Club without an instructor

[micro-ice]

Ok so this may not happen, but after grading a few months back our instructor told us he would possibly be moving away to attend a course in a different college, this will leave our club without a qualified blackbelt instructor to carry out the weekly training and running of the college club
and as it is only a small college club the next highest rank is a 4th or 5th kup
student, our instructor still assures us he will leave everythin in place with the college if and when he leaves so that we can continue to train and make use of the facilites,
but i guess what im saying is that we will be left in the hand of our senior students and while im confident that we will be ok and prepared for our next grading, what is exactly the proceedure as in rules and regulations for having a club that is run without a blackbelt.





I have been training in WTF TKD (changmookwan) since i came to college 2 years ago and now hold the rank of 6th Kup Green belt.

any help advice or suggestions would be much aprreciated.

[Boss* up]

If my instructor left our class with our senoir members we'd be ok because we have two other black belts but regarding your situation I think if your senoir memmbers are on point with their techniques and are good teachers you guys are gonna be fine but if not I'd see if some one with a higher rank can come and fill in.

[micro-ice]

we are ok

ok so as above our instructor and one of our highest students did infact leave, and it was down to the remaining members a 5th 6th and 8th kup to keep the club goin.

not the best situation to be in i know a taekwondo club run by people just starting off in the sport but im happy to report that with a lot of long distance support and the occasional trip down to our grandmaster we managed to find a balance and even introduce the art to some new people ,amyway last monday we went to grading.

the results are in and im happy to report our little club managed to obtain two 4th kups a 6th kup and an 8th kup.

[Hardball]

Drop the formalities and just make it a informal practice club. Be especially cognizant of any horseplay because thats what happens when there is no qualified instructor around. Just call it practice time.. When another black belt comes along, reinstate the formalities. On a side note, being a black belt doesn't make you a qualified instructor. Most systems have instructor qualifications and instructor certificates.

[GranFire]

WE had that in a different sport before. The instructor could only make it once a week (he had like a 2h commute to us, and practice ended at 10PM....)


The older (and more experienced) members need to take the helm and swap duties instructing the newer, less experienced members. But even those can in turn share their experience with the newbies...no single person needs to be burdened with the instruction or it becomes a chore before long...


and everybody has to keep an eye out for everybody else for the little mistakes that creep up without instruction....

[shaolin-warrior]

Micro,
I can appreciate your dilemma, but it may not be all that bad. Some times I learn more about myself and my Art when I am thrust into a position of leadership. As a Second Dan student part of the prerequisite for a Third Dan Test is possessing the ability to teach what you've learned. It has really helped me to grow as A person. And I have learned a lot about myself. Have Some fun with it, do your homework and rise to the occasion. Take a step back and re-evaluate your club and look honestly at what you think might be missing or needs complimenting. This is your chance to teach, to leave someone else with a lasting part of you, a legacy. The best part of teaching for me is that I get to make it fun for my students and fellow classmates, I want them to look forward to coming to class and I want to be challenged with tough questions and forced to be on top of my game. Turn this negative into a positive for yourself, take the reins and run with it. You know that you have the support of many people right here on Defend.net. How lucky we are to have a place to go where so many people share our passions. Good luck and have fun. S.W.

[micro-ice]

thanks

ya its great to have a place to come for support and to vent,
anyway one thing i learned through all of this was how much we all wanted to continue training all the adminstrative bs we had to go through to keep the club running in our college, to be honest at this stage were are more like a family than a club, always over in each others houses training outside of normal training that is and we do generally watch out for each other which helps as nobody was afraid to tell you if your technique was getting sloppy or if something was totally wrong.

Anyways back on point we did find it tough this year being left without higher ranks but those of us left from the original club managed to pull it all together in the end (and have a little fun along the way),

[shaolin-warrior]

I admire your commitment. Peace S.W.

[aseepish]

Something similar happened to my Kenpo club back in 1996 - the instructor left the city and left the club in the hands of a junior instructor (who didn't have a dan rank (and may not have even had a brown belt, if memory serves)). Unfortunately the lease didn't get paid and the school was shut down. We hung on for about a year, meeting informally in community centres and finally worked out a deal to rent space from another club, but in the end we all went our separate ways.

My only caution (and it seems to be something you are aware of) is to make sure you don't end up "perfecting" bad technique. Any given technique may look fine to the highest ranking member of the class, but who is to say that that person is correct? That said, keep training!