Page 29 - Martial Science Magazine Oct/2014 #5

come better than me. I prefer to keep my clas- them truly believe they can accomplish their
ses small, because I’ve realized in large classes goals. I try to be very approachable, down-
there are often people that don’t receive enough to-earth, available for discussing anything the
attention and come away with the memory of a student wants to talk about, with no subjects
bad experience. I would never want that to ha- off limits. Mind you, I am not a Psychologist
ppen. I want every student to get the maximum and will never pretend to be one. If a students
benefit from every single class they attend. This wants to tell me how I can improve their trai-
is why I run smaller classes in a semi-private ning experience I am happy to listen. I was tau-
setting, spending equal time with each indivi- ght from the beginning to be humble, and have
dual student. I want to understand how each learned that doing so improves everyone’s ex-
individual student learns, thinks, and evolves. perience in training. Some people are intimi-
And I want to pass that attention to detail on dated by the training process, and I work to
to my advanced students and dedicated black allay their fears and help them feel confident.
belt instructors. This can be difficult to repli- This opens them up to all the possibilities in
cate in large schools, unless they have enough training and positions them for long-term suc-
help from other instructors. Once again, I run cess inside and outside the dojo. We’re going
a small school and like it that way. My students to laugh a lot, and we’re going to learn a lot!
through the years have commented that I have We are Ohana
a uniquely positive, can-do attitude that helps

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