12 Apr How My Teaching Has Changed
I’ve always loved teaching. It is something that is built into my personality. It is something that I would do even as a white belt. I would try to share what my instructor had taught to me with others. At that point, I was trying to replicate their words and movements as closely as possible.
This time around, I am working to find my own voice and style as an instructor. It has been interesting for me to observe how my style has shifted and what concepts or phrases I bring up more and more often. Here is a sampling of what my students are currently hearing day-in and day-out.
● “Does that feel awkward or counter intuitive? GOOD, now you are learning a new movement pattern.” At this point I fully embrace the benefit of discovering areas where our body does not move and then developing those so when we find a spot to learn in we stay there longer rather than trying to go back to where we are comfortable.
● “Dominate the middle” In the stand up game it is your uppercuts, teeps, snap kicks and knee. In wrestling it is your arms and hips. In the ground game it is the fight to step your foot in between your opponent’s legs on your terms. No matter what we are doing we are constantly search to dominate the middle. Sometime we work the flanks to make it happen but we are always coming back to the center.
● “Create a rhythm then break the rhythm!” Any good movement has a rhythm to it. Great movement can change rhythms suddenly. In the take down game we lull our opponents to sleep with the same rhythm and lead them right into our rhythm change which sets up the advantage. The same concept rears its head time and again in the standup or ground game.
● “Everything works if you believe in it and develop it”/ “This gives you a baseline, overtime you will find your own way”/”Technique is what lets you hit without getting hit.” The last is a Jack Slack reference, but more and more I am focusing on encouraging an atmosphere where students push their own limits and find their own voice.
● “Rep it out, Rep it out, rep it out!” My teaching has changed the most in how much I talk. The periods of instruction where I am stop class to “teach” have shortened. Instead I have begun to focus on maximizing time spent repping. My thought is the more time they spend working the more they can teach themselves and find their most efficient method of completing the technique.
That is just a sampling of what we are constantly working on, and I’m sure my methods will continue to evolve and develop. I hope some of these concepts inspiring your teaching and or training in the future.