View Single Post
Old 03-04-2009, 12:52 PM   #1
Dieter Haffner
 
Dieter Haffner's Avatar
Dojo: Tai Wa Lokeren, Budokai Mechelen
Location: Lokeren
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 114
Belgium
Offline
Intimidating instructors

I was reading through the posts until I bumped into this:
Quote:
Michael Douglas wrote: View Post
A worthwhile instructor of martial arts should be able to intimidate the majority of his students at will.
It immediately got me thinking.
When was the last time my instructor intimidated me?

Unfortunately I did not have to think to far in the past. Only yesterday he released his fury onto us all in his most subtle way. We weren't even on the mats, still changing cloths, when we knew what kind of practise he had in mind for us. We were all having a nice chat about putting on weight and trying to lose it (you know how it goes in the men's locker room). When he joined the conversation. With a big grin on his face he told us that, in order to eat healthy, he had just eaten about 700 grams (25 ounces) of leeks. The pleasant chatters of the locker room died off immediately. We all realised what horrible 90 minutes we were into. Luckily, he assured us that the horrors were for his co-workers the next day. My thoughts were with these men all day.

Thank you for letting me pen this down, it has been most therapeutic.

If anyone else had some bad experiences with intimidating instructors, feel free to share your memories.
We might even start a self-aid group to support each other.
  Reply With Quote