Outstanding Martial Arts Instructor
I have seen alot in the 30 years that I have been teaching Martial Arts. I have seen many great masters and teachers but I have also seen many incompetent ones.
An outstanding martial arts instructor develops good quality students by teaching with love, structure and discipline in his classes.
An outstanding martial arts instructor never passes a student in class without correcting him. If an instructor does not correct his students, they will develop bad habits. As you know, bad habits are hard to break. It is easier to teach a new student that has never taken a lesson than teach one from another school with bad habits.
An outstanding martial arts instructor makes his students earn their ranks. A big mistake is giving belts away. Nowadays, many instructors give away belts because if the student quits, they will stop making payments.
As my instructor once told me, “Not everybody is cut out to be a Black Belt”. Martial Arts has become very commercialized and has lost respect. Many black belts are being awarded to kids and even adults that do not deserve it. In the past, when you had a black belt, you were not only skillfully and mentally tough but also had very high moral principles. It is very sad that today it is very rare to find that.
It is not easy to earn a Black Belt at the American Karate Institute. Out of hundreds of students, we only have a few black belts. My friends who own schools, say that my black belt test is too hard for kids. I believe that if you demand excellence from kids, they will deliver.
by Angel Gonzalez - Master Instructor of American Karate Institute