The Mentor's Camp

My student, William Steihl, at the 2012 AAU Nationals in Florida.

This past Saturday at Master Balon's school, there was a training camp open to all students to join in which included conditioning, sparring, and drills. There were two camps, both two and a half hours long. The first was for younger students under 10 years old, and the second was for 10 year olds and above. I had two students for the first camp and four for the second who participated.

The camp was run by Master Young from New York and Mr. Charles Ferrone, Master Balon's son. Both gentlemen were absolutely fantastic. There were students from Master Balon's team known as "Force One" and students from Master Young's school, I think a student or two from other schools came, and our Trento's Martial Arts were in attendance.

Master Balon said to me not too long ago about having all the New Jersey AAU Taekwondo schools come together, perhaps on a monthly basis, going to each school, and having the instructor do a seminar with the students on some kind of specialty training or training in general to learn from different people, to build good friendships among the students, and build their confidence in the art. I of course personally think it is a great idea.

As a master, I have NO problem exposing my students to other instructors, especially my own mentors. Years back, no one wanted to do such a thing. When I opened TMAFC, my students knew I was still training and I would learn from other mentors, such as Mater Balon, and loved telling my students all about them and even introducing them. Quite honestly, it is something I feel I contribute in my own area, especially with Black Belt tests. I have outside guests come to each of the Black Belt tests I have done, and some Masters who come have NEVER seen other tests other than their own, and it has built great relationships amongst themselves with other judges. It's a great experience.

There wasn't a doubt in my mind we were going to go down to Fastkix Taekwondo Saturday. I pushed for the camp for a month, and we would have had more students if it didn't turn out to be Easter weekend. But the students who went had a fantastic time and learned so much. My younger students, William and Anthony, are good boys and have made so much progress over the year. At the beginning they had a hard time keeping up, but you saw such a difference in their performance, and better yet in their attitude by the end of the camp!

TO spar people you've never sparred before and being encouraged by people OTHER THAN your own master is just what our students need sometime. And William and Anthony weren't scared but excited! I even got to coach students from the other schools myself.

Trento's angels (Mia, Bethany, and Taylor) along with Miss Samantha Volk attended the second camp with the older crowd. Miss Volk has taken her own personal time to work with the girls, getting them ready for the Black Belt test being held in May. The girls still came to their teen/adult class at 8:45am with me BEFORE this camp. They were also very excited to meet Master Balon, knowing what an important mentor he is to me. I even suggested maybe they could ask him to look over their form for them in preparation for their test. I knew Master Balon would nit pick at EVERYTHING I tell them to do that perhaps they don't. But when you have someone else tell you, especially at the caliber Master Balon is at, you all of a sudden see things a little clearer.

And that's exactly what happened. And I couldn't have been happier. The girls were a little shy to ask, but they asked Master Balon to take a look at their form. I stood there smiling. It didn't matter how many corrections he had to make or improvements he had to offer, I am not about impressing my mentors or other instructors. I am about my students being educated to the highest degree. Master Balon pointed out several things I always tell the girls, and when he did, they would glance in my direction and I would smile and chuckle. When they heard Master Balon point out the same things I would say, it was like this "OH" factor for them. They came right back and worked even harder.

That's what our students need. We cannot pretend to know everything. Ego is left at the door, and we welcome students with open arms. I train very hard on my own and have excellent guidance with my mentors and my own master. The expectations and standards are being held higher and higher all the time. And my students are getting better and better as am I. It's amazing how far WE have come the last four years since opening TMAFC. Even more amazing since my old master and I went separate ways.

I thank Master Young, Mr. Charles, the Force One Team, and the Fastkix Instructors for their phenomenal encouragement to my students, for their great knowledge, and being so welcoming as they always are. And of course to one of my own personal mentors, thank you Master Balon for all your help and support with my own students and myself. (BOWS)

Yours in service,
MASTER TRENTO

P.S The New Jersey AAU Taekwondo Championships will be held at 105 Summerhill Rd in Spotswood, NJ on APRIL 20TH!