A Brief School History Part 1 – The First Seven
Like I’ve said many times before, when I was younger I never had any intention of operating my own martial arts school. Running a school just kind of started on its own, basically due to an Internet chat I had almost thirteen years ago.
Basically, I was on some chat forum in the old “Prodigy,” when someone asked if they knew a place where they could learn some self-defense. At that time of course I wasn’t teaching, so I almost didn’t say anything. But something about his story regarding his necessity to learn, and his sincere request to learn some basic self-defense techniques prompted me to write back.
This person turned out to be Julian Ibanez, who I guess is technically the very first student I ever formally taught. If nothing else he is basically the one who started the ball rolling, and if I hadn’t been teaching him, I doubt I would have ever taught the others who came after him.
I don’t think I was teaching Julian for more than three weeks when he asked if he could bring his friend Rudy to class. At the time I didn’t think much about his request, and figured it was better for me if he used his friend as a punching bag instead of me.
All of a sudden I now had two students.
Several weeks passed, and one day while training Julian and his friend a lady passing on the street stooped and inquired if I would be interested in teaching her teenage son.
Now I had never thought about training any kids other than my own, but after talking with her for a while, and finding out why she wanted me to teach her son, I agreed to give her son a chance.
Her son turned out to be Gonzalo Padilla, who would train at my school for the next 4 to 5 years. Long after Julian and his friend quit.
Shortly after I started teaching Gonzalo, more parents approached me about teaching their kids, and within a month I was teaching Erika, Carolina and Ana Almanza, their cousin Zayda Bermudez, and Lily and Carolina Blanco. “THE FIRST SEVEN.”
I consider these seven students my first real students, and the reason there is a school today. Through their hard work and determination, and the fact they wouldn’t quit no matter what hell I put them through during those first two months, I became a martial arts teacher.
Of course these seven were just the start and within another month I had a total of 21 students.
Like I said, the idea of teaching kids wasn’t something I had planned on. To be honest I never thought any of these kids would last more than a few weeks. The truth is that initially I tried my very best to get them to quit by making each class as hard as I could.
However, no matter what I did or what I asked them to do, these seven tried their best and never complained. They never gave than less than 100% effort.
To be honest, in many ways they reminded me of when I first started and how eager I was to learn. The reminded me how I had never wanted class to end, no matter how worn out and sore my body had been, no matter what my teacher had asked me to do.
To say these kids trained hard would be an understatement. Since it was summer and they didn’t have regular school, classes started at 12:00. While they were supposed to end at 2:00, classes often went to 8:00 or later with no breaks. Furthermore, this schedule was daily--by their choice--and lasted from late June to the beginning of school in September. I figure that in their first two and a half months they trained more than most students do in half a year.
Of course, once school started I figured their interest would stop, but it didn’t. In fact they asked for more, and we continued to have daily classes that lasted about 3 to 4 hours each.
By this point, I was spending more time teaching than I was at my real job as a private investigator. Fortunately my work schedule was very flexible and the two jobs didn’t interfere with each other, which was a good thing since I didn’t make any of the first twenty students pay for classes.
That might sound like I’m a lousy businessman, but that was the promise I made to these kids, most of whom had families that lacked the financial resources to pay for extracurricular activities for their kids.
While I didn’t ask for money, I did have certain expectations. First of all, each student had to buy his or her own equipment. They also had to maintain good grades at school (“C” or higher), stay away from the local gangs, and attend class regularly. The would be suspended for any breach of this agreement.
During the next four years my core of seven basically remained the same. While others came and went, it was the first seven students who made me strive to make the school better. They made me strive to make myself a better instructor.
Over the years we shared birthdays, holidays, family outings, teenage traumas, and all other aspects of life. We were like a family, and I really cared for them.
It was really great was to see the positive change I made in some of these kids lives, especially those that were considered “at risk.” Watching these kids mature, graduate, and discover that they had the potential to achieve anything they set their minds to made all those long days of teaching worth while.
I will not and can not take all the credit for their accomplishments, and their increase in self-esteem. But I know I played a part, just as they played a part in my life. They truly enriched my life, and made me a better person. They definitely made me a better teacher, since I really didn’t know what I was doing those first few years.
None of these kids train with me any longer, nor have any trained with me in years. When each one left it hurt; to this day I still miss them. However, their memory, how they helped build the school, the good times we shared, and their legacy will live on.
Basically, I was on some chat forum in the old “Prodigy,” when someone asked if they knew a place where they could learn some self-defense. At that time of course I wasn’t teaching, so I almost didn’t say anything. But something about his story regarding his necessity to learn, and his sincere request to learn some basic self-defense techniques prompted me to write back.
This person turned out to be Julian Ibanez, who I guess is technically the very first student I ever formally taught. If nothing else he is basically the one who started the ball rolling, and if I hadn’t been teaching him, I doubt I would have ever taught the others who came after him.
I don’t think I was teaching Julian for more than three weeks when he asked if he could bring his friend Rudy to class. At the time I didn’t think much about his request, and figured it was better for me if he used his friend as a punching bag instead of me.
All of a sudden I now had two students.
Several weeks passed, and one day while training Julian and his friend a lady passing on the street stooped and inquired if I would be interested in teaching her teenage son.
Now I had never thought about training any kids other than my own, but after talking with her for a while, and finding out why she wanted me to teach her son, I agreed to give her son a chance.
Her son turned out to be Gonzalo Padilla, who would train at my school for the next 4 to 5 years. Long after Julian and his friend quit.
Shortly after I started teaching Gonzalo, more parents approached me about teaching their kids, and within a month I was teaching Erika, Carolina and Ana Almanza, their cousin Zayda Bermudez, and Lily and Carolina Blanco. “THE FIRST SEVEN.”
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I consider these seven students my first real students, and the reason there is a school today. Through their hard work and determination, and the fact they wouldn’t quit no matter what hell I put them through during those first two months, I became a martial arts teacher.
Of course these seven were just the start and within another month I had a total of 21 students.
Like I said, the idea of teaching kids wasn’t something I had planned on. To be honest I never thought any of these kids would last more than a few weeks. The truth is that initially I tried my very best to get them to quit by making each class as hard as I could.
However, no matter what I did or what I asked them to do, these seven tried their best and never complained. They never gave than less than 100% effort.
To be honest, in many ways they reminded me of when I first started and how eager I was to learn. The reminded me how I had never wanted class to end, no matter how worn out and sore my body had been, no matter what my teacher had asked me to do.
To say these kids trained hard would be an understatement. Since it was summer and they didn’t have regular school, classes started at 12:00. While they were supposed to end at 2:00, classes often went to 8:00 or later with no breaks. Furthermore, this schedule was daily--by their choice--and lasted from late June to the beginning of school in September. I figure that in their first two and a half months they trained more than most students do in half a year.
Of course, once school started I figured their interest would stop, but it didn’t. In fact they asked for more, and we continued to have daily classes that lasted about 3 to 4 hours each.
By this point, I was spending more time teaching than I was at my real job as a private investigator. Fortunately my work schedule was very flexible and the two jobs didn’t interfere with each other, which was a good thing since I didn’t make any of the first twenty students pay for classes.
That might sound like I’m a lousy businessman, but that was the promise I made to these kids, most of whom had families that lacked the financial resources to pay for extracurricular activities for their kids.
While I didn’t ask for money, I did have certain expectations. First of all, each student had to buy his or her own equipment. They also had to maintain good grades at school (“C” or higher), stay away from the local gangs, and attend class regularly. The would be suspended for any breach of this agreement.
During the next four years my core of seven basically remained the same. While others came and went, it was the first seven students who made me strive to make the school better. They made me strive to make myself a better instructor.
Over the years we shared birthdays, holidays, family outings, teenage traumas, and all other aspects of life. We were like a family, and I really cared for them.
It was really great was to see the positive change I made in some of these kids lives, especially those that were considered “at risk.” Watching these kids mature, graduate, and discover that they had the potential to achieve anything they set their minds to made all those long days of teaching worth while.
I will not and can not take all the credit for their accomplishments, and their increase in self-esteem. But I know I played a part, just as they played a part in my life. They truly enriched my life, and made me a better person. They definitely made me a better teacher, since I really didn’t know what I was doing those first few years.
None of these kids train with me any longer, nor have any trained with me in years. When each one left it hurt; to this day I still miss them. However, their memory, how they helped build the school, the good times we shared, and their legacy will live on.
Labels: Memoirs
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