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I'm a 16 almost 17 year old male in high school, most people know I do martial arts and every once and a while people will be asking me to do my best technique or try and do some karate on them, usually in gym class or goofing around after regular school hours. I usually indulge them with a slow kick or punch and let them think that they can catch the kick or punch to up their ego, its rather amusing, but should I even bother indulging them with a technique or if I do, should I go full speed and strength and stop an inch from their face or chest? I have good control over my technique (mind you, I'm only a brown belt, so thats rather relative) but if I connected I could hurt someone, so what should I do in this situation, do what I have been doing, do nothing, or scare them?
EDIT: I forgot to mention just how much trouble I'd get in if I connected and a teacher saw it, I'd probably get suspended.

Justin R.

(This is my first post so hello everyone)

Hi Justin,

I would recommend keeping your martial arts to yourself.
If you don't you run the risk of losing the element of surprise which might be what tips the scale in your favor.
If for example I was in a convenience store and had on a Karate or say ultimate fighting team shirt, if someone was to rob that store it is like advertising your a possible problem for them. You'd be the first one fired upon more than likely.
Before I was a teacher no one but my closest friends or family ever knew I trained. And yes I was in high school as a brown belt and assistant instructor.
Long time ago.....
As a martial artist your a possible "notch in the belt" for a school bully trying to elevate his reputation. And being cautious of your skills would probably sneak up on you, or have backup from other maggots.

Take my advice and next time someone asks you for a demo, just tell them you gave it up and do something else now.
Except your best friends you trust of course, and I doubt a best friend would be asking for demonstrations in school.

F.

f.Channell wrote:As a martial artist your a possible "notch in the belt" for a school bully trying to elevate his reputation.

School bullies, at least around here, are a thing of the past, there are the kids that fight a lot, and they and I keep our respective distances, particularly because I'm bigger or taller than them, but thank you for the advice, I'm going to skip the demos in school from now on.

Hello, Justin! Welcome to the Forums.

Bill

Welcome aboard, Justin. I would have to agree with Fred on that one. When people find out what you know they want to test you. If you did accidentally hurt another student, I think their parents would sue you in court, knowing you were almost a black belt. I would keep that fairly private. Never know who wants to test their ego out on you.

Hope you enjoy the Forums. This is a great Forum with such a wealth of knowledge available.

Regards,
Vicki

Interesting you say bullies are a thing of the past.

Is this true because of school intervention?

Have they taken steps to stop it?

F.

The school didn't really intervene, it was more of my year maturing past the point of bullying, and with honors and AP classes, I don't really see many of the morons anymore, and there aren't many of them. The "bullies" aren't really the fighters anyways, they are too stoned to do anything but talk big, which isn't much considering their limited vocabulary and education. The ones that fight are the average kids and a few of the druggies and they usually fight over stupid things like girls or if one of the people said that he could take the other kid. I almost had that problem, but the person who relayed the information to the idiot hated me and left out the part where I said I could take him out, with a tank.

Now, the year below me, the sophomores, to stereotype them fairly accurately is a class of skanks and druggies, with a few good kids. I have had a little experience dealing with the younger morons when I have defended my friend who gets picked on by his fellow sophomores, and that just involves saying something witty and when they hear the deepness of my voice, they usually scatter or run away because the dudes who make fun of my friend often haven't hit puberty yet so are small and squeaky voiced. Being 6ft1 also scares them away when I come to a friend's aid in a confrontation that might be taken as a bullying incident. My class has a few morons that bully, but no one really likes them except for the other morons, so I don't bother myself with them and I hang around with people in the honors and AP classes.

Thank you to all who have welcomed me

Justin R.

Through the retrospectoscope..... almost nothing that happens in high school means anything. The trick is surviving the boredom, abuse, or silliness and not wasting any time playing other people's games so that you can procede to the post-highschool life at full steam.

Ian wrote:
Through the retrospectoscope...

Hey Ian, is this another one of those annoying screening procedures we need after age 50?

- Bill

(Welcome to the forum Justin...)

No, it's one of those annoying screening procedures that we need after age 24!

Justin,

My $.02 worth (and valued at what you've paid for it) comes from many of the best of the best martial artists that I've talked and trained with over the past 30 years (including quite a number who post on these forums). I've found that with the exceptions of teaching, learning, sharing, showing in a dojo, clinic, martial arts camp, or other martial arts type of event, those who are truly walking the path simply don't waste their time "demonstrating" anything to anyone who says "show me your best move". There just isn't anything to be gained from that. Many have made that mistake (intentional or not) and you should learn from the posters here that it is a mistake you shouldn't make. On a personal note, I was once challenged with such a comment and responded in kind for the person to "show me YOUR best move"... Fortunately it worked out, but I came very close to getting blind-sided for no good reason. These are not the types of chances that educated martial artists take... IMNSHO. Perhaps one way to handle the prodding of others is to tell them that it's just your prefered workout, you are just a lowly student and there is so much more to learn. I'd venture to say that even those posters here who have more than few stripes on their extra long black belts would consider those statements true for themselves.

Good luck and take care of yourself...

Hi Justin,

Welcome to the board. I can only second my esteemed colleagues before me

When the question comes up I usally say the one thing I learned in martial arts is how to run really-really fast and the good sense to know when to do it.

The only thing I'd add is if I think the bloke is seriously interested in learning about martial arts (and not just yanking my chain), I usually invite him to class.


cheers