What makes a good Kung fu teacher / Sifu

[Northwind]

As time goes forward we'll see more of it because of the expectation for it.

These days pro fighters are coaching others to become fighters.
It's becoming common place and will likely grow to be more so.

Agreed.
Unhappy about it, but agreed.

[faxiapreta]

I don't see how this makes the point that boxing is not simplistic compared to other arts. Boxing had roughly 16 techniques and other arts have hundreds.

16 techniques? You must be kidding

Boxing has hundreds, if not thousands of techniques.

In addition to all the punches and their variations, you have all the different types of footwork, head movement, body angulation, methods to absorb punches, clinch techniques, entry techniques, etc, etc, etc.

[faxiapreta]

I think what I have seen most times over the years whether it's in the arts or boxing or even sports in general, the guys who excel in teaching or coaching are the ones that didn't really excel in that sport but have a way of communicating and getting the most out of there people. It is rare to see someone who is a great teacher or coach that was great at chosen game.
I'm sure there might be a few but At least i can't remember any off hand.

Most successful coaches competed in the sport sometime in their lives.

The majority of successful coaches weren't at the top in terms of competition. That's because, while one needs actual experience in the arena, coaching and competing are two different skill sets.

[JamesC]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE7pQ...eature=related

[Lee Chiang Po]

In any fighting system there has to be lots of understanding when it comes to what you are doing and learning. This has to come one step at a time, and the steps must be in the perfect order to be taught effectively. I have a friend that went to a MMA gym and start learning BJJ. The very first day he was on the floor rolling around getting his neck wrung. He was taught a few arm bars and the likes, but then tossed into the matt to roll. This is poor teaching at the very best as he was not taught to take a fall, or even how to move into an entry. He still don't know how to take a fall, and he can only use a few arm locks or bars. He has been doing it now for close to 2 years. When I was learning JJJ I spent a long time just learning to take a hard fall. I would spend endless hours at home in my back yard slamming myself into the ground in order to practice breakfalls.
This all goes for any system you train. You have to know just how and what order you need to teach it in order to actually teach it. I find that most people today, in their exuberance, tend to put the cart in front of the horse so to speak, and when we do this, we fail to teach.
When I started training gung fu, I had to learn and practice each and every hand technique over and over and over again until I had a full understanding of it. It was not until I had them all pretty much down that I was then taught to put them into a form. Not a real fight form, but simply a form in which I could train them all, both left and right.
Unless you seek out other martial artists or hand out in gyms or kwoons, you are not going to regularly come up against trained martial artists. In most kwoons you will see most everyone training the same system of fighting. It is difficult to fight another person of the same system and same level of skill. And training against other systems is not a real necessity unless you intend to be a famous ring figher or some such. Most people you come against will attempt to fight you with a somewhat boxing style, or some type of karate that they learned in their youth. Usually not at a really serious level. If you have your system down well you should fare well if you do not take them for granted or underestimate them. Boxing is a system by which the larger and stronger you are, the better you will be at whipping others with it. This is usually the case with most systems.

[David Jamieson]

paragraphs are your friend!'

[Snipsky]

lmao...........

[David Jamieson]

a good teacher will have you being a good teacher as well. that's another thing.

[Lucas]

I like to be clear that I do not want to be a teacher. I want to spend all my time learning to fight, I don't want to spend time learning in a manner that will have me teaching. I have helped to teach, and i know methods by which to teach that have some universal cross over, but i will never want to be a sifu. I like to share and train with others but beginners bother me, i don't train full time, so i want to be selfish and train for me. When asked to teach or coach i will, but it will never be my goal. But i do agree with u DJ.

[Iron_Eagle_76]

Patience, good training methods, and discipline go a long way into teaching anyone. Also, the student, not the teacher, will ultimately be the one who makes themself a good martial artist. Sure, there are bad teachers, but the best teacher in the world cannont make a lazy student better.

If you as a student are not willing to work hard, sweat, and bleed than you are wasting your time.

[bawang]

if a teacher beat me like im his own son, then he is a good sifu.

[David Jamieson]

if a teacher beat me like im his own son, then he is a good sifu.

I have no idea why you equate abuse and demoralization as good teaching models. lol
That's not an avenue to learning anything but how to be a slave.

useless.

[SPJ]

if a teacher beat me like im his own son, then he is a good sifu.

yes. if he also loves you as his own kid---

not necessarily physically beating

but ask or demand more from you

train you harder

make you work harder so as to advance more

--

etc etc

[Lucas]

i think if someone has many students and beats them, they are either treating them like soldier, or they like to beat them. if someone has few students and beats them, it is because he cares.

[David Jamieson]

i think if someone has many students and beats them, they are either treating them like soldier, or they like to beat them. if someone has few students and beats them, it is because he cares.

Soldiers aren't beaten.

...they are made to beat themselves.