Hi this is Richard Mosdell and this is my daily karate vlog #54, and today I want to talk about "should you respect your sensei??"
There is an article going around that someone wrote on their blog, I think his name is Franz Karate, and he wrote some really good points shared on Facebook and social media that you should respect your sensei for lots of actually really good reasons, but I want to address this and I talked about it in the Karate360 Podcast with Kalan.
3 things, he said we should respect our instructors and not speak poorly of them ever, for one reason they have probably spent a lot of time and a lot of money learning the knowledge that they then present us on the floor, they have sacrificed a lot to get where they are.
And you know what, they probably have, I hope so, but I think we've got to make sure it's a 2-way street, that the instructor is providing a really good service, because I hope my scuba diving instructor, my golf instructor, my first-aid instructor, my doctor, my dentist, I hope everybody sacrificed and worked their butt off and spent money, and lots sleep, and missed some family events to get really really good at what they're doing so that when they decide to teach it to me, that they give me the best that they know how, that they weren't sloppy in their process of learning how, especially a dentist doing a root canal, know your stuff!
The second is that the instructor spends a lot of time, extra time in the dojo doing things the member never sees. Hey that's true right now it's after 11 o'clock and I'm doing stuff in the club and I got here at 8:30 this morning.
But I want to be here. I don't want someone to thing that they have to stay in my club because I am here late, or because they feel an obligation. I hate anything that smells like a cult, I really do. I want them to come in a go "those last 5 workouts rocked my world, that was amazing, I felt pushed, I felt challenged, I felt sometimes confused, but I felt the value and I saw it, it was explained to me." That's why I want them to stay.
And the third one is I don't want them to stay because I have done all kinds of interesting and fun things in different places or whatever, no one is going to come here because someone is a world champion. They are going to come here because we put smiles on people's faces and they feel value to be here, that's why we should be here. Your instructor and yourself have a contract, that contract is you're going to listen and try your best, and ask questions and give push back! It's great when you get push back, why do we do something like this, why don't you structure it a different way, have you ever thought of doing it this way sensei? There is nobody who knows how to do everything just right.
And so as instructors we are going to try and do our best, students if you want to stick around, stick around because you're getting something really cool out of this. I want you to come to this awesome place and this be the best part of your day! And just have a fantastic time and understand that it is a grind, to get better is a grind, but you can do it and we believe in you when you show up, that's what I want, a contract, an agreement that we're both going to try our best. If it doesn't work out, hey no hard feelings, let's walk away as friends, and my door is always open, that's what I think a sensei should be, in any relationship in anything, let's make it practical, let's make it real and let's make it results driven.
I'm Richard Mosdell, it's my daily karate vlog, I hope you enjoyed it, have a fantastic day and talk to you tomorrow!