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ARTICLES AND COMMENTARY     

MAN YA GOTTA LOVE IT!!!???

(BUT SOME TIMES IT'S HARD)

Have you ever felt like a combination of school attendance officer, parent, opponent, task master, father confessor and collection agent? Well you must be a martial arts instructor. I'm certain you could add some categories to the above as there are many. Sometimes it feels like the movie "Ground Hog Day". Each day is a repeat of the last with an effort to break the repetition. The students just keep coming and going (mostly going), while you try desperately to keep the physical and financial demands of the dojo separate. It has brought me to re-exploring my priorities. I find that as long as I have been teaching, these priorities have not changed just gotten cloudy at times. My first priority is to teach the best martial arts I possibly can under reasonable circumstances. In order for me to do this, certain dojo dynamics must be maintained. I am a stickler for discipline, to include; attendance, conduct, uniform appearance and participation in school functions. Therein lies most of the problems. I can't do these things, pay the rent and feel good about it. At least not the way I want (need) to do it. So this has led me to a conscious choice of, whether I want to keep people who fail to meet the criteria, or run them off. I would say that in 99. 9% of the cases, I have chosen to run them off or let them quit without protest. I guess you could say that when it comes to "new age" marketing and motivational techniques for your students, I am a study of how not to do it. I have never sent an "I miss you" card, or had a birthday party for a student. I have only a few times put a sticker on a kid that says "great little future blackbelt". I don't have two hundred ranks, with seventy-five different stripes on their belts. My belt test including blackbelts, are $25.00. Those of you who run a successful commercial school are now groaning at my lack of new age skills. You are right. As a business man. . . I stink!!! As a martial arts instructor, you will have to look a long way for a better one. So what is my point? I have made a choice of a method of operation that causes me to constantly struggle emotionally. I know that there is an answer here as to; maybe I'm being too rigid, could relax my standards or could avail myself to all the new methods of student enrollment and retention. Well to tell you the truth, I’d rather spend the rest of my life in a Dentist chair. Every time I resolve to be more flexible, I look at some of my past and present Masters and blackbelts and know what it really takes to teach that kind of talent. I wonder how it would have been if I had just relaxed and been more flexible. In my heart of hearts, I believe that they would not have done as well or learned as much. Vince Lombardi said, "the souls of good men yearn for discipline and order". I believe that. The commercial operators are doing a great job and are spreading the martial arts. Perhaps they are the ones who are really keeping it all going. I know people who do a very good job both ways (teaching and making money) . But, I am going to make a personal observation here, that I’m sure will be challenged. Most of the real good working Sensei's and Masters that I know are struggling with their schools. They are also at times disillusioned and beat down by the same dilemmas that I face daily; Black belts that go sour, or worse. . . . quit. Then there are the parents that have no clue as to how much you are doing for their kids and take them out. Or maybe the people who are just lazy at heart and don't want to train for success. And. . . well, you get the picture. If you are an instructor that teaches from the heart. If you are an instructor who has and still is working very hard for your knowledge. If you are an instructor who still believes that it takes a lot of discipline and dedication to learn the art, then you may also at times wonder if it is all worth it. I wrote an earlier article called "Who's in charge here". I believed it then, and I believe it now. It is not the lack of ability to operate like that article outlines. It is the progressive wear and tear of having to defend and reach its end result. It's the increasing effort it takes to instill discipline, principles, and a value system in students that you can grow from. I am paying my bills and have enrollment. That's the good news. The bad news is, I’m enjoying very little of it. I'm not having fun. Yes I could delegate more teaching to my assistants, as I have some good ones. Thing is; I didn't set this up for them to teach. I like to teach. I like to train with the troops. That's what I do. That's who I am. I have at times been hard on the inactive masters who aren't teaching just attending. After having a confidential talk with a couple of them, they said, "they just couldn't take it anymore". It wasn't the teaching. It was the people they were trying to teach. Frankly I know how they feel and I’m sorry I’ve been so judgmental on their behalf. My last article was about leadership for the future. I continue to have a great fear about that, and according to the letters I received, others do too. There are many of us that are of an age where time for reproducing yourself is becoming a factor. In a perfect world, the Heads of the Associations would arrange to meet and address this situation. It has nothing to do with politics; it has to do with the survival of the art. The same art that our Instructors passed along to us. I would bet that if each association head would contact the Masters and Sensei's in their organization, and ask them to name three people in their dojo that will eventually become masters and future leaders like them, many would be hard pressed to do so. That doesn't mean that they (we) are necessarily doing something wrong. It may be that some in this area of development may be doing it a little better. That's information I personally would like to have and I would think everyone else would as well. If there are any associations out there working on the dojo level with your members regarding the aforementioned, I would welcome an article from you to place on this site for the purpose of hearing your ideas, advise, suggestions, ect. You are the brain trust of our art. 

I think one of the leadership development advantages we had earlier on, was the experience we got as young Dan's. When I served on the IIKA and Hall of Fame Board in the seventy's and early eighty's, I was on with other guys who were in their early to late thirties. Grandmaster Long, was criticized by other styles as well as some in Isshin-Ryu, for his young Masters. But look what he ultimately turned out in the way of leaders. We also got to hold many of the seminars and gain valuable experience there. I think similar things happened in other areas but I’ll speak only for the area I grew up in. Now, most of association board positions are jammed with Masters in their late forties to early sixties. There is some potential for stagnation here if progress is substituted for harmony. Couple the wisdom of age with the exuberance of youth and progress will follow. It would also set up a mentor effect between Masters and their juniors. Stories need to be told. Tradition needs to be served. Let’s not let the Isshin-Ryu hero's of the past, their values and memories fade into oblivion. 

Let me digress here and get back to my situation. When I began teaching, it was in a garage with twelve willing souls. I never had to make anyone attend, or discipline anyone for A. D. D., or any behavioral problem that requires a doctor to diagnose. When I started teaching again (after an absence), it was in the upstairs of a health club. It was a decent but not great place. I taught as if each person was working on their blackbelt. If they didn't train as if they were, I showed them the door. Since that time I have moved into a very nice dojo that anyone would love to train in. With those amenities comes overhead and the influx of "students" that often barely fit the definition. I always found it odd, that I could develop four health club chains, to the extent of being able to retire at fifty-four, yet be so reluctant to institute the same concepts of business in the dojo. Guess the answer is easy and I have already alluded to it in this and other articles. I can't get my heart out of the way when teaching my art. I can't get by the anger and resentment toward people who use and abuse my knowledge and the art itself. I can't get by the feeling of betrayal of my linage when I allow conduct that was never allowed when I was a student. As I said, lots of good instructors don't allow themselves to become so emotionally involved and I envy them. As for me, I have to take the "to thine own self be true" approach. To try to change my core values at this stage and age of my life is impossible. With that in mind, I have come to a conclusion that will allow me to teach, as I know I must. I plan to down size, by finding that small non-descript place (a garage if necessary), where I can teach good martial arts, without the sometimes decision making influence of finances. More importantly; I will be in a place where only Isshin-Ryu and cross training will be taught as I know it. Hopefully, I will not only produce more quality students, but also re-discover my optimism for the future, and the fun of teaching. Fun!! Can anyone say fun??? It won't be pretty but it will be FUN. . .

        Shihan Denny Shaffer