Enjoy Your Time With White Belts Every once in a while, I get a pairing that makes me look at the room and think: Well, this should be interesting. Black belt. Eight-year-old white belt. About two feet between them. On paper, it looks ridiculous. Which is usually a pretty good reason to see what happens. The Drill Was Not Complicated We were doing kicks to hand targets. Nothing fancy. I told the white belt: You do not have to be perfect. But don’t miss. Just get used to connecting the foot to...
11 days ago • 3 min read
Why I Sometimes Step Back During Class From the outside, I probably look like I am not doing very much sometimes. I give the instruction. I explain what I want. Then the drill starts, and I walk around. I am not standing beside every student correcting every rep. That is deliberate. There is a point where I need to stop being part of the equation. Instruction First When I introduce something, I tend to teach it in a fairly authoritative way. Here is the drill. Here is what I want. Here are...
15 days ago • 3 min read
I Can’t Believe I Just Did That Every so often, a student does something that surprises them. Usually it is physical. A kick goes higher than they expected. A technique lands with more power than they thought they had. For a second, they just stop. Then I get the look. “I can’t believe I just did that.” Sometimes they say it. Sometimes they do not have to. You can see it. Nothing Went Wrong Sometimes I think they are almost waiting for something bad to happen. They tried something harder....
19 days ago • 3 min read
When Your Child Says, “It Was Hard” Sometimes a student finishes class, gets into the car, and says: “That was hard.” That does not bother me. Sometimes it just means they have never been pushed that hard before. What matters more is how they leave. I Know What I Don’t Want to See I do not want to see a student defeated. There is a look. Shoulders down. Hunched over. Glossy eyes. They do not really want to look at me. That is different from being tired. It is different from being frustrated...
22 days ago • 3 min read
The Moment You Stop Watching the Class There is a point when a parent stops coming inside. At first, they stay for everything. Shoes come off. Coat comes off. Belt gets adjusted. Somebody asks where to stand. Somebody forgets where to stand even though we covered that about thirty seconds ago. Then one day the child gets out of the car, looks back and says: “Bye, Mom.” Or: “Bye, Dad.” And disappears through the front door. The first few times, the parent usually laughs. Eventually, they stop...
25 days ago • 4 min read
The First Class Back Is Not a Test After a long break, students rarely come back exactly where they left off. Timing is usually off. Their circadian rhythm may be off too. Summer does that. Later nights. Later mornings. Different schedules. Less structure. And for a lot of kids, less physical activity. So if I take a student who has been off for most of July and August and immediately throw them into complicated poomsae, hard sparring drills, burpees and push-ups, it is probably going to be...
28 days ago • 3 min read
Changing the Drill Doesn’t Mean Lowering the Standard Parents sometimes want change from their child. Listen the first time. Pay attention. Stop doing this. Start doing that. And when the change does not happen, the natural reaction can be to repeat the instruction. Sometimes louder. Sometimes more often. I understand that. I do it in martial arts too. But over the years I have learned something: If the student is not changing, sometimes I have to change what I am doing first. That does not...
30 days ago • 3 min read
The Belt Is Winning Again There is a point in almost every beginner’s martial arts journey when the belt decides it no longer wants to participate. One side gets longer. The knot starts turning. The jacket opens. The student notices. And suddenly the drill has stopped because we are now performing emergency belt maintenance. Again. I understand it. In fact, I would probably be more concerned if they looked completely disheveled and did not notice. I want them to care about how they look. I...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
You Can’t Give a Child Confidence Parents will sometimes tell me they want their child to become more confident. I understand what they mean. They want a child who is not scared every time something new or unfamiliar happens. But I don’t know if I can simply give a child confidence. I teach martial arts. If confidence is what they’re looking for, martial arts gives them plenty of opportunities to find it. That is different. The First Day Usually Looks Conservative A first-time student often...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read