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Old 08-21-2015, 11:30 AM   #11
Conrad Gus
 
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Dojo: Eclipse Budo
Location: Victoria, BC
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 274
Canada
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Re: Instructors first impressions turning away prospective students

I'm glad that this situation has found a resolution.

OP, could you and the other senior members of the dojo please take care of these senior instructors? When this happens, they are in the position where the art they been practising for a long time is kind of pulled out from under them. They are no longer being asked to teach, and they probably feel too embarrassed or angry to show up as students to classes being taught by others.

I strongly suggest that someone reaches out to these guys and sets up some private "old man" training time with them, where they can keep practising whatever they want. Go take ukemi for them for 30 minutes and then go out for coffee. These guys typically have a lot more going on then the whippersnappers realize in a regular class situation. We owe these senior teachers a lot, even if they aren't top-ranking shihan when they get to be that age.
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