Top ten rules every sensei should follow

                I have been teaching Karate for more than 25 years now. My mom pointed out to me that I was interested in Taking Karate since I was a kid, but always taught my friends the moves I memorized in movies. I was always teaching, even if it was not in a Dojo. Over the years I have learned lots of lessons about being an instructor and a few I still need to master! Here are my top ten that I think every instructor should know or try to learn.

 

One: Don’t forget why you got into Karate!

                One of the biggest down falls I have seen in others is that they forget why they started in Martial arts in the first place and lose track of the why. They get derailed as instructors and start down different dead end paths like “Power”, “Prestige” and other useless goals. Think of why you walked into the Dojo those many years ago.

                One of my Kohai has an interesting family with two kids, one has special needs,  and a big brother with special needs and she often tells me that she got into Karate for her family. And more importantly when she teaches she thinks of family all the time.  Her whole Dojo is so family oriented that it is nice to visit and see the love and family relationship they all share. Its so different than other clubs that seem to be gyms for families to come in and out of but never connect on that level with each other.

                Another of my Juniors has a Gym like Club, but that is exactly why he got into Karate, exercise.  The club works because its focused on things he wants and she wants to encourage in the club. For me it’s the tradition and splendor of Budo that drives me. I see my Sensei at 73 still living the Budo way as best he can and it inspires me. My club, and any club I teach at will always have that feel. The Gritty reality of Showa Karate is my goal even when I am physically limited I will make sure that others train in this way.

 

Two: Never sacrifice technique or standards!

                One of my old seniors once lost it in a testing when three of his students failed the Shodan standard test and were told to come back in six months. The instructor knew that the students were not up to par but he let them test anyways and wanted them to pass. He argued with the testing board for an hour about why they should pass and all I kept thinking was he had changed in his standards for the relative comfort of having three new shodan to teach for him and grow his group…but he failed to see that the students did not understand Karate at that level so we were doing him a favor in failing them. Teach them properly and they will grow, then your group will grow.

                When teaching never let students grade who are not ready for fear of losing them. If they leave because you wont let them grade then it is best they leave! Harsh, maybe but the standards you put forward reflect on you. If you simply give rank every three to six months without regard for standards then you become a McDojo and fall far away from the Budo code.

 

Three: every once and a while….Start over from scratch!

                I hate going to Dojos and seeing the seniors practicing Gojushiho Sho/Dai, Unsu and Sochin but their Heian Nidan is a horrible mess or they cant really remember the Bunkai to Bassai Dai. It’s a shame that we want to race forwards so fast but we forget that the foundation, the Kihon Waza is what builds that advanced level. 

                You have to be willing to strip your techniques down to the lowest point and start from scratch to really advance. The sadness I feel when I see Nidans and Shodans abandon the basics is great. I had to tell a Nidan that they were NEVER going to get permission to grade for sandan unless they knew the first 15 Kata. They were doing Gojushiho sho and still did not know Gankaku or Empi very well.

                Don’t ever be ashamed of going back to Kihon waza and working from scratch. I once had a sempai, Rod, whom moved to Japan and on one occasion before he left I came to the Dojo and he was doing Zenkutsu dachi up and down the floor of the Dojo. He did it for a half hour with his hand on his belt and one on his lower back.  I watched for a half hour and looked at Dingman sensei and asked why he was doing that….Sensei said “he is looking to improve his advanced techniques by mastering the basics”. It struck me that day that I was rushing forwards and not looking back enough. Now I start any work out with Heian Shodan and work up the 15 before I do my selected Katas. You have to be willing and want to start from scratch to build up to the advanced stuff every once and a while.

 

Four: Respect is earned….not demanded!

                I once had a sempai that thought he could garner others respect by simply demanding it and giving reasons why others had to respect him. He took any potential disrespect like a crotchety old Samurai and tried to hack the head off the perceived infringer with insult and bravado. The thing was he lost friends, he lost respect from others and he lost students. You can not DEMAND respect, you get fear and loathing in its place…..you can only give respect, earn it with your hard work and passion and hope you get respected.

                If you are not being respected then you need to look inside first, not blame others. Look at who you are showing the world then asses if it is correct. Many people think I am scary when they first meet me, its probably because I am a tortured introvert trying to not be such a hermit. In truth my preferred two locations are in the dojo blasting a Makiwara or working on form and the other is with my daughter playing video games or watching TV. I don’t feel disrespected often because I don’t really care, I just want to train. However as a instructor I am working on my people skills, I figure if I got this far after 25 years I will be just right in another 25 or so.

                Point is I don’t demand respect and any “scary” attitude is purely accidental. I don’t go around looking for respect and I think I earn it from those that see what I have done and do now for the organization and my students. I learned a valuable lesson from the old Sempai, when you demand respect you get fear! So, don’t demand it….just be yourself and let the rest work itself out.

 

Five: Sport Karate is a short term fix!

                Essentially there are two kinds of Dojos that run; sport centric and Budo Centric. Notice the capitals, placed on purpose. The sport dojo is going to be the one that has little real spirit, they have short term spirit and focus only on athletes….Meaning that the essential focus on ALL students is missing. They put all their focus on a select few to try and build their Dojo off of. They put all their money, effort and time into making three or four people the best they can. The students compete, get burned out and leave…then when….well next two to four students are given all the attention again. The problem lies in that the other students, the majority…well, they get the table scraps.

                The other Dojo will focus on Budo training and try to bring the whole Dojo up. The instructor recruits the same but the Dojo stays full and the athletes grow with the non-athletes. Granted the athletes may not become “elite” athletes, but they tend to stick around longer and learn more deeply. They don’t leave after a burn out and they build the club along with the others who are now enjoying Karate.

                Sport is a short term goal. Any instructor who focuses on just one student or group of students is destined to fail. The focus should be on ALL students not just those that show promise in Sport. Glory is short lived, Dojos cannot pay bills with trophies and students wont stick around if they see you give 90% of the effort to a few and 10% to the many.

 

Six: They are clients and customers first, students and friends second! Don’t take anything personally!

                There is a line between student and customer that instructors tend to forget. First off all students are there or should be there to learn, and there is a strong Asian tradition that students should Seek the master and pay them greatly for lessons learned…yah, that’s great in the movies but this is a few centuries removed from that.

                Students should have a right to choose what they want in an instructor and they should choose what they want in a club/Dojo. I don’t like Kickboxing and full contact but I respect that some students do want that. As a Dojo director I have to let them know that we DON’T do that here, but I am also quick to point out were they can go to get that kind of training. I don’t take it personal when they don’t want to do what we are doing, they are paying money…why should I get mad if they don’t like my teaching subject?              

                Its important not to take things personally. I also have had issues with people who don’t like my old warm ups…or lack thereof. I tell students to show up ½ hour before I teach to warm up because I feel that the old “yoga like” warm ups stole their training time. I remember one time a Giant of a man from a different club came out to train and did not like my teaching. He approached me after class and got in my face about my lack of actual Yoga warm ups…..Not its important to point out that I don’t start the class off like a nutter and go crazy with kicking to harm and hurt students. We warm up with light techniques then a quick stretch after some Kihon or Kata…then we go nutters!

                Well this gent did not like this and made it obvious to me. He tried to bully me by showing his massive frame next to my smaller frame. I am 5’6” and he was about 6’4” and much larger than me. I got a tad worked up but I basically told him that I did not appreciate being bullied, second I told him that if he did not like it he was free NOT to come out. After all this was not his Dojo in the first place. I explained that A) we do a more acceptable warm up (Scientifically speaking) and B) all the students do the Yoga like waste of time before class and if he wanted to come back he was free to do so as well.

                I did not take the complaint personally, I sat and thought about it after and basically attributed it to him not wanting to try something new or not understanding that not all clubs do things the same way and he did not know my rule about coming and warming up on your own if you want  long easy stretch out. Now I did not like his attitude and want to try and bully me, but I did not take the message personally. I had to listen and asses and not go all “IM THE SENSEI….YOU ARE A STUDENT…BOW TO YOUR SENSEI” on him. I was still the business manager/owner and he was still the customer. I also now make sure that if I am letting the students warm up in class or not I explain why and how….long before class starts.

 

Seven: the work that goes into a Dojo is NOT just that which happens on the Dojo floor!

                The work that goes into running a Dojo is NOT just getting your techniques right and learning how to deal with people on the floor. That’s about 20% of the work that goes into a club….and at the beginning its much less than 20%.  Running a club means collecting of fees (and figuring what you need to charge), getting applications filled out, paying rent and possibly utilities, cleaning supplies and making sure YOU use them, getting equipment and maintaining it, sending in application fees to the organization and buying essential equipment and office stuff for the club…..even if the office is your basement.  Marketing, getting marketing stuff printed, PR work, answering phone calls, dealing with parents, setting up testing dates, renting testing facilities, keeping up your own training, running the web site after you set it up….and probably a dozen or more other things I have forgotten.

                The point is that teaching Karate is fun, the rest probably is not. But without it you will be teaching Karate for and to yourself. Start off small and work up, get used to the Non-Karate stuff and then build a bigger club. I have seen way to many people rent a store front and close almost a month or two later because they don’t have the structure to support it.

                This is the glamor less stuff that students DON’T see. The multiple midnight paper work sessions to balance books and get things set up for the next month of bills, the worries about student levels, the paying of light bills and sending in funds to the organization so you are insured. Students never see this stuff and think its all strapping on a black belt and prancing onto the Dojo floor. This is however the majority of what you have in for yourself when you open a Dojo…regardless of size.

 

Eight: its about them….not you!

                So you opened a Dojo and you think you are a big Cheese now eh….well I have news for you, you are now officially in someone’s debt and without them…you are just a goofy guy in white (I will assume) PJ’s with a fancy white belt around your waist. It’s not about you! It’s about them! Without the students we end up being alone in a very expensive club doing weird ancient dance moves with ourselves.

                You need to do two things when you set up shop….first you need to have a good product, so you need to study hard and teach with passion. Get yourself educated in Karate and not just the surface stuff, really study and make yourself an authority on your style of Karate. Learn, grow and become someone worth training under. Then you need to realize that all your hard work and high standards…well its not about you, its about giving the best to the students!

                So many instructors give back so little or when they give back anything they end up telling the students that they owe the “Master” now. Such a Joke! First off I HATE That term with a PASSION! “Master”….I don’t have a “Master” I have a Sensei….or teacher…not a master! Second we have to remember that we can teach someone, we cant master them so we need to focus on the teaching part. All your efforts and will to grow should focus on what you can pass on to others to grow the group and keep the lineage alive.

                The Dojo is only necessary to teach others, if you don’t want to work hard and teach…do Karate in your own basement or better yet…find someone that has the right attitude and go train under them.

 

Nine: surround yourself with good people!

                No one can know or do it all! Its just simple math, if you have 15 jobs and one person to do them all then only 10 will get done, of the 10…2 will be done very well, 4 will be done okay and 4 will kind of get done with no much focus. The other 5 were just as important but you don’t have time to do all that, have a family and other job and teach right!  Well, if I had 15 tasks to get done and 5 people doing them then all will get done, maybe not perfect but they will get done…and your job….manage the people doing them.

                You are busy teaching and running a club, make sure that you spread the jobs around a bit and get many hands to do the necessary paper work ext that is going to come up and get all the jobs done in the club. Your job is to manage and make sure that the club is rocking going forwards, you also need to select people that can help with this. If you had a marketing person, a office manager, a fundraiser, and a few other people to pitch in doing things like running the grading details, a technical board to help with grading and others to help with the daily things you need to do…all you need to do is help out as much as you can (should) and teach. Then the clubs get bigger.

                Also, be ready to let people know they are not doing the job you asked them to do. It’s a reality that some people want to help, and simply are not skilled in areas they are helping in. I know of a few instances where I have gotten help from people and it turned into a horrible mess because the person doing the job was not skilled with the job that needed to be done.

                My suggestion is that you find good junior instructors and develop them the way you want things to be done, find great support staff and do the same. Don’t just toss jobs at people, sit and explain it to them, monitor their progress and then…if need be…be ready to replace them on the next job. Find those that work well and keep them close, reward them and let them know that you need them.

 

Ten:  Your greatest reward, at the end of the day, is the feeling that you are passing on good Karate and that you are helping others.

                I am a big believer in the Dojo Kun, having grown up reading and reciting it day in and day out, it became my mantra for life and my Karate training. Most important to me is the “seek perfection of character” part of the five saying. As a Karate instructor we are here not just to teach physical skills but to help others be the best they can be, inside and outside the Dojo. One should realize that teaching someone to be a tournament champion is limited and a small meek goal. However teaching someone to overcome personal issues or just enjoy life a tad more…that is monumental!

                Focus your work not on the person’s potential as an athlete……. but as a human being!

 

                There is so much more…but these give you a launching pad to build yourself as a better Sensei and a to be a better friend, mentor and educator in the way of Budo!