I know that there are a lot of immature people who teach martial arts. But I visited a class once that went far beyond how bad I thought a martial arts class could get.
The instructor sold autographed pictures of himself to his students (need I say more?). He also had action figures made of himself for sale. And no, he wasn’t someone that you’d consider “famous.” He taught a Kung Fu & BJJ class, but didn’t really teach his students as much as he gave demonstrations of his “elite skills.” For instance, when he was grappling a student and gained a superior position, he would “pose” to show how easy beating the person was.
Once when a new (real) BJJ Academy had opened up in his state, he invited the other academy to his place to train together. As soon as the other Academy walked in the door, they challenged their visitors to grappling matches- he had set up a video camera which he hoped would capture his students beating the other academy so he could show it to the world. But the other BJJ Instructor was for real, and soon the other school’s white belts were easily beating his brown belts. His assistant instructor asked the BJJ Instructor to grapple and quickly got submitted. The Kung Fu/BJJ Instructor became enraged, challenged the BJJ instructor to a fight, saying (while looking like he was about to cry) “people think your school is dominant now.” The BJJ instructor, I guess to his credit, said that he didn’t want to grapple someone who was angry, took his students, and left. He seemed like a nice guy and very disturbed by the display.
The instructor sold autographed pictures of himself to his students (need I say more?). He also had action figures made of himself for sale. And no, he wasn’t someone that you’d consider “famous.” He taught a Kung Fu & BJJ class, but didn’t really teach his students as much as he gave demonstrations of his “elite skills.” For instance, when he was grappling a student and gained a superior position, he would “pose” to show how easy beating the person was.
Once when a new (real) BJJ Academy had opened up in his state, he invited the other academy to his place to train together. As soon as the other Academy walked in the door, they challenged their visitors to grappling matches- he had set up a video camera which he hoped would capture his students beating the other academy so he could show it to the world. But the other BJJ Instructor was for real, and soon the other school’s white belts were easily beating his brown belts. His assistant instructor asked the BJJ Instructor to grapple and quickly got submitted. The Kung Fu/BJJ Instructor became enraged, challenged the BJJ instructor to a fight, saying (while looking like he was about to cry) “people think your school is dominant now.” The BJJ instructor, I guess to his credit, said that he didn’t want to grapple someone who was angry, took his students, and left. He seemed like a nice guy and very disturbed by the display.
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