Articles

This article in three parts gives some insight into the mind of an instructor who understands something about the meaning of teaching. In age, he is not that far away from the youthful brashness he describes in "Impatience, the lesson I have learnt" to know how precarious a Karate "career" can be in it's early stages. Nor is he too far down the road to regret missing the scenery along his path to knowledge as you can see from "Is it the journey…"

Most importantly, he appreciates the role an instructor can play in the life of a student and in "Difficult students" he puts forward a Karate analogy of the famous words "...ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." A valuable set of questions and ideas for anyone who is interested.

My evolution in thinking
By Dion Risborg - Instructor, Adelaide Metro Dojo, South Australia.

1. Impatience - The lesson I have learnt

..I was torn between the feelings of loyalty and the feeling that his (the Instructor's) training had become inadequate

I have been guilty of “blind” passion. When I was younger, I saw the “big time champions” doing amazing combinations of techniques. I wanted to be able to do the same. If they could do it, so could I. All I needed to do was train like them. I felt that my instructor had assisted greatly in my progress up to this point, but if I wanted to become a “big time champion”, I’d need to do more. I was appreciative but I felt that their training wasn’t going to be enough. The “Dojo Kun” says, “be faithful”. So out of respect to my instructor I wanted to be faithful, but I was torn between the feelings of loyalty and the feeling that his training had become inadequate. I needed more.

I felt that in today’s world of Sports science, maybe the old should give way to the new? Maybe I could bring some training methods from other sports and apply them to Karate, this would give me an advantage over my peers. My attention was going in many directions at once: Plyometrics, Carbo-loading, Gym, Lactic acid tolerance, Sports Karate and the development of new training drills with elaborate scenarios that would give me an edge.

All I wanted to do was chase targets and go faster

In my pursuit for greater progress – I BECAME A KARATE CUSTOMER! I started shopping around for the type of training that I thought I needed. Pretty soon, none of the local Dojos were good enough for me. No one else wanted to train as hard as I did. They were all hobby clubs, full of mums, dads and little kids. “These people were holding me back”. How could I become a “big time Champion”, when I’m training with these slow and inexperienced people? I blamed them for my lack of progress. All I wanted to do was chase targets and go faster.

I enjoyed training with different instructors and getting a different perspective, but the “un-inspired” people at their clubs were causing enormous frustration. I needed to start a Dojo, where only elite level Karate people would train! No hobby people, no clumsy people, just fast hard training, all the time. So I did. In the end I had become an instructor, I was taking Classes, collecting money, paying rent, organising insurance, fundraising. - Everything else except training, my ability as a competitor diminished rapidly along with my dreams of becoming a champion.

I had offended nearly everyone that had ever tried to help me

As far as my Tournament career was concerned, the damage had been done. In my haste in going forward, I had gone backwards at a considerable pace. I had too much ground to make up and no-one was going to stop and wait, why should they? – I had missed the boat. I was just another kid with potential that went no-where. I had offended nearly everyone that had ever tried to help me. In my haste, in searching for a superior standard, I had become judgmental. I had rated almost everyone based whether or not I thought they could win medals. I was young, impatient, immature and ignorant.

"As soon as you compare yourself with the good and bad of your fellows, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticising others will weaken and defeat you" — Morihei Ueshiba

I am now older, slower, clumsier and getting fatter. I look back at my behaviour and I’m embarrassed. I spent the best part of 10 years in the Karate wilderness with no guidance; my Instructor had cast me aside. I was my own teacher and had to learn how to teach Karate from copying Takahashi Sensei’s Seminars. I’m grateful that the older, wiser men of JKAA recognised my behaviour as “young and foolish” and allowed me the opportunity to continue to grow into my Karate life. I am truly enjoying my “New Beginning”, but the more I learn now, the more I realise how foolish I was before.

The hardest pill to swallow is when I look around today and see other young men making some of the same mistakes that I made

The hardest pill to swallow is when I look around today and see other young men making some of the same mistakes that I made. That’s why I wrote this article, hopefully some can learn from my mistakes. Sometimes we are so busy trying to go forward that we lose perspective of where we’re really at and where we’re really trying to go. Sometimes we get lost. The people that you turn your back on may or may not still be there when you grow up. Maybe you’ll go too far and get “shut out” completely. I was lucky, others haven't been. How far do you want to go before you find out?

Stick with what is true. Be honest, “be faithful” & “respect others”. Keep on kicking and punching. Ossu!

2. Difficult Students - Don’t judge those who don’t know what you know

Looking back, I remember a kid at one of our Dojos who wasn’t much of a champion, but still came to training regularly. Like all young people, his concentration would wander in and out, he’d have his moments of stardom and then off be with the fairies again, like every other child. Eventually as he matured, his perception altered and things became more relevant. Focus, purpose and intention all began to make more sense. Things that he did not understand before now seemed to become more obvious.

How easily we forget how bad we once were! The romance of how things used to be. “I trained harder than kids today do!”

Ask any new person at the Dojo if they train hard, they’ll all say yes. It’s their perception..

Ask any new person at the Dojo if they train hard, they’ll all say yes. It’s their perception; they don’t know any better, they don’t have any prior experience to compare it to. But they’ll all look back in years to come and believe they gave it their best. In the context of what is real to them, they did give it their best.

Who are we to destroy that? Sad is the person that has no better gift in life than to shatter another person’s dreams!

As “experienced” onlookers, we watch and make judgment, with the fortune of our own prior experiences to compare with. Maybe they’re not that great, it doesn’t mean they don’t want to be: Maybe they don’t have the confidence to try, maybe their ego doesn’t want them to get it wrong or they might believe they’re doing their best.

Our job is to give these people the confidence to try. We want to help them to achieve something that they don’t believe they are capable of achieving. We show them the way

Show me someone that trains, who doesn’t aspire to improve and I’ll admit that I am wrong. Every person on this planet has pride. Nobody trains to make a jerk of themselves. Our job is to give these people the confidence to try. We want to help them to achieve something that they don’t believe they are capable of achieving. We show them the way.

Our challenge is to understand their hurdles and help them overcome them. Let’s not focus on what they do wrong, but how to help them get it right. In the same way that it is easier to hit, than it is to not hit. It is easier to cast aside the difficult student than it is to help them. The weak take the easy path! If all instructors were to cast aside difficult students, how many of us would be here today? (Thank you Sensei)

3. Is it the journey - or the destination that we seek?

Are we so busy trying to get somewhere that we forget to take notice of where we are and how we got to the stage that we are at right now? How is an idea or a decision that is made today, going to alter a process or skill that has taken a lifetime to develop? Trying to accomplish more in six months than you have in ten years is not possible. I read a joke once:

Super Hero Comics...
To some, they’re entertaining stories
To others, they’re career options.

We are all impressed when we see another human being do something that we feel we are incapable doing ourselves

We are all impressed when we see another human being do something that we feel we are incapable doing ourselves. Is envy your weakness? - Just because we have seen this person, do this one technique that was so incredible, is that enough cause for us to become so distracted, that everything we have accomplished up until now, becomes secondary or inadequate?

Recognise the difference between technique & ability. “I like that technique”, “I want to be able to do that” – So we go to the Dojo and practice it, will that work? NO! It was not the technique that scored the point, It was the person’s ability to execute the technique at the appropriate time. Having a variety of options to choose from is important, but having the ability to react is what will score the point.

Developing the ability is why we train the way we do, it requires repetitious training. It’s no accident; the “Big Guys” know this. It’s why our style is repetitious. Whilst this technique did work for someone else, it worked because of a whole host of reasons:

• The ability to recognise your opponent’s position quickly enough
• Having a variety of options to use at that opportunity
• Not being restricted by a pre-conceived idea

Practice the technique, but be wary of “Planning” on using it – you’re assuming your opponent is stupid. What if the opportunity doesn’t come – you’re missing other opportunities because you have different ideas. “No pre-conceived ideas”. Train your sub-conscious, then trust it!

Do the training and look for opportunities to gain more experience, rather than wasting time looking for shortcuts

There are no “magic training drills”. There is only knowledge and experience. Knowledge is developed, experience has to be gained, and neither will come any quicker just because you have become more motivated. Do the training and look for opportunities to gain more experience, rather than wasting time looking for shortcuts.

The Journey is the development of our own personal capability and understanding, become fascinated with our own progress and don’t get drawn into comparisons of “what I can do compared with someone else”. Becoming a Champion makes you a better “competitor” than others. Is that your goal? I hope not, because you too will get older and slower and will eventually lose. Look beyond the next Tournament, look beyond your next Gold medal, why are you here? Will you look back with the shame of foolishness?

Karate is a life long endeavour and a Competitor’s career is very sho