Finding a Martial arts Sifu

[porquemada]

hello,

how do you find out if an instructor can teach you something worthwhile? I'm trying to help my nephew find a teacher that can teach him to fight.

He is a good kid, good head on his shoulders and has deferred college to find a teacher and practice martial arts.

thanks.

[Gangsterfist]

Where do you live? All I can say is you have to go experience the class to see if you feel if its right for you or not. Perhaps you do find a good wing chun teacher, but then realize wing chun is not really for you and you want to study Choy Lay Fut, or taijiquan or something else.

I guess you can look for some basic certain qualities in a sifu.

When to demonstrate a technique and the dummy (the person who is the dummy attacker/defnder) throws the wrong punch or kick. Does the sifu still block it or redirect it? Or does the strike just hit them and then they say other hand, other foot? A good teacher will intercept the wrong attack still, and then say other side.

If they are confident in their art and good at it they can explain to you in plain english (or whatever language they speak) why it works. They won't use some jibberish or jargin to make it sound super technical or superior. People who hype up things to an extreme level are IMHO, not very good teachers. Their ego of their system gets in the way of proper training and humility. Its my opinion you should train realistically, and not create some false sense of security by thinking your system of martial arts is superior.

Other than that, the rest is really up to you. Try it out, if its for you its for you. You are the only one that is going to be able to decide that. There are lots of great systems out there, but perhaps the hardest part is finding a good teacher.

[Tom Kagan]

Originally posted by porquemada
hello,

how do you find out if an instructor can teach you something worthwhile? I'm trying to help my nephew find a teacher that can teach him to fight.

He is a good kid, good head on his shoulders and has deferred college to find a teacher and practice martial arts.

thanks.

You should do absolutely nothing to help him and everything to discourage him from postponing college.

[anerlich]

He is a good kid, good head on his shoulders and has deferred college to find a teacher and practice martial arts.

I have to agree with Tom. The above sentence is almost oxymoronic.

It's perfectly feasible to both go to college and study MA at a high level. You have more flexibility and freedom while at college than at any other time in your life. Some of the best MAists I know trained and taught full time, but others equally accomplished had full time jobs and supported families.

IMO, an instructor should be approachable, and happy to answer questions. He should not need to inflate his background or raise himself up by putting others down. All aspects of fighting or kung fu should be covered or at least addressed. He should continue to train hard himself and not be afraid of mixing it up with his students.

Others may disagree, but contact sparring with equipment, clinch work, and groundfighting must form a significant part of the curriculum.

As a long time MA friend said "find an instructor that suits you."

[lawrenceofidaho]

I wholeheartedly agree with Tom and Andrew, -encourage the guy to enroll in school.

Have him sign him up for philosophy 102 (intro to logic), and business 216 (principles of marketing). -Then when he gets around to looking for a martial arts club to join, if he ends up in a shady place, he'll be able to see through the logical fallacies as the instructor tries to explain why their art is "the ultimate and undefeatable", and also be able to have an understanding of marketing tools the place will try to use to manipulate him out of his money.

Seriously though, many universities have some decent martial arts clubs on campus. Maybe he could start by checking those out and seeing if he "clicks" with any of the groups.

I'd recommend buying him a belated graduation present of the book "Living The Martial Way" by Forest Morgan. (It should be available on Overstock dot com for about $11) You can read what it's about and reviews on it at Amazon (but they sell it for a few dollars more than Overstock).

Best of luck.......

[Mckind13]

Well not to be the contrarian, but if he wants to learn to fight and study martial arts he should.
I wasn’t into college after high school so I joined the military, got out and worked for a while. Now I am attacking that sucker like a pit bull.

I would say school is important but maybe 6 – 12 months in a MMA or boxing school and a few smokers or armature fights might get whatever ir is out of his system and get him ready for school.

Maybe make him a deal. A year off of school to train and then he is back full time.

David

[FSY]

I'd agree with Mckind 13. If your nephew wants to hold off on college so that he can learn "how to fight," then he's probably not ready for college. I'd recommend the military as well.

[KingMonkey]

Most people, myself certainly included, find that their initial experience in MA's involves some investment in loss. ie training in a few different MA's to find which ones dont suit you for a number of reasons, for example.

Bad instructor, poor training methods, inneffective style, style that simply doesnt suit the student, unsuitable class atmosphere (ie cleaning the latrines with a toothbrush style dojos).

With this in mind although I dont think it's a bad idea to train MA's full time per se I would certainly advise developing some hands on experience and knowledge before making such a commitment.
These could easily be done while pursuing other things ie college, work.

As for finding a good Sifu why only Sifu, maybe he should consider coach or trainer too.

Others may disagree, but contact sparring with equipment, clinch work, and groundfighting must form a significant part of the curriculum.

I think this is pretty good and in fact I'd say if they dont do at least some sparring walk away. Another good sign is if the instructor trains people for actual MMA fights or has themselves fought.

[Stevo]

Wing Chun's good for learning to fight in a relatively short time, if you have a good teacher with the right approach. I'd suggest looking for one who stresses the importance of every action being as simple, direct and efficient as possible. I agree with most of what everyone else said, except for those advocating not deferring college, especially after you've already said he's got his head screwed on properly. College-goers don't have a monopoly on that attribute! And college will always be there to go back to. Some people have even gone on to start college in their 40s and ended up starting a PhD in their 50s!

[kj]

Anyone can do what I did. Unable to complete college in the traditional manner after high school, I had the "luxury" of pursuing my higher education while working full time and attending to my college studies in my "free" time. Along the way, there were program changes, often intense workload demands, plus normal demands that arise in personal and family life.

Having missed many pleasures others enjoy through life, and lagging my peers professionally and financially much of the way, by the time I reached 40 I finally earned my graduate degree, and was once again afforded the opportunity to pursue some of my personal interests, including things like martial arts training.

Anyone can do what I did. In reality, most don't have the will or the stamina for it. Or just not crazy or stubborn enough, depending on how you look at it. If there were do overs, I'm not entirely sure I'd do it differently. However, if I'd had the convenient choice to attend college right out of high school, even then, I'd have grabbed it like a brass ring. That would have afforded me opportunities for more things in the long run, including more time for martial arts training.

I'll also add that it's challenging to obtain a top notch education, yet worth every ounce of effort. It also offers sustaining value througout one's life. It's infinitely more challenging to find quality martial arts instruction. The overall return on investment is often poor, and even in the best cases usually an insufficient education and background for enduring life's ever changing priorities and demands. IMHO, of course.

Perhaps this young man has more options open to him than I did at his age. There are many paths in life; some are easier in the long run than others. Some seem easy enough looking forward, but less so looking back. Nothing is free; we forgo opportunities in exchange for our choices here and now. Whatever he chooses, best wishes to him.

FWIW.

Regards,
- Kathy Jo

[yuanfen]

Good post KJ. Life has its zigzags.... but whenever possible
getting started with real education when the mind is young is the best idea. Of course better late than never.