Lots to learn from.

 

[Andrew Green]

I do, however, enjoy reading and learning about other styles,

hmm... That sounds an awful lot like a request for a homework assignment

 

[Lisa]

hmm... That sounds an awful lot like a request for a homework assignment

:waah:

 

[Shurikan]

I have learned what not to do as an instructor, from past instructors ,as i have learned what to do. When it comes to the Art i follow my heart. I have been thru these changes and you can not really say your loyal til you have been put to the test. there is just too many sitituations to say you are going to be loyal to anything. I am loyal to my wife but if she cheats on me im not going to be loyal anymore.

 

[karatekid1975]

I am loyal to my first instructor. I didn't leave my first dojang because I "wanted" to. I moved. I had to. But I still train there (when I visit family in NJ) twice a year for a few days. I could train somewhere else (what I call a "vacation dojang" where you train on vacation for a short time), but I don't want to.

I am kinda loyal to my current dojang. The dojangs up here have very low standards, except for this one (unless there's one I haven't seen or heard of yet). They are basically belt factories. But I know I earn my rank here (it's a bi**h to get a BB in this place). They are very tough on you, specially on higher ranks (green and above). And they get REALLY strict with red belts and above.

I did pick TKD because it was similar to TSD. But, I know in my heart, if there were a TSD dojang up here (if it's not a Mcdojang that is), or I had a chance to return to my old dojang, I'd go in a second.

 

[Sin]

I know that when my sensei gets everything off the ground with our school and we move out of his garage...(its just a Dojo...everything in there has to do with MA...and its padded) into a real building and we got 100+ students...i will be the highest ranked student and i will be getting paid to teach.....so I am in it for the long haul.

 

[stone_dragone]

I stay loyal to my instructor, although I only make it home twice a year. I teach what he taught me, how he taught me (with a certain amount of revision/evolution which is natural).

When he decides to retire and pass the school on, I know I won't be there to be an option, so I don't know if his successor (and I most likely know who he will be) will command as much loyalty as he is a junior to me (but a good friend....)

 

[Kacey]

I was talking about this with another martial artist the reasons why people stay or leave certain styles/schools/instructors. Of course, this is a simplistic view, but I'm curious to how strong your sense of loyalty is within the martial arts world. Hypothetically, how would you deal with the following scenarios?

Interesting question... and not always hypothetical.

Are you loyal to your instructor, even if the instructor leaves? Would you follow if that instructor set up a new (same style) school?

Yes, I would... and, in fact, I did. My instructor left the organization he was a member of, and I left with him - because I agreed with his reasons, and also because it was a free choice. If I had the same decision to make over again, I would make the same choice - and knowing what I know now, I would do it with fewer misgivings.

Are you loyal to your instructor, even if the instructor decides to switch to a different style?

That's an interesting question. I would probably not change styles at this point as much for my students as myself.

Are you loyal to your style, regardless of instructor? Would you leave the school and look for another similar style school if the original school chose to change styles?

If my instructor left and was never coming back (either through a move or a change in style) I would have to consider my options. Certainly, one of them would be to request one of the other seniors in my organization to become my instructor - but the circumstances of situation would have to dictate my choice, and it would, as before, have to be in the best interests of my students as well as myself.

Would you stay with the school, regardless of style changes or whether instructors leave?

No. My instructor has always taught out of others' facilities, and has never had a building that was solely his - when he moved from one facility to another, I went with him, even when he temporarily stopped teaching and the workouts were in his back yard. The physical location is less important that the quality of the instruction.

 

[fnorfurfoot]

I am loyal to my personal beliefs. I was with my instructor for 11 years. I was loyal to him personally from white to first, maybe second degree black. The longer I was with him, the more of his personal side I saw. He is a racist, sexist, egomaniac, who believes that his view of the martial arts is the only correct way to look at things. And that way is, he is right and everyone else is wrong. I believe that my loyalty changed once I started opperating my own school and started looking at other arts and socializing with people in those arts. From that point on, I stayed with my instructor to sponge off as much information as I could about the system I had spent so much time studying. I stopped going to him a little more than a year ago when I noticed that I wasn't learning anything new.

 

[matt.m]

I am very one sided on this view. For the thought that I know what it takes to get a dan ranking in Moo Sul Kwan Hapkido and Tae Kwon Do. I have seen way too many people test for belts ranging from my own, all the way up to purple, brown, and red, never dan though.

I know what the teaching style is and how the class will go. I have worked with several different black belts in my organization. However, in my case, I have loyalty to the grandmaster and the dans under him at the location I am at. However, my dad is an upper ranking dan in the organization, and I have known all the hapkido black belts since they started at white belt. So that is a different type of loyalty.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I was loyal to my instructor and the style that he use to teach. Most unfortunately he did not remain as loyal to his style and his teacher.

 

[IcemanSK]

I have been loyal, to a fault in some cases, to my instructors. My first moved away (I don't take it personally). The next lied to us all about who he was & what he represented. The next became a dear friend & I was with him in hospital when he died. My current instructor values loyality a great deal & gives it in return.

As an instructor now, I see how important both expecting & showing loyality to instructor & student is. It is a 2 way street.

 

[TimoS]

Are you loyal to your instructor, even if the instructor leaves? Would you follow if that instructor set up a new (same style) school?

Interesting topic. What happened to me about 1.5 years ago was that my sensei, who was at that time the chief instructor of Shorinji ryu Renshinkan karate here in Finland, decided that he's had it with Renshinkan (and especially it's current soke) and decided to branch out on his own (Matsuoi sensei was at that time 6. dan with nearly 40 years of training behind him). He quite clearly stated to all his students that now is a time to choose: follow him or stay in Renshinkan. To me there really was no option: Matsuoi sensei was and still is my instructor, so I followed him to his new style.

So really, none of the options you gave accurately describe the situation we had here, but still my loayalty lies first with instructor, then with style and last with school

 

[tshadowchaser]

great topic


I am loyal to my instructor and he will always be my instructor but i left the federation and there for am no longer under his command because of several reasons that i do not discuss openly on the internet unless someone else brings up the topic or topics of my leaveing.
Lets just say some times events and personalities colide at the same time and the results takes on a moral judgement that is not seen the same by all sides.
That being said I am still his student and will always be and will back him in almost all ways but the association and certian members of it are not on my "friends list", and there will always be a distance between us.

 

[TimoS]

When he decides to retire and pass the school on, I know I won't be there to be an option, so I don't know if his successor (and I most likely know who he will be) will command as much loyalty as he is a junior to me (but a good friend....)

I can understand this, although in my case the one who the style will most likely be passed on to isn't my junior (except in age). I do fear what will happen when sensei decides to retire