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Do Instructors Ever Get It Wrong?
On many occasions I have heard instructors criticise their students for performance errors but I have rarely heard an instructor accept responsibility.
How many times have you as an instructor, accepted responsibility for the errors made by your students when they perform poorly in tournaments or gradings. If you have not and the problem was caused by your instruction, how can you correct the problem if you do not acknowledge that it exists? Under pressure your students will do what they have trained to do which in a normal karate dojo will have been totally dictated by the instructor. I have a theory that instructors are responsible for most of the performance problems of their students that occur during gradings and tournaments. The reason I say this is that in the karate world we place great emphasis on discipline and respect and it is not uncommon for the instructor to totally dictate every thing that happens during training sessions. In these circumstances students will blindly follow the instructions they are given and it is extremely rare for any student to raise objections or be asked what should be done in the training. In these circumstances how can the student be responsible for any error that he has when he has no influence over what he does?
I accept that there are a few students who are difficult and others who have physical, mental or social problems and as a result do not perform to their best. Obviously my comments cannot apply in these circumstances.
There are however many problems that occur as a result of instructors comments or training methods that need to be given a great deal of thought if they are to be corrected.
Before you all start to get annoyed with my opinion let me give you some examples;
One of my girls failed a grading because she forgot her kata. She apologised to me stating she had let me down and it was her fault entirely. I stated that it could not be her fault because I dictated everything she did in her training and my mistake was in not rehearsing the kata enough times so that the movements were instinctive. Had I done so she would not have needed to think about the sequence and would have performed on autopilot and would have passed the grading without a problem. My mistake occurred during the training as I was aware that some of her techniques were a little rough, and I spent too much time attempting to improve them by examining details at the expense of time spent on proper rehearsal with no count.
When Julie was training for the KUGB Nationals one year we worked on applying pressure to opponents before attacking in the kumite. At the time I noticed she was getting a little close but I ignored it because I believed her overall speed and technique were enough. My decision was influenced by the fact that it only happened occasionally and as I noticed it late in the programme it believed was not worth the time it would take to sort it out. In the quarter final she edged to close to her opponent and was reverse punched before she attacked and lost the fight as a result. She also has a cold at the time which took the edge off her speed and as I had totally concentrated on speed once it was gone there was no contingency plan.
I have no doubt that each of the above were my mistakes and as the instructor I must accept responsibility. If I do not and I continue to ignore my shortcomings how can I put the problems right? In order to learn from what happens we must all examine our own input and find the reasons that cause things to go wrong. When we know what caused the problem we can then acknowledge it and can work to correct it. If the instructor has got it wrong he should accept responsibility and ensure that it is corrected for the next time. I find it really frustrating when I hear instructors continually blaming everyone but themselves. It is not possible to correct a problem if you refuse to accept that it exists.
It can also be demoralising for competitors to continually fail for reasons outside of their control and I have often heard instructors criticise the competitor in these circumstances which is even worse. To highlight this problem I quote the following examples I have seen:
A. A junior who won the kata in a national event and was second in the kumite was shouted at by his instructor immediately after the kumite final which went like this “ that was hopeless I told you before you went on to watch out for his reverse punch, and to step into him when he attacked.” The juniors head went down and he walked away in shame after letting his instructor down. This junior won gold and silver at national level and received a telling off when he should have been congratulated. Needless to say he no longer trains which is quite understandable. The real problem was that his instructor sent him out thinking about the instructions, and as a result he limited himself to those instructions and did not use techniques that he had practiced nor did he move naturally or react naturally.
B. A competitor in a final of the kumite received continuous instructions from his instructor during the fight such as “ use your reverse punch when he attacks, push him back, come on pressure him etc etc.” The competitor not only had to deal with his opponent, he also was being asked to fight to instructions rather than use his natural reactions which had been developed during his training. In addition his opponent was also listening to the instructions and tactics being given which turned the fight into a prearranged type of sparring as his opponent knew what he was going to do. He lost the fight and his instructors comments “never mind better luck next time” did not address the real problem, which was created by the instructor himself.
C I am aware of one instructor who teaches that it is best to rush your opponent during kumite and continually practices double stepping before attacking. This instructor is only five feet tall and needs to fight in this manner as most opponents are taller and it is necessary in order to make up the distance. When this instructor demonstrates these techniques in class they work extremely well. The problem is that everyone in the class is six inches taller or more than this instructor and when they try the same techniques they do not work because they do not need to rush in to make up the distance. This instructor has it completely wrong and techniques and skills must be applied in such a way as to suit each individuals body size and shape. This demonstrated one of the most common problems in the karate world where the teaching attempts to make the people fit the sport , when the correct way, is to make the sport fit the people. In plain English how a technique is taught should be altered to suit the circumstances it is being used in, and it should be taught in different ways to suit different people.
One final point is that knowledge of a problem is insufficient to cure it. Many instructors say “I have told him many times that he has that problem but he still does it” (this comment is quite often used by instructors when someone makes a mistake during a grading). When this occurs the student is often informed of the problem, but is rarely told what is causing it, nor is he told how to correct it. To clarify my comments I quote the following examples:
Instructors comment: You are not snapping your leg back after your kicks
Corrected comment: Your stance is overlong, and when you drive your weight forward onto your front leg you are unable to stop the momentum, and instead of snapping back, your front leg is automatically going down to the front, to prevent you from falling on your face. You need to do some stance work to ensure you have the correct length and your knee is over you front toe.
Instructors comment: All of your reverse punches were out of distance.
Corrected comment: Your freestyle stance needs to be shorter to allow you to drive forward to ensure your distance is correct. You need to try this from a static position first and build up slowly to allow your body to adjust to the new position. When it has been learned you should then try it whilst moving.
If someone has a problem then he should be trained in such a way that the problem is cured. How can your students correct a problem when you as instructor have total control over what he does in his training. It is up to the instructor to either change the training so that the problem is resolved, or, he must show the student how to train by himself to cure the problem. You should not leave the student to resolve his own problems as they usually do not have you knowledge and experience to do so.
One final point regarding control. If the people in your classes are hitting each other with heavy contact on a regular basis then then telling them to control their techniques will not resolve the problem. Control is a skill like any other and it is a skill that can be learned. If your students have bad control then you need to train differently until they learn. I resolve this problem when new people join me by making them hit slowly and make light contact with the target. Control is simply a matter of learning distance as a controlled technique hits with maximum speed and power just short of the target. I would normally start with chudan techniques and build up to jodan working initially from a static position. Once the technique is learned it is then practised from a moving position against a static target, and later moving against a moving target. This enables them to learn the correct distance whilst ensuring everyone is kept safe. Once proficiency is reached I would then practice against an opponent who rushes towards you. I do not accept the common statement used by many people “he ran onto it” as an excuse for bad control. It usually means that their training has been inadequate and they have never been taught to control a technique against an opponent who rushes in. I do accept that on occasions control can be affected by tiredness and dehydration, and if you only do your sparring at the end of a class when everyone is tired then injuries are more common. In the same way if you train heavily the day before, or even worse early on the day of a tournament then you may well find that your control is the first thing to deteriorate.