When I think about what it would mean to me to be a master instructor, I think back over the years and consider my experiences, the Master instructors who taught me and the lessons they gave.
Before I was a member of Dragon Gym, I took a trial class taught by Grand Master Goh. I remember that he taught us foot weapons and how to practice forming them. Then he showed us front kick and side kick. He taught us in a way that made me excited to learn. After class I was exhausted, but felt great! I signed up that night.
When I was a blue belt, Master Somnath started an instructor training program. I was lucky enough to be asked to participate. We trained once a week for more than two years. I remember during the first class each of us faced a different wall and practiced warming up an imaginary class. Every week we did that, week after week. We were taught the curriculum, White Belt through Il Dan Bo Stripe, and reviewed it over and over: forms, hand techniques, kicking techniques, weapons, self-defense, all of it. We broke down technique after technique, step by step: middle punch, double knife hand block, round house kick, flying side kick. We found out that any technique that can be done while standing can also be done kneeling, tumbling, running or jumping. That experience was the most repetitive, intense, enjoyable and rewarding experience I’ve had as a martial arts student.
About a year into the instructor training program, Master Somnath setup a video camera and recorded each person in the class: five basic kicks and Palgwe Yuk Jang. Up to this point I thought I was doing pretty well and believed I had pretty good technique. And you know what, that video proved that my technique needed allot of work. It was humbling to see. But it was tremendous feedback and really helped me to improve.
One class, when I was an Il Dan Bo, Master Somnath prefaced a class by saying, “The more fatigued you become, the louder your kihap should be.” Huh? We started training: kicks, spinning kicks, jumping kicks, no time to catch our breathe. He repeats: “The more tired you get, the louder your kihap should be!” The class got harder. But we started getting louder. When we got louder, our spirits rose. We started feeding off of each other’s energy. We suffered, but we suffered together and made it through one the hardest classes I ever took. Over time I learned that I could use my kihap to pump energy into my body. Later, I found out that it was adrenaline. It was experiences like that class that taught me the value of team work and spirit. Your body will get tired and your mind may start to question what you’re doing, but a strong spirit can pull you through difficult times.
When I was a first Dan, Master Harley took me aside one night after class and gave me a tip to help improve my side kick. Up to that point, I knew all the steps, the sequence of it. But my timing was off at a key moment in the technique, the point when I turn my hip over and extend my leg was too fragmented. He helped me to make that process more linear, making the technique more fluid, direct and powerful. At my best, my side kick is far from perfect. But that tip helped me to significantly improve the technique.
One day, Master Somnath filled a bucket of water and made us empty it by immersing our hands in it and using Dan Jan breathing to dry our hands. We learned that the better our breathing technique, the faster the water left our hands, the faster we could empty the bucket. That lesson transferred nicely to our training, helping every technique get better.
In 2006, Master Somnath told me that I would be taking a senior instructor test the following January. I wasn’t as fit as I needed to be and had three months to get ready. Fortunately, Brian Petty bailed me out. He created a three month kettlebell program to supplement my preparation for the test. The kettlebell exercises complemented my martial arts training so well, that my technique improved as a direct result of his program. After three months, I was faster, stronger and more flexible than any time since I started training. The test was very difficult, the most difficult I had taken. But I was ready!
Because of these experiences, I can tell you how much weight to put on your front leg while in a front stance, how to tell if your feet are spaced properly while in a back stance, how many degrees the angle between your forearm and bicep should be for an inside block, how to time your breathe to your technique so that you maximize speed and power. I know these things because I was taught them over and over again. I can tell you that your spirit is the most important part of your training and that teamwork is one of the best ways to develop a strong spirit and that with a strong spirit you will accomplish more than you ever thought you could. I know this because I had master instructors who motivated, taught and guided me.
What does being a Master Instructor mean to me? It means to put students first, to make their goals my own, to motivate them, to give them my time and advice when they need it, to find ways to help them improve and become stronger, to prepare them to succeed as martial artists. Being a master instructor requires that I put as much energy into teaching as we expect our students to put into their training, that I strive to continually increase my knowledge and improve my technique. After all, I am still a student of the Martial Arts.
