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Old 06-03-2003, 08:11 AM   #15
Ron Tisdale
Dojo: Doshinkan dojo in Roxborough, Pa
Location: Phila. Pa
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 4,615
United_States
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I think Chris Li and Peter Rehse (see Peter, I spelled it right that time) gave pretty much the same answers I would. I do think that the instructor's reaction bears some thought, though.

We have 2nd and 3rd dans in shotokan who train in aikido with us at our dojo. They can be *very* hard to throw, because they have a tendency (a good one) to not hand over their balance at first contact. On the occations when I teach, I love calling them up as uke. Even when they know the technique I'm about to do. Every time I have trouble throwing them, they show me what they are doing, what I am not doing, and how I can make the technique work (almost always in an aikido fashion, only occationally in a shotokan fashion).

I think students like this should be drafted by the instructor...they are one of the greatest possible assets an aikido dojo can have. The students with experience in other arts have raised the level of our aikido and our martial skills in so many ways...

It is frustrating dealing with someone who steps outside of our normal training paradigm. This past saturday, one of these shotokan guys blocked my technique. I started to get frustrated (there were new people in the class, and I wanted to give them the feeling that we had strong classes even when the head instructor wasn't teaching). I fumbled a bit, found a way to fudge the technique a little bit, and when we partnered up for training after the demo, I took the student who blocked my technique. He showed me where I was getting stuck, and how he would deal with it (using an elbow atemi). I then realized why the elbow was necessary...I was not where I was supposed to be. That's why I was getting caught having to block an atemi from him every time, and the energy I put into the block was forcing me to stop my movement. I changed my movement, aligning my hips with uke, and suddenly he couldn't use atemi anymore. I didn't need to use his "trick", and the technique worked flawlessly. When I went back in front of the class to demo, I gave him the credit for figuring out what was wrong before.

I think the instructor in the initial post made three huge mistakes.

He started by not recognizing a really well trained new student for what she was. I always say that a really good instructor has a pretty good idea of your background within minutes of you walking into their dojo. Certainly after several classes, he should have known what the student was capable of.

He tried to make a point with someone who was "besting" one of his students. In front of the whole class. He would have been better off just working with that student off to the side to figure out what was going on. If people stop to watch, either let them know you're facing a well trained martial artist, or tell them to go back to practise.

Instead of learning from the experience, and soliciting the participation of the new student, he tried to cover for his inability to throw her.

I think all of these mistakes can be attributed to ego. I hope I can avoid those mistakes myself. There will always be times when I'll be caught off guard (like saturday), but if I stay focused and centered, hopefully I can respond well.

Ron Tisdale
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"The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind."
St. Bonaventure (ca. 1221-1274)
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