The dojo has always been a place of profound wisdom, incredible perseverance and some of the best life lessons that I’ve ever learned. I believe that the true power in martial arts comes from reading between the lines of your training and learning the metaphors for life. Challenges in life are like sparring opponents on the mat – they are there to hit you and stop you from succeeding at whatever the challenge may be. You have to overcome the fear, stress, and anxiety about the match to perform well. Just like in life, when things get hard you have to acknowledge that times are tough, take a deep breath and fight through the low point.
Mindset
As I train and while I’m teaching, I always try to apply the physical skills to life skills in some manner. Since I hold this belief my brain is wired to constant deep and critical thinking. Since I became a teacher in my childhood dojo our community has been rocked by different tragedies; we’ve had police officers shot and killed in the line of duty, students at the local high school commit suicide and a drug epidemic that has swept over the local New Hampshire area that I live and teach in.
Friday nights at the dojo we have a class for our Teen students (ages 12-17). In that class, we range from 22-32 students every week and they are from all walks of life. This is consistently one of our most well-attended classes. We have established a “Words of Wisdom” segment for the last ten minutes of class, and I’ve been ending the class like that for six or seven years now. In that time we talk about the hard topics that they face or we talk about finding passion in life and securing your future. The goal of these talks is to light a spark in the teens when they need it the most. To remind them that their teachers are people also and that at one time I was sitting on the mat at the end of a Friday class just like they do now.
Have Faith
It’s difficult for a teacher to know definitively if you are making the impact you desire. Are you truly reaching them and teaching the life lessons you want them to have? We take a leap of faith and we move forward pressing the lessons on our students and hoping that something sticks. We want to leave that legacy in the arts, the same legacy our teachers entrusted to us when they made us teachers.
Feedback
Nine months ago I had a former student come to the dojo for an event. He is a black belt and assisted us with classes when he was a student in high school. He is now preparing to graduate from college and he asked me if I still gave my words of wisdom on Friday nights. When I responded with a “yes” he told me “good, I got more out of those talks than anything else at that point in my life.” I was shocked. I was sure that they were listening but I never imagined that, many years later, someone would look back on those talks and hold on to them. After hearing this I offered a grateful “thank you” and felt humbled and honored that he used those lessons.
I began to think and then reached out to all my friends who received black belts from the dojo, I asked them to come to talk to the teens about life after high school and what in their training they used to find success. It was a great moment for me as I watched some assistant and lead instructors from my time offer words of wisdom and try to inspire a new generation.
In Closing
Never doubt the power that you have as an instructor, nor doubt that every talk you have with students will make a difference. We are the spark that lights their inspiration and passion. Together with words of wisdom, we can inspire future generations for years to come.
Along with training in Kenpo, he also trains in Yoshitsune Combat Ju-Jitsu from 2008-2014 then picking it up again in 2020. Currently, he is working on progressing his knowledge in the martial arts through Kenpo Karate, Lysak's Sento Method, Kung Fu and Kali.
He began assisting with classes in 2005 at the age of 14. Since then he has risen to the level of Managing Director managing the day-to-day operations of the dojo. Along with overseeing the training of all the students at KI Craig also works with dojos around the country to help them build programs to teach students how to become teachers. He believes that it's important to constantly continue to develop leaders to help empower students through Martial Arts.
Now along with running a school he also expanding into consulting with school owners and instructors for staff development and creating a positive culture in their schools as well.
- A 21st Century Instructor - August 31, 2021
- The Dojo, where everyone knows your name - April 7, 2021
- Black Belt Student, White Belt Teacher - March 18, 2021
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