I've noticed in the past that several Taekwondo Dojangs operate under the tenets of Taekwondo, as I referenced in a previous post. In addition to these tenets, I've found that our school also obeys a student oath. While there appears to be a relatively similar oath among different schools, our particular dojang works under the following five guidelines:
1: I shall observe the tents of Tae Kwon Do.
2: I shall respect the instructor and fellow students.
3: I shall never misuse Tae Kwon Do.
4: I shall be a worthy representative of Tae Kwon Do.
5: I shall strive for self-improvement and will always be eager to learn.
Of these, I find that our child students appear to have the most difficulty with number 5. There are times where it appears as though they are simply going through the motions. This appears to happen most often around the 5th kub (Blue Belt in our school), or about half-way to the Black Belt examination. I personally refer to this as the doldrum stage of Taekwondo. While it's imperative for the instructors to attempt to keep the students interested, it can be difficult to make children want to learn when it's clear they aren't. Often times, this is where you can see which students are in class because their parents want them there (they already spent this much time, effort and money, the student must finish, *or* "my kid is going to do *x*"), as opposed to the ones who are their because they want to finish what they started, or truly enjoy what they are doing.
For my part, I usually try to really get the kids interested by showing them the utility of what they learn, as well as increasing the bag work and especially the kicking - the parts that are "fun," while still trying to direct them in the proper form/technique.
Good times.
No comments:
Post a Comment