What's everyone's take on smiling and laughing in class? I'm having a very hard time adjusting to my new school where I keep getting in trouble for smiling and laughing. As a side note, there is usually a good purpose for the laughing. If I'm sparring and my opponent slips a kick in behind my defenses and gets me, I'll usually give a chuckle and congratulate them with a "nice hit" or something. I always respect who I'm working with and really enjoy seeing them successfully execute a move (wrist-lock, throw, take-down, strike). I take training very seriously; I believe I take it much more so than any other student at the school. It's just that I also believe that you shouldn't kill your partner and that you must be in a happy frame of mind to perform your best. If you are angry or frustrated because someone hit you, then there is no way you will be relaxed or in a good state of mind to do well. I would never smile during a form. That's a sacred place where you must be maximally focused, and someone isn't causing you pain during it, so there's really no need to try to laugh it off. I just enjoy working my hardest and trying to improve myself. It's hard not to smile at that. By the way, I've never been to a tournament, but I suspect I wouldn't be laughing during a sparring match there either. I don't have to work with that person every day, and there is actually something at stake.

I've got a simple rule.

You WILL smile in class.

You WILL, when appropriate, laugh.

You WILL have fun, with discipline, safety, and good education.

Some people like the 'quasi-military' style of school operation, where every class is like a half-baked mini hour of military boot camp.

I flat out do NOT like classes like that.  We can get there on the discipline bit, without going to those levels.

I like a little military snap and pop at line up, with bowing in, and so on... but once we break into lessons and practice, I like to loosen things a bit and keep a 'casual familiarity' atmosphere that is 'tempered by' discipline.  (In short, everyone's relaxed, but they still know who's driving the train, and know 'when' to 'lock it up'.)

I can be motivating without being abrupt most of the time.  And frankly, I just prefer it that way.

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Getting through life takes just a LITTLE bit of insanity!*g*

No smiling, no laughing within reason The fella that made that rule up needs to go and find a life

In high school I would get in trouble for laughing becuase honestly I was goofing around during pratice.  But now, my instructor is the first one to always crack a smile and we tell jokes (mostly inside jokes) during class.  We also have kids in the class and that does help ligthen up the atomoshpere.  During sparring I'm always told to relax so I smile and laugh while sparring.  Not making fun of the person but more laughing at myself thinking I was going to attack like I was Bruce Lee or something.

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Exwrestler turned Martial Artist

My 1st instructor was a Korean man & serious as a heart attack when it came to training. But he also knew that if you weren't having fun you wouldn't stick around. I've had many instructors in my time in TKD. Some were more strick than others. I've found that the ones who were so military in their discipline that they couldn't have fun were really insecure people. The rest of their lives weren't all that great so they lord their position over their students.

Jeff, is this a "deal breaker" for you or is it a minor annoyance? If it's a deal breaker, find another school where you can smile & have a good time while you're training.

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Tae Kwon Do is practiced by 70 million people in 180 different countries. If everyone who studied Tae Kwon Do joined hands, they could form a line that would stretch around the globe 1.25 times!

Smiling I don't care about as an instructor.  In fact, I prefer it.  Students happy to be in class are generally well motivated.  Levity in class is fine, provided that the students remain focused on what they're doing.  I try to keep the goofiness to a minimum during class because I teach kendo, and so we're all armed.  I don't want goofiness to contribute to an injury when doing drills.

But class should be a good ballance of serious and fun.  Too much in either direction is undesireable.

Daniel

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교사 Yidan kumdo, Ildan taekwondo

Woah, maybe I spoke a little too strongly at first. Certainly my instructors are very fun and light-hearted and funny (I'd definitely be gone if that weren't the case). It's just when you are literally hitting another person like in sparring, they (or at least one of them) believe that there shouldn't be laughing. It's a serious matter. Which I agree with. Fighting is not something to take lightly. I guess I just don't feel like I should be fighting anyone in class. Sparring is quite different from fighting. And I can kind of see where it's coming from since a lot of people probably can't be totally focused and concentrating and laughing at the same time. I guess I learned how to do that with practice. It might also have to do with setting an example for the younger students. If they misinterpret and think they can goof off because an older and higher ranked student is, that would be bad. Cool, I'm glad most people agree with me. I thought I remembered seeing a post before about people being upset because their students weren't serious enough or straight-faced enough. I was sort of interested in hearing that perspective, but surprisingly happy to find such a consensus. Thanks!

"rawr" wrote: No smiling, no laughing within reason The fella that made that rule up needs to go and find a life

I think that pretty much sums it up.  Who wants to train where you can't have a good time doing it.  Especially when you're sparring it helps to keep you loose.  I knew a guy that did Karate that would come at you with a big grin on his face.  The whole time he was kicking your butt he's just grinning away.  I ask him about it and he told me that at first it was a natural thing, later he found out that it rattled people or pissed them off which was to his favor as well so he did it all the time.  I hated that guy .

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Was that hands up and chin down, or the other way around?