Kick. Punch. Easy Stuff.

Grandmaster Jae C. Shin of the the World Tang Soo Do Association has a gift for making the simplest of statements have profound impact.  Perhaps that is because the statements themselves aren't really all that simple, but are in fact actually layered in nuance, for those who know how to listen, much as our techniques are layered in application for those who know how to interpret them.

Let's take the title of this blog, and its first post, as an example.

"Kick. Punch. Easy Stuff."

Grandmaster Shin once said this to another instructor I know in response to that instructor sharing some of his trials in running a school.  At first glance it might seem a sarcastic reply, if one didn't know better. Grandmaster Shin is, first and foremost, a teacher.  Even in this terse reply, there is a lesson.  I'm not sure I've picked up on all the meanings of this phrase yet myself, but let me share just a few of them.

1) Go Back to the Basics.

Inevitably, after we've trained for a number of years, at some point we become overly impressed with ourselves and our abilities, physical or otherwise.   As martial artists, a certain amount of ego is important.  I can't deny that I have one, and neither should any of us.  We do, however, need to keep it in check.  Ego, Grandmaster Shin has told us (on more than one occasion, so pay attention!) is the number one killer of good black belts.

Despite what we might think, we are NOT a super-secret clan of invincible warriors, however much we might prefer it to be so.  When we get to a point where we think we've learned it all (or more realistically, that point when we feel we're not learning anything NEW, or COOL) - it's time to go back to the kicking and punching we learned as a white belt; the "easy stuff."  We may find that it really isn't all that easy to fully comprehend. When we can realize this, we put our ego in check, and get back on the right path as students and teachers.

I've gotten to a point in my own training where I would rather spend several hours working on the subtleties of the low block than spend 10 minutes working on jump spinning kicks.  Is that wrong?  If I allow my own obsession with low block to stop me from teaching jump spinning kicks to my students who need to learn them for their own development, yes.  But for my own personal training?  I'll stick to the "easy stuff" for now, thanks.  I don't think I've got it down quite yet.


2)  Teaching: You thought it was going to be easy, didn't you?

Becoming a good teacher of anything is infinitely more difficult than those teachers make it seem.  You know the techniques, understand application, philosophy, and theory, right?  So getting others to learn from you should be a relatively simple task, huh?  Not so much.  When we become teachers, we learn that there is an entirely new skillset to develop, while trying to pass on the one we have already learned.  The kicking and punching really is the easy part. The mental and emotional component of teaching others is just a bit harder.

When you accept the responsibility of teaching your own art to others, you accept that you have become a leader.  When others view you as a leader. you now hold a certain responsibility to them, as well. Are you holding up your end of the bargain?  As teachers of the martial arts, we have to develop not only the physical skills of our students, but their attitudes and behaviors as well.

As instructors, we will always have to deal with the students who just aren't "getting it", those who are constantly argumentative, the ones who just won't TRY, and those who, with the best of intentions, will seemingly question everything we say and do. We will have to listen to and try to help the ones who come to us with problems, and differentiate between those that really need help, and those who simply want us to solve the problem for them. Ultimately, we will have to deal with those who leave us, as well. This puts an incredible emotional  and mental strain on an instructor.  Every time someone isn't getting the lesson; every time a student we thought was committed walks away, we question our own abilities as teachers. It is, however, how we deal with our failures, more so than our successes, that truly shows us what kind of leaders we are.

3) A subtle reminder

No matter how hard your job is, his is harder.  Even if my school grows to hundreds or even thousands of students, my job is still easier than Grandmaster Shin's.   Compared to him, I am still a white belt, and for all my complaints when it gets hard to manage two dojangs, I am in fact, just doing the "easy stuff."  Even if I expand my duties to helping at the Regional and Association levels, it is still nothing compared to what he does every single day to keep our Association together, to grow it, and to hold up its ideals of Traditionalism, Professionalism, and Brotherhood.  Despite the heavy burden of managing literally hundreds of studios and clubs around the world, he still makes each individual instructor and each student feel important, as if their problems are the most important things to him. Perhaps that's because he genuinely feels that way.  He hasn't forgotten that the success of a worldwide Association is based on the dedication and support of every individual member, and we can't forget that the success of our schools is based on the loyalty  and support of each student, and the families that in turn support them.

And so, as it so often does in the martial arts world, it comes full circle.  Go Back to the Basics.  See what more there is to learn there, and in so doing, you may find that the "big" stuff won't seem so big anymore, either.  Until you go back and look at it again, that is.

Kick. Punch. Easy Stuff.