Choosing An Instructor

On Choosing a Taekwondo Instructor.

Choosing a Taekwondo instructor is just like choosing any instructor. The two most important components of your search should revolve around the instructor and other students. If you choose a poor instructor, regardless of the art you pursue, you will never reach your fullest potential, will probably waste a lot of money and perhaps even put your health and well-being at considerable risk. Likewise, if you find an excellent instructor with poorly disciplined or skilled students, then you should realize that there is a serious problem somewhere in the transmission from master to student. Your instructor might be very good at the martial art he or she practices, but unable to teach that same technique and discipline to others.

Choosing an instructor is a common sense endeavor. You do not need any special training or knowledge in order to spot a winner. You should use the same reasoning you use when you choose anything of value -- a car dealer, a realtor, a stock broker, your poker buddies, your baby-sitter.

Here are some questions that you should be asking yourself about the instructor. (I'll use the pronoun "he" hereafter.)

Is this person down to earth? Or does he seem like a flake?
Is he making any extraordinary claims about himself? Things that seem just too impressive to be true?
Is he more concerned with getting me to sign a contract than he is in finding out more about what I'm after and what my needs as a student are?
Does he shy away from questions about his credentials or their authenticity?
When asked about his previous experience and his own training, are his answers vague? Do they lack specifics?
Is he talking down to me?
Does he seem interested in getting to know me?
Is he excited about what he's doing? Excited about my prospective training?
Does he answer my questions fully and completely?
Does he let me watch his students freely?
How does he handle questions about competing schools? Does he bad-mouth other styles, arts or instructors? Or does he offer constructive advice? Does he want me to make the best decision for me as a student or for him as a business man?

As I said before, the students are probably the best indicator of an instructor's ability. Here are some questions you should be considering as you observe them?

Are they from a broad range of backgrounds (considering the general population of the area)?
Do they seem fit and healthy?
Are they disciplined? Do they show respect to their instructors and to one another?
Do they look sharp and maintained, or do they look sloppy?
Are there plenty of students around your age?
Are they doing stuff that you wish you could do? Do they look "cool"? Do they motivate you to study their art?

As you can see, these are the same kind of questions (albeit usually subconscious) that you're asking yourself every time you make a decision where other people are involved. This is how you choose your friends and anyone else with whom you have a significant interaction. You need no additional skills for choosing a good instructor than you need for deciding which grocery store will get your patronage.

Beware of the following. These are a few things that should NOT impress you. In fact, if you notice these or (worse yet) the instructor brings these up, it should set off more than a few warning lights.

How many tournaments/championships/fights he or she has won. A good instructor will always be showing off his students or nothing at all.
Offering you too much for too little effort. If you're promised a black belt in a year, guess what... you're dealing with someone who has no idea of the level of work that obtaining a black belt requires.
"Magical" stories -- anything that even comes close to being supernatural or above human ability. Outrageous claims include being able to knock someone out by gently touching their elbow/wrist/belly-button/etc; being able to harness magical/spiritual energy and perform physical acts with that energy.
Cult of Personality. If students regard their instructor with an unusually severe amount of reverence, awe or obedience it might indicate a problem. I'm not talking about the discipline and respectful manner that all martial artists should have for their masters. Instead, I'm talking about situations where the students are nearly religious in their devotion to one or more instructors.

I hope that this information will help you choose a quality instructor -- one that will give you the fullest for your hard earned money and help you grow as a martial artist. If you have any specific questions that I did not address here, feel free to drop me a line at rshroyer@bigfoot.com. Thank you.