iManual

A Martial Arts Instructor’s Guide to

Successful Instructor Training

by Ron Sell
 What other Martial Arts Instructors Say About
Ron Sell:

“Great information, fantastic teaching format!”

- Master Bill Clark

“Ron Sell is a Master Teacher, his manual is easy to understand and works!”
- Dave Allard, Allards Martial Arts

“Ron Sell’s iManual is absolutley incredible! My staff has doubled in

performance!”
- Ian McIntosh, 3rd Dan Instructor, TaeKwonDo

“The most complete manual on instructor training I have ever seen, bravo!”
- George Denson, Martial Arts America, Kenpo

“Good Job Ron! I’m super impressed!”

- Wil Maier, 9th Dan Ninjitsu

“This has solved my staff problems, now we have a great resource to develop a
stronger instruction team. Your step by step manual was easy to understand and
to implement. Well worth the investment.”
- Rick Oswalt, 5th Dan

2
Senior Editor
Ron Sell

Contributing Editor
Cynthia Sell

Editorial Staff
Linda Currey
Brenda Sell
Cynthia Sell

Design
smartLIZARD.com Design

Copyright 2000 Ron Sell/4kicks International Inc.

PO Box 230
Kathleen, FL 33849

(888) 385-5136

RSell@4kicks.com

http://www.4kicks.com/

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without written permission of the copyright owners.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing March 1999

3
 DEDICATION

To Jesus Christ
He has given me everything,
I owe him everything, I will be forever grateful

To my wife
Without you, most of this project
would not be possible, I love you

To my parents
Thank you for helping me
along the Martial Arts way

4
Table of Contents ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

What other Martial Arts Instructors Say About Ron Sell: ------------------------------------- 2
DEDICATION ........................................................................................................... 4
PREFACE.................................................................................................................. 9
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................ 10
How To Choose A Leadership Team ------------------------------------------------------------------- 11
Lesson One:
Why Do We Teach? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16
Lesson Two:
Qualities of a great Martial Arts Instructor ---------------------------------------------------------- 17
Enthusiastic! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 17
Charismatic! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19
Gold Digger!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21
Patient! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 22
Positive Attitude! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 23
Motivated! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24
Lesson Three:
Knowledgable! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24
Love! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25
Understanding! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25
Punctual! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25
Clean! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26
Goal Setter! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 26
Lesson Four:
Correcting Students’ Mistakes -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28
The Compliment Sandwich ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 28
Never Ending Correction With A Smile! ------------------------------------------------------------- 29
Do Be Gentle! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 29
Assignments and Questions: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30
Lesson Five:
Pro-Active Discipline ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 31
A Set of Written Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 31
Martial Arts America Rules ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 32
Praise for Positive Behavior ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33
Examples of Praise --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33
Lesson Six:
Consequences for Negative Behavior ---------------------------------------------------------------- 36
A Great Way To Minimize Misbehavior -------------------------------------------------------------- 38
Teaching Children to Behave! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39

5
Lesson Seven:
Shamu method of teaching martial arts ------------------------------------------------------------------ 41
“Make Me Feel Important!” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 43
Teaching A Student A Difficult Technique ----------------------------------------------------------------- 43
S. S. L. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 44
How to Grow A Small Class into a BIG One! ----------------------------------------------------------- 45
Lesson Eight:
The Makeup of a Perfect Class: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 45
Main Instructor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 46
Squad Instructors --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 46
Lets take a look at how to make a perfect class -------------------------------------------------------- 47
Lets break it down and explain it: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 48
Life Skills Teaching: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 49
High Energy Drill: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 49
Examples of High Energy Drills: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 49
Announcements, Bow Out, School Cheer: -------------------------------------------------------------- 49
Using Lesson Plans -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 50
Lesson Nine:
How to keep their attention while teaching class -------------------------------------------------------- 51
Ways to identify if your students are losing attention: ------------------------------------------------- 51
What to do if your students are losing attention: ------------------------------------------------------ 51
Attention getters: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 52
Start and Stops ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 52
PRE-FRAMING & RE-FRAMING TECHNIQUES -------------------------------------------------------- 53
What is pre-framing? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 53
What can you pre-frame? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 54
Some examples are: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 54
How do you positively pre-frame something that you don’t like? ------------------------------------ 55
There are other things that we can pre-frame is well: -------------------------------------------------- 55
Action steps: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 56
Re-Framing: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 56
Lesson Ten:
Teaching A Student A New Form (or Kata/Poomse) ------------------------------------------------- 57
The 3 Phase system of teaching new techniques. ------------------------------------------------------- 59
PHASE 1: “Introduction” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 59
PHASE 2: “Polish” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 59
PHASE 3: “Perfection” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 59
“Sir/Ma’am I can’t kick hard ‘Cuz I scraped my knee!” --------------------------------------------- 59
The three major learning methods and how to teach all three at the same time. --------------- 60

6
Lesson Eleven:
The IMPORTANT Role of the High Ranking Students: ------------------------------------------------- 61
High Energy Drills -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 62
Disguising Repetition ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 63
Disguising Repetition in Forms: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 64
Disguising Repetition in One Step Sparring or Self Defense: --------------------------------------- 64
Disguising Repetition in Basic Fundamentals: ----------------------------------------------------------- 65
Lesson Twelve:
Body Language while teaching: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 65
Rewarding your students when they do a great job in class: --------------------------------------- 66
Use postcards to reward students ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 66
Use Certificates to reward students: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 67
Watch the Facial Expressions of Students & How to Get their Attention Back ------------------- 67
How do I get their attention back from students who are in La La Land? ------------------------- 67
Watching Facial Expressions of Parents while teaching a class: ------------------------------------ 68
In Order to keep students they need to see three things: Progress, Fun,
and a sense of accomplishment: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 69
How to deal with a problem child who misbehaves on purpose in your class: ----------------- 69
Lesson Thirteen:
Teach the students (especially kids) by using a lot of questions. ------------------------------------ 70
As in Life, in class you get what you expect: ----------------------------------------------------------- 70
Never-ending Corrections With A Smile: --------------------------------------------------------------- 72
5 foot rule – SMILE & GREET: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 72
Call Students Promptly who haven’t been in class for a week or more: -------------------------- 73
How to avoid instructor burnout: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 74
Lesson Fourteen:
Break it down into the ridiculous! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 75
Push-ups As Discipline: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 76
Here is what you can use instead: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 76
PROPER ATTITUDE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 77
Talk to every prospect that comes in the front door within 5 seconds ----------------------------- 78
Greet the parents within 15 seconds --------------------------------------------------------------------- 79
Action Steps to Take: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 80
Lesson Fifteen:
Don’t compare yourself to other Martial Arts Schools, Compare yourself to Disney! --------- 80
“A” Rated is the only way to be: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 81
Action Steps to Take: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 81
Demonstrating Techniques ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 82
Call Students by their name at least three times per class! ------------------------------------------ 82
Here is an example of how easy it is to call your students by name at least three times: ---- 83
If you find it hard to memorize their names, here are some helpful hints: ------------------------ 83
Staff Exercise: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 83

7
Lesson Sixteen:
Three Laws of Concentration ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 84
“See Every Thing, Overlook A Lot, Correct A Little.” Pope John Paul (XXIV) ------------------- 85
D.E.P.T.H. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 85
Looking Through Your Students ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 86
Refrain from the Word “NO” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 87
Instead use these phrases: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 87
iTips Online ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 88
Contact Information and More Products ----------------------------------------------------------------- 88

Take Home Tests:

Take Home Test For Lesson One

“Why do we teach?” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 89
Take Home Test For Lesson Two
“Qualities of a dynamic Instructor part 1” -------------------------------------------------------------- 90
Take Home Test Three
“Qualities of a dynamic instructor part 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------- 91
Take Home Test Four
“Correcting Students” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 92
Take Home Test Five
“Disciplining our Students part One” --------------------------------------------------------------------- 93
Take Home Test Six
“Disciplining our students part Two” ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 94
Take Home Test 7 ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○95 ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Take Home Test 8

“The Perfect Class” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 96
Take Home Test 9
“Getting & Keeping Attention” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 97
Take Home Test 10
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 98
Take Home Test 11
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 99
Take Home Test 12
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 100
Take Home Test 13
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 101
Take Home Test 14
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 102
Take Home Test 15
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 103
Do you know your students? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 104

8
PREFACE ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

I started writing this manual after having big staff problems of my own, our school was
growing at an incredible rate and I couldn’t keep up with the growth. How was I going to
teach all these students? I knew that I needed to hire additional instructors, but I haven’t trained
them to be instructors yet!

I hired a couple of teenaged black belts and everything was going great for a while.
Complaints started rolling in that the instructors were not as good as me. I lost students. So I
decided to train the newly hired instructors to be “Master Ron.” It wasn’t an easy task. I did
not know where to start.

I started writting down a little note here and there, information I had gathered from watching
the best instructors in the world: Andrew Wood, Steve LaVallee, the Kovars, and of course my
parents. I started reading books on teaching elementary, ADDHD, Learning Styles, Motivation
Techniques. I bought around 200 books, audios and CD-Roms all detailing the best in
teaching.

I pulled out my Palm Pilot and started typing out all I wanted my instructors to know how to do.
How could they learn the necessary qualities to be the best instructors.

I started asking schools from around the country to give me their best teaching tips and ideas
via the internet. Our internet community (iTips, http://www.4kicks.com/tips/) grew to over
6,000 instructors, each sharing their drills and ideas.

These ideas, along with my own experience have resulted in this awesome manual.

Happy Instructing. God Bless.

Master Ron Sell

9
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Grandmaster Edward B. Sell, Grandmaster Brenda J. Sell, U.S. Chung Do Kwan Association,
Cynthia Sell, Andrew Wood, Dave Drawdy, Lebulous Wallick, Ryan Stevens, Rhonda Borders,
Margaret Young, Steve LaVallee, Dave Kovar, Sue Wood, George Denson, Wil
Maier, Personal Quest, Gary Walker, Wil Dieck, and Master Bill Clark.

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure,
than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live
in the grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt
1858-1919
American Republican (later Progressive Politician, President)

10
How To Choose A Leadership Team
When I first started my school, all I needed was me, I could teach, answer phones, clean, do
paper work, teach intro classes and the 5 million other things a martial arts instructor needs
to do to run a school. As a matter of fact, I had to do it because there was no extra money
to pay someone to help me. Heck, I wasn’t getting paid!

Then I grew! I needed more instructors, so I took my two “Hot Shot” teenage black belts and
hired them. I was excited! Now I had some help, I could now have better quality students
and have a rest every once in a while!

The problem was I trained them to be great students but never trained them to be instructors.
I thought that because they were great martial artists, they would be great instructors.
Especially since they have watched me teach for the last three years!

I expected them to be able to teach, but I was wrong. They needed to be trained. Now I
realize that training has to be started earlier than black belt, it has to start around their one-
year anniversary of becoming a student. Though it is possible to train a black belt to become
a great instructor, I find it easier to train them earlier.

Most schools take three or more years to produce a Black Belt, so if your best instructor quits
tomorrow, or moves out of the area or gets sick, you are in trouble! I speak from experience!
You can’t wait three years! You can’t start training them to be instructors then; it’s too late!
You have to plan in advance!

For example, let’s take a professional sports team and relate it to our team members. They
have their regular players and then they have the players that are sitting on the bench. The
players on the bench are the back ups, the ones that will take the place of the first string
players if they get hurt or stop playing to their ability. The bench players are fully trained to
do the job, they are excited to play, and they are waiting for the first string to mess up so
they can get their chance at playing the game. Of course the first string realizes that if they
don’t perform they have 10 guys sitting on the bench ready and willing to take their place!
This motivates them to perform!

Use this same model for your staff. Have your trained “Hot Dog” instructors on the floor, but
then have about 10 back up instructors sitting on the bench just waiting for a chance to do a
great job! Train them, help them, and give them all the guidance that this book will give you.
Then you will have what the professional sports call Bench Strength!

11
The best place to start looking for your Bench Strength, which I will refer to them as your
Leadership Team, is to look at the top 20% of your school, or your “A” students.

I try to look for those students who have great people skills. Those who can relate well to
others, those who: communicate martial arts skills well, smile often, help others without being
asked, show patience with difficult to teach students, one who is a good example of the
benefits of the martial arts, and any other skill that is necessary to be a good instructor.

I have found that it is easier to teach someone with good people skills martial arts, than it is
to teach a martial artist to have people skills. I have often passed over the talented students
for a less talented but more people-oriented student. I have also passed over Black Belts for
a position because they didn’t have those skills when a green belt did.

Am I saying have green belts teach your classes? Of course NOT! I am saying these are
the people we look for when we train future staff members. These are the people sitting on
our bench learning the ideas in this manual.

Try to have ten people on your Leadership Team. Some will not be able to handle the work
load, some will leave, but when they do, replace them with a new member.

If other people ask to be on the Leadership Team, give them the Qualifications and
Leadership Team application. If you get someone who is not the type of person you think can
do it, let them as long as they can make a commitment to the team and can abide by the
qualifications, they might pleasantly surprise you! Besides, do you think that everyone in the
Choir can sing like an Angel?

While they are on your Leadership Team and you are training them for future positions, they
will be able to teach small groups and help out with the things you have taught them, of
course with close supervision. This way you will have them to help you. This is the ultimate
for them because they get “On the Job Training” for a future career.

This also helps them learn all their curriculum in more detail because they now are teaching it
to others. Whenever you teach others something you learn more because you are forced to
explain every detail to your student. This brings on a new dimension to each part of their
curriculum. Instead of looking at your techniques from the first person point of view, you will
now have to step back and look at it from the third person.

12
Other benefits that I give my Leadership Team are:

1. Test for their belts quicker than other students. As long as they have their old curriculum
perfect plus their new curriculum PERFECT, they are allowed to test. If it is not PERFECT
they know not even to ask to test. They must be superior in every way — that way the
other students understand why they get this special privilege. The Leadership Team trains
more, helps teach, and practices more. They are held to higher standards. This shows up
in the way they perform at each test. There is no question as to why they are testing
earlier. If you get some animosity from the other students because of your “favoritism”
explain to them why the Leadership Team is allowed to test earlier. If they ask why they
can’t test early, tell them they can! Give them an application for the Leadership Team!
Show them the qualifications for the Leadership Team and if they can commit to these
terms, you would be happy to let them test earlier!

2. Give them a special uniform. We use Red and Black Competition Team uniforms for our
leadership team, this makes them stand out. It makes them feel a part of a great team.

3. Give them a special belt. We use a Gray belt for all our adult Leadership Team members.
Since the Gray belt is not a rank in our system, we use it as a sign of authority. Their
name is embroidered on the belt in English and Korean just like our Black Belts. When
the adult Leadership tests for a new belt level, their belt color doesn’t change, it is still
Gray! That way the students don’t know if they are a Yellow belt or a Brown Belt. The
only time it changes is when they earn a Black Belt, then they wear their Black Belt. We
have found this to be a valuable tool for or Leadership Team. Our juniors on the team still
wear their colored rank belt.

4. Give them a special patch to wear on their special uniform that says “Leadership Team.”

5. Give them special training sessions. “Leadership Team ONLY” training sessions are a
great plus to your program. Try to have a monthly workout, unless of course you can
have a weekly meeting. This will also help you because it will produce better martial
artists! In these training sessions, go deeper into the curriculum so that it is more special
for them. Maybe explain the theories behind each technique, or history of the form, etc.
Also give them teaching tips on how to present the material to others. You can then teach
them how to teach a certain skill, then do some role playing like a regular class. That way
they can practice without the fear of messing up in front of the real class. Once you are

13
comfortable with their teaching performance you can then have confidence in their ability
to lead that particular exercise in a regular class. Always give constructive helpful advice
during role-playing. Keep the role-playing light hearted and fun!

6. Throw them a party! Every few months have a Leadership Team party to show your
appreciation and to build team spirit.

An Example of the Qualifications for the Leadership Team:

3 Orange Belt or Higher ( 1 year in the Martial Arts)

3 Black Belt Club Member – Must have made commitment to Black Belt!
3 14 years old or older for Sr. Leadership Team
3 13 years old or younger for Jr. Leadership Team*
3 Must attend classes 2 times per week regularly
3 Must commit to two additional classes per week to help with classes
3 Must have an outstanding positive attitude

This will be a start for you to make up your own qualifications, you can add or take away as
you see fit.

*note: this manual is designed for 14 years old and up, though most of the techniques can be
modified and used for the younger students.

Schedule for Leadership Training:

We train our leadership team on this manual every Tuesday evening from 8:15-9:15 (after
classes dismiss for the evening.) Then on Thursday evening from 8:15-9:15 we work on
physical curriculum and teaching skills related to physical training (role-playing, curriculum
training, and application of the teaching skills learned from Tuesday’s class, etc.)

This is just an example; you can set your schedule to meet your needs. For maximum results I
do recommend having at least one training session per week.

14
How to conduct a Leadership Team training session:

5 Mins: Go Over Announcements of the school and upcoming events.

10 Mins: 1. Ask everyone to pull out their Take Home Test from the last session and turn
it in for grading.

2. Take out their last week’s Take Home Test and hand them a copy of it, put
the original in their file.

3. Go over the answers to last week’s test and have them write down any
questions they may have missed.

4. Have the Leadership Team place their copy in their Leadership Team
Manual Binder. This is what they will study to prepare themselves for the final
exam.

5. Hand out the current lesson notes and handouts for today’s lesson.

30 Mins: Teach the current lesson.

5 Mins: Review & Get feedback.

Dismiss the Class.

or...
Do an optional workout. Go over the intricate details of your curriculum from White Belt and
up. This way all instructors will be consistent in teaching the curriculum.

15
Lesson One:
Why Do We Teach?
By the end of this lesson
the students will learn:
• Why we teach
• The goal of an instructor
• The benefits of martial
arts training
The Goal Of A
Martial Arts
Instructor:
The goal of a martial
arts instructor is to
assist the students in
the process of
developing confidence
and good character
skills through martial
arts training.
www.4kicks.com
Why Do We Teach?
Why do we do what we do? Is it because we want to make a lot of
money, do we want to have fun while working, do we want to help
shape others’ lives through our teaching?
Whatever our reasons, we need to know what
our passion is and be able to communicate that
passion to our students, instructors, and to the
leadership of our school.
My personal passion for our school is to
impact people’s lives in a positive way,
and to make our students’ future
brighter as a result of our curriculum
and by developing their minds and bodies
and raising their spirits.
This is something that I can get passionate
about! This is something I can get my staff
passionate about! We are shaping
young children’s lives! We are teaching
them success skills and life skills! We
are helping the gang member quit the
gang, we are helping the young child
Martial arts is all about positively
learn confidence and courage so they
impacting people’s lives!
can say no to unhealthy peer pressure.
We are helping the adults feel better about themselves so they can be
prosperous in their jobs and family. It’s about helping others grow, and
when we help others grow, we grow. “Give and it shall be given” the
Bible says, and this truth also pertains to giving of ourselves. And the
list goes on and on and on. To our students we are their Success
Coach.
Some schools want to be the best tournament fighters in their area and
this is something they can be passionate about, and theycan get their
whole school behind them in their vision. Some want top-notch demo
teams or to keep the kids off the streets while their parents are at work.
What is your passion? Why do you do what you do, and does your
staff and students know why you do what you do? Do you
communicate your vision frequently to your school? Is your vision clear
and specific? Does it motivate you and your staff to be Great? Your
vision should encompass all of these things. 16
 Master Instructor’s Assignment:
1. List all the physical and mental benefits of your school. Be sure to list
as many things as you can and list how you differ from other schools
in your area. For each benefit write a one line explanation of how
your school teaches each benefit. During lesson one share the
benefits of the martial arts to your leadership team.
2. Define your vision for your school. Where do you want your school
to be in 5 and 10 years. Explain in detail how many students, how
many locations, what you want to teach and what your main focus
will be. During lesson one share your vision with the leadership of
your school.
3. Discuss why you personally teach martial arts.

STAFF ASSIGNMENT:
1. First have your staff list all the benefits that martial arts training gives
a student. Examples include: confidence, improved physical fitness,
increased concentration. Have your staff commit these benefits to
memory. Understand why we do what we do. It’s about passion.

2. Write a one page essay on the benefits the martial arts has had in
your life. Include as many of the above mentioned benefits as
possible.

Lesson Two: Qualities of a great

Qualities of A
Martial Arts Martial Arts Instructor
Instructor All martial arts instructors should posses these great qualities:
Enthusiasm, Charisma, Energy, Gold Digger, Patient, Attitude,
Motivation, Knowledge, Love, Understanding, Compassion, Punctuality,
2 Enthusiastic
Cleanliness.
2 Charismatic
2 Gold Digger
2 Patient
2 Attitude
2Enthusiastic!
All great instructors posses the quality of enthusiasm. If your
2 Motivated class is boring and dull, you won’t have any students. You must
pump up the energy by being totally enthusiastic.

Being totally enthusiastic has many elements: voice, body language,

facial expressions, and complete confidence in what you know.
Each of these elements has a few variables and can be enhanced
by other things like music and team spirit.

17
Notes: I was at a private seminar with Master Keith Hafner when I was about
13 years old and he made a statement that has changed my teaching
methods: “People flock to excitement, but stay where they are loved.”
We live in the computer and television age where it takes a lot to
impress and keep the attention of our students. We have to make the
class exciting by being enthusiastic. But we also have to show our
students that we genuinely care for them.

How do we add enthusiasm to our classes you ask?

First, SMILE a lot! All the time! Make sure you are in an AWESOME
mood! Yes there are times to be serious; I’m not saying joke around
all the time. There is a difference between being
funny and having fun. Smiling is an indication
that you are enjoying yourself. And if your not
enjoying yourself, sell this book to someone
else and find a different activity to spend
your time on!

Next, use your voice to motivate your

class. Make sure every command you
give has a sense of urgency! Give your
commands LOUDLY! Say encouraging
things like: “HIGHER NOW”, “PUSH
IT”, “FASTER”, “HARDER”,”
QUICKER”, and other motivating
phrases to pump the classes
excitement. You can also use exciting
music in your class. We generally
use dance, aerobics or high energy
type music to work out to. Music is
always going on in the back ground,
this helps lift the spirits of the school
and generally helps motivate the
class. Use different speeds of music
for different types of activity. An
example would be use slower music for
forms and faster music for sparring. People flock to
excitement, but stay
where they are loved.

www.4kicks.com 18
 Have the students clap or chant exciting quotes (remember high school
pep rallies!) If you have parents who watch your class, have them
clap when the students do. Make sure there are lots of smiles on the
student’s faces. Use humor, but of course do not make fun of any class
member and use it SPARINGLY! If you use too much humor the
students will think the class is play time and not take the instructor
seriously.

Use lots of body language; jump up and down, point in the direction of
the turn, crouch down, smile (a lot!), clap, hit two focus targets together
after each command you give, ETC. If you are working on a particular
technique that you know everyone knows, work on it FAST no hesitation
between techniques. Greet each and every parent and student
enthusiastically.

In order to be enthusiastic, act enthusiastic. No matter how you feel,

the moment you start the class, till the very end of the class, you need to
be enthusiastic. If you are teaching all day, you will of course need to
be a fire ball the whole day long!

2 Charismatic!
“Charisma is the ability to influence others positively by
connecting with them physically, emotionally, and
intellectually.”
- Dr. Tony Alessandra, Ph.D.
co-author of The Platinum Rule

In order to have a great school, a school where you can feel the
warmth, the family like atmosphere, the team spirit and the energy, you
have to have a leader or leaders that are Charismatic.

Charismatic leaders connect with their students and parents physically,

emotionally and intellectually.

Dr. Alessandra said that charisma is what makes people like you, even
if they know little about you. It’s a personal magnetism that draws
people to your cause.

www.4kicks.com 19
 Here are some ways in which you can improve
your charisma at your school:

+ First and foremost, Have a vision or goal for the future

+ Learn to be a great communicator of your vision
+ Share your vision with your staff and your students frequently
+ Smile!
+ Show your enthusiasm
+ Greet everyone in your school soon after they arrive
+ Make people feel a part of your school like a family
+ Listen to the needs of your students
+ Make others feel special
+ Learn to persuade others to adopt your vision
+ Energetic personality
+ High physical and mental shape
+ Good self image - dress nice, well groomed, make fitness a
lifestyle, not a chore!

You will notice I use the word vision frequently, I use the word vision
instead of the word goals (even though they can mean the same)
because I like the vivid mental picture it creates when I use the word
vision. I also use it frequently because EVERY thing you do should be
guided by your personal vision for your life, and if not, you are an
empty being running in any direction without purpose. It is impossible
to motivate others without a clearly defined vision of where you are
headed. Your clients (students and parents) will see right through your
false charisma if it is not backed up with a strong and compelling vision
of the future.

Be careful of how you use your charisma, respect and leadership has to
be earned, it can not be demanded of people. Of course you can
demand respect from your students, but if you don’t earn it it will be
worthless.

Every other day it seems we hear about leaders in our world who are
misusing their charisma. Thoughts of Jim Jones and Hitler come to
mind as great examples of negative charisma. But then I think of great
leaders who used their charisma to move nations and the masses, like
Martin Luther King Jr., Winston Churchill and Princess Diana. These
people have changed the world in a positive light. As martial arts
instructors we have the AWESOME opportunity to influence countless
lives in a positive manner. But be careful not to misuse this wonderful
gift that God has given us. Be a responsible Martial Arts Instructor.
www.4kicks.com 20
Where there is no Treat everyone you come in contact with as if they are the most
power...there is important person! From the janitor to the doctors in your school.
never any desire to This will not only make them feel better, but it will also lift your
spirits as well! This is a great way to enhance our charisma! I
do a thing; and
once read in a book to “Light Up!” your face when you see
where there is
someone for the first time like a grandpa would “Light Up” when
strong desire to
he sees his grandchild for the first time. I have used this
do a thing....the
technique countless times and have been very successful at
power to do it is making others feel important.
strong.

- Wallace D. Wattles 2Gold Digger!

The Power of compliments.
Do you know what the most wonderful thing about a compliment
is? It makes everybody feel good! If I give a genuine compliment
to someone else, not only do they feel great, but so do I!

Of course, I don’t mean nonspecific compliments or false

compliments, but real, honest-to-goodness heartfelt compliments.
I am not even talking about those that you can pull off the top of
your head, but compliments that take a while to come up with,
compliments you have to watch someone for a few seconds or
minutes before you give them. Give compliments that after
you’ve said it both of you know it’s not “just to be nice.”

We use this power, the power of compliments, to provoke better

behavior in our students. Or, if you will, positive reinforcement
vs. negative punishment.

A few years ago in a

grocery store I heard an
older lady make a
comment to what
appeared to be her
daughter regarding a
small child, “ you know,
he is just doing that to
get attention!” Of
course this lady said
this in a negative
tone, but she’s right.
Children want
attention, and they
www.4kicks.com Children need positive attention. 21
 need attention, so as martial arts instructors let’s give them positive
attention. Next time, instead of yelling at a child because they’re not
performing up to your standard, find something they are doing right
and give them a genuine heartfelt compliment, and watch what
happens next. That child will perform in an unbelievable manner.
Make a big deal about their behavior in front of everyone when they
perform extremely well. (Always correct with a whisper in their ear
when they make a mistake.) What will this do for us as instructors? It
Patience will make this student perform well in the future and it will encourage
There is no road those students around them to make the same adjustments to their
too long to the behavior. Think of it as win/win!
man who advances
Did you know that those who mine for gold move tons and tons of dirt
deliberately and
to find a single, small piece of gold. The whole time they’re moving this
without undue haste;
dirt, they’re looking for gold, not dirt. Use this method when dealing
there are no honors
with students, don’t look for dirt — look for gold, sometimes you might
too distant to the
have to move tons of dirt to find that gold but everybody has gold in
man who prepares them, it’s up to us as instructors to find it! But isn’t it sad, that most
himself for them people look for the dirt in another person before, if ever they look for
with patience. the gold. Therefore...

- Jean De La BruyèRe “Be Gold Diggers, Not Dirt Finders”

1645-1696
French Classical Writer It’s easy to find the dirt, it’s tough sometimes to look for the good in
people, but we can handle it, we are martial arts instructors.

2Patient!
I get compliments all the time on how patient I am, I always say thank
you, but I’m always amazed. Why? I don’t think I’m very patient. I
hate red lights, I don’t like waiting for things and I don’t enjoy driving
to places, I like being in places.

Instead I look at teaching martial arts in a different manner: I don’t

expect anyone to get a form or technique right away. I figure about
3,000 times or maybe even more. If it only takes them 100 times, I’m
amazed! Since it usually doesn’t take more than 3,000 times I always
feel pretty lucky and fortunate when it only takes six months to work
with a four year old on form 1. Just a different perspective, but it
works! In all my years as a teacher I’ve never lost my cool, never
walked away in disgust, NEVER. It’s my job; It’s what people expect
from me.

www.4kicks.com 22
 The other way I look at it is as a challenge. If the student does not
understand the material I am teaching, I must not be communicating it
in the right manner. I have to find a different way of explaining it or
showing it. Since most people learn in one of three ways; visual,
auditory, kinesthetically, I must learn to explain it for all three. When
something works, I try to remember what I did or said, so that if this
situation comes up again I’ll try the same approach. Most of the time
it takes me explaining it several different ways before I see the “Ah
ha!” on their face. But that’s OK, I just learned another way of
explaining that form!

Attitude
“Develop an 2 Positive Attitude!
attitude of “Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude
gratitude, and toward it, for that determines our success or failure. The
give thanks for way you think about a fact may defeat you before you
everything that ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the fact
happens to you, because you think you are.”
knowing that
every step forward - Norman Vincent Peale
is a step toward American Christian Reformed
achieving something Pastor, Author, Speaker
bigger and better
than your current Is Attitude Really Everything?
situation.” No, for a martial arts instructor, it’s much more important than that!
No matter how you might feel, it’s more important to have a positive
- Brian Tracy attitude while teaching. When you finish putting on your uniform, your
American Trainer attitude should change.
Speaker, Author
Businessman Now more than ever it is important to show your students and their
parents a proper martial arts attitude. Let your passion and excitement
for your school show through in everything you do.

I know that things weigh us down; lack of sleep, worry, personal

problems, staff problems, etc. We cannot let these things change our
attitude on the training floor. Your students might care if you are not
having a great day, but they should not be able to tell. Act like
you have a great attitude, and you will!

www.4kicks.com 23
Motivation
“Motivation is like
2 Motivated!
As a martial arts instructor you must always be motivated and in high
food for the brain. spirits. Nothing should get you down. Not the weather, not relationships,
You cannot get not your present financial circumstances, nothing should get you down,
enough in one and if it does, it’s disastrous!
sitting. It needs
continual and SMILE ALWAYS, EVEN IF THINGS AREN’T GOING SO GOOD!
regular top up's.”
You have to; you owe it to your students. As martial arts instructors we
have to be example setters. We cannot expect our students to try hard, if
- Peter Davies
we don’t first. If we expect our students to have a great attitude when
they walk into class, then we must have one first!
HOW? You ask.

By being happy. Act before you are, and you will be. In other words,
fake it! Ever notice that you always feel happy when you smile? SMILE!

Who motivates you? You should! What motivates you to greatness?

Find out what motivates you and focus on it. Is it having a big school,
best competition team, beating your local competition or helping others
grow physically, mentally and emotionally. Is what motivates you
compelling enough to get you motivated and keep you that way? If not
dig deeper. Write it down and focus on it daily.

Lesson Three:
Qualities Cont.
2 Knowledgable!
An instructor must be knowledgable about the art that he/she is teaching.
Regular staff workouts are a must. This way all instructors are consistent
2 Knowledgable in their teachings. This will eliminate confusion for the students and the
2 Love instructors. But it can not stop here, all instructors must continue to learn
2 Understanding a new curriculum. These days this task is easy; books, tapes and
2 Punctual seminars are everywhere for an instructor to broaden their horizons.
2 Clean Also, picking up several books not related to martial arts but related to
what we do is important. Go to the book store and pick up a school
2 Goal Setter
teacher’s reference manual on learning styles or discipline techniques.
Increase your knowledge on goal setting, time management or
leadership.

www.4kicks.com 24
“Knowledge is Of course you must know what you’re doing, take time to train
POWER! yourself, and certainly work with your master instructor as often as
Well not really... possible. You need power, speed, focus, control, precision, and form.
Knowledge is only You should be acquainted with the various means of executing things,
potential power, and be able to do them. You must strive to perfect your execution,
only when understand all of the moves, forms and techniques, know them
knowledge is put intimately and apply them well.
to work will it
ever become
powerful”
2 Love!
"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one
another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another."
- John 13:34

“How far you go in life depends on you being tender

with the young, compassionate with the aged,
sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak
and the strong. Because someday in life you will have
been all of these.

- George Washington Carver American Scientist

Treat your students with care and compassion.

Also as an instructor you must love what you are doing! You must also
love your particular style and martial art. If you don’t love what you
are doing, instructor burnout can and will occur.

2 Understanding!
Not only show your compassion, but also realize that your students
have special needs. Make mental notes of those needs and share them
with your staff. If a student has asthma, make sure you don’t run them
extra hard on a hot day! If you know a particular student lacks
flexibility, don’t have them kick over their head the first night! View
things from your student’s perspective.

2 Punctual!
An instructor needs to be on time, not only is your employer relying on
you, but so are your students. When you are late everyone suffers,
they are counting on you! Punctuality is a sign of dependability.

www.4kicks.com 25
“You've got to love
what you're doing. 2 Clean!
If you love it, you Practice the 4 “C’s” of true cleanliness:
can overcome any 1. Clean Mind - Think Good Thoughts
handicap or the 2. Clean Heart - Show love and compassion
soreness or all the 3. Clean Body - Good grooming and clean uniform
aches and pains, 4. Clean Spirit - Have a great attitude!
and continue to
play for a long, In this competition infested world, we don’t have the time to make a
long time.” second impression, we have to make a great first impression, and we
never know when we will meet a potential student; always be
- Gordie Howe prepared!
Canadian Hockey
Player Not only your cleanliness but the cleanliness of your school is
important!

The cleanliness of the school is everyone’s responsibility, if you see a

mess or something out of it’s place, take care of it!

2 Goal Setter!
“The major reason for
setting a goal is for
what it makes of you
to accomplish it.
What it makes of
you will always be
the far greater value
than what you get.”
- Jim Rohn
American Businessman
Author, Motivational
Speaker

When you ask most martial

arts instructors how they
teach goal setting, you
usually get “our belt system
teaches students how to set
goals.” This is only partly correct. Every class, all of your
The belt system is a process of students need to be reminded
goal setting, but it doesn’t teach of what their goals are.
it, only you can, by explanation.
www.4kicks.com 26
 Every class, all of your students need to be reminded of what their
“Give me a stock
goals are — the short-term goal; their next belt, their middle range
clerk with a goal
goal; black belt, their long-term goal; master instructor. (notice I go
and I'll give you
beyond black belt to master, that way the students understand right off
a man who will the bat that black belt isn’t the end!)
make history.
Give me a man with Explain to them that each new move they learn, each new technique
no goals and I'll give they master, every belt they test for, is one small step towards their
you a stock clerk.” ultimate goal: Mastery! Every class they come to has a purpose
to the overall objective.
- James C. Penny Unless a student has a clearly defined direction, or mission, the student
American Retailer, will get discouraged and complacent, which leads to dropouts.
Philanthropist, Students must see progress, but if they don’t know where they’re going,
Founder JC Penny’s they won’t know when they make progress.
On the wall at our school, there is a display of all of our belts from
white belt to black belt. As often as possible we show the students
where they are now on the belt scale, then we show them the next belt
they are working on now. Finally, we give them a vision of what they
We have to live by will be like when they earn the ultimate belt--Black Belt.
example. We know
that people who set Try a little game where the students have to say black belt as
goals accomplish five many times as possible during the class
times more than those session. Often I say “let me hear
who don’t, but do we somebody say “black belt!” Afterwards,
actively set and the students shout as loud as they can
achieve our goals? “black belt!” Or, I have the students
If not, now is the time perform “ black belt push ups” or “ black
to lead by example. belt punches” or “ black belt anything.”
Why do I do this? First of all, it gets the
Write down your goals students thinking about how a black belt
today and read them would execute a technique and secondly, it
every day. Be sure to causes the student to visualize themselves
set up some action steps. as a black belt performing the technique.
Now follow through on What are the results? A student who tries
your action steps harder in class, and a student who sets their
everyday! goal to be a black belt! Both make
A student who tries harder in class, and a
my job as an instructor, a lot easier! student who sets their goal to be a black belt.
Both make my job as an instructor a lot easier.
Always remember, as an instructor we will burn out if we lose sight of
our goal. Every day as instructors, we need to re-motivate ourselves
by picking up our goals and reading them. In order for your students
to avoid burnout, we as instructors need to remind them about their
goals: short-term, long-term, and ultimate goal.
www.4kicks.com 27
Lesson Four: This is how it works: Sarah has a perfect round kick, but her stance
Proper Ways to needs a little work. Instead of yelling at her in front of all her
Correct A Student classmates and making her feel bad. (By the way, yelling at your
students in front of everyone produces NEGATIVE results) Try this:
4 PCP
[PRAISE] “Sarah, I’ll love how you snap your knee powerfully while
4 NECWAS
doing a round kick! [CORRECTION] That beautiful round kick would
4 Be Gentle! look even better if after you did your round kick you set it down into
a deep stance with your knees bent. Just like this.”

[Show her how to do it, then have her do that technique just as you
showed it to her]

[PRAISE] “Great job! That’s just how I thought you could do it!”

For about the next five kicks make sure you keep complementing her on
Correcting her deep stance. What this will do, is it will help her remember the
Students’ correction and she will keep it longer.

Mistakes Probably the most important part of this technique, is that the first
complement has to be genuine or you’ll produce no results, and quite
possibly produce the exact opposite results
The Compliment we are looking for. So what your going to
Sandwich do is if you see a correction don’t just
How do you get a child blurt out the correction, give it a couple
to take his medicine? seconds and find something they’re
You put it in ice cream! doing well, then use the PCP
How do you get a student method.
to change their behavior
in class? You use PCP! If Remember if there is more than
your student has tried to one correction, deal with the
correct their mistake a correction that’s most important
million times, how you get first, ignoring the other
them to change it? PCP! corrections. The reason we do
NO, I’m not talking about this is that most people cannot
drugs, I’m talking about think of more than a few things at
Praise Correct Praise! a time, if we give them three
corrections or even two corrections
it might be more than they can
handle, it’s best just to let them focus
on one thing at time, master it, then
move onto the next correction.
Keep the praise coming.
www.4kicks.com 28
“Most students can If they have multiple corrections, it might be tough to find something
not focus on more good, at this point complement them on their hair, they’re clean
than one correction uniforms, their enthusiasm or anything you can come up with, then use
at a time. If the PCP.
student has more
More Examples of PCP:
than one mistake,
first concentrate on
“I love your power in your reverse punch! If you keep your hand in
the worst mistake
the right position it will produce better results!” “Great, that’s it!”
before going on to
the others. Work “You can jump real high! If you strike the pad with the ball of your
only on one or two foot it won’t hurt.” “That’s it, you got it now!”
mistakes per class
session.” “Wow, your stances are AWESOME! How did you get them so
deep? Keep your back straight to practice good body posture,
wonderful!”

“You are on your way to black belt with that kind of enthusiasm!
Now if you shorten your yell to a second, and still keep your yell
that loud, you will be a black belt champion!”
“Praise in Public,
Wow John! You were the first one to line up after I told the class to
Correct in
line up, I’m proud of you! Now class, let’s try it again, and this time
Private!”
let’s see who is the fastest!” “All of you are fast! Great! You are all
on your way to Black Belt!”

Never Ending Correction With A Smile!

When you are correcting a students mistake, you should always SMILE!
This will set your students in a relaxed state of mind so that it will be
“Whisper the easier for them to focus on correcting their mistakes. “Bend your
correction in the knees” or “Turn to your left” is something you could say 5,000 times,
student’s ear” but do it with a genuine SMILE!

Do Be Gentle!
While correcting students always be sure to do it gently. You have
heard the statement, “Praise in Public, Correct in Private.” The reason
for this is that as an instructor you should always remember we are
building self-esteem and confidence in our students, if we correct or
criticize our students in front of everyone it tears down the self-esteem

www.4kicks.com 29
“We are in an and confidence of our students. I’ve tried correcting the students out
awesome position, loud in front of others and it simply does not work. It may work on a
we have the few people, but certainly not on the majority.
opportunity to
impact people’s I remember as a 11 year old child, my sixth grade teacher would single
me out and embarrass me in front of the class if I misbehaved or did
lives everyday.
something wrong. Little did that teacher know that I cried everyday on
We can build
my way home from the things she did. What this teacher thought was
confidence, we can
an easy form of discipline turned into a nightmare for her students.
teach people how to
Needles to say I didn’t last long in that teacher’s classroom, my parents
live better and more enrolled me at the best private school in my town.
productive lives.”
We are in an awesome position, we have the opportunity to impact
people’s lives everyday. We can build confidence, we can teach people
how to live better and more productive lives.

The way we correct is by whispering the correction in their ear, or by

using our hands and placing the student in the right technique. We
also always smile as we are doing the correction and giving
encouragement.

While correcting a large class, use helpers to help with the corrections,
but let them know to whisper and use their hands (when possible) to
make the correction, so as not to disturb the rest of the class. Or you
can make the corrections and have someone else lead the class in the
activity. To use your hands while correcting, pull a hand into place, or
push someone’s knee into position, etc. This is a quick method of
correction that you can use to correct several students in a short period
of time.

Assignments and Questions:

1. How else can we use PCP?
2. Write down other examples of PCP you can use in classes daily.
3. Why is it important to practice Never Ending Correction with a
Smile?

www.4kicks.com 30
Lesson Five: Pro-Active Discipline
Disciplining our A Martial Arts classroom should have a plan for discipline. We need a
Student’s Behavior plan because it will make our jobs easier, and it will help our students
in the Classroom learn faster. When there are less disruptions to the class, the students

-
will concentrate more on the instructor. Also, children learn better and
Be Pro-Active behave better when they are in a structured environment. We as
- Use Rules Martial Arts instructors need to provide structure in our classroom.
- Use Praise A discipline plan contains three elements:
- Examples of - A set of written rules posted on the training floor
Praise - Praise for positive behavior
- Attitude - A list of consequences for negative behavior.
- Motivated
Lets explain each one in detail...

A Set of Written Rules

Your rules should be posted in your classroom. The rules should also be
taught, the best time to teach new rules is at the very beginning of their
training. Just as the first few days of public school is dedicated to
teaching the rules of the school.

Your students will not know how to act unless you teach them how to act
in your school. You can not get upset with your students if they fail to
meet your expectations unless first you have demonstrated and taught
them your school procedures and rules.

I remember getting upset at one of my instructors for not following one

of my procedures, then he informed me I never explained it to him, boy
did I feel dumb. I probably lost some respect for acting the way I did
as well.

There is an example of our rules on the next page.

These rules are a sample taken from our school, you may use them or
add your own, what is important is that you have your instructors teach
the white belts these rules and then periodically review them in your
classes.

www.4kicks.com 31
 Some guidelines for making rules:
“Our job is not
just a teacher, but
o Choose rules that let your students know what you
also a motivator.”
expect at all times.
o Choose rules that are specific, not vague.
o Choose a limited number of rules.
o Consider letting your staff help you with the rules.
o Choose the rules that work for you.

Martial Arts America Rules

1. Always Show Respect to the Class in Progress
u Quietly Stretch Out
u Remain in Blue Part of Mat
2. Uniforms Should Be Neat & Clean
u Good Hygiene Habits Appreciated
u Learn to Tie Your Belt Properly
u Remove ALL Jewelry
u Be Dressed in Proper Uniform at All Times
3. Practice Courteous & Polite Greetings
u Towards your Classmates & Instructors
u Young Children Should be Supervised
u Introduce Yourself to New Classmates
4. Develop Positive & Safe Classroom Habits
u No Gum Chewing on Mat
u Pull Your Attendance Card Before Class
u “Bow” As You Enter and Exit the Classroom
u Enter Class With Spirit and a Strong Energy
for Learning
u Listen Attentively to instructors
u Always Show Good Control
5. This is Your School! Always Take Pride In It!
u Keep Your School Clean
u Place Your Equipment in it’s Proper Place
u Speak well of Your Team Mates

www.4kicks.com 32
 Praise for Positive Behavior
Not only does a Martial Arts Instructor have to teach the curriculum,
but they also have to motivate the students as well. One of the best
ways to motivate your students is to give positive recognition.
Benefits of Praise and Positive Recognition:

o It will motivate your students to continue their positive

behavior
o It will motivate the students around them to continue their
positive behavior
o Positive Recognition must become the most active part of
your classroom discipline plan. (It produces the best results)

What is positive recognition? It is the sincere and thoughtful

attention you give to your student for behaving or performing to
Whether you think your expectations.
you can or whether
you think you can't, It will: Increase their self-esteem, it will motivate them to try harder, it
you're right! will motivate others around them, it will encourage Black Belt excellence
within your class, Create a positive atmosphere for your students to
- Henry Ford learn, and decrease the number of behavior problems in your class.
1863-1947
American If you like a students’ performance, compliment them and they may do
Industrialist, it again! Actually, they will!
Founder, Ford
Motor Company How often should you use compliments? As many times as you can in
one class, then add a few more! You can not over use this technique
unless your compliment becomes repetitive or meaningless. Also make
sure you use specific compliments. Instead of: “Great Job”, tell them
exactly what they did a great job on, “Great Side Kick Jordan, it was
over your head!”

Examples of Praise
Here are few things you can do to compliment your students on great
behavior or great performance.

Just Praise Them!

Tell them what you liked about them. “Great Reverse Punch!”, “Nice
Power”, “I like how you were the first to line up”, “Who said ‘Yes Sir’”?
Well Great Job Ricky!”, “Awesome Stances!” etc.

www.4kicks.com 33
 Post Cards or Notes Home
Send home a special note home with your student telling their parents
what an awesome job they did in class today. Specifically tell them
what you appreciated. This is a great reward to your students
because you are not telling just them, you are telling someone that
they want to make proud.

Also send to their home a “Great Job”

postcard. Make sure it has a
specific compliment on it and
make sure it is all
handwritten. When you hand
write it says that you care
because you have taken the
time to write it out yourself.
If your handwriting is bad, do
your best, a sloppy handwritten
paragraph means more than 10
lines of type.

Special Privileges
Let them be the first to sword
fight, or do your drill, or to
bow the class out. They can lead When was the last time you called
the class in stretching. You can put the parents of your students, only
them in front of the class to be the to brag about how great a job they
example setters. They can help you have been doing in class?
make corrections. You could have
them select an activity to do during your
class, or they could select the High Energy Drill for the day.

Phone Call to Parents

When was the last time you called the parents of your students only to
brag about how great a job they have been doing in class? It would
only take 3 minutes per call and would pay off huge dividends.

Performance or Behavior Certificates

“Student of the Month”. “Student of the Day”, “Student of the
Class”, “Most Enthusiastic”, “Highest Kick”, “Great Report Card”,
“Most Outstanding Student at a Belt Test”, etc. These small tokens are
a wonderful way to improve your students’ positive behavior and
performance in class.
www.4kicks.com 34
 Stickers/Paperclips
Never, never, never,
We give out stickers periodically at the end of class to the whole
never give up.
class. We also have a “Treasure Chest” filled with different things
to give out to the best in class. The Treasure Chest is filled with:
- Winston Churchill
Stickers, Pencils, Small Trophies, temporary Martial Arts Tattoos,
1874-1965
medals, Wooden nickels for free Ice Cream cones, patches and
British Statesman,
whatever t-shirts that haven’t been selling in our pro-shop.
Author, Prime
Minister
We also have a paper clip system where the students earn a
paperclip on their belt each time they are “caught” doing a great
job! When they earn five paperclips on their belts they receive a
special gift from our “Treasure Chest.” We give out paperclips
pretty liberally. Each child will earn two to three each time they
come into class.

Reasons include: Try harder than everyone else, yell louder than
everyone else, line up quicker than everyone else, bend their knee in a
stance when no one else remembers, say “Yes Sir/Ma’am” louder than
everyone else, Kick faster or higher than everyone else. etc.

They have to go above and beyond the call of duty to earn the
paperclips (also called points.) All of our leadership team have points
to give out.
An Instructor told me that she told her class that whoever has the most
paperclips at the end of class got to bow the class out. A very simple
thing became the sole motivator for the entire class! I was even
amazed at what kids will do for the praise of a paperclip.

Martial Arts Currency

Last time my parents went to Korea I had them pick me up $100 worth
of Korean pennies! Then I gave them out to the kids who were the best
in class!

The Most Important!

Verbal Praise! Make a big deal out of the student who tries the
hardest in your class. Keep it simple - PRAISE THEM!

Effective Praise Must Be:

C Personal
C Genuine
C Specific

www.4kicks.com 35
Lesson Six: Consequences for Negative Behavior
Behavior Students also need to know what the consequences are if they choose
Management not to behave or perform well in your class. 95% of your students will
behave, and if they occasionally slip, all you have to do is just give
them a stern look! Most of your time will be spent on students who
behave, but occasionally you will have the student who will not
behave.

We must understand that students CHOOSE not to behave or

choose to behave. And if they choose not to behave, then they
have chosen to disrupt the class and they have chosen to accept
the consequences of their behavior.

When this type of disruptive behavior happens in your class you must
be prepared to handle it quickly and calmly.

If you react to the situation, rather than responding to it in a calm

matter you run the risk of losing respect from others.

But if you handle it in a positive way, not only will you gain respect, but
also you will cause change in the behavior of the students.

Consequences have to be something that the students do not like, but

“One act of they can not be:
punishment done o Severe
o Pychologically Harmful
in haste can destroy
o Physically Harmful
a year’s worth of
o Corporal Punishment
self-esteem.”
Remember, consequences are NOT punishment. Punishment is
something a Martial Arts Instructor does to a child, consequences are
something that happens to a student who chooses not to behave.
Punishment breeds resentment.

Martial Arts Instructors should NEVER use punishment, if they do they

run the risk of tearing away the self-esteem in their students that they
have struggled to build. One act of punishment done in haste can
destroy a year’s worth of self-esteem.

www.4kicks.com 36
The most essential Once you have a plan for consequences, and you teach these
factor is persistence - consequences to your students, your students will understand what will
the determination happen to them, and they will be less likely to “choose” to misbehave.
never to allow your
Consequences should not be, and don’t need to be, severe to be
energy or enthusiasm
effective. Most of the time a simple warning or a stern look will do
to be dampened by
the trick. Sitting out for one minute of sparring could be enough.
the discouragement
that must inevitably
Here is a list of ideas for your Plan of Consequences:
come.
1st Offense: Stern Look
- James Whitcomb Riley 2nd Offense: Verbal Warning
3rd Offense: Sit out for one minute of an exercise
4th Offense: Office Chat w/Master Instructor
5th Offense: Office Chat with parents

Severe Offense: Send Directly to Master Instructor

Each class the students start over with a clean slate, offenses are NOT
carried over to the next class.

Another thing to do is a MAT

CHAT with your repeat
offenders. Before class
begins seek out the
students you know might
be disruptive in the next
class. Go over and pull
them off to the side so
that no one else can
hear. “Tyler, I’ve noticed
that you have been
trying extra hard lately
to be like a Black Belt! Is
that right? Yes Sir! Great,
I’m counting on you to
continue to act like a
Black Belt, do you know
how? Punch Hard, Kick
Hard and Yell Loud!
Can you do this? Yes Sir!
A Black Belt also has awesome Each child should be dealt
self-discipline, will you with consistently.
www.4kicks.com 37
“While teaching a
small class in a big
room; make the class
seem smaller by only
using a corner of it or
by marking it off using
small cones. Most kids
will not misbehave if they
are close to the instructor,
the problems usually start
when the instructor has
turned their back or seems
to be far away”
“While teaching a big
class, make sure your
leadership team members
and instructors are spread
out evenly throughout the
class so the whole
classroom is adequately
supervised.”
www.4kicks.com
promise to behave and practice Black Belt self-discipline? Yes Sir!
You Promise? Yes Sir! Are you sure? Yes Sir! Great, I’m
counting on it!”
Make sure you make eye contact throughout your mat chat.
Make sure they respond to you. You can re-tie their belt or
stretch out with them while you are speaking with them, that way
you can “hide” the real reason you are speaking with them and
they don’t feel singled out.
Throughout the class, if the students slip, look them directly in the eye
and simply say “Remember our promise?” This usually does the trick.
Sometimes kids have to be reminded to behave.
Each child should be dealt with consistently. You must follow the same
list of consequences with each student. For instance you should not
give one child a warning, then another child does the same offense
and you send them to the Master Instructor (unless it is a SEVERE
offense.)
Keep track of each student’s warnings in your head, don’t write them
on the board! If your class is too large to remember, write it down on
a clipboard.
A Great Way To Minimize Misbehavior
Keep them busy! If they are busy concentrating or kicking or exercising
they don’t have time to misbehave! For instance:
While doing basics up and down the floor in lines:
Never pause for more than a few seconds at a time! Always keep at a
steady pace. If you have to correct a bunch of students move quick.
You can also correct one student, then count, then correct a few more
students and then count, etc.
Make your class more interesting by varying your cadence so that your
students have to pay close attention to you in order to not be left
behind.
While Doing One-Step Sparring or Free Sparring:
Change partners frequently, about every 30 seconds. Give them a
specific technique or groups of techniques to do, this gives them a
goal to shoot for and they are more likely to stay on task. 38
“Use compliments and While Doing Forms/Kata/Poomse:
praise to influence a Instead of telling the students to do their form, have them all get in
students behavior by groups according to their form. Then have them stay together as a
complementing ANOTHER group. Have them do it to your cadence. Change directions. Have
student who is doing the different ways to do each form. That way it seems to be fresh and
behavior that I am looking new. I have found that if you give the students a set number of times to
for, loud enough for the do their forms, they generally stay on task as long as you don’t give
entire class to hear.” them a ridiculously high number. Tell them to do their form ten times
with power. Then when they are done with the first ten, have them
switch and face the side then tell them to do the form ten times with
good form and stances.

If you keep your students busy, they will find it difficult to find other
nonproductive things to do with their time!

Do not allow your students to stay idle for more than six seconds at a
time! If you do, it will be hard to keep their concentration! Their
minds WILL wander! Don’t give them the opportunity! Keep them
active!

Positive thinking will

let you do everything Teaching Children to Behave!
When I first started teaching I felt like Smokey the Bear, I was always
better than negative
putting fires out in the class. “Katie don’t do that!”, “Daniel, Why are
thinking will.
you doing that?”, “Nathan, I have told you a hundred times to put your
hand on your hip!”
- Zig Ziglar
American Sales Trainer
Why doesn’t this type of correction work?
Author, Motivational
Speaker
Because I was focusing on the things that were wrong! I was focusing
on negative actions and behaviors.

Now I use compliments and praise to influence a students behavior by

complementing ANOTHER student who is doing the behavior that I am
looking for, loud enough for the entire class to hear.

The more compliments I give out during a class, the better

performance and behavior I receive back. But why? Because kids
thrive on attention, the more attention I give them, the better they
perform. Then, of course, I give them more attention and they give me
more performance. If a child misbehaves I deal with it but give him
very little attention. It isn’t long before the whole class understands in
order to get my attention, they have to behave and perform well.
www.4kicks.com 39
 But they always know I will catch them doing something right and I
will give them my attention! I’m consistent.

Start using praise today, and give it out liberally!

To keep kids on task in your martial arts classroom,

frequently provide positive feedback and compliments to
your students!

Other Ideas to help keep your students’ attention are:

. Stand next to or near the student that is misbehaving, your

presence alone usually corrects the problem. Plus, it is real fun to
see the expression on the kids’ faces when you catch them doing
something they’re not supposed to be doing!

. Pat them on the back and ask them to do the technique like a
Black Belt, do this frequently. Encourage them to kick higher or
faster or to put more power in it.

. Call out their name with a smile on your face.

. Give them the evil eye!

www.4kicks.com 40
Lesson Seven: Shamu method of teaching
Techniques for
Teaching
martial arts
On a plane from a recent speaking engagement I picked up a book
from the airport’s bookstore that explained the following story, I
immediately related it to teaching white belts.

To teach a Killer Whale to jump over a rope in the air, the trainer first
puts a rope on the bottom of the pool. Each time Shamu swims over
the rope, he gets a small reward of some fish. After a while Shamu
understands that if he wants recognition, he has to swim over the rope,
so Shamu keeps swimming over the rope expecting to get some fish, at
this time the trainer lifts the rope about 5 feet. Not enough to make a
big difference and the rope is too close to the bottom for Shamu to fit
underneath, so he continues to swim over the rope, and continues to get
the reward. After a while the trainer lifts the rope another 5 feet, now
Shamu has a choice between swimming over and swimming under.
Every time Shamu swims under, nothing happens, but every time
Shamu swims over the rope, he gets the fish. After a while Shamu
learns that only when he crosses over the rope does he get the prize, so
he does! Next the trainer puts the rope half way between the top of the
water and the bottom of the tank, until Shamu learns to swim above the
rope every time, then he places the rope at water level. Every time
Shamu jumps over the rope, a reward, but every time Shamu swims
under the rope, NOTHING! You see, the trainer knows the
importance of setting small attainable goals, and giving a reward for
the completion of each small goal.

Just like Shamu, white belts need to be encouraged and given lots of
praise. For instance, if a white belt hits a pad with a front kick and
drops his guard, hits with the wrong part of the foot, forgets to yell, etc.
It doesn’t matter! He hit the pad! Give him a compliment specific to
what he did. Next month work on his guard, then give him a
compliment for that, the following month work on his foot position,
etc. After a student has mastered the technique or form or whatever
you have taught him, only compliment him when he does it perfectly,
that way the student continues to improve because he knows he’ll get
the reward of a genuine compliment (just don’t give them any fish!).

The Shamu method of teaching can be applied to anything you have

to teach: forms, one-steps, grappling techniques, self-defense, etc.

www.4kicks.com 41
“I will treat everyone I come
in contact with as if they’re
the most important person
I’ll ever come in contact
with.”
www.4kicks.com
How do you teach kids to swim? If you threw 100 kids that couldn’t
swim in a 12 feet deep pool, two or so would figure it out and get to
the side, but 98 would be dead! Not a good success rate. I heard a
martial arts school owner brag that “only five out of a thousand
make it to Black Belt in my school!” Wow, what a horrible
instructor! If
your local
elementary
school said
that only five
kids in the
whole school
would make it
to the next
grade, what
would you do?
Find a different
school! Instead of
throwing the kids
in the 12-foot pool,
why not give them
all floaters and put them Let students graduate out of one step
in a kiddy pool first, then, before moving on to the next.
when they feel comfortable
put them in the shallow section
of a real pool and watch them closely. After a while, give them a kick
paddle, then a life vest, then hold them by the waist as they learn to
use their hands and kick their feet. Lastly, without them noticing it, take
away one hand and eventually both hands and watch them swim. Let
them graduate out of one step before moving on to the next step.
Now you have 100 kids swimming and having fun and no one on the
bottom! Are you going to still have the two kids that were the
strongest? Sure, put them in the advanced swimming class!
Apply this principle to your method of teaching, then you can impact
more students, enabling more people to benefit from what you have to
teach. Not to mention that you’ll be able to pay your bills and keep
your job because you’ll have more students to teach.
42
“never sacrifice self “Make Me Feel Important!”
discipline and respect for Zig Ziglar says “I will treat everyone I come in contact with as if
fun” they’re the most important person I’ll ever come in contact with.”
Which applies directly to our business! Also, imagine if you truly
treated everyone this way! When a student enters your school, treat
him as if he’s the only person in world at that time.

Just imagine that all your students have a sign around their neck that
says “make me feel important!” Can you just imagine stepping out on
to the training floor when you teach your class and seeing all these
signs over the training floor reading “make me feel important.”

Last time I did a survey of the parents, a mother commented on how

one of our instructors called her son by name. The son was very
excited and told his mom that he couldn’t believe that the instructor
actually knew who he was, he felt important to that instructor, because
the instructor took the time to make him feel important! Guess how
hard that particular student tried in class, super hard!
This is especially important when you have a big class, so students
don’t feel like they’re just a number. You need to say things to the
students to make them feel important. Things like, “Rachel, Great to
see you!”, “Johnny that was an awesome side kick!”, “Steven, you are
really trying to be a black belt!” These specific words of
encouragement make your students feel important. Remember to only
use true compliments, or it will have the opposite effect!

Teaching A Student
Every act of virtue is
an ingredient unto
A Difficult
reward. Technique
When teaching a
- Jeremy Taylor new technique to
1613-1667 a student, whether
British Churchman, he is a white belt
devotional Writer or black belt,
remember to take it
slow. I always show the
new technique to the
student a few times then
explain it in detail. Then I
b ask the student to do it with When teaching a new technique to
www.4kicks.com me. Overlook the big mistakes a student, keep it slow. 43
Singleness of purpose for the first 25 or so techniques that they do, it usually takes about that
is one of the chief many times before the student warms up to the new technique. If the
essentials for success student you are working with seems to get frustrated or can not pick
in life, no matter what up the rough idea of the technique, break it up into a smaller chunk.
may be one's aim. If he still cannot get it, break it up into a smaller chunk, you may have
to break it up into the ridiculous, but eventually the student will
understand and move ahead. If a student can not understand the
- John D. Rockefeller
technique, it is our responsibility to explain it in another way until the
1839-1937
student can understand it.
American
Industrialist,
Philanthropist, S. S. L.
Founder Standard Oil
S. — Smiling
S. — Sweating
L. — Learning

Every class you teach as an instructor, your students need to be:

smiling, sweating, and learning. Throughout the class your students
need to be enjoying themselves, if your class is not fun your students
will not enjoy themselves, therefore, they will be more likely to stop
taking lessons from you. Make your classes enjoyable, but never
sacrifice self discipline and respect for fun. Make sure your
instructors and you realize that there is a difference between having fun
and being funny.
“While class is in
session, the #1 Your workouts should be fast-paced, you should move smoothly
priority is the between each segment of your class. While you’re stretching the class
students” out, think about what you’re going to be doing next so that when
you’re done stretching you can immediately move into the next
segment. That way you don’t have to worry about losing your
students’ attention even for a second. Keep the pace of your class
consistently fast, especially when dealing with children. Adults, on the
other hand, can be moved at a slower pace. Adults are usually
interested in taking their time and learning things right, but also
getting a great workout.

In every class your students come to they need to learn something

new, it doesn’t have to be a new kick, block, punch or technique. It
could be just a new way to apply something they already know. If
students come to class and just practice things they have already
learned in a previous class, they are probably one step closer to

www.4kicks.com 44
 quitting. Now it is easier than ever to teach something new, there are
so many videos and books on the market for you to pick up and learn,
then teach to your students. Or you may choose to go to a seminar in
your area and take back to your school the things that you’ve learned.
Either way, always have new, fresh ideas for your students to learn,
and they will keep coming back for more!

How to Grow A Small Class

into a BIG One!
The Bible says in Matthew 25:23, “...thou hast been faithful over a
few things, I will make thee ruler over many things:”
Unless you teach a small class with the same enthusiasm and energy
and attention to each student, as if it were a large class, you will never
see a bigger class. If you teach a class of five students like a class of
55, it will grow!

How? First, if they love your class, they will tell their friends. If they
tell their friends, your class will grow. On the other hand if you are
not faithful to your five students, eventually you will loose your
students one by one until you have none left.

Lesson Eight: The Makeup of a Perfect Class:

The Makeup of First some definitions:
a perfect class
Main Instructor – the instructor who supervises all the students on the
floor and the squads to make sure everything is going smooth and
everyone is being taught well.
Squad Instructors – the instructors who are in charge of each squad.
Squad – a group of students separated by age or belt level. Usually
consists of 1 to 8 students.
Split Squad – when you take a squad and split it up into two groups to
make it smaller.
Rotation – when your squads rotate to new instructors.
Two-Minute Warning – the Main Instructor will call a two-minute
warning and hold two fingers up signaling it’s almost time to rotate the
squads.

www.4kicks.com 45
“While class is in Responsibility of Each member:
session, the #1
THE FOCUS OF THE ENTIRE CLASS IS ON THE STUDENTS. FROM
priority is the
THE TIME THE CLASS BEGINS TO THE TIME IT ENDS THERE SHOULD
students”
BE NO IDLE CHITCHAT AMONG THE TEACHING TEAM. This type
of talking is very distracting to the Main Instructor and the students.
Instead separate yourselves from each other and focus your energy on
the students taking the class. At times you will have to communicate to
each team member, when this is necessary talk fast and with a whisper
so you don’t disrupt the rest of the class.

Main Instructor
His responsibility is to start and end class each time, to guide the class
from start to finish and to make sure everything goes smoothly. While
the squads are going, his job is to monitor the progress of each squad
instructor and to provide helpful feedback to them as needed (whisper
in their ear.) During stripe testing week, he is the one who takes each
student off to the side one at a time and stripe tests them. Also, if he
sees a student lagging behind the others he may want to take him off
to the side to help him. The main instructor sets the tone and pace for
The more credit you
the entire class. He will watch the clock to make sure the squad
give away, the more instructors are on time. He will call the two-minute warning, at which
will come back to you. time the squad instructors will
The more you help finish up their groups. He will
others, the more they make sure the transitions from
will want to help you. each squad and topic is smooth.
There can only be ONE Main
- Brian Tracy Instructor per class. The Master
American Trainer Instructor of the school assigns the
Speaker, Author, Main Instructor. It is a position of
Businessman leadership, not necessarily one of rank.

Squad Instructors
Before each class begins, each squad
instructor should greet the students
as they come into the school and
direct the students to a proper place
for them to start stretching and

Following the hierarchy

of instructors will ensure
www.4kicks.com a smooth running school. 46
Try, try, try, and getting mentally prepared for their class. The lineup process should
keep on trying is start before the class even begins, that way the students won’t waste
precious class time finding their places in line. If a class is already
the rule that must
going on, the students may line up in the back of the room in order, so
be followed to
that there is a smooth transition from one class to another.
become an expert
in anything.
While the Main Instructor is lining up the class, the Squad Instructors
should be helping the students find their places in line. After a brief
- W. Clement Stone
time of warmups and stretching, the squad instructors will each be
American Businessman
assigned a group of students to work with. I recommend breaking up
Author, Founder of
the class by belt color then assigning a squad instructor to each
Combined Insurance
group.
Companies
Each Squad Instructor covers his/her topic during the time period. The
squad instructor should use all teaching methods found in this book
while teaching his squad. Make sure you stick to your topic. Pay close
attention to your students under your supervision, and disguise
repetition, if needed, by changing your approach. For instance, if
you are teaching forms, and your students seem to know their form
pretty well, have them do it facing a different direction or have them
do it with their eyes closed, this way they will not realize how many
times they have been doing their form. It will keep it interesting.
When the Main Instructor gives the two-minute warning, wrap up
what you are teaching and give your students a high five and
compliments. Pre-frame them on how to act when they go to the next
Squad Instructor. Bow them out and direct them to the next Squad
Instructor.

As the new group makes their way to you, start them on their material.
After all groups have come through your squad, we will move on to the
ending of class, Life Skills teaching, High Energy Drill, and the bowing
“While class is in out.
session, the #1
priority is the Lets take a look at how to make
students” a perfect class…

1 Warm Up and Stretch Out – 5 Minutes

2 Break into Squads (ROTATION) (total of 30 Minutes)
Squad A – Forms/Katas (10 Minutes and then rotate)
Squad B – Basic Kicks (10 Minutes, then rotate)
Squad C – Self-Defense (10 Minutes, then rotate)
3 Life Skills Teaching (5 Minutes)
4 High Energy Drill – (5 Minutes)
www.4kicks.com 47
5 Announcements, School Cheer and Dismissal (1 minute or less)
“While class is in Let’s break it down and explain it:
session, the #1
priority is the 1 Warm Up and Stretch Out:
students” Make sure you warm up your class by doing some kind of
exercises. This way the students will be warmed up and ready to
stretch. After a few minutes of warming up, you should stretch
them out. Don’t do the same routines for stretching and warmups
every class, try to do something different every once and a while.
This keeps boredom from setting in.

2 Break into squads:

During this segment you can do a few different things: A. If you
have a small class, and you don’t have three instructors, just
spend 10 minutes on each topic for the day. For instance, first do
10 minutes of Forms/Katas, then do 10 minutes of Basic Kicks,
then, 10 minutes of self-defense. B. If you have a small class and
three instructors (or more) then break up into three squads. The
squads should all be the same rank, that way each squad can all
do the same level of difficulty. The first squad should learn
Forms/Katas, the second squad should learn Basic Kicks, and the
third squad should work on self-defense. After 10 minutes the
squad should rotate to the next instructor. Then start the next topic
until they have covered all three topics. Each group is taught by a
squad instructor.

Why separate into squads? First of all, if you have a big class you can
teach more students in a smaller space. All big schools that I have
Great men are little seen have done it this way and it works great. It also adds a lot more
energy and enthusiasm to your class. Another benefit to this is that
men expanded; great
each squad will only have a few students for each instructor, thereby
lives are ordinary lives
giving each student a little one on one training.
intensified.
Why just three squads? You don’t have to just have three groups
- Wilfred A. Peterson
going on at one time, you could have as many or as few as instructors
you have available at any given time. Depending on your space you
could have multiple groups all going on at the same time.

“Parents complain that there is too much confusion.” Re-frame the

parents that students actually learn faster when they are forced to focus
on one thing while other things are vying for their attention.

www.4kicks.com 48
Mistakes Life Skills Teaching:
No one that ever This is the most important part of your class, have the class re-form as a
lived has ever had group and talk to them about life skills such as: Respecting your
enough power, parents, self-discipline, courage to do what is right, Leadership traits,
prestige, or motivation, setting goals in your life, anti-drugs and self-esteem.
knowledge to
overcome the High Energy Drill:
basic condition Every class should end on a high note. Never dismiss your class
of all life - you unless they are smiling and sweating! I have seen instructors yell at
win some and their students about how they didn’t perform well that day and they
you lose some. better come back to the next class with a better attitude, then they
dismiss the class. This is the equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot!
- Ken Keyes Jr. Make your students hungry and ready for more as they leave your
school by cranking up the music and cranking up the energy.

Examples of High Energy Drills:

1. Sword Fighting
2. The Snake Drill
3. Duck, Jump, Duck, Roll, Flying Side Kick
4. Combination line drills
5. Favorite Kicking Line Drills
Perhaps nobody ever 6. Criss Cross Kicks
accomplishes all that
he feels lies in him to Get the parents who are watching class involved by clapping to the
do; but nearly every beat of the music. Get the rest of the class involved by having them yell
one who tries his and clap and encourage those who are doing the drill. Pump up the
power touches the volume of the music to encourage excitement. Never have them idle for
walls of his being. more than 10 seconds during the five minute High Energy Drill.

- Charles Dudley Warner For more High Energy Drills, look to the back of this manual for more
1829-1900 ideas and explanations.
American Author
Announcements, Bow Out, School Cheer:
During this period we give them the upcoming announcements, give
words of encouragement and the school cheer. At our school we also
give high fives to all students after the school cheer. Then we dismiss the
class and bring up the next class, and it all starts over again.

www.4kicks.com 49
 Using Lesson Plans
Just as school teachers know months in advance what is to be taught,
so should we. First, our curriculum should be laid out from white belt
to black belt. Then break it down over the next few months to be sure
everything is taught and nothing is left to chance. This produces
better, more well-rounded students. And it keeps your students
consistent in performance.

This also helps keep you from burning out. If you have nothing to go
by, you will do what ever comes to your mind, probably your favorite
techniques. These will probably not change, so every class the
students will do the same thing, over, and over, which leads to
instructor burnout and student burnout. If you have more than one
instructor in your school, it keeps the staff unified and the students
learning the correct material and not just the favorite thing of the
current instructor. I have a teenage Black Belt instructor who is very
good, but LOVES to spar. Guess what… If he had the chance he’d
teach sparring to the classes, every class. The students would not
learn anything on their new curriculum and would fail their next test,
which leads to…

Create your lesson plan weeks if not months in advance, and make a
commitment to use it. Is it set in stone that you must teach only what is
on the lesson plan? Certain parts will be set in stone; like the main
objectives you want covered. The curriculum can not be
overlooked, but you may change the way in which it is
taught. But don’t stray from it too much! As you
are teaching, you may want to
change certain parts, make a
note of it and discuss it with
the Master Instructor or
owner of the school
before you make the
changes.

We want to set our You must keep your

students up for success. students’ attention.
The lesson plan will aid
us in that. If you decide
not to teach a certain
part that is on the lesson
plan and the student
www.4kicks.com does poorly on that 50
 during their exam, which causes the student to fail, who’s fault is it?
On the other hand, if the student does poorly because he did not
attend the class or didn’t practice what was taught, we won’t be
embarrassed.

Lesson Nine: How to keep their attention while teaching class

Keeping your
students attention I have heard in the past that the adult attention span is approximately
Pre-framing 12 minutes, that is the reason why when we are watching a television
Re-framing program a commercial comes on about every 12 to 15 minutes. If an
adult’s attention span is only 12 to 15 minutes, then a child’s attention
span must be around seven minutes or less.

When we are teaching children, we must realize that they can only
learn in short segments. When we are teaching, spend only seven
minutes on one subject at a time, then move on to something different.

During the segment, make sure that you as an instructor explode

with energy. Make sure that you are loud, enthusiastic, interesting,
entertaining, and conscience of your students’ frame of mind. What I
mean by frame of mind is, are they losing attention in what you’re
teaching?

Ways to identify if your students are losing attention:

“An Instructor
must FIRST be o Looking around too much.
interesting, for o Not paying attention.
your students to o Yawning.
be INTERESTED” o Asking to go to the bathroom.
o Lack of enthusiasm.
o Lack of power.

What to do if your students are losing attention:

o Remember if you, the instructor, are not interesting, they will

not be interested! Pump up your enthusiasm.
o Change to a new activity and use an “attention getter.”
(See below.)
o Do something fun!

www.4kicks.com 51
“Always give your Attention getters:
commands with a
sense of v Ten fast front kicks
URGENCY in your v Focus Clap (“Everyone put your hands over your head… Give
voice” me one clap [CLAP]… Give me two claps [CLAP
CLAP]… Give me three! [CLAP CLAP CLAP] Awesome,
snap to attention!”)
v Sei’ za Position (kneel down on one knee in a huddle with your
hands folded on your knee)
v Self Discipline Game
v “I Can” punches (double punches while saying “I Can!”
v “Snap to attention”
v Kids Love to Punch, Kick and Yell (especially on Pads)

“the ability to While you’re using these attention getters, make sure that your voice
paint a positive tone has a sense of urgency in it. As you say your commands,
mental picture imagine that you’re in a house that has caught on fire and you have to
before the get all your loved ones out quickly. That is the kind of urgency that
technique is you use while issuing commands. You should raise your voice a few
ever shown.” notches, your pitch should be up, and you should say your commands
more quickly then you normally would. Why? They will respond
quicker! They will do what you told them without asking why, without
stopping to think! It saves time and causes them to be more interested
in what you have to teach.

After you have regained their attention, go back to what you were
“In order for a teaching, if necessary.
student to learn
fast, they have to
Start and Stops
be comfortable and
Children learn best at the beginning of something new, and at the end
relaxed. If they are of a segment. The middle stuff is often discarded and forgotten.
nervous, their mind Understanding this principle, as instructors we need to have as many
is focused on the starts and stops as possible in our class. For instance, if you have
nervousness and three things to go over in your class, divide them up into three groups
not on the learning and put a non related skill or drill in between them. This will break
process.” up your class into starts and stops. While teaching each segment, if
you break up your teachings into several more starts and stops, it will
cause the students to focus harder and learn faster.

Here’s How:
1. First have several different ways to teach that particular
technique. Do the first for two minutes, then the second
www.4kicks.com for two minutes until you have finished. 52
The difference 2. Break up your class into groups and have a rotation system.
between greatness
and mediocrity is PRE-FRAMING & RE-FRAMING TECHNIQUES
often how an
individual views a
mistake... What is pre-framing?
Pre-framing is the ability for the instructor to set up the next technique
in a positive manner. Or to influence a student’s attitude, by painting
- Nelson Boswell
a positive mental picture before the technique is ever shown.

The best example of pre-framing that I know is not in our industry, it’s
in photography. Here’s how they use it: first you go in to get your
pictures taken, a few weeks later you go back to view the proofs. As
soon as the photographer sees you, the first words out of his mouth
are “you are going to love your pictures, they turned out great!”
Now, before you even see your pictures, you already have a positive
mental picture in your mind of what they are going to look like, you
already have a smile on your face in anticipation of seeing your
pictures.

But what if he said, “Ah, they are OK.” Would you have had a
different mental picture before you saw the proofs? Of course you
Desire:
would!
Dreams do come
true, if we only wish
You can see examples of
hard enough, You pre-framing in every area
can have anything in of our lives. Businesses
life if you will that sell services,
sacrifice everything churches, restaurants,
else for it. hair stylists and
countless others all
- Sir James M. Barrie use pre-framing to
1860-1937 increase their
British Playwright business.

I have often heard

martial arts instructors
say things like “this next
technique is one of the
hardest techniques to
learn, it took me two In order for a student to learn fast,
years just to master it, ehty have to be comfortable and
so pay close attention.” relaxed.
www.4kicks.com Or how about this one, 53
“the ability to “this next kata is the toughest they ever made, I don’t like it at all, it’s
change your tough to learn and, and even harder to teach!”
students or their
What sorts of things do you think are going through your students’
parents mind from
minds at this point? Positive thoughts? I don’t think so! You have just
a negative to a
set them up for failure. You have just taught them how to be
positive outlook.”
frustrated.

I understand why instructors say these types of things, they want their
students to know they will have to think harder, try harder and
concentrate more. This particular technique requires more attention to
detail and has to be taken more seriously than other things you may
have taught them.

But, negative pre-framing will actually cause harm! In order for

students to learn fast, they have to be comfortable and relaxed. If
they are nervous, their minds are focused on the nervousness and not
the learning process. When we use negative pre-framing, we take
their minds off the learning process and put it in fear.

How about this instead, “this next technique is awesome! It will

challenge your mind and, challenge your skills!” Or “this next
form comes from ancient Korea, it was developed thousands of years
ago by the first grand masters and we have the ability to learn it
today, are you ready?” This will now cause their mind to be focused
on learning the technique. Much better, much easier, this produces
positive results.
“always glance over
your shoulders and
watch to see if all What can you pre-frame?
your students are
Anything!
correct.”
Some examples are:
J SIDEKICKS: “sidekicks are my favorite kick because there
so hard to block!”
J PUSH UPS: “push ups makes our arms stronger so we can
have harder punches!”
J FORMS OR KATAS: “students today we get to do forms!”
exercise: “this exercise will make us faster!”
this class: “students today we are going to have a lot of fun in
class!”
J STRETCHING: “Stretching is awesome because it allows us kick
higher and faster than ever before, the more you stretch, the
www.4kicks.com
better you will become!” 54
“When teaching How do you positively pre-frame something that you don’t like?
forms don’t teach This task is almost impossible, therefore we must change our own
more than 5 new attitudes about the material we will be teaching.
moves per class.”
How? By digging into it further, getting more information about it,
maybe the history of the technique or who invented it or why it was
invented. That way you will become more interested in it and you will
be more interesting when you teach it.

For example, my students LOVE forms (kata, poomse) because I love

forms and pre-frame it with a good attitude. Most schools tell me that
their students hate forms and forms should be thrown out. It just could
be that the instructor has negatively pre-framed their students to not
like forms.
“have the students
line up directly Also you might want to learn the benefits of the material you don’t
behind you, then like, for example:
start.”
Benefits of Forms (kata, poomse) Training:

J Increases Concentration
J Increases Self-Discipline
J Increases Muscle Tone and Fitness (if done properly)
J Creates a self-defense attitude when the student is taught the
application of each movement
J Helps with coordination of hand, feet and eyes

I’m sure if you tried, you could come up with more, and if you tried
you could come up with a list of benefits for any material you were
teaching, now use those lists of benefits while you are pre-framing
your class on the material.

“Class we get to do forms! When practiced correctly, Forms have many

benefits which include...”

There are other things that we can pre-frame as well:

Let’s say a parent comments on how large the class is. You can say “I
am so excited about how big the class is, there is going to be lots of
energy and everyone will be able to work with different people, that
way we can increase our skills.”

www.4kicks.com 55
 How about pre-framing an upcoming event: “this Saturday is the
family picnic, it will be the best picnic ever, make sure you bring all
your family for an exciting fun-filled time!” Or how about this, “on the
13th we will be holding an advanced kicking seminar, it will be taught
by kicking legend “Superfoot” Bill Wallace; you don’t want to miss this
one.”

As you can see everything and anything can be pre-framed and

should be pre-framed.

Action steps:
v Memorize the above statements and use them frequently.
v Write down some commonly asked questions by parents or
students and, as a staff, figure out how to pre-frame in the
future. Write this down in your staff training manual for
future reference.
v Start pre-framing your class after lineup about how great a
class they are going to have. Set them up for a positive
experience.

Re-Framing:
Re-framing is the ability to change your students’ or their parents’
minds from a negative to a positive outlook.

As in the example above, the parent

commented on how large your class
was. The parent could have been
concerned that her son/daughter
wasn’t going to have the proper
individual attention he/she deserved.
It is important in these situations that you
are good at re-framing the parent in a
positive way.

Otherwise you may loose a student.

Also have your staff be able to pre-
frame as well. A lot of the time a
parent or student will feel
intimidated by coming to you with
a problem like this one. It is
important that the staff member
Teach only five new
www.4kicks.com moves per class. 56
 re-frames them and then immediately tells the head instructor or
owner about this situation. Then the owner or head instructor can
take the necessary actions to help the parent.

Another way to handle this situation is to offer them to come to a

smaller class at a different time or offer private lessons for a fee.

Lesson Ten: Teaching A Student A New Form

Teaching Forms (or Kata/Poomse)
3 Phaze System
Learning Methods When teaching students a
new form (sometimes
called a Kata or
Poomse), it is often the
best policy to teach
only a few moves at a
time. When teaching
forms don’t teach more
than 5 new moves per
class. I have two good
reasons for this, one, they
usually can not
comprehend more per class
and they should use the extra
time in perfecting these moves
before going on to more. Two, Always glance over your shoulder and
if they do pick up quick, and watch to see if all your students are
we teach them the whole thing correct.
tonight, what are we going to
teach them at their next class? Or for the next month for that matter?
The student will get bored and probably not want to take the time to
correct something they already know. But if you make them perfect the
first 5 before going to the second 5, they will be motivated to perfect
the first 5. This rule I never allow any of my staff to break.

When teaching forms, have the students line up directly behind you,
then start. Most people think you should line up next to them, I’ve
tried it all kind of ways, but in front has always worked the best, no
matter what age group you are working with. By lining up in front of
them, they can see you all the time in one glance. If you are next to
them they can only see you when they are going in the same direction

www.4kicks.com 57
 that you are going, but they may have to turn all the way around to
“When teaching
look at you at times and itwill confuse them (especially little kids.)
the form for the
When you change directions, you may also move so they may see you
first time, or if
clearly. Keep a close, watchful eye on all your students while they are
the students are
making a turn, if you happen to be turning and they make a turning
still learning the mistake but somehow end up right, they could make that mistake a
form, always face habit. Let them turn first while you are watching then you can make
the front of the the turn, or vice versa. If they have to turn in a certain direction, tap
room. This will them on the leg and arm that will be doing the motion and always be
help them between the student and the direction of movement, so the student
concentrate more doesn’t have to look one way and turn in another.
because of the
consistency. If at times your student continually turns in the wrong direction, either
After they learn break it down into smaller segments and do it slower, or pick up his
the form you can leg and move his arm for him. You can also have them pick up his
test them by foot first and place it in its new proper place, then do the hand
changing directions.” technique.

Along with touching the arm and so forth, I have the student turn his
head in the direction he will be turning and instruct him to turn his
body in that direction. I also demonstrate what the various movements
in the kata are for and have practical application of the techniques. I
The 3 Major try to stress that they are defending against multiple attackers and
Learning must look in the direction the attack is coming from. During Class
Methods: before I start on kata, I also go through basic techniques and stances
as part of our basic practice. This gives me a chance to correct some
Z Visual Learners problem areas before we start a kata.
Z Auditory Learners As an instructor, always glance over your shoulders and watch to
Z Kinesthetic see if all your students are correct. If you miss somebody you will
Learners run the chance of really messing your student up! So correct
wrong movements right away, let bad technique slide at this point
Most people learn in their studies. As a matter of fact, always when teaching any
using a combination new thing, correct the really bad techniques, let the little stuff go.
of the three styles. Then as they start feeling more comfortable, correct only one
thing at a time. Resist the urge to over-correct, this will only cause
greater frustration and confusion.

In teaching forms, you should also use the 3 Phase System, as

explained in the next section.

www.4kicks.com 58
The 3 Phase System: The 3 Phase system of teaching new techniques.

G Introduction PHASE 1: “Introduction”

G Polish In phase one of teaching a new technique or form, you should
G Perfection concentrate only on the student learning the concept or main focus of
what you are teaching. For instance, when teaching a form, show only
the first few movements until the student understands the moves. Forget
correcting the students on their stance or correct hand positions or foot
positions. Phase one is just an overview of the new technique. Let them
practice what you showed them so they feel more comfortable. Refrain
from over-correcting them at this point. Only correct the MAJOR
corrections, things that are outright wrong. I compare this phase to
building the foundation and putting up the 2X4 wall studs when
building a house.

PHASE 2: “Polish”
In phase two the student already “knows” the form, just hasn’t
perfected it yet. Now is the time to start correcting the mistakes
that will make the form look like the real thing. Perfect stance, perfect
“If you want to be
hand techniques, perfect foot position, etc. The main focus for Phase
a shepherd, you two is getting the form or technique to look great. I compare phase
gotta have some two to adding the drywall to our frame when building the house.
sheep. No one
gives you sheep, PHASE 3: “Perfection”
you gotta go get Phase three is the final touch preparing our student for their belt test.
some for your self.” We polish each and every technique. Perfect stance, perfect weight,
perfect foot position, perfect body balance, perfect foot position, perfect
posture, perfect hands, etc. I compare phase three to painting our
walls and adding our trim to build our house. After they complete
phase 3, the student is ready to test or compete for 1st place in a
tournament.

“Sir/Ma’am I can’t kick hard ‘Cuz I scraped my knee!”

Ever have your students come up to you before class and say “
Sir, I scraped my knee today while riding my bike, I can’t punch or
kick very hard today.” Or, “ Ma’am, this is my second class today
and I’m getting tired!” What is an instructor to do? I have a
simple little thing I teach our staff to do in any of these kinds of
situations:

www.4kicks.com 59
 Say to Johnny…

“You know what I like about you? You’re the kind of student,
“If you want to that it doesn’t matter how tired you are, you would still try
be a leader, you hard just like a black belt! Wouldn’t you?”
gotta have some
followers” Or...

“You know what I like about you? You’re the kind of student,
that it doesn’t matter if your leg was falling off, you would
still try hard just like a black belt! Wouldn’t you?”

Or...

“You know what I like about you? You’re the kind of student,
that it doesn’t matter…

“Being a leader [Place their problem magnified here...]

also means being
a servant to those …you would still try hard just like a black belt! Wouldn’t
you?”
who follow you.”

The three major learning methods

and how to teach all three at the
same time.

There are many different learning styles,

and as an instructor you must be able to
communicate effectively to all your students at
the same time. This is no easy task, but almost
mandatory.

Have you ever been frustrated while teaching a

“Never end a class
technique and you explained it till you were
on a negative tone.” blue in the face (and they were bored silly) and
the student still didn’t get it? I know I have, and
most of the time it was my fault that they didn’t
learn the technique, I was speaking Greek to
them because the way they learn and process
information is not by having me explaining
every detail.

The higher belts should also be mentors

www.4kicks.com 60
to the lower belts, especially the new students.
“If the head Here is a quick way to teach every technique is so that all students
instructor is regardless of learning styles, learns quickly.
teaching, and
1. First sit everyone down in a close circle and show the
students are
technique a few times in different directions so that all the
talking, the head
visual learners see the technique from all angles.
instructor shouldn’t
2. Secondly, while you are showing the technique, explain the
have to say a word... important key points to learning the technique, this way your
auditory learners will learn.
...one of the higher 3. Lastly, get your students up doing it with you -- giving
belts should take constant encouraging feedback to your students so that your
care of the kinesthetic learners will learn.
situation.”
If your students still don’t understand the technique, then break the
technique down into a simpler modified way, until your students can
perform the technique well. If they still don’t understand, try
explaining it differently or break it down into smaller sizes if
necessary.

While you are spending time with the ones who are not learning the
technique keep the other students busy by practicing the technique on
their own, don’t let them stand around while you help others, they will
get into mischief. Keep one eye on your other students.

Lesson Eleven: The IMPORTANT Role of the High Ranking Students:

High ranking When students become a Red belt (about one year from Black Belt)
students and higher they should start taking on certain responsibilities. First
High energy drills they should start preparing for Black Belt. All their old techniques and
Disguising forms should be practiced several times per week (especially if they
repetition haven’t practiced them in a while!) We call this stage of their training
“Black Belt Preparation.”

They should also take on the responsibility of becoming a role

model to the lower ranks. They should be the example setters to
the rest of the class. This group should be responsible for getting
everyone lined up properly when class starts. This group should
also help the head instructor by correcting the students when they
don’t say Sir or Ma’am by whispering to them when they forget.
If the head instructor is teaching, and students are talking, the
head instructor shouldn’t have to say a word! A gentle tap or a
stern look from one of the higher belts should take care of the
situation.
www.4kicks.com 61
Your chances of The higher belts should also be mentors to the lower belts, especially
success are directly the new students. If you see a new student having difficulties with their
curriculum or you see a shy student, help them. Teach them the “ins
proportional to the
and outs” of the school to make them feel more like our family.
degree of pleasure
you desire from what
This group should always show great respect and admiration for the
you do. If you are in Master Instructor of the school, always lifting the Master Instructor up
a job you hate, face in front of the other students. Make the Master Instructor look like
the fact squarely Bruce Lee or Superman in the minds of the students. Why? First of all
and get out. it is a tradition in the Martial Arts to show this type of respect, it helps
the school come together as a strong unit. Also, one day you will be
- Michael Korda in the shoes of the Master Instructor and you will want the same
American publisher respect because of all the hard work you have put into the Martial
Arts. Lastly, you should do it because of what your Master Instructor
did for you. He helped you, taught you, mentored you and gave his
all for your benefit. This is a great way to pay him back for his
Obstacles: dedication.
If you only knock
long enough and Every chance I get I brag about how great an Instructor my mother
loud enough at the was when she taught me. I am lifted up every time I make a big deal
gate, you are sure to out of how great she was. She was an inspiration to me to become
wake up somebody. the best instructor I can be and gave me such leadership throughout
my student career. To me she is the best teacher, even better than me,
- Henry Wadsworth but I’ll try to catch up, give me time! Again, Thank you Mom!
Longfellow
1819-1892 In order for you to grow and have a promotion, someone under you
American Poet has to take your place. If there is no one under you to take your
place, you cannot move up. My mentor once told me “If you want to
be a shepherd, you gotta have some sheep. No one gives you sheep,
you gotta go get some for yourself.” What he meant is, don’t ask to
be a leader, just lead. Grab hold of some of the lower belts and help
them. They are your sheep.

High Energy Drills

At the end of every class I like the students to leave happy, excited
and wanting more! I want them to feel as if they are leaving a party!
No one wants to leave the excitement of a party! The last five minutes
of our class is the “High Energy Drill.” We always play high-energy
“dance mix” type music and do an exciting, motivating and fun group
drill. The end of this manual has all kinds of exciting drills for you to
use as your high-energy drills. Remember to have fast paced, lots of

www.4kicks.com 62
Repetition is the movement type exercises for your High Energy Drill. It is also
mother of skill. important to end a class on a high note.

Never end a class on a negative tone. If during class you’ve been

- Anthony Robbins
hard on your students to improve and you look up at the clock and the
class was supposed to end 5 minutes ago, take two or three extra
minutes to lift the spirits of your class and have some fun!

Disguising Repetition
As in anything, repetition is the key to success. Anthony Robbins says
that repetition is the mother of skill. Therefore, if we want our students
to be the best that they can be, they’ve got a do something over, and
over, and over again. But, try telling that to a 10 year old!

Repetition will kill enthusiasm in your classes, it will cause your

students to quit, even you as an instructor will get bored senseless!

In this day of MTV, multimedia, excitement age, everybody wants

things quickly. We don’t have time to practice things over and over
they say. So what do we do?

We’ve got to disguise it!

For example, while teaching a form, instead of doing the form in the
normal direction, turn to a new direction. Or, have the students
perform the form with only their hands, or only their feet. Next, have
the students perform their form to music. Or you could have them do
their form “tournament style” with judges and all. Now what you
have just done was disguised repetition. Your students have just
performed their form 30 times and they didn’t even realize it because
you tried it in different directions-- different ways without them even
knowing it!

In this chapter we will discuss in detail, and give you various

examples, of how you can disguise even the simplest of techniques in
a way that will be fun and entertaining for your students. Not only
will your students become better martial artists because of the
endless amount of practice and aid in their retention of each
technique, disguised repetition will also keep them coming back to
class for more.

www.4kicks.com 63
 Here are some examples so you can better disguise repetition:

Disguising Repetition in Forms:

1 Face the front

2 Face the back
3 Face left
4 Face right
5 Close your eyes (or put on a blind fold)
6 Use your feet only
7 Only use your hands
8 Mental form – close your eyes and do the form entirely in your
head, visualize a perfect form, focus on every detail.
9 As fast as you can
10 As much power as you can
11 As sloppy as you can
12 As perfect as you can
13 Stances Only
14 Yell on every punch
Dreams: 15 Instead of doing one punch do 10 or 20 punches
Dream no small 16 Every time you do a front kick - yell
17 Competition Style with judges
dreams for they
18 Make up your own form
have no power to
19 Add music to your form
move the hearts
20 Multiple attackers with your form – show the practical application
of men. of each of your techniques using other student as attackers.
21 One hand tied behind your back
- Johann Wolfgang 22 Do your form entirely backwards, from
Von Goethe your last move to your first move.
1749-1832
German Poet, Dramatist,
Novelist Disguising Repetition in One Step Sparring or Self Defense:

1 Without a partner
2 With a partner
3 Kneeling down
4 Sitting in a chair
5 With a table between you and your attacker
6 On a stair well
7 Outside in the grass
8 Attacker attacks with a punch
9 Attacker attacks with multiple punches
10 Make up your own
www.4kicks.com 11 Attacker attacks with a kick instead of a punch 64
Success 12 Limited techniques (students can only perform the technique
There is no royal called out by the instructor.)
road; you've got to 13 Two Step Sparring.
work a good deal 14 Three Step Sparring.
15 Interactive One Step Sparring (attacker attacks, defender
harder than most
defends, then the defender attacks. Then start over.)
people want to work.
16 Attacker attacks from behind.
17 Attacker attacks from side.
- Charles E. Wilson
1886-1972
American Corporate Disguising Repetition in Basic Fundamentals:
Executive 1. If you always start facing the flags, change directions.
2. Instead of turning to go the opposite way, have the students
step backwards.
3. Use combinations instead of single techniques.
4. Have one instructor call out the commands going one
direction, then another instructor call out the commands going
another direction.
5. Start at advanced blocks instead of basic blocks.
6. Start off with advanced kicks instead of basic kicks.
7. Use odd techniques you haven’t practiced in a while.
8. Call out several techniques in order, then give them a command to
execute them.
Lesson Twelve: 9. Do stationary techniques instead of moving techniques.
Body Language 10. Do multiple kicking techniques without setting their foot down.
11.Do multiple kicking techniques without setting their foot down
Rewarding while moving in different directions.
students 12.Vary your voice tones and move around the room.
13.Vary your pace, go slow for a few techniques, then go fast as
Watch facial lightning for the next ten.
expressions
Body Language while teaching:
Getting their
attention back Ever see someone pick his or her nose while going down the street in
the car next to you? Ever see someone adjust his or her
Deal with undergarments while across the room? Ever see someone make weird
misbehavior faces at themselves in a mirror and they didn’t know you could see
them? How about someone looking out into space not knowing where
they were?

Your students shouldn’t see this stuff on the floor, remember this at all
times, lest you become embarrassed by the small child that notices!
www.4kicks.com
Besides, Kids say the darndest things don’t they! 65
 Stand tall and be focused at all times, keep moving and watching
your class. If your school has a mirror, look at your self and make
adjustments when necessary. You have to be the example setter.
Shine.

Reward your students when they do a great job in class:

When your students perform well in your classes, let them know it!

Y Give them a pat on the back – literally.

Y Give them a high five or a double high five.
Y Have the class give them a hand.
Y Have the class say “Jordan, you’re awesome!”
Y Give them a small reward, a sticker, a patch, a balloon,
“If I don’t get
or something of value.
what I expect,
Y Make a big deal out of small accomplishments.
they do it over, Y Tell them you are proud of them.
and over and over Y Tell their parents you are proud of them for performing well in
till they give me class today, and make sure the child hears you tell the parents
more than I expect.” this.
Y Give them a “Round of Applause” (clap in a circular motion)

Use postcards to reward students

At the end of every day each of the instructors should send out
five postcards to the students who did an exceptional job that day.
Remember who really tried hard in class that day
and send home a martial arts postcard saying
exactly what you enjoyed. Don’t send two
postcards by the same person twice until all
students have received a postcard.

If your students are not

performing up to your standards,
encourage and motivate them, then
give them a compliment, then at
the end of the day, send home a
postcard detailing their success.

Kids love to get mail. I

remember when I was a kid my
mom would give me all the mail
Make everything
www.4kicks.com
exciting! 66
 that was marked “Current Resident” and I was excited! The kids have
been known to sleep with their postcard for a few days! They show it
to all their friends and relatives too!

Let them know you’re proud of them, they will make you even more
proud!

Use Certificates to reward students:

You may also send home different Awards. Student of the Day/
Month/Year, perfect attendance, perfect splits, most enthusiastic, best
self-discipline and a slew of others will encourage great effort and
awesome behavior.

Watch the Facial Expressions of Students & How to Get

their Attention Back

Continually look into the faces of your students and pay close attention
to their facial expressions. What do you see? Boredom?
Excitement? Wandering eyes? Yawning? Impatience? Fun?

If you see any negative facial expressions, maybe it’s time to switch to
something new, or maybe it’s time to change your approach. For
example, I’ve seen teachers in school make a totally boring subject
really interesting and fun, and I’ve also seen teachers make really
exciting stuff seem awfully boring! When I was a junior in martial arts
class, I hated basics! Now, I realize that basics are important, so I’ve
made them much more fun today. I have kids ask if we can do forms
instead of sparring, or basics instead of one-steps! It is all in the way
you’re presenting your material.

Make everything exciting!

How do I get their attention back from students who

are in La La Land?

Another technique that you can use for motivating students who
may have lost their concentration is have them do jumping jacks as
quick as they can, then regain their position back where they were.

www.4kicks.com 67
 For example, if you’re in the middle of doing a form, instead of going
onto the next move, clap your hands loudly, then have your students
do 10 quick jumping jacks, and then go back to the same place they
were in their form. This technique can be used anytime your students
lose their focus, and it can be done with any exercise. Another
technique that we use for regaining focus and concentration of our
students is called the focus clap. Basically, if the students’ eyes are
wandering, then loudly say “put your hands over your head and give
me two claps ready--GO! I might have them do this exercise over and
over a few times until I see that everyone is able to keep their focus on
me. Or perhaps I’ll have them place their hands over their heads and
have them do the three claps at the same time.

Of course, if the students are really bored, do something different!

Change!

If you see positive expressions from the students, remember what

activity you are doing and use this activity more often, if it works,
keep on using it!

Watching Facial Expressions of Parents while teaching a class:

Do you have parents who

watch your classes? What is
their reaction to your
teaching material? Are
they enjoying it? Do they
have a puzzled look on
their face? Is there a
look of concern? These
signs can be very
beneficial for you if you
act on them and correct
the situation. If you are
doing a great job, the
parents will have a smile
on their faces and
compliment you wherever
they go! If you can’t Keep positive
figure out why they are enforcement, even with
behaving the way they are, the problem student.

www.4kicks.com 68
 bring it to the attention of your head instructor or the owner of the
school for immediate attention.

In Order to keep students they need to see three

things: Progress, Fun, and a sense of accomplishment:

In order to keep your students’ enthusiasm at an all time high, focus on

Life is largely a matter giving them three things:
of expectation.
1 They have to feel like they are making progress towards
- Quintus H. F. Horace their next belt or their goals.
BC 65-8 2 They have to have FUN!
Italian Poet 3 They have to feel like they are making physical progress. Either
they can kick higher, faster or better, or they can do twenty push-
ups now, but only two when they started.

Sometimes the students won’t notice progress until you point it out to
them.

How to deal with a problem child who misbehaves on

Vision: purpose in your class:
Far away there in
the sunshine are my If you already know a certain student gives you behavioral problems,
highest aspirations. take him off to the side BEFORE class starts and conduct a mat chat;
I may not reach them, ask him if he will be giving his best today in class. Make him promise
but I can look up and that he will be a leader in class, and show other lower belts how a
see their beauty, true martial artist behaves and acts. During the class, if the student
believe in them, and starts to slip back into old habits, remind him of his promise. Tell him
try to follow where you are counting on him! If the situation doesn’t get any better, you
they lead. might have to take him to the office for an office chat. A typical office
chat might go like this…
- Louisa May Alcott
1832-1888 “I don’t want to have to talk to your parents about your behavior, I
American Author figured you were going to be a Black Belt one day, and that you
would start behaving like a Black Belt. Do we have to take this to the
next step and tell your parents about your behavior? This could effect
your next belt test! What do you say: Could you improve your
attitude in classes? Do I have your word on it? Great, I have great
plans for you, I’m looking forward to your new Black Belt Attitude.”

Or say something similar, make sure you discuss this with the head
instructor before doing an office chat.
www.4kicks.com 69
He conquers who Make a problem child an example to the rest of the class. For
endures. instance, I had a child who was not paying much attention to the
class, so I asked him to come to the front and announced this student
- Persius had been doing a great job and I want everyone to try even harder
34-62 AD than this student. Then I have the student show everyone his
Satirical Poet techniques then have him stay in front of the class and everyone does
the technique with him. This sounds like it would backfire on you, but
I’ve done it many times and it hasn’t failed me yet.

Whatever you do, don’t make a scene in front of the whole class, it
will do more damage and absolutely do the opposite of getting
positive results. You probably will have to be more strict with them,
Lesson Thirteen:
but a “nice strict” not a mean or demeaning strict.
Use questions

You get what you Teach the students (especially kids) by using a lot of
expect questions.

Smile and correct A great way to teach our students is by asking a lot of questions.
Questions that are easy to answer but cause them to learn the material.
5 foot rule For instance:

“Are we supposed to look around the room, or straight ahead?”

Call your students
“Straight ahead Ma’am!”

Instructor Burnout “Who knows the difference between regular discipline and black belt
Self Discipline?”

“Which is better: discipline or self-discipline?”

This causes the students to think about the right answer themselves. If
“In order for they give the correct answers, not only do you know they are listening,
your students but they are also teaching themselves. It is far better for your
to be interested students to train themselves in good martial arts than you preaching
in class, first all the time. They are far more credible (to themselves) than we are.
you must be
interesting.”
As in Life, in class you get what you expect:

Are your students doing their very best? If not it’s not their fault!
It’s yours, as their instructor you get what you expect from your
students. At the beginning of almost every class, and especially every
belt exam, I go through my “This is what I expect…” speech, which
goes like this:
www.4kicks.com 70
 “I expect power, focus,
respect, high kicks, hard
punches, great stances,
bent knees, self-
discipline, above all I
expect you to do your
absolute best! Does
everyone understand?
Can you give that to me?”

I do that rather loudly and

enthusiastically at the top
of my lungs! I use my
voice to motivate the class.
I always get what I expect! Keeping in touch
Never fails, NEVER. If I don’t keeps them in class.
“Most misbehavior get what I expect, they do it
will happen while over, and over and over till they give me more than I expect.
your back is turned.”
Then a few minutes later when they forget about what I expect, I
“Keep your back to remind them. For instance, maybe I’ll say we are all going to do 25
the walls and stay perfect front kicks with the ball of the foot. I’ll tell them if they don’t
give me what I want, we’ll keep doing the same number until I see
on the perimeter of
improvement. I NEVER point out the student who isn’t giving me what
the students, this
I want, if I did it wouldn’t work the way I want it to. So I’ll say “1” “2”
way at a glance you
“3” “3” “3” “3” “4” “5” “6” “7” “7” “7” “8” and so on.
can see everyone.”
So expect a lot and then make them give it to you. If you look at a
“Do not allow your student do the technique with half intensity, then walk away
students to stand without encouraging them to try harder, you’ve given them
idle for more than 5 permission to do a terrible job. Once you’ve given them
seconds at a time.” permission to do a terrible job it’s very difficult to encourage
them to push harder. Nip it in the bud!

Expect their best, settle for nothing less. If they don’t try hard, it’s your
fault as their instructor, you haven’t motivated them in the right way
yet. Figure it out. Focus on results. How can we motivate this student
to try their best? Then implement your idea.

www.4kicks.com 71
 Never-ending Corrections With A Smile:

Students are going to make mistakes, and some students will repeat
the same mistake hundreds of times. You can do one of two things: 1.
Pull all your hair out, move to Siberia and sing folk
songs or 2. Correct them one
more time with a smile in
a loving manner.

Always be gentle with

your corrections, if
you are dealing with
humans, you must be
careful not to hurt their
delicate self-esteem.

Just smile and correct.

Plus it beats singing all the time, and your

students will improve faster and become better
martial artists.

Don’t try this at home!

5 foot rule – SMILE & GREET:

In our school we have the 5-Foot Rule, which means if another person
gets within 5 feet of you, you must smile and greet them in a polite
manner. This is not a rule just for the students to follow, but for the
staff as well. A polite greeting may go like this: “Good afternoon, my
name is Master Ron, how are you today?” “I’m great, my name is
Ian, it’s great to see you!” Or, if you already know the person your
polite greeting would go like this:

“Hello Master Ron, it’s great to see you today”

“It’s great to see you Pam, I’m glad you are here!”
We have the students practice this before doing one-steps or free
sparring on a new partner. This way no one forgets the 5-foot rule
and everyone has a chance to practice it in a fun manner.

I’ve also asked the class to make up their own identity and use it
during polite greeting time, it may go like this: “Hello, I’m Bruce Lee,

www.4kicks.com 72
 what is yours” “I’m Fred Flintstone, it’s nice to meet you Bruce!” You
get the picture, it’s a lot of fun! Plus, I’ve always wanted to be Tom
Cruise!

Now if only I could…

Call students promptly who haven’t been in class for

a week or more:

I remember when I missed Sunday school at church one Sunday. I was

called the very next day to find out if I was all right, It felt good to
know someone missed me and cared. I also remember a few years
back we had a growth spell at our school and a student of ours who
was about 14 came in to ask how come we didn’t call him because
he’d been absent for two months! I was embarrassed! Now we
call every night those who missed class that day. If the person was
sick, we send them a get well card, if they just didn’t come in we send
a miss you postcard and put in the computer when they plan to be
back. Our retention is better than ever and it makes a difference.

There are many students who become discouraged and all they need
is for a caring person to encourage them, and they will be a student
for life. If we miss the opportunity to do this, we might never have the
opportunity again! I lost one of my favorite students because I kept
putting off the call till next week, before I knew it, it was three months
down the road and no hope of getting her back. When your students
stop taking class for a week, it’s hard to go back. If they miss it for a
month, they might replace martial arts with something else, and then
it’s almost impossible to get them back in class. There have been many
times when great students who love you and your school get sick.
They are out for two weeks and then their relatives come down for a
week to visit. Then they have a lot of homework, then they are ready
to go back and their car breaks down, finally they wait till after
Christmas, then after the first of the year, finally they figure all the
other students have passed them by, so they quit! Is this our fault? I
think so, we should have been there the whole way encouraging them,
sending them postcards, sending them letters, etc.

If we don’t take the time to encourage those who have left us to return,
everyone loses. The student cannot benefit from martial arts, the
instructor loses a big asset of the school, and the school loses income.

www.4kicks.com 73
Attitude Send out your letters today, call someone! Before it’s too late. Of
The greatest course, Buz Durkin says it’s never too late, he never gives up calling
discovery of my and writing. Maybe that is why he has 400+ students. Hmm?
generation is that
human beings can How to avoid instructor burnout:
alter their lives by
altering their I have never been burnt out as an instructor. I think it has a lot to do
attitudes of mind. with learning and change. As an instructor I constantly learn from
everyone. I pick up a good technique here and a new way of doing
- William James something there. Then I do it at my school! I have learned a great
1842-1910 deal from my friends on the Internet; they have been a source for fresh
American Philosopher, training ideas for two years now. If you constantly do the same thing
Author over and over and over, eventually will you loose students, and you
will get burnt out!

I learn from everyone, studios that are bigger than I am, and
studios that hardly have anyone there. I look for the positive and teach
that at my school. We have a lot of visiting Black Belt instructors that
come to my school from all over the globe. Most instructors never
Attitude take the time to ask me questions or watch our classes or anything.
Nothing can stop the Most just look at the pictures on the wall, give me compliments on our
man with the right school, but that is it! It’s actually shocking! These are the same people
mental attitude from that complain they only have 100 students. When I go to a school,
achieving his goal; regardless of the style or instructor or the size, I always learn new,
great ideas! I always ask lots of questions and watch every class that
nothing on earth can
I can. This way I can make my own school better. If I see something I
help the man with the
don’t agree with, I make a mental note and learn what not to do. But
wrong mental
most of the time I come away with positive feedback for “Constant
attitude.
and Never Ending Improvement.”

- Thomas Jefferson
I also think the reason most instructors get burnt out is that they
1743-1826
don’t challenge themselves with clear, defined objectives and
American Statesman,
goals. What do you want your school to be like, look like and feel
President
like? How many students do you want to teach and what do you
want your students to be like. If you challenge yourself and work
hard at those goals, you will always be motivated to do your best. If
you are stuck in your present situation, get someone who has been
where you are and ask him or her to walk you through it so you may
get to the next level. When you see your vision coming to pass, your
excitement grows!

www.4kicks.com 74
Any fact facing us is Another way to keep from getting burnt out is to ask for success stories
not as important as from your students. And read them when you feel down. There is
our attitude toward nothing more motivating than to read how you kept a teenager from
it, for that determines failing school, or how you helped a mom get more confident, or how
our success or failure. you helped a 10 year old from committing suicide, or when a parent
The way you think comes in your office with tears thanking you for giving their son a
about a fact may chance to do something other than getting involved in gangs. These
are just a few examples of things I’ve read and heard from our
defeat you before you
students in my office. It keeps me very motivated to continue!
ever do anything
about it. You are
Also, have a plan of action for the next few months, called a lesson
overcome by the fact plan. Put different fun activities in it, different drills each week,
because you think different ways to practice forms, different ways to spar and so on.
you are. This way you have a plan for what to teach and you are not just
wandering around without a purpose in your class. There is more
- Norman Vincent Peale about this in the section entitled “Lesson Plans.”
1898-1993
American Christian
Break it down into the ridiculous!
Reformed Pastor,
Author, Speaker
When teaching a new technique or any new material, if you see that
the student is not understanding the technique, break it down into
smaller steps.

Lesson Fourteen: First show the technique, for my example I’ll use the side kick.
Then ask the student to do it with you. Watch over your shoulder as
Break it! the student does the side kick about ten times. If the student is still
having trouble with it, show him the six steps in performing the side
Push-ups kick, if after a few minutes the student is having a tough time with the
side kick, break it down ever farther.
Proper Attitude
For instance, just have the student lift the knee several times then set it
down. Then have him add the twist of the hips and set down, once he
Talk to newbies
gets this down, add another part, and another, until the student has
the whole kick.
Greet the parents
This can be done for any block, kick, punch, form or any part of your
curriculum. You wouldn’t want to start out this way with everyone; it
would bore them silly. But for those students who need the extra time
and help, this works wonders!

www.4kicks.com 75
Develop an attitude If your students cannot comprehend the subject matter you are
of gratitude, and working on, DO NOT get frustrated or aggravated, or especially
give thanks for don’t lose your patience, ask yourself “How could I break it down
everything that even farther?”
happens to you,
knowing that every Push-ups As Discipline:
step forward is a
step toward Most martial arts schools around the world give knuckle push-ups for
achieving something punishment, and if they don’t they probably used to. Why? I
bigger and better remember when I was coming up through the ranks, I had many days
than your current of sore knuckles and I started hating push-ups!
situation.
I started hating push-ups because of the negative association I had to
- Brian Tracy discipline.
American Trainer
Speaker, Author, But we know that physical exercise is a good healthy thing that should
Businessman be encouraged and taught in our classrooms.

Why do we associate negative discipline to exercise which is positive?

We are teaching our students to associate exercising with negative
feelings if we continue to use push-ups as discipline?

Here is what you can use instead:

. A stern look while shaking your head no.

. Whisper in their ear a verbal warning.
. Have them sit off to the side for one minute.
When you give . Have a mat chat prior to class about good behavior.
yourself, you receive . Have an office chat after class.
more than you give. . Praise someone else next to them for good behavior.
. Stand beside them for a few minutes while you teach class, giving
- Antoine De Saint- them no time to misbehave, then give them a compliment on how
Exupery you appreciate them practising Black Belt Self-Discipline by
1900-1944 looking straight ahead and behaving.
French Aviator, Writer
Most of classroom behavior management is paying close attention to
what your students are doing. Most misbehavior will happen while
your back is turned. Always try to keep your back to the walls and
stay on the perimeter of the students, this way at a glance you can see
everyone.

www.4kicks.com 76
 Also keep your students so busy that they have no time to misbehave.
Do not allow your students to stand idle for more than 5 seconds at a
time.

PROPER ATTITUDE

In my life I have worked harder on my attitude than any other

single quality. At a young age sitting in a Zig Ziglar seminar, Zig
showed us an illustration of just how important attitude is. And he
went on to say that attitude is much more important than aptitude.

Think of all the qualities you think would comprise a truly great leader.
Things like motivation, charisma, communication, enthusiasm, respect,
loyalty, honesty and integrity. If you listed all the things you would
like for in the ideal employer, these qualities among others would pop
up. If you made a list of 50 qualities of true leaders, 90% or more
would be attitudinal qualities and not skills!

Most of what makes people great is not how smart they are, or how
many degrees they have on their belt, but the attitude they have about
life!

This is GREAT information! If most of the qualities that make

people successful in life are attitudinal, than those qualities can be
taught and learned and practiced!

Now that you realize how important your attitude is, how can you
improve your own attitude? Here are some helpful hints:

o Fake it till you make it! Even though you may not “feel” like
having a good attitude, act out a good attitude. Remember
action always precedes feeling.

o Smile! It is a proven fact that it is almost impossible to smile and

not feel happy! It is also a fact that it is nearly impossible to have a
good attitude while frowning!

o When someone asks you how you are doing, tell them “I’m
AWESOME today!” Make sure you say it with passion! I try
to say something unexpected, so that I may get a reaction.
About every three months I change my response so I don’t

www.4kicks.com 77
The mind is the limit. sound like a recording. I remember saying “I feel Magical
As long as the mind today!” for a few months and always got a smile from others! I
can envision the fact always feel awesome! Most people say things like “fine” or “not
that you can do bad” this evokes no emotion and therefor won’t motivate you to
something, you can have a great attitude! Zig says “I’m super good! But I’ll get
Better!” Wow!
do it, as long as you
really believe 100
o Walk faster! Talk faster! Talk louder! These things put your mind
percent.
into an alert state, it picks up your attitude!

- Arnold Schwarzenegger
o Be more animated with your hand gestures and facial expressions,
Austrian Born Actor
work those facial muscles out!
Bodybuilder, Fitness
Expert
You can not have a down day! You must always be in a good mood,
especially in front of your students! Start now by being conscious of
your attitude and practice some of the action steps above.

Talk to every prospect that comes in the front door

within 5 seconds

You have to admit walking into a martial arts school for the first time is
a pretty intimidating experience!

When you walk in the front door you have no idea what to expect.
Then you look around and see people standing around in white
pajamas yelling at the top of their lungs in foreign words! If it is a
fairly large school, you see tons of people kicking and punching in
different directions. Now just imagine you’re a five to eight year old
walking into this situation! I have children who walk into our school
who have been bugging their parents for months to come in and then
tell their mom and dad they don’t want to do karate and try to hide
behind their parents when I ask them to come on to the floor!
Obviously they are scarred senseless! We have to try to make our
school more friendly to the newcomer.

This is why it is extremely important to walk over to the front door

immediately after they walk in and smile and greet them. Then don’t
leave them alone the entire time they are in the school, so they feel
comfortable. Introduce them to a few people and direct them to the
front desk. Treat them as kindly as you would a guest in your home.
You may also want to give them a quick tour of the school and answer

www.4kicks.com 78
Don't dwell on what any questions they may have. If they are there for an appointment or
went wrong. Instead, first lesson, direct them to the instructor or program director of the
focus on what to do school.
next. Spend your
energies on moving While they are waiting, you may want them to fill out the new student
forward toward questionnaire or guest sign-in form. While they are filling out the
finding the answer. form, go get the instructor or program director.

- Denis Waitley Greet the parents within 15 seconds

American Speaker
Trainer, Author, It is important that all students and parents are greeted with a warm
Psychologist smile and a “good to see ya!” as soon as they walk in the door. All
staff members should be responsible to say hello to everyone that
comes in the school.

I have always been impressed with Wal-Mart and Block Buster, they
always say hello as soon as you walk in the door! In Wal-Mart they
have assigned a cute old lady to greet everyone personally at the
door, “Hello [with a smile], welcome to Wal-Mart!” This is this lady’s
only job! Wal-Mart pays someone 24 hours a day, seven days a week
to greet you as you walk in! At Block Buster Video all employees stop
what they are doing when the doors open and smile and say “Hello,”
then immediately go back to what they are doing. This is impressive!

At Barnett Bank they took this thing a little more serious! Every time my
wife or me come in to the bank, we are always greeted by name by
“Name X Three” every teller, even if we haven’t met him or her yet! I haven’t been asked
for ID to cash a check in two years because of the relationship we
have built! If I tell them on Friday that I’m going deep sea fishing on
Saturday, next week they will ask me how many fish I caught! I love
Barnett Bank because the people care enough to remember my name.
I will never switch to another bank, ever!

This is the same impression I want to give my students and

clients. And it all starts with “Hello, I’m glad you’re here!”

www.4kicks.com 79
 Action Steps to Take:

Q Get a chime on your front door and train yourself to look at the
door while you are teaching when the bell rings. Then Say
“Hello!” Later go and do a more personal greeting when you have
Within you right the time.
now is the power to
do things you never Q If you feel uncomfortable with speaking to people you haven’t seen
dreamed possible. before, simply smile and walk over to them and extend your hand
This power becomes and say “Welcome!” and go back to what you were working on.
available to you just
as you can change Q Come up with several “canned” responses to give to those who
your beliefs. come into your school, that way you don’t seem boring and dull.
If you greet everyone with “Hello, glad to see you.” It will sound
- Maxwell Maltz phony quickly. But if you have several different greetings, it will
American Plastic Surgeon sound as if you are truly happy to see them. “Hello, Glad you’re
Author here!” “Hey, Good to see you tonight!” “HOWDY!” “Ladies and
Gentleman, the talented, Mr. Smith!”

Q After you feel more comfortable, talk to them about their kids or
small idle chitchat.

Lesson Fifteen: Don’t compare yourself to other Martial Arts Schools,

Compare yourself to Disney!
Disney Dojo
Been to a lawyer’s office lately? Or how about a doctor’s office? Ever
“A” Rated notice how clean and well decorated it is? You can probably remember
Demonstrating the nice smell of the lawyer’s office and the crisp clothing the lawyer
techniques wore.
Every time I go to Disney World I look to see dirt and trash laying
Name X three everywhere and I can’t! The folks at Disney realize that in order
for their guests to have a great time, they have to be in a clean
and visually appealing atmosphere.

Does your school resemble Disney? Do you have a “Disney Dojo”? If

a child messes up the bathroom at 4 o’clock, does the adult class see
it at 8 o’clock? Does it smell nice all the time or does it smell like a
gym? Or worse yet like feet!
Replace the kicking pads if they start showing wear and tear. Put a
fresh coat of paint on the walls every third or fourth month. Check the
bathroom and changing rooms every thirty minutes. Take time to look
around the school for trash and things out of place every night.
www.4kicks.com 80
A man's reach should Straighten the training floor out and put equipment in its place at the
exceed his grasp. end of every class.

- Robert Browning Make sure your staff is clean and wears a nice crisp uniform. Forget
1812-1889 the old ragged black belt you earned twelve years ago, replace it
British Poet with a crisp new one. I know it means a lot to martial artists, but
the public thinks you’re too poor to buy a new one.

Make sure the outside of the school looks awesome!

Stop comparing yourself to other martial arts schools and start
comparing yourself to Disney!

“A” Rated is the only way to be:

Every activity the school puts on should be “A” rated -- Top Notch!
Don’t drop the ball on anything! We want our students and clients to
have an awesome experience every time they come to our school.
One bad experience could wipe out several great experiences.

Think of your relationship with your clients like a bank account. When
they first enroll at your school they have a negative balance in their
account because they bought your service on a promise that you were
going to help them achieve their desires. For every great thing you do,
for every “A” rated experience they have, you make a deposit into their
Excellence: account. But for every negative experience they have at your school,
Do little more each you make a withdrawal from that account. When the account gets
day than you think seriously overdrawn, you lose a student!
you possibly can.
The thing that is going against us is that every good experience
- Lowell Thomas they have at our school may only be a $1 deposit, but a nasty
American Journalist, experience might take away $100 in positive experiences.
Explorer, Author
Action Steps to Take:
* “A” Rated Classes.
* “A” Rated Belt Testings.
* “A” Rated Graduations.
* “A” Rated Promotions.
* “A” Rated Tournaments.
* “A” Rated Demonstrations
* “A” Rated Pro-Shop.
* “A” Rated Instructor’s Appearance.
* “A” Rated Customer Service.
www.4kicks.com
* “A” Rated Communication. 81
* “A” Rated Picnics.
 Demonstrating Techniques
Always demonstrate a technique the very best you can. Always kick
your highest and hardest, always put twice as much into every
technique you are doing. Then you can slow it down to teach it, but
before you ask your students to try it, do it full blast one last time.
My reasoning behind this is simple, your students will always be a
reflection of you, only a little worse! If you kick nine feet high, your
students will kick seven feet high, if you have loose fists, your students
will have open hands. So always demonstrate and explain “this is
how I want you to do it, but better than me!”

If you are not particularly great at the movement, have an advanced

belt show it to the class. This is a great way to encourage that
particular student. Sometimes even though I can do a technique really
well, I’ll ask one of my students to perform it and then I’ll have the
whole class (including those watching) clap for him.

Some say that you should not do your best while demonstrating a
technique. The reasoning behind this is the students will become
discouraged and lose interest because they can not do it as
well as you. This is a good point, but we need to
show them the highest standard possible for them to
aspire to.

Call Students by their name at least

three times per class!

An easier way to remember this is “name

X 3”. Every time a student walks into
Every winner has your school, every staff member should
scars. call the student by his name at least
three times. A person’s name are the
- Herbert N. Casson sweetest words in the human language
to that person. If you remember to
call your students by name you have
shown them that you care enough
Focus your mind!
about them to remember their name.

A few months back one of my staff members gave a student a high five
and called him by name. For three weeks this student kept telling his
mom that “Mr. Dave likes me, he knew my name!” Calling your
students by name will show them you care and that you notice them.
www.4kicks.com 82
 Here is an example of how easy it is to call your students
by name at least three times:

1. When they walk into the school, say “Johnny, I’m glad you
are here”
2. When Johnny does an awesome kick, “Wow Johnny that kick
was powerful!”
3. As Johnny is leaving class, “You did a great job today Johnny!
See you next class!”

If you find it hard to memorize their names,

here are some helpful hints:

1. When you first meet a new student ask him his name and repeat it
out load as often as you can within the first five minutes. Each
time you call your students by name look into their faces.
Periodically throughout the class, go back and call out their
names.
2. Have their names embroidered on their uniforms.
3. Have the students turn in an attendance card with their name on
the top so that during the class if you forget their name you can
check the attendance card.
4. Ask another staff member their name, then do step one.
5. Stop saying, “I’m terrible at remembering names!” What you say
becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead say, “I’m getting better
at remembering names.”
6. Write their names on the chalkboard under “New Students.” That
way you can look up there and cheat!

Staff Exercise:
1. Have your staff take out a sheet of paper and for the next five
minutes write down as many first and last names of all the
students in the school (from memory.)
2. Next, have them write down (from memory) all the
parents’ names they can.
3. The staff member with the most names wins!

This should hit home on just how good we are at remembering our
students.

www.4kicks.com 83
Lesson Sixteen:
Three Laws of Concentration
3 Laws of Ways to get your class focused on the material you are working on
concentration are embodied in the Three Laws of Concentration:

See Everything... LAW ONE: Focus Your Eyes!

D.E.P.T.H. Have the students put up one finger in the air signifying Law One
while they say “LAW ONE!” Then have them repeat after you “Focus
Looking through Your Eyes” with passion as they point to their eye and then point
No to “No!” straight in front of them with the same finger they used to signify Law
One.

Focus Your Eyes means that you keep your eyes focused on the
instructor, or straight in the direction you are doing your technique if
the instructor has you practicing.

LAW TWO: Focus Your Mind!

Have the students put up two fingers in the air signifying Law Two,
have them repeat after you “LAW TWO!” As they say “Focus Your
Mind” have them point at their temple and then forward.

Focus Your Mind means to think

about what the instructor is
saying and listen closely to
everything the instructor
says.

LAW THREE: Good

Body Posture!
Lastly have the students
hold up three fingers as
they repeat “LAW
THREE!” Have everyone
SNAP to attention stance
and say “GOOOOOOD
Body Posture!” Good
Body Posture means to
stand up or sit up straight
and not to slouch
over! Aim high!

www.4kicks.com 84
 Practicing these three laws frequently in the classroom will help the
students stay focused. Have them repeat the laws as loud as they can
to evoke passion and enthusiasm!

You may also use the three laws if you see their attention and focus
lacking, it is a great way for them to get back on track.

“See Every Thing, Overlook A Lot, Correct A Little.”

Pope John Paul (XXIV)

Especially when working with beginners! Only correct the major

things that will lead to long term confusion. Once you see that the
students feel comfortable, start making corrections, but only one
correction at a time.

It can get frustrating and discouraging to hear, “Bend your front knee,
straighten your back foot, tighten your fist, head up, shoulders back,
look straight ahead and wrist level, NOW!”

Do be gentle!

D.E.P.T.H.

D. Demonstrate E. Explain P. Practice T. Teach H. Hand Hold

While teaching a new technique get IN DEPTH with the student!

First Demonstrate the technique in several different directions at

different speeds while you Explain the technique. Next have the
students Practice the technique while you walk around and give
helpful feedback and continue to Teach. Remember if they still don’t
understand, break it down to the ridiculous as you hand-hold them.

Remember not to take more than a few moments to explain the

technique, it will bore them, make it interesting and only explain the
major details at first, just enough to get them started. As they feel
more comfortable, start giving them feedback on their progress and
where they can improve. Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions!

www.4kicks.com 85
 Looking Through Your Students

While spending time correcting a single student while in charge of a

group of students, get close enough to the student to help position his
technique but keep your peripheral vision on the other students. Or,
you can “look through” the student you are working with and watch
everyone else with your “direct” vision and keep your peripheral
vision on the student you are working with.

That way you can still have one on one time with the student that
needs help and at the same time keep the class moving. Try not to
stop the whole class to work with only one. When
possible, keep the class going while you stop
and help the struggling student. You can
keep your cadence going while you help
the struggling student. But by no means
overlook that student.

While teaching a large class, make sure you

keep your back against a wall and work
around the perimeter of the classroom. That
way you can keep your eyes on the entire
class and “look through” your class to find
mistakes and correct misbehavior.

It is easier to find mistakes this way because if

everyone is going one way and one or two
students are different, you can make corrections
for them quickly.

Always look for the best in your students

Try to look at
and they’ll always give you their best.
the entire class
instead of each individual student. If someone has made a mistake,
they will stand out. Also while holding a kicking target, not only look
at the student who may be kicking, but look at the students in your
line. Use the “look through” method to monitor discipline and
behavior. If you are only holding a pad for one individual, make sure
to look around at other groups around you. Give helpful advice or
encouragement.

www.4kicks.com 86
 Refrain from the Word “NO”

When helping another student learn something new, refrain from

saying no to an incorrect move. Every time your student hears the
word no, subconciuosly that student puts up his mental guard, he
starts feeling inadaquate and he concentrates more on not losing face
than on learning the techniques.

Instead use these phrases:

1. “That is almost right, try this way instead...”

2. “Close, Just like this...”
3. “You are improving, but a
better way would be...”

Or say nothing at all,

just start over and show them again.

www.4kicks.com 87
 iTips Online
I invite you to join our online discussion group of professional martial
arts instructors from around the world. iTips is a weekly email list that
gives teaching tips and classroom drills to enhance your martial arts
school.

Point your browser to:

http://www.4kicks.com/tips/

Sign up today!

Also there are many products available from Ron Sell and 4kicks
International. We have available:

V Instructional Videos
V Books
V Audio Tape Programs
V Windows and Mac Computer CD-Roms
V Martial Arts School Retention Aids
V Martial Arts School Marketing Ideas
V Consulting Services Available - both by phone and in person,
and Martial Arts Equipment

Our list of products designed to help your school grow is always

increasing, stop by our internet site at: http://www.4kicks.com or
call us!

Ron Sell
4kicks International Inc.
PO Box 230
Kathleen, FL 33849
(888) 385-5136
http://www.4kicks.com/
email: RSell@4kicks.com

www.4kicks.com 88
Take Home Test For Lesson One
“Why do we teach?”
1.) Write out the definition of “The Goal of a Martial Arts Instructor:”

2.) Why do you personally want to teach Martial Arts?

3.) List as many of the PHYSICAL benefits that our school has to offer potential students:

4.) List as many of the MENTAL benefits that our school has to offer potential students:

ATTACH A ONE PAGE ESSAY ON “THE BENEFITS I HAVE RECEIVED FROM MY

MARTIAL ARTS TRAINING.”

89
Take Home Test For Lesson Two
“Qualities of a dynamic Instructor part 1”

1.) Write the first six qualities that were discussed during this lesson, then write a brief
description next to it:

A.____________________: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
B.____________________: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
C.____________________: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
D.____________________: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
E.____________________: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
F.____________________: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

90
Take Home Test Three
“Qualities of a dynamic instructor part 2

1. List the six qualities that were discussed in lesson three and write a brief description next
to it:

A.____________________: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
B.____________________: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
C.____________________: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
D.____________________: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
E.____________________: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
F.____________________: _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

91
Take Home Test Four “Correcting Students”

1.) What does P.C.P. stand for?

P:____________________ C:____________________ P:____________________

2.) Give an example of P.C.P. in action:

A. Rachel has an awesome Side Kick, but she has terrible T-Stances:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
B. Steven has a loud yell, but he is not applying enough power in his techniques:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
C. Cindy is kicking real high but she is not bending her knee enough:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

3.) What does “Never Ending Correction With A Smile” mean to you:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

4.) Praise in public, _______________ _______ _______________.

92
Take Home Test Five
“Disciplining our Students part One”

1.) What is “Pro-Active Discipline?”

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

2.) What are the three elements to Pro-Active Discipline?

A.__________________________________________________________________________
B.__________________________________________________________________________
C.__________________________________________________________________________

3.) Why are a written set of rules important to classroom behavior?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

4.) Why is it important to praise students when they demonstrate good behavior?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

5.) Give some examples of praise:

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

6.) Praise must be:

A.____________________
B.____________________
C.____________________

93
Take Home Test Six
“Disciplining our students part Two”
1.) Why have consequences for negative behavior?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

2.) Are Consequences punishment? qYes qNo

3.) What happens to a student when THEY CHOOSE not to behave?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

4.) Consequences can NOT be these four things:

A.___________________________
B.___________________________
C.___________________________
D.___________________________

5.) What is a “Mat Chat”?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

6.) Do consequences need to be severe to work? qYes qNo

7.) List a plan of consequences:

1st Offence:____________________
2nd Offence:___________________
3rd Offence:___________________
4th Offence:___________________
5th Offence:___________________
Severe Offence:________________

8.) What is a simple way to teach children to

behave?_____________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

94
Take Home Test 7
1. Briefly Describe the Shamu Method of teaching Martial Arts:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

2. Explain the analogy of teaching kids to swim as it relates to teaching new

students:_________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

3. Write the quote from Zig Ziglar about making others feel important:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

4. How do you teach a student a difficult technique if the student seems to be frustrated?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

5. What does S.S.L. mean: S:_______________ S:_______________ L:_______________

6. How do you grow a small class into a big

one?______________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

95
Take Home Test 8 “The Perfect Class”

1. Definitions:
Main Instructor:__________________________________________________________
Squad Instructor:_________________________________________________________
Squad:_________________________________________________________________
Split Squad:_____________________________________________________________
Rotation:________________________________________________________________
Two Minute Warning:_____________________________________________________

2. What is the main focus of the instructors while class is in session?____________________

3. Write out a sample lesson plan:

I._____________________________________________________________________________
II._____________________________________________________________________________
III.____________________________________________________________________________
IV.____________________________________________________________________________
V._____________________________________________________________________________

4. Why is it important to have and follow a lesson plan?______________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

5. Why is it important to teach from a lesson plan?__________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

96
Take Home Test 9
“Getting & Keeping Attention”

1. How long is the average adult attention span?

m1 to 5 min. m6 to 10 min. m12 to 15 min. m20 to 30 min.

2. How long is the average child’s attention span:

mLess than 7 mins. m6 to 10 min. m12 to 15 min. m20 to 30 min.

3. Name six ways you can tell your students have lost attention in what you are doing:
______________________________________________________________________________
1.
______________________________________________________________________________
2.
______________________________________________________________________________
3.
______________________________________________________________________________
4.
______________________________________________________________________________
5.
______________________________________________________________________________
6.

4. What are some simple ways to change your student’s enthusiasm level and gain their
attention back?
______________________________________________________________________________
1.
______________________________________________________________________________
2.
______________________________________________________________________________
3.
______________________________________________________________________________
4.
______________________________________________________________________________
5.

5. Children learn more when there are more: _______________ and _______________.

6. “An Instructor has to be _______________ for your students to be _______________.”

7. Always give your students commands with a sense of _______________ in your voice.

8. In order for your students to learn fast, they have to be ______________ and __________

97
Take Home Test 10

1. How many moves should you teach to a student per class when learning a new form?
m5 new moves m10 new moves mas many new moves as the student can remember

2. Why?_______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

3. When teaching a new form, you should always demonstrate the form by standing:
mIn front of them mNext to them mMove around

4. What do you do when everyone seems to be learning the form except for one?___________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

5. What do you do when you see a student turn in the wrong direction?___________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

6. How do you keep your eye on everyone at the same time?___________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

7. Describe the 3 phase system:

Phase One:_____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Phase Two:_____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Phase Three:____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
What are the three major learning methods:______________, _______________,____________

98
Take Home Test 11

1. What major role does the Leadership Team and the high ranking students play with regard
to discipline and
respect?_____________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

2. Are Leadership Team members or High Ranking Students allowed to issue discipline?________

3. What are High Energy Drills?_____________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

4. Why are they important?________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

5. Why is repetition important?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

6. Why is disguising repetition important?______________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

7. Give examples of disguising repetition in Forms (kata):

______________________________________________________________________________
1.
______________________________________________________________________________
2.
______________________________________________________________________________
3.
_______4.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Side Kicks:
______________________________________________________________________________
1.
______________________________________________________________________________
2.
______________________________________________________________________________
3.
______________________________________________________________________________
4.

99
Take Home Test 12
1. What is body language?______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

2. While standing still, what should the instructor look like?____________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

3. Give examples of rewarding student’s good behavior while in class:

______________________________________________________________________________
1.
______________________________________________________________________________
2.
______________________________________________________________________________
3.
______________________________________________________________________________
4.
______________________________________________________________________________
5.

4. What can an instructor do to reward their students out side of class?

______________________________________________________________________________
1.
______________________________________________________________________________
2.

5. What do you look for to tell the mood of the class?_________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

6. How can you regain your students’ attention after you have lost it?___________________
______________________________________________________________________________
1.
______________________________________________________________________________
2.
______________________________________________________________________________
3.
______________________________________________________________________________
4.
______________________________________________________________________________
5.

100
Take Home Test 13
1. Why ask questions to your students about the material you just covered?___________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

2. As in Life, in class_____________________________________________________________.

3. Give me an example of how you could pre-frame a class to give you what you expect:_______
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

4. In what manner should you correct a student?____________________________.

5. How many times should you correct a student?________________________________________

6. What is the 5 Foot Rule?________________________________________________________.

7. What is the proper procedure for a student who has been out of class for more than a week
(number them in order of importance):
_____ Send them a post card
_____ Send them a letter
_____ Call them on the phone
_____ Tell them your glad to see them back

8. Give some ways for an instructor to avoid burn-out:

_______________________________________________________________________________
1.
_______________________________________________________________________________
2.
_______________________________________________________________________________
3.
_______________________________________________________________________________
4.
_______________________________________________________________________________
5.
_______________________________________________________________________________
6.
_______________________________________________________________________________
7.

101
Take Home Test 14
1. If a student doesn’t seem to understand the material you are presenting, what can you do?
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

2. Explain the process of the answer to Question One:____________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

3. Should you ever use push ups as discipline?__________________________________________

4. Why?_______________________________________________________________________

5. What could you give instead?_____________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

6. What specific steps can you make to improve your attitude?______________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

7. If you see someone who you don’t recognize enter the school, whose responsibility is it to greet
them?_________________________________________________________________________

8. In what time period should a prospect be greeted? _____________________.

9. Why is it extremely important to greet a prospect quickly?________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

10. If you see that another staff member has greeted the prospect, and you are busy, what do you do?
mGreet the prospect anyway, even though you are busy.
mPass the prospect by and greet them later when you are less busy.

102
Take Home Test 15

1. Instead of trying to compete against other martial arts schools, who should we try to compete
against?_______________________________________________

2. Why?_______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

3. What questions could you ask yourself to keep you focused on the task in question one?______
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

4. What grade do you strive for each and every day?__________________

5. In what areas could you become “A” rated?__________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

6. What are your future plans in the Martial Arts:

mInstructor mMaster mSchool Owner mWork for Your Instructor
mTeach for Fun and Hobby mOther_______________________________________________

7. What are your current goals for the Martial Arts besides question six?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

103
Do you know your students?
Write down as many names as you can remember in your school, you must put down both
first and last names. Do not limit this to just students, you may put down parents or grand
parents:
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________
104