I like to think of our club not just as a
learning club, but as a teaching club as well… similar to the concept of a
teaching hospital.
As instructors, our job is to pass along
knowledge to students and teach the history, philosophy, mechanics,
applications, and energy behind Han Moo Kwan.
In many schools/clubs of old instructors, they held back “the secrets”
of the art form for students to figure out for themselves. We share everything (over time), as students
are ready for the information. We give
students a look ahead of what they will expect as they learn and grow as a
martial artist.
As an instructor, when I teach students, I
learn from them as well. If a student is
struggling with a technique, I learn new ways to teach or new drills to help a
student improve. As I observe students
before drills or forms, I may have an “ah-ha” moment about the art form (e.g.,
another application of a technique, etc.).
Recently, I was watching two students as they played “sticky
hands”. I was trying to explain to one
student that it was time to start adjusting their techniques so that it is no
longer block- strike, but the strike and block are one and your motion is
always direct into the opponent. As we
talked about it and the student explored, it dawned on me this is one of the
big concepts of Shipsu – regardless of the physical angle you are moving, every
technique energetically is linear into the target.
Each student has a responsibility in our
Club to not only learn but to help others learn; the extent of this is
dependent on the rank of the student.
What do I mean by this?
Let’s start with Black Belts. Black Belts have a responsibility when
participating in Intermediate class to perform techniques to the standard, being open to learning new techniques and receiving
feedback, and mechanically how we expect
Intermediates to perform them. As I have
mentioned in class many times, some techniques do evolve over time as does the expectation
of how to perform them (e.g., for Black Belts, we expect punches to be shorter with elbow just past the body line). In addition, Black Belts, during drills and
activities such a sparring should work with students and not just spend an
entire drill overpowering a lower ranked student (like a Green or Blue Belt). I am not saying there is not a time or place
to demonstrate while working with lower rank students the power and devastating
energy that is expecting of Han Moo Kwan.
This is different than just easily and knowingly overpowering because
you can, repeatedly, when a student has no chance of defending. In this case, the lower rank student does not
learn and just gets frustrated. And all
the Black Belt is doing is exercising their ego which has no place in the
dojang.
Similarly, upper ranked Intermediates (Brown Belts) have
a responsibility to help lower ranked students (Green and Blue belts) to learn
by demonstrating good technique, being open to learning new techniques and
receiving feedback, as well as not just overpowering a lower rank student
during drills and activities such as sparring.
In addition, Black Belts and
upper ranked Intermediates can learn from lower ranked students if they remain
open to learn from anyone. Each student
we work with has different strengths, so we can learn how to defend against
those strengths. In addition, not every
student will respond the same way to an attack, and studying every student and
the different ways a person may respond to an attack is critical in learning to
defend yourself in all situations. In
addition, lower rank students tend to get more amped up in intense drills and
activities like sparring. Many students
have a tendency to match the speed and energy of the student they are working
with. When the lower rank students get
amped up, this is a great opportunity for upper rank students to learn to
remain calm and perform with appropriate speed and control and not just add
“amped” up energy to the situation. This
skill could potentially save your life in a street altercation.
Regards,
Kelly
"If every man would help his neighbor, no man would be without
help." ~ Bruce Lee, (1940 –1973) American-born Chinese Hong Kong martial
artist, actor, and founder of Jeet Kune Do
