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Lately I’ve been a little discouraged at what’s been happening at my local training center. KM has blown up. Which is good. But with this creates a big demand for instructors. I’m not sure if this is happening everywhere but it seems like they’re giving instructor certification to guys that have been taking KM for as little as 6 months. I’ve actually seen a couple of these new instructors teaching level 3 material. They’re good people. I’m just not getting the same level of training I was getting from the more seasoned instructors. I love KM and I’d like to continue, but this is a bit discouraging.
Re: Is this common in other schools?
First off, I highly doubt they are “giving” instructor certifications. If they are, then that is a very big problem. The certification process has been done to death here, but 30-40% fail phase A. No one is given anything.
Regarding time in the system, there are a lot of things to consider, and time in the system is certainly not the only one. That said, phase A instructors should not be teaching level 3 material.
Re: Is this common in other schools?
Yeah. “giving” was a poor choice of word. I know the certification process is tough. I just wanted to know if anything similar was going on at other schools. Thanks for the response.
Re: Is this common in other schools?
I hear you Mad… It used to be a 70% failure rate but things change and students are able to train more with currently certified instructors getting a good base first. Back in the day (lol) people were going through courses that had no KM exposure so the rate was slower and lower. The “boom” that you are experiencing is normal as we have more instructors spreading KM.
Just focus on you and go to the classes with the instructors you like the best. You have to ignore the rest. In time those instructors will have more exposure and experiance and you may find that you really like them. 🙂
Re: Is this common in other schools?
Kirsten, thanks for the info. I know a couple of people who aren’t renewing their membership because they’re not happy with the level of instruction lately. I have a personal goal I want to reach in KM and will keep my focus on that. Thanks for the advice.
Re: Is this common in other schools?
There does appear to be an influx of people coming back from phase to teach lower level classes compared to when I first started at the same school in 2007.
I think this is due to the fact that some of my original vet instructors have moved into management roles. Also, the recent addition of a crossfit type program combined with an increase of classes such as fight and advanced levels simply requires more instructors.
Some of my instructors have had less training time than some of the students, but that doesn’t mean they’re not qualified to teach. From what I’ve seen, the vets are very encouraging and supportive as coaches while the newer instructors are equally as eager to learn from them and improve.
All instructors have to begin somewhere, and experience is gained over time. As instructors advance to higher levels while simultaneously honing their teaching skills, the super-instructors of tomorrow are born.
Re: Is this common in other schools?
I’ve taken some level 1 classes with the new instructors and they are very good. But I’d prefer to learn the higher level stuff from seasoned instructors. I’ll just need to be more selective about which classes I take (as Kirsten advised). It’s just a crying shame to see some of the veterens who have awesome classes teaching a cardio fitness class rather than self defense.
Re: Is this common in other schools?
Hello.
I am from Portugal.
This subject is always on my mind. I am a practitioner of IKMF, and one of the things that i don¥t understand is the fact that for you become an instructor you don¥t need any knowledge or practice in KM. You can do the instructors course ( 20 days), and become an instructor. Some defend that the israelis prefer to teach a person without bad habits, a teach im from the 0.
For me its very confusing, how a person(we have an instructor with 19 years old) without any knowledge of KM, except that 20 days, is going to teach people how to defend themselves.
I like the IKMF krav maga system, but sometimes i wonder if they don¥t just see it as a business.
For me is very sad.Best regards
Re: Is this common in other schools?
I’m curious, is the “problem” the method in which they achieved the certification, or is it the method in which they run a class/teach?
Re: Is this common in other schools?
This topic seems to pop up every now and again…..What many civilian practitioners seem to forget, is that Krav Maga began as a Military System. This means that Instructor courses needed to be short enough to allow each unit to send Instructors to school without having a negative impact on deployment. For front line/direct action type troops, Combatives Instruction is a “B” billet, meaning that it is secondary to the actual job of the instructor (killing people and blowing **** up). This is why the system is broken down into smaller, more manageable parts. The units can then send the Instructor to follow on training as deployment and ability allow. If you look at any large fighting force, there are very few (if any) full time “martial artists”. This way, the actual systems can be continually refined by having input from front line troops.
For instance, the LAPD Force Instructors school is only two weeks (80 hours) long, after that they teach the curriculum to 9,800 sworn and thousands of guest students. The Marine Corps Marksmanship instructor School is only a month (160 hours)long (at least when I went through), and they train hundreds of thousands of the worlds finest marksmen. Both Instructors are considered the top in their field and their certifications take considerably fewer hours than a Krav Maga World Wide Expert 5 certified instructor (roughly 350 hours, give or take).
Hope this helps put thing into perspective. Bottom line is, you need to find an Instructor that works for you.
Re: Is this common in other schools?
Don’t bother answering my question, Stafford went where I was going. 😉
Re: Is this common in other schools?
Hello once again.
So if i understood what you said. You believe that in 20 days you can create a good instructor, someone with 0 experience?Re: Is this common in other schools?
quote oasktf:Hello once again.
So if i understood what you said. You believe that in 20 days you can create a good instructor, someone with 0 experience?You still don’t seem to get it, the time needed to make an instructor is directly proportional to the amount of material the instructor is going to be accountable for and the Instructor candidates natural abilities. Do I need to give more examples of schools that certify high level, professional Military and LEO instructors in less than 200 training hours? California POST (Police Officers Standards and Training) Instructor Development Course- 65 hours, USMC MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) Instructor – about 180 hours, I could go on and on. As long as standards are established and met, then yes, I (as well as all of the planets fighting forces and Governmental Agencies) believe that you can build a competent instructor in 20 training days. As far as prior experience goes, that’s difficult to comment on unless you quantify it. When Ryan went through phase A he had “0” Krav experience, but extensive prior Martial Arts experience. Does that qualify as “0” experience? What about prior instructional experience? does that count? it’s hard to find someone with absolutely “0” life experience to build on.
Re: Is this common in other schools?
I would never train with an instructor who had just 20 days of training. Self-defense/ fighting is very fluid and there are many variables that an instructor must take into account before teaching people. He should know why and how something works, what could go wrong in certain instances, and what to do when something goes wrong. I don’t know about other classes, but questions are constantly being asked in mine, “what if this happens?” “what if the bad guy reacts like this?” etc.. I think an instructor should be at least a brown belt or equavalent to be teaching. Just my opinion.
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