Post date: Jun 26, 2010 10:52:49 AM
Some ideas on how an instructor might regard oneself
Although most instructors are unpaid, the appointment is as a professional Aikido Instructor affiliated to Aikido Yuishinkai and as such needs to be considered like any other professional position. Professionalism entails many things including punctuality, following and upholding your peers.
An instructirs role is multifaceted acting as receptionist, bookkeeper and trainer. As an authorised representative of Maruyama Sensei you must maintain the highest standards in all areas e.g. timeliness, demeanour, personal grooming dress and cleanliness, the ‘company uniform’ - a clean washed gi not showing the signs of age, deodorant, well groomed nails, recent hair cut and clean shaven or well trimmed beard.
Undertaking to be an instructor is a serious commitment requiring sacrifice of your personal time and perhaps even other hobbies, your time spent teaching aikido will actually only be a small fraction of your total time devoted to the club. In general the greater your personal commitment the greater the rewards. However, you give up the option to not come to the dojo if you don’t feel like it, have had a bad day at work or just want to go shopping when taking on the role of instructor.
Its important that instructors take time off during the year to ensure your personal and/or family life remain in balance. A burnt out instructor helps neither him/herself nor their students or parent organisation. In the event of unforseen sickness/ emergency you should arrange a replacement instructor or at the very least someone to turn up to your class to give apologies on your behalf.
When you take a class you are representing yourself but also your dojo Aikido Yuishinkai Australia and Aikido Yuishinkai International, as such you are Maruyama Sensei’s representative during this time and should uphold yourself to this standard. This is not only an undertaking to teach aikido to the best of your ability but also to treat your students with respect.