I believe, over a year ago, a debate came up in the ATA world on Facebook. A strong, controversial opinion was stated…”No one under 35 should be a Master, honestly.” And the debate went on from there. Is a Master under 35 really a Master? Can you really be a Master of anything when you’re under 35?
I remember, at the time, watching the debate with interest. There were people on both sides of the talk with some really good points. I had thoughts about the matter, but I chose to observe and listen and not to speak. We’ve all seen that “I just came here for the comments” meme? With the popcorn? That was me.
There were some great thoughts. What were the merits of Mastership, exactly? “Oh, well, I’ve known LOTS of people under 35 who exemplify those, and I’ve known lots of people over 35 who haven’t.” But still, the question was an interesting challenge, and a thoughtful challenge. I mean, would you take marriage advice from someone who had been married for 5 years? Or 35-65 years? The question, the challenge, had merit.
So now, more than a year after the question was presented, I have now been (for slightly more than 24 hours) a Master, at age 32. So now, I want to put my two cents in.
Should we have Masters under 35? What is my answer?
Well……….that depends on how you define Master. As I define Master, my answer is yes. But I can understand why one would say no.
I enjoy watching Facebook advertisements for this “MasterClass” product. You can pay to get an online course on cooking designed and taught by Gordon Ramsey, or a stand up comedy class designed and taught by Steve Martin. This is their “MasterClass.” They specialize in a topic, and they teach you that topic.
But…you’re only getting that topic. If I sign up for Daniel Negreanu’s course, he will teach me poker. He will NOT be giving me parenting advice. And if he did, something would be wrong with that. I didn’t sign up for parenting advice. I signed up to learn about poker. He is a Master of poker, but not of all things. He has his craft, his skill set.
Why our role as Martial Arts Instructors can be kinda confusing
But then…you have Martial Arts. Martial Arts seems to be an interesting animal, in and of itself. We teach both our sport and our self-defense system, but we also teach these things called “Lifeskills”. Respect, discipline, courtesy, confidence. You see, we cannot succeed at teaching the physical martial arts skills without the mental. But because of this, many martial arts instructors find themselves in the “life coach” role. (And many do, well, excellently in that role! And some don’t.)
It’s natural, really. One of the powerful things about martial arts is how it affects your life off the mat, outside of the school. If you only have discipline, self-control, and confidence inside class, but not outside of it, then what good is it, really? So this “wow, instructor, please be my life coach” is pretty natural.
And you’ve probably seen that thing circulate on Facebook, right? That thing about “When you sign up for martial arts lessons, you don’t just get an instructor, you get a…mentor, coach, trainer, life coach, etc.”? You see, society that is informed about martial arts also sees us as life coaches.
If a martial arts instructor is, in fact, a life coach, I can understand (not sure I agree, but not sure I disagree, either!) why one would believe that you simply cannot be a real “Master” under 35. Sure. You haven’t experienced enough life yet. I get it.
However, if Mastership is about “Mastering our craft”, being a Master Instructor of Taekwondo, then there can CLEARLY be Masters, real Masters, under 35. I mean, I’ve been teaching adults Taekwondo since I was 14, and I SUCCEEDED. By success, I mean the adults learned from me. I made the adults better. At 14. I had more knowledge of my art than they did, and I taught them my art, as it was taught to me.
So this is my official declaration/conclusion: I am a Master Instructor of my art. This doesn’t mean I’ve arrived at perfection or anything, it means three things…
1) CONFIDENCE: I am confident, not arrogant nor insecure, about my Mastership. I’ve earned it and I know it. I got this title because, although I could always be better, I know how to teach it.
2) HUMILITY: Context…I am a “Master Instructor OF MY ART.” My Mastership has a context, and I must keep that in context. I am not a Master Parent. I am not a Master Husband. I am not, really, a Master life coach. A parent would be a fool to tell me how the front kick is REALLY supposed to be (unless they are quoting a higher authority, like a Senior/Chief/Grand Master), but I would be a fool to offer uninvited parenting advice to parents of a teenager (I watched a mom of preschoolers tell my mom how to parent me when I was a teenager. Both of us just rolled our eyes, hard).
3) CONTINUED OBLIGATION: Although I am not a Master Instructor of parenting or marriage, I AM still a Master Instructor of Taekwondo. That means I must ALWAYS be a Master of Discipline, Positive Belief, Communication, Respect, Self-Esteem, and Honesty/Integrity. I am obligated to keep those areas at a high level.
3b) THAT BLURRY LINE: Although I am not a Master of Parenting, I AM a Master Instructor of my art, physical and mental. So I CAN teach/discuss how discipline might apply to our marriages. I can teach/discuss how respect might apply to our parenting strategies. I can teach/discuss how integrity or self-esteem might apply to our interpersonal relationships.
I am NOT a trained expert at psychology. I am not an authority on family counseling. But I AM a trained expert on how to use martial arts to develop and reinforce self-esteem in our children and ourselves. I am an authority on how to use martial arts to develop discipline/work ethic, and strength in mind and body.
How the student applies that to their parenting/marriage/friendships/workplace is up to them. I have some ideas. But the application is actually out of my field of influence…that’s their territory to navigate. The development of the mental skills, that’s my field of influence.
So the moral to the story?
I will be worthy of the title that has been bestowed me. Although I always have more to learn, the students, families, and society can know that I am an expert at what I do. And that I’ll embody the lifeskills of martial arts. And when I throw a side kick…it’s gonna be a frickin’ good side kick.
However, I will continue to respect all the other experts in what they do. I will treat everybody with the intrinsic respect of people created in the image of God, but as for achievements, I will treat an expert mechanic with the same respect as a Master Instructor. I mean, when my car breaks down, I don’t need my 22 years of martial arts…I need their 22 years of mechanical experience.
I am a Master Instructor of Taekwondo, figuring out what the next level of leadership is going to look like. I will learn from my seniors, and I will guide my juniors. But I am a student of life, a learner of other crafts, a respecter of other crafts.
Except cooking. I am scared of things that are hot and things that are sharp. I will stick with cup o’noodles.
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