always a student...

“The primary objective of Jiu-Jitsu is to empower the weak who, for not having the physical attributes, are often intimidated.” –Helio Gracie—

 It is easy to teach martial arts to gifted athletes. Turning non-athletes into quality martial artists is the true testament of a quality instructor. 

Instructors have already faced the challenge of learning martial arts (although the learning never stops). They did not develop their expertise in the art by taking the easy route. When they were students, they didn’t give up when the road was rough. They trained harder than others. They put in many hours of boring repetition to discover the finite details of the techniques they practiced. 

The people that do not succeed in martial arts are the ones that give up when the going gets tough. They are the ones that want it to come easily. They expect to become Bruce Lee or Royce Gracie overnight. Those that stick with the art to become experts will testify that none of it came easy.  It all came from hard work, perseverance, and discipline. 

Teaching martial arts is just another level of the martial arts learning experience. As you communicate the art to others, you must learn it in great detail in order to be clear to the student. Sometimes, (often times) we encounter students that do not comprehend or are challenged physically to perform techniques. They are not gifted athletes that martial arts come easily to. 

Many martial arts schools around the world fail because the teachers give up. The quality martial arts instructor takes up the challenge, doesn’t give up, and finds a way to make a martial artist out of the non-athlete. 

If learning martial arts was easy, everyone would have a black belt. If teaching it was always easy, everyone would own a dojo.  

I love my job as a martial arts instructor. The part I love the most is observing others becoming enlightened. When the breakthrough happens and it finally “clicks” for them and they “get it”.

Instructors have breakthrough moments in teaching as well. 

When we climb a mountain, it isn’t just to get to the top. It’s so we can see the other mountains still left to climb.  

See you at the dojo,

-Sensei Larry Keith-