April 3, 2016, Israel
Dedicated students does not actually mean talented students. Very often our most dedicated students at IKI are the ones that paid the price of blood, sweat and tears to achieve their aspired status of an IKI dedicated student.
As I write this blog, names of dedicated students flow into my mind. I remember their hardships and frustrations; I remember how determined they were until they finally learned to apply their first technique. Moshe always tells me “no one is unteachable”, but I have to admit, once in a while doubt does cross my mind.
Everybody has their strengths and weaknesses, none of us are talented at everything, and I do find it strange how the world views un-athletic people as stupid. When really it 100% of the time, the opposite is the truth. I see super intelligent people, who are far smarter than me, who find it challenging to move their right leg together with their left arm. When teaching Krav Maga, very often these students will try every single wrong possibility, using the wrong combinations of arms and legs movements and getting themselves in a twist.
Moshe Katz, CEO of IKI developed these techniques so that anybody is able to apply them. Our techniques are natural instinctual motions that are designed for effectiveness and speed should we need to protect ourselves. For these students, learning these concepts is like learning a foreign language. With all our students at IKI we teach them with respect and patience. We break down and isolate the moves, allowing our students to internalize the motions, and we practice a lot.
In our gym at IKI Israel, we have a picture drawn by one of our talented students actually. It says: “I don’t fear the ten thousand kicks you learned one time, I fear the one kick you learned ten thousand times.” I have seen results of students who may have seemed to be hopeless, achieve very well deserved black belts. I actually think that these students who earned these black belts are even more respected and better teachers.
Students who don’t take NO for an answer when their bodies are not responding as they wish. They keep showing up for class, they don’t ever consider giving up because they know what they want to achieve. I have to say I am in awe of them and I write this blog because of my respect for them.
So no matter how “talented” or “un-talented” you feel, that
old saying Practice make Perfect is so true. At IKI Israel we practice
over and over again the basic techniques because we know its real. What saves
lives are these instant response techniques, here in Israel unfortunately our
reality is such that we need to be ready. We need to pass on these lessons, and
most often to people who need it most.