MARTIN J DOUGHERTY
  • Home
    • A Quick Guide to MJD
    • Credits Overview
    • Work Availability
  • My Work
    • My Writing Career
    • Mainstream Publishing >
      • Military History Books
      • Fiction
      • Martial Arts & Self-Defence Books >
        • Fight to Win
        • The Self Defence Manual
      • Armed Combat Books
      • Transportation Books
      • Childrens Books
      • Fencing and Martial Arts Books
    • Games Industry >
      • Avenger Enterprises
    • Defence and Security Industry
    • My Television Work
    • Other Work
  • Martial Arts and Fencing
    • My Martial Arts and Fencing Career
    • Fencing >
      • British Federation for Historical Swordplay (BFHS) >
        • BFHS Chief Assessor
        • IL1 Guidance for Candidates
        • IL 2-4 Work in Progresss
      • Smallsword Fencing
      • The Military and Duelling Sabre
      • Olympic, or 'Sport', Fencing
      • Fencing Photos
      • More Fencing Photos
    • MJD Musings >
      • Priority
      • Respect
      • Agendas and Misconceptions
      • Light Sabres, Sabre: Lite....
      • Coach Development in Martial Arts
      • HEMA: Martial Art or Sport?
      • Obstacles to Improvement
      • A Governing Body for HEMA?
      • Scottish HEMA Controversy
      • Grappling: Why Not?
      • Musings on Running a Class
      • Learning to Fence
  • The Society for the Study of Swordsmanship
    • Intoduction to the Class
    • SSS FAQ
    • SSS Equipment and Safety
    • SSS Ranks and Grades
    • SSS Weapons
  • Fiction, Articles and Other Scribblings
    • Short Fiction >
      • Holy Spirits
      • Grand Endeavour
      • Pandora's Box
      • Wheelman
      • Reactivation Clause
      • Although He May Be Poor
      • Into The Hands of God
    • Mancave Playbabes Articles >
      • Fencing Article
      • Edinburgh Article
      • Whisky Article
    • Space Exploration Articles >
      • Reaching Orbit
      • In Orbit
      • Exploration of the Solar System
      • Space Stations
      • Space Stations - White Elephants in the Sky?
  • Avenger Enterprises
    • Starfarers Gazette 0-1
    • Starfarers Gazette 2
    • Starfarers Gazette 3
    • Starfarers Gazette 4
  • My Life and Related Misadventures
    • Perthshire
    • Other Photos
    • Warkworth Castle
    • More Photos
  • Other Stuff
    • Martial Arts & Self-Defence >
      • Combat Ju-Jitsu
      • Self-Defence
      • Nihon Tai-Jitsu
      • Self Defence and the Law
      • The Possibility of Violence
      • Grappling and Groundfighting
      • Anatomy of a Streetfight
    • News, Updates and... Stuff.
    • Conventions, Events and Seminars >
      • Smallsword Symposium
      • Smallsword Symposium 2015
      • SWASH
      • BFHS Spring and Autumn Exchange
    • Northumbria Police: Arrogant, High-Handed and Reckless >
      • Experiences with Northumbria Police
      • Questions But No Answers
      • Concerns About PSD

7/6/2013

The Know-All

0 Comments

Read Now
 
I train fighters. I’m good at it. But in the end, how much a student gets out of training depends very much on how much they put in. Some of the hardest people to train are the ones that come in with some experience and want my class to be exactly the same as the one they left. You might wonder why they left, but sometimes there’s a reason…

Anyhow, it can be quite frustrating to work with these people. One example is a former Karate student who passed through our Kickboxing program. I’ve seen good and bad Karate, and he was definitely on the ‘bad’ side. He claimed to be a black belt, which doesn’t say much for everyone else at whatever class he came from.

Anyway, we teach a fairly vanilla-flavor striking syllabus with an emphasis on hitting hard with basic techniques. There’s a way you hit when you’re trying to deliver impact, and it’s different to the way you, err, perform a punch-like movement and hit empty air. It always take a while for students to convert from one style to another, but that assumes they want to. Or that they’ve noticed that anything is different in the new class.

A few months in. Yes, months after coming to us, this individual was still not hitting hard, still performing karate strikes instead of throwing the more western-style shots we use. But finally it was time to spar. Karate dude was put up against one of the beginners for a light sparring introduction. Beginner was naturally nervous and did a bit too much standing around trying to decide what to do. That gave Karate dude his chance to, well, to stand somewhere near his opponent and perform slow, clumsy Karate-type strikes that looked like nothing we teach.

I mentioned  months of attending our classes, at least intermittently, right? Well, I believe you should judge a class and its coach by the students. In which case  I suck. This person learned absolutely nothing from us in several months, and eventually stopped coming to the class. Can’t say I was sorry about that.

This is a problem with a certain kind of student. The kind that already knows it all when they arrive. Rather than learning anything, they just trundle along doing what they already know. Sometimes they come around in time, sometimes not. This one didn’t. As a coach all you can do is show the way; it’s up to the student to decide whether they want to take any notice.

I guess that if you’re going to take horses to water , the odd one will fall in and drown.

Share

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

Details

    Author

    So this is where I rant, vent and peeve about stuff. What can possibly go wrong there?

    Archives

    October 2017
    January 2017
    February 2015
    July 2014
    February 2014
    August 2013
    July 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
    • A Quick Guide to MJD
    • Credits Overview
    • Work Availability
  • My Work
    • My Writing Career
    • Mainstream Publishing >
      • Military History Books
      • Fiction
      • Martial Arts & Self-Defence Books >
        • Fight to Win
        • The Self Defence Manual
      • Armed Combat Books
      • Transportation Books
      • Childrens Books
      • Fencing and Martial Arts Books
    • Games Industry >
      • Avenger Enterprises
    • Defence and Security Industry
    • My Television Work
    • Other Work
  • Martial Arts and Fencing
    • My Martial Arts and Fencing Career
    • Fencing >
      • British Federation for Historical Swordplay (BFHS) >
        • BFHS Chief Assessor
        • IL1 Guidance for Candidates
        • IL 2-4 Work in Progresss
      • Smallsword Fencing
      • The Military and Duelling Sabre
      • Olympic, or 'Sport', Fencing
      • Fencing Photos
      • More Fencing Photos
    • MJD Musings >
      • Priority
      • Respect
      • Agendas and Misconceptions
      • Light Sabres, Sabre: Lite....
      • Coach Development in Martial Arts
      • HEMA: Martial Art or Sport?
      • Obstacles to Improvement
      • A Governing Body for HEMA?
      • Scottish HEMA Controversy
      • Grappling: Why Not?
      • Musings on Running a Class
      • Learning to Fence
  • The Society for the Study of Swordsmanship
    • Intoduction to the Class
    • SSS FAQ
    • SSS Equipment and Safety
    • SSS Ranks and Grades
    • SSS Weapons
  • Fiction, Articles and Other Scribblings
    • Short Fiction >
      • Holy Spirits
      • Grand Endeavour
      • Pandora's Box
      • Wheelman
      • Reactivation Clause
      • Although He May Be Poor
      • Into The Hands of God
    • Mancave Playbabes Articles >
      • Fencing Article
      • Edinburgh Article
      • Whisky Article
    • Space Exploration Articles >
      • Reaching Orbit
      • In Orbit
      • Exploration of the Solar System
      • Space Stations
      • Space Stations - White Elephants in the Sky?
  • Avenger Enterprises
    • Starfarers Gazette 0-1
    • Starfarers Gazette 2
    • Starfarers Gazette 3
    • Starfarers Gazette 4
  • My Life and Related Misadventures
    • Perthshire
    • Other Photos
    • Warkworth Castle
    • More Photos
  • Other Stuff
    • Martial Arts & Self-Defence >
      • Combat Ju-Jitsu
      • Self-Defence
      • Nihon Tai-Jitsu
      • Self Defence and the Law
      • The Possibility of Violence
      • Grappling and Groundfighting
      • Anatomy of a Streetfight
    • News, Updates and... Stuff.
    • Conventions, Events and Seminars >
      • Smallsword Symposium
      • Smallsword Symposium 2015
      • SWASH
      • BFHS Spring and Autumn Exchange
    • Northumbria Police: Arrogant, High-Handed and Reckless >
      • Experiences with Northumbria Police
      • Questions But No Answers
      • Concerns About PSD