Smarter than a 5th grader?
A long time ago, when I took over Mr. Strickland’s instructor program, things weren’t exactly like they are now. Some things were better, some things were not. But, as he has told me since I met him, “you have to do things like YOU think they should done.‘ So, the only thing I wanted to get across early on was the attitude.
In every situation as an instructor, you have to be looking for, and asking yourself … “what can I do to help”? That is the “baseline”of how I wanted our instructors, young and old, to think. My perception today is that is EXACTLY the attitude of our instructors here at Strickland’s Martial Arts. When Mr. Strickland’s students test at national events at Taekwondo United, he has stressed to me that the talk amongst the instructors there is absolutely and positively about giving the people the best opportunity to progress and for success. Instructor testing has become a teaching/learning experience. We want our instructors to get better for having gone through it. The last time I was at one of those instructor testing’s, I saw Mr. Jackson, Mr. Williams, Mr. Crocco, and others hop out to see what they could do to help the testers become better instructors. Not trying to outdo each other, but just wanting to do everything they could to help in a stressful situation.
I didn’t get to go to Baton Rouge, and I hope to hear and read many stories in this newsletter and other places about that tournament. However, I was at a tournament where many of the instructors I have worked with or trained were judging, all around me. Most of the things I have wanted to see done over the years had been implemented. It was great! But, I won’t have much to add to the equation if I don’t take advantage of new ideas and new ways to do things.
Mr. Strickland bringing in new instructors and new talent doesn’t just help students it really, really helps the Senior certified instructor’s as well, as we ask ourselves – “What can I do to help make the program better”? I thought this was a real revelation. Right up until the time that one of my 5th grade instructors from Coppell came up and asked before the tournament … “What can I do to help?” I might be overrating my own insight just a little bit. Not sure I’m any smarter than a 5th grader. Mr. Vickroy
