Part 4 of a Six-Part Series on Using Kata (or Form) For Martial Arts Development. Any instructor of my age grew up watching numerous dynamic and powerful boxers (read striking artists) from the 1950’s to the middle of the 1980’s. These men were in the heyday of their sport and, until self-serving and greedy promoters ...

What I have learned during more than 30 years of teaching is the value of paying close attention to my students, with an eye toward learning from them. If you keep your eyes open, then you will invariably have that occasional situation that will cause you to pause and reflect on what you just experienced ...

Last month, I cited our need, as instructors, to help our students discover their weaknesses or failings that we can then help them eliminate. That makes what we do valuable-­and worth whatever we charge for it. Allow me to relate an example, knowing that it might upset a few music fans, but I feel it ...

We work in an industry that continues to change from year to year and decade to decade. Since we teach arts that are supposedly timeless, being ancient in origin, one would think that there would be less change. Of course, the goals that we set for our schools and our­selves drive that change. Many older ...

Letter from a loving fatherDear Sons, You have learned your martial arts history from me as children, and now from your own study. You often teach me. You have learned how a man, Jigoro Kano, who was a member of the Japanese educational system, changed Jiu­jitsu into Judo. He took a Japanese martial art, modified ...

Dear sons, now that you have decided to make teaching martial arts a career, instead of a pastime, please consider these words of experience. As you know, most traditional groups have an unwritten policy on how to handle their life-long relationships between students and teachers. I have often felt that traditional groups seem to be ...