Martial Arts Pet Peeves

[K31]

People who show up for class without their uniform, belt, sparring gear ("Yes we spar the same day every week"). Parents who for God knows why keep bringing their offspring to class even though it's painfully obvious the kid doesn't want to be there. People who think if they just hang around long enough they should get a belt. Parents that don't understand that that the Dojang is primarily for the students, not them or their stuff. People who constantly show up (conveniently, for them) after the warm-up. Someone already said the dirty uniform them but can you believe coffee stains and not small ones and not just once. People that disrespect their belt, drag it on the floor, can't tie it, keep losing it.

 

[taekwondodo]

- Kids can't tie their own belt at Red to BB level
- Kids come to class wear dirty uniform
-Adults comes to class with wrinkle uniform
-BB comes to class forget to bring their belt
-Kids comes to form class once and win gold in 2 person division and got a big head when they comes home.

 

[goingd]

1. Almost everything everyone has said so far
2. Masters who cannot spar (not because of physical limitations, but simply because they do not know how)
3. Black belts that are so wide they can fit a school patch on them.
4. All the stories about some kid with a black belt in Taekwondo who thought he could take on some skater punk and got his butt beat. You have no idea how sick I am of hearing that particular story.
5. Parents who expect their unfocused, never disciplined at home four year old to test
6. Taekwondoists who say they know Hapkido, but teach know like three things they saw on youtube.

I could go on forever so I'ma stop... for now.

^~^

 

[matt.m]

Student know - it - alls
Instructors that are too full of self importance to teach correctly
more talking = less practice time duh

 

[msmitht]

Masters who do not teach...they have teens do it 4 them.
grandmasters and masters who do not train.
parents who think that their child is the best and should test when they suck.
students who quit after 1 tournament loss.
inflated egos.
schools that seem to specialize in everything (at least until the next fad)
schools that use the name tkd but are not (yes, I am referring to the wannabee's....you know who you are).
teachers who go to a 2-6 hour seminar in krav maga/hagannah/bjj/mma/etc... and think that they actually know how to teach it.
teachers who give out patches/stickers/awards in every class just to keep them coming back.
4-8 year old black belts....it is just too young people. I don't care how good they are. Even if they have been training since they were 3.
and finally....when a 16-18 year old 4th dan comes in and asks me why I did not stop class to bow to him. After all, by kkw standards he is a master (of course he does not have a kkw cert) and has trained for 6-8 years and that is what they do at his grandmasters school (a 34 year old 8th dan...LOL)
For a good laugh check out youtube and search "Sky Martial Arts". I ran across a belt testing video of theirs from june....LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jade Tigress]

Students who insist on wasting class time with "what ifs".

Doh! You beat me to it too.

 

[d1jinx]

OMG...............:barf:

I Cannot believe what i just watched. Are you serious. Is this what we have representing TKD?

I just watched the youtube video that msmitht was speaking of.

:duh:ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!

And the sad thing is, a few of them show "some" potential. They are attemping to do Taeguek forms which means they more than likely are going to issue KKW certs to those lucky students.:barf:

Sad. so sad. This is why TKD is loosing credability. :rpo:

 

[msmitht]

I thought it was sad. Their GM is out of Los Angles. on the Website he is listed as a KKW 9th dan...among many other things. It is almost a guarantee that they will get kkw certs.

 

[celtic_crippler]

OMG...............:barf:

I Cannot believe what i just watched. Are you serious. Is this what we have representing TKD?

I just watched the youtube video that msmitht was speaking of.

:duh:ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!

And the sad thing is, a few of them show "some" potential. They are attemping to do Taeguek forms which means they more than likely are going to issue KKW certs to those lucky students.:barf:

Sad. so sad. This is why TKD is loosing credability. :rpo:

I thought I was watching the sequal to "The Foot Fist Way." LOL The instructor does kinda favor the guy in the moive...and the students..

Anyway...

I'd have to echo that I hate people that don't wash their gi and smell like hot garbage.

 

[girlbug2]

Ah yes, the Legend of Smelly Gi Guy! He does get around.

 

[miguksaram]

Parent pet peeves of martial arts:

- Parents who expect me to be the sole disciplinarian in the kid's life.
- Same parents who are upset when you do discipline their kid.
- Drive by drop offs of 5-7 year olds 30 minutes before class
- Parents who pick up those same kids 30 minutes or more after the class has ended
- Parents who wonder after a 2 years why their child isn't a black belt yet their friend/neighbor/cousin who takes it down the road is almost 2nd dan after 1.5 years
- Parents who argue with you on how you are teaching
- Sideline coaching from parents DURING class

 

[igillman]

Not doing proper push ups. We have lots of kids who say they can do 100 push ups and then demonstrate either "arm twitching" or "head bobbing".

 

[terryl965]

Parent pet peeves of martial arts:

- Parents who expect me to be the sole disciplinarian in the kid's life.
- Same parents who are upset when you do discipline their kid.
- Drive by drop offs of 5-7 year olds 30 minutes before class
- Parents who pick up those same kids 30 minutes or more after the class has ended
- Parents who wonder after a 2 years why their child isn't a black belt yet their friend/neighbor/cousin who takes it down the road is almost 2nd dan after 1.5 years
- Parents who argue with you on how you are teaching
- Sideline coaching from parents DURING class

I can only agree with everything that you mention.

 

[Jphtkd]

Parents who don't pay attention to the calendar that we mail out, the flyers we pass out in class, and the posters in the window all saying the day that we are going to be closed. They then get upset when they show up on the day/time and there are no classes going on.

"Nobody told me there would not be class"

 

[Marginal]

Random weapons annoy me.

"We train TKD!"
Ok... Why are you waving a katana/"numb chuck" around then?

 

[goingd]

Parents who don't pay attention to the calendar that we mail out, the flyers we pass out in class, and the posters in the window all saying the day that we are going to be closed. They then get upset when they show up on the day/time and there are no classes going on.

"Nobody told me there would not be class"

I... just had that happen. Signs were all around the community center ALL WEEK saying all classes were canceled for the next week. I even made an announcement twice that week after class. Still, like five parents showed up and complained that I did not tell them it would be closed. It took one parent remembering on her own and admitting her mistake to defend me... *sigh* This is why I will not teach full time.

 

[MadMartigan]

It's been slow on the boards, so I'll list some of mine.

1. People who shout 'kiai' or 'kihap' for their kiai/kihap.
2. Mono tempo pattern performances, where everything is done on a 1-2 count
3. People who practice a bazillion different forms and it shows by their poor understanding and performance
4. Everyone has to be a grandmaster or a soke. I'm always amused by people on forums who feel you are insulting them by calling them 'Mister' or God forbid, 'Sensei' instead of whatever inflated title they feel entitled to. 'Sensei' was good enough for the likes of Chojun Miyagi. It should be enough for anyone.
5. Black belt clubs, master clubs, etc. Here's a novel idea: just charge a flat monthly fee and teach each student according to their level. Don't charge extra for a weapons class for Pete's sake.

What are some of yours?

Lots of good ones already. One I didn't see was one of mine.
Parents who are in the fitness industry.

A 7 year old comes in and says 'my mom says you're supposed to do it this way'. It's just so helpful.

 

[J. Pickard]

Oh man, there are so many. My top 5 have to be
5. arguing over how to do a technique "correctly" and not understanding that there may be more than one way.
4. devalued black belts that think their black belt is the same as any other black belt, i.e. getting a black belt after a year or so just because you showed up and paid for class but don't actually have a higher understanding of your art than a middle rank vs someone who had to prove their knowledge and understanding after years and years of serious training (not all black belts are equal).
3. People who equate tricking and TKD dance to actual martial arts. Tricking and TKD dance is cool as hell and takes a lot of skill but it is definitely not a martial art.
2. Martial arts cults (and there are sooo many).
1. People who don't train seriously and then ask for a belt or ask why they haven't tested yet.

 

[andyjeffries]

4. devalued black belts that think their black belt is the same as any other black belt, i.e. getting a black belt after a year or so just because you showed up and paid for class but don't actually have a higher understanding of your art than a middle rank vs someone who had to prove their knowledge and understanding after years and years of serious training (not all black belts are equal).

I strangely agree with parts of this "not all black belts are equal" but disagree with others (e.g. comparison to a "middle rank"). I think it comes from my belief (inline with Kukkiwon) that 1st Dan is a beginner rank. I think over inflation of what a 1st Dan is, that's the problem, and requiring years and years of training to achieve this beginner rank (although at our dojang 3 years is pretty common).

 

[Dirty Dog]

I strangely agree with parts of this "not all black belts are equal" but disagree with others (e.g. comparison to a "middle rank"). I think it comes from my belief (inline with Kukkiwon) that 1st Dan is a beginner rank. I think over inflation of what a 1st Dan is, that's the problem, and requiring years and years of training to achieve this beginner rank (although at our dojang 3 years is pretty common).

Agreed. Rank means what it means within a given school or system. No more, no less. To you, a 1st Dan in 3 years (or less) is no big deal. Because it's a beginner rank. To us, a 1st Dan in 6-8 years is much more reasonable, because it's a teaching rank.
And when you consider the possibility that a given person has prior training, those time frames can drop drastically. I'm willing to bet that if I didn't already have KKW rank, I could learn the KKW 1st Dan curriculum in a couple of months. Likewise, I'm willing to bet you could learn our curriculum in a similarly short time frame.