My Essay for 2nd Dan Grade in Tang Soo Do

I never started Tang Soo Do because I wanted, someday, to teach it. My love of teaching it came as something of a surprise to me.
After I first became a dan grade, I found myself teaching, much more than being taught. This sudden shift took some adjustment at first, after the previous months of intense preparations for my dan grading. However, I have since recognised the benefits you get out of training others and as a result, rediscovered my enthusiasm for the long established methods under which we train.

‘The teacher learning from the lesson’

It’s often written that you don’t show Tang Soo Do to a student, you share it with them. ‘The teacher learning from the lesson’ is central to all martial arts and explains why the training hall, or dojung is sometimes called ‘the place of enlightenment’ as well as the ‘place of discipline’. You may feel like you understand something, but only when you have to explain it to someone else do you start to appreciate a far deeper understanding.
Students sometimes teach me: one of the more memorable occasions was when someone told me “I’m rubbish at back kicks, sir”. I found myself correcting him, by explaining “You’re just not YET good at back kicks”. The wisdom of this only occurred to me as I said it out loud, but I’ll never forget it now.

“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think”

The Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates is often attributed as having said “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think”. It may not have been him that said it first, but the sentiment has often made me examine how best to get ideas across to young students.
I don’t know if every student realises the purpose of each exercise, but sometimes I feel that things should be worked out for yourself, rather than having an instructor spell it out for you. It is a traditional method in martial arts, to deliver cryptic, thought provoking instruction sometimes. A good teacher doesn’t just teach, they also inspire, motivate and learn from, their students.

Knowledge can be different to understanding. When I came to practise all of the one-step self-defence techniques in the Tang Soo Do syllabus, I started to really understand them. Seeing the similarities and common techniques that run through them, I have found that teaching them has become a lot easier as my understanding has deepened.

There’s an ancient Chinese saying that the usefulness of a cup is only when that cup is empty. This is to say that wisdom is the realisation of how much you don’t know.

Teaching the forms

A large part of the ‘Do’ of Tang Soo Do — the path, the way — is taught through studying the forms, known as the Hyungs. When I first realised that I was actually a long way away from truly mastering the set of Pyong ahn hyungs, which I studied in order to achieve my black belt, I wondered how I should continue teaching them.
There are clear stages to the process of mastering a new hyung. The first stage is learning the steps, the stances and the moves. The second stage is then refining the techniques to demonstrate balance, power, control and stance. The third stage is to understand the meaning of each move, and to start to picture the opponents. They say that if you practise a form 100 times you begin to see your invisible opponent, if you practise a form 1000 times, everyone else can picture your invisible opponent. As Tang Soo Do’s founder, Grand Master Hwang Kee said “To study forms one must be concerned with the application and meaning behind each movement and technique, both offensive and defensive”.
I was told once at a tournament by another clubs instructor I’d previously not spoken to that (what I thought of as some of the best) forms “lacked any light and dark”. Although they were strong and crisp, they were too regular and monotonous in their flow, which failed to demonstrate a true understanding of the form. Basically, the judges couldn’t see the invisible opponent.
The beauty of studying the martial arts is that it is always challenging and teaches you to be better and better with time and practise.
The performance of ‘perfect’ hyungs, in fact of every technique is an actively evolving process. It is a handicap therefore, to resist new ‘correct’ ways of performing a technique you had previously felt you’d begun to master. Instead, embrace the change, as change is the result of someone’s efforts and perhaps a breakthrough in their understanding.

Teaching ‘spirit’

To successfully teach a martial art, indeed any subject, I’ve found that you have to inspire and enthuse the students. If a student is not committed, they will soon give up because they’ll find they are training hard and not recognising the benefits. That’s not to say that they are not benefiting.
We teach each student how to stand, how to kick, punch and block, but those few who reach black belt, will have learned something more. Something that will never be forgotten: spirit — that enjoyment of the process, the deep-rooted desire to work hard and to improve.
Good teaching is therefore not limited to showing the student the moves. It also involves inspiring the spirit within the student. Their confidence builds as they progress, they progress as they learn the syllabus and begin to master the moves, their fitness builds as their rank requires. Sometimes a few wise words to explain that a move is hard, not impossible, or that a student has already been judged ready for a grading, so their own doubts are unfounded, can be the highlight of a student’s lesson.
I sometimes read online articles and books on martial arts. The exact style is irrelevant as the state of mind is the same throughout. Learning different ways of expressing the black-belt state of mind, is very effective in my understanding and thus, my teaching.
There are no simple words that can instantly teach a student the spirit of martial arts. That, I think, is gained from regular repeated demonstration by a passionate teacher. You cannot put the hard work in for the student. They can attend two or three sessions a week and improve their overall fitness but to build spirit you must build up their confidence but with humility. This is achieved in part through the grading process.

Progression

Progression through the grades is not in the hands of the student — you get invited to grade. I still remember taking my first dan grading feeling like a privilege, an award in itself. As students progress towards their dan grading, their label (their coloured ‘dee’ or belt holding their dobok shut) is changed to reflect how far they have currently progressed on their journey.
Nothing seems to test the emotions and human spirit like a martial arts grading. The way people encourage each other is like nothing else I’ve encountered.
Friendship and camaraderie is a big part of my passion for martial arts training. Martial arts friendships are different to normal friendships. I do not know why. Perhaps it is because you experience the ups and downs with your fellow students, and see them at their most stressed, tired, struggling with moves. You also experience these emotions alongside them, and so bonds are formed. You genuinely want to help each other to get better.
Crucially within the club, competition between students to progress through the ranks is not encouraged. Each student is allowed to progress at their own pace, based on natural aptitude, health, age and build — and sometimes, commitments which dictate how often they can train and how quickly they can develop their fitness and techniques.

I try to identify the strengths of a student, particularly the adults. Not everyone can jump high, kick high, or become lightning fast; however many adults bring stamina, a mature perspective and an attitude to the class that is an inspiration to others.
I’ve almost always taught others, as a part of my training. I just teach more students at a time now. Teaching the latest black belt candidates, or ‘Cho Dan Bos’ techniques to improve their own teaching is an unexpected privilege. Seeing a student who you have taught, then teaching another is a very satisfying feeling indeed.

Planning the lesson

Planning an entire lesson feels like a long way from the days when I just had to teach basic techniques to a beginner or teach a specific form to a group of junior students. I’ve found it useful to consider a lesson simply as a series of exercises that involve the whole class. I’ve learned that doing something different, or doing something in a different way, makes a memorable and therefore useful class.
The warm-up is obviously the first exercise, and varies somewhat depending on the students who are in that lesson. Generally this exercise is carried out with the students lined up in rank order, but with a smaller class, which are common in the school holidays, forming a big circle breaks the hierarchy and makes everyone feel equal, which can make the lower ranks work a bit harder.
Every lesson then has a period where the class work lined up, repeating one or a sequence of moves over and over. When I was a gup grade, I craned around to copy the way the front row executed a move. Now I’m on the front row, I value this practise time, repeating each move and concentrating on power and refinement. I’m acutely aware that students are copying me, which helps keep me focused. In this time, I will often spot mistakes being made by particular students and I try to make a mental note, so I can help them when I’m the one instructing.
A very useful technique, particularly when there are brand new students, is to send one of the front two rows to the back. This means that when the class turns around and performs moves towards the back of the hall, the new students have people to follow, and hopefully feel less scrutinised.
Lower grades obviously don’t know as much of the syllabus as the higher ones and so, you are always going to be limited to what the entire class can do together. Recently I found a trick where the class repeats a routine of exercises, but with the high grades having to do more repetitions of each move. The advantage of that is that the lower ranks get a breather while they wait for the senior grades to finish, whereas the senior grades get a much harder workout since they don’t get time to get their breath back between sets. The class can be managed together, by a single instructor.
From time to time I think of, or come across new ways of explaining the more difficult moves, by breaking them down, or explaining the body movement in a new way. This can be very effective for students, particularly those who are stuck with a specific technique.
The ultimate purpose of martial arts training is victory in a combat situation. We therefore practise sparring with our fellow students, to safely put the techniques we learn into some practical application. Sparring is invariably done as the final section of a class. This has two advantages: Students are more tired by this point and so, are less likely to be over zealous, and secondly, if anyone does get hurt, the lesson is nearly at an end anyway.

After of the lesson

Teaching doesn’t stop when I leave the dojung. I find myself using lessons from martial arts all the time. Teaching my son how to stand up to bullies isn’t just about the physical techniques, but also the acceptance and usefulness of fear.
“The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It’s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters” — Cus D’Amato (trainer of Mike Tyson and Floyd Paterson).
As a gup grade I learned to overcome hesitation, when fearful, through sparring practise. Courage is undertaking an overwhelming difficulty despite the presence of fear. This is not the same thing as bravery, where you just confront obstacles without any feeling of fear.
I have gained my knowledge and understanding from the example set by Master Cockram and Master Barber, by their students who trained before me, passing on the lessons they’d learned, and by helpful gems of wisdom passed on at seminars and inter-club tournaments by instructors from other clubs.
I now pass on that knowledge, often in the exact same way, but sometimes mixed with my own understanding, to students who will develop and, hopefully one day, teach the way of Tang Soo Do.