The truth of being a karate teacher is that students will come, and they will go. Karate training, in a good dojo, is not easy. It is demanding, exacting, you have to be determined, committed…… and not everyone is cut out to be a black belt.
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When I accept a new student I usually ask them if they will train until they earn a “Shodan”, 1st dan black belt. Of course most of them say; “yes”, but sometimes you see that glint in their eyes, and you know what that usually means.
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I don’t accept ‘excuses’ for missing classes or failing to keep their word. What I have learned is that people quickly forget what honoring their word means…. and of course not everyone is cut out to be a great student of karate.
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Occasionally I will reflect on all the students who came, trained, I had high hopes for…and quit. It’s a shame, as some of them show such a great deal of potential.
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Some karate instructors get down on themselves when students quit, so much so that they eventually tire of teaching themselves. You put your heart and soul into your students, just to see many of them leave the dojo, when you had such high hopes for them….. Yes, it can be depressing. Not everyone will train ‘karate for life’.
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But the good always outweighs the bad. There are a few that hang on in there, week after week, and you hope that they too will go on to be dedicated teachers in their own right.
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When I first began training in karate, I never imagined that almost 50 years later, I would still be training, or teaching others karate. I never wanted to teach at all when I was younger, until my sensei asked me to help with the kids classes. I hesitantly agreed to do so but wasn’t really sure what it meant to teach others.
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Being a teacher means that you study karate…not just train it. You study the art you teach, the history, the philosophy, and you should study in depth, so you can better understand it and pass it on to your students.
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It is not easy being a teacher, but it is very rewarding. You will be blessed beyond measure with memories, stories and thoughts. It is an amazing journey, but the most important thing for a teacher to remember is that…. it’s never about you… it’s always about your students…… 
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 Photo Credit: Travel67 Chris Wilson Photography
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