When I was 19 years old, I began my own business. But I knew that this would be a very different type of business. Not your typical business. I wanted to have my martial arts school stand upon the values the martial arts is all about. By doing this, I had in my apartment in December 2008, after a blizzard, something called a Master Mind Meeting.
I invited students of mine, people I trained with, people I tested with, people I taught with, and we put our minds together as one and established the do's and don't's, the rights and wrongs, the good and bad, and set a foundation of values that my studio would stand upon. Even though it is a business, I refused to ever forget that this is first and foremost a martial arts school and therefore will be run on values.
Do I sound like a broken record yet? Values! Values! Values! If you think about it, everything and anything we are and will be is based on our values. When we do things against our values, it erodes us of our self-esteem.
Well I came across something that really bugged me a few months ago. In April, I brought eight of my students to their very first competition to see what it is like. They all did a phenomenal job! However, one of my blue belt girls sparred against another blue belt who was very very fierce. She sparred a fantastic match, but lost the match. We later found out that girl she sparred was not a blue belt but a junior Black Belt!
Besides being totally against the rules, how low can you be? Is that what the martial arts is all about? Absolutely not! And this is a master telling his students it is okay to do! What gets me even more aggravated is that the parents endorse this behavior! It goes against everything the martial arts is about and everything I teach. And yet this person calls themselves "master." I am insulted as a martial arts instructor who is hoping to earn that title.
The mother of my student confirmed with the other students mother that she was in fact a junior Black Belt, and we even found her Kukkiwon certificate number online (Kukkiwon is the highest honor of certification you can get in Taekwondo). Some people may argue it happens in all sports. But martial arts is a very different type of activity to be a part of. It is a mind-body-spirit discipline, so values is a very important part of it's make up.
Values! A true master always returns to his values! Every action and decision, choice of word is based off of his or her values. To have a Black Belt spar as a blue belt, what are you teaching your students? Is that fair to other students? Are the medals really that important? I promise you this, as a master, the values will always go before the medals and the money. In my eyes, that is how a true master should conduct themselves.
Yours in service,
A TRENTO
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