Sometimes people are just out to prove a point. These people tend to be arrogant and confident, and due to the nature of martial arts they can be very, very dangerous. I would like to share a story with you today about my Shorin-Ryu Sensei that he has told me about people who are out to prove a point.
A few years ago a man came into the dojo for his first class. He put on the white belt and participated as normal, but afterward he wanted to learn about sparring. My Sensei agreed to go ahead and teach him a little about sparring and started off with teaching him how to block a kick. In doing this he was kicking slowly and softly for the new student to get used to the idea of moving and blocking. What my Sensei did not know at the time was that this man was a black belt in Judo and apparently trained extensively in Japan, and apparently was out to prove a point that he could beat a Karate Sensei with his Judo training.
Intent
This man had not mentioned his training or his intent, but instead made it evident by grabbing one of my Sensei’s kicks, sweeping his other leg out and slamming him down full-force on his neck. Upon doing this he commented that such a throw would have knocked out a normal person. At this point my Sensei was in a great deal of pain from what ended up being a bulged disk in his neck that pained him for about 2 years after this incident, and if the floor had not been padded his neck would likely have broken, leaving him paralyzed or dead. This man came into the dojo not to learn Karate, but to prove his Judo against Karate. He was never allowed back.
This sort of thing is very dangerous and it happens much more often than it should. What if he did it in a dojo with a hardwood or concrete floor? What if he did it to an older instructor without the flexibility mine has? What if he had done it someone with a wife and kids and had killed him? The people who go out with the intent to hurt someone to prove they are tough will not think about these things, they will only think about how hardcore they will seem when they beat up a martial arts instructor, or even if they go and beat up on martial arts students.
Second Story
Another story that my Sensei told me was about back when he was a teenager who had just been promoted to Shodan. He was sparring with a group of guys, all white belts, when a big, aggressive guy walks into the dojo and tells the Sensei of the dojo that he is a brown belt in another style and just wants to fight in their sparring class. He was allowed to join the sparring class, but only because the white belts were not your average white belts–they included an MCMAP Instructor, a Special Forces guy, and a few other military personnel. The brown belt guy sparred hard and tried to beat them up but they handled him just fine, causing him to get very frustrated and leave the dojo cursing about how the school was full of “ringers” pretending to be white belts when they weren’t. He never came back.
These types of people are perfect examples of bullies, and they should not be tolerated in the dojo. Obviously in the first example there was no way for my instructor to know that secret-Judoka’s intentions, and so they only way to have avoided what happened would have been to prohibit him from learning sparring until my Sensei knew him better. In the second case the intentions were evident from the beginning but the instructor knew that he didn’t have to worry about the white belts getting hurt, and I suspect that he kept a close eye on the sparring as well.
Zero Tolerance
People displaying these types of behavior should not be tolerated in the dojo–they are dangerous and they wreak havoc on the positive learning environment that the dojo should be. If you have experienced people like this in the past and responded to their attacks in kind it is important to learn from the experience and do what you can to avoid doing so again, whether it is by telling the instructor sooner or simply stepping off the mat. There may be some who will think less of you for not trying to beat them up in return, but we can only hope that someday they will come to understand that we do not train to beat people up, but we train to defend ourselves and to develop the mind, body and spirit.
Wow…I am sorry to hear that your Sensei was injured.
We are very careful about new students and sparring. We have had a few people become overly aggressive and try to “prove a point”. Usually they only last a few weeks. I agree with you…this behavior should not be tolerated in the dojo.
Nice post.
OSU,
I hope that your sensei’s neck is okay now. A herniated disc is no joke, it can be very serious! D:
You know, I was just talking to one of my instructors about this Tuesday night. He was talking about the dudes who come by and want to “challenge” the dojo. He said “yeah, traditionally the challenger fights all the way up the ranks, but I’m a bit different. I’m really protective of my students. I’ve got no problem with picking up a bo and telling them ‘you need to leave now, it things will go very, very badly for you.’”
He told another story of a guy who had decided that he’d created his own style that was The Ultimate And True Style or whatever, and his whole idea was that he could spin so fast that he could deflect any blow without taking harm.
Well, he decided to prove himself and throw his weight around, and he was bullying the students, trying to do harm, trying to bully everyone. So this sensei said “okay, let’s go,” and they started sparring. The guy tried some cheap stuff and then did his spinning thing, and the sensei threw a yoko geri (a side kick) that sent him flying into a metal post that happened to be in the middle of that dojo.
There was a loug “ONNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG” sound as the post vibrated from the impact. The guy slid down the post, then stood up, packed his stuff in his bag, and walked out without a word. The students, who were all lined up, started laughing.
“Hey, that’s not what this dojo is about,” the instructor said, and the students did their best to stifle their laughter.
One could then hear the post, still quietly vibrating, “onnnnnnngggggggg.”
Trying to prove a point isn’t just dangerous for others, and inappropriate for a learning environment- it can also be dangerous for you!
As our Shihan always says, leave your ego at the door!
When do you normally start allowing new students to spar Michelle?
Ev…as always, thank you for a great laugh and a good story.
Thanks for your comments, Michelle and Ev! I’m also curious as to how long you make students wait, Michelle–is it a set time or based upon each individual student?
Thanks for the story, EV!
Thanks for the welcome!
We start white belt students with sparring drills and combinations. Initially, the beginners are only allowed to fight the black belt instructors. We do not have a set time requirement but base it on the individual student.
When I was a kyu rank, no one was allowed to spar until yellow belt.
I know when I was a kyu rank, you had to be a blue belt (6th kyu). I tend to start white belts with yakusoku kumite and wait till green belt (7th kyu) to start free sparring. I too won’t let them start free sparring with anyone but black belts – safety.
OSU,
I showed up at the dojo with bruises all over my arms from sparring with Sensei, so I got to spar after my first or second class. I sparred with all ranks, but usually they line up the students so that one line is the high ranks, and one line is the low ranks. The low rank line rotates so that everyone in one line gets to spar with everyone in the other line. Occasionally Shihan mixes it up and has the low ranks spar the low ranks, and the high ranks spar the high ranks. Additionally, people are free to spar after class, though it gets a bit tricky because of protocol- you are not supposed to directly as a higher rank to spar with you, because it’s considered a challenge.
Imagine my surprise when I accidentally challenged Shihan for his school, haha! I’d never seen so many giant black belts melt away so quickly and silently before.
Anyway, white belts can be dangerous. No control, no concept of where our limbs are or where the end of our fists are, no idea about what’s really dangerous and what’s not. But in my dojo, we also learn pretty quick, haha! People let us know. We’re told, we’re told, and then we’re shown.
My problem was that Sensei had trained me, before we showed up at Shihan’s dojo, to fight on the street in self defense. He also trained me in the full contact style instead of the lighter, gentler dojo kumite style, which is a lot more sideways and a lot less brutal. I charged in and chased a lot of people around the dojo at first.
Shihan and Sensei Wah clipped my wings considerably. I wasn’t allowed to randomly switch stances, going from normal to southpaw, though I still think it’s better to be prepared to fight with either fist as your lead hand. A number of distraction tricks were cut out. And as for the charging, well, a few yoko geris broke me of that with the black belts… though sometimes I still end up chasing the kyus around, much to my instructor’s frustrations.
OSU!