Setting And Maintaining a Standard for Conduct in Your Martial Arts Class

Setting and Maintaining a Standard for Conduct in Your Martial Arts Class
By John Graden-style Approach

Teaching martial arts isn’t just about mastering techniques. It’s about maintaining discipline, respect, and focus in every student. Yet, many instructors, despite their martial arts skills, struggle to enforce the essential standards of conduct. This gap between martial prowess and instructional authority is where many schools falter.

MATA (Martial Arts Teachers Association) is dedicated to providing tools, tactics, and strategies to help you not only teach martial arts but also maintain the discipline that keeps your school thriving.

The 100 Percent Rule

There is only one acceptable percentage for student compliance: 100%. This is not a goal but a standard. Anything less than 100% compliance undermines your authority and opens the door to a culture where students start treating your commands as suggestions rather than rules.

Allowing even a little non-compliance erodes the discipline your martial arts class is supposed to instill. It tells your students that focus and self-discipline are optional.

Great instructors demand 100% compliance in a controlled, authoritative manner. Those who don’t often overlook or ignore non-participation in their own classes, leading to disengaged students and a low-energy classroom.

When every student is fully engaged, the energy in the room skyrockets. If even a handful are daydreaming or playing around, it drags the energy down for everyone.

The Time Between the Notes

Musicians often say that the time between the notes is just as important as the notes themselves. In martial arts instruction, the techniques you teach are the notes, but the time spent keeping students focused, respectful, and in good posture is the time between the notes.

This is where the real learning happens. Focus, posture, silence, and respect are instilled through the structure of your class, not just the techniques.

Take What You Say Seriously

If students aren’t complying, it’s time to re-establish your authority. You must take your own commands seriously if you expect your students to do the same.

The first step to getting 100% compliance is noticing when it isn’t happening and addressing it immediately—firmly but without aggression or shame.

For example, in many schools, the rule is: when the instructor speaks, everything stops, and students turn to look at the teacher. Some instructors will say, "Eyes on who?" and the students reply, "Eyes on you!"

While this is a good start, it doesn't always ensure full compliance. When necessary, you need more specific tools to address non-compliance.

Four Common Responses to Instructions and How to Handle Them

When you give a command, students generally respond in one of four ways:

1. They turn but keep talking.
Sample Response: "Joey, when I am speaking, no one else should be speaking. I want you to learn this technique, and if you're talking, you won’t hear me, and the others around you won't either. That’s disrespectful to me and your classmates. You're better than that. Now, tell me, why should you be silent when I’m talking?"
Joey responds.
"That’s right. You know this. Now let's focus."

2. They are silent but don’t turn to face you.
Sample Response: "Samantha, I want you to learn this, but you need to turn and focus. Joey, show Samantha how to turn and give full attention. Thanks. Now, Samantha, your turn. Show me how you do it. Great, thank you."

3. They neither turn nor are silent.
Sample Response: "John, I need your full attention. Turn and focus on me when I speak. Now, what do you do when I speak? Correct. Show me."

4. They turn and become silent.
Sample Response: Carry on—you have compliance.

No False Praise for Non-Compliance

Notice that when addressing non-compliance, the instructor doesn’t say, "Good job" or "Awesome" afterward. The student was non-compliant; they don’t deserve false praise. Your goal is not to make the student feel good but to teach them focus and discipline without embarrassing them.

In every scenario, the student is required to physically or verbally feed the rule back. This reinforces the rule and sends a message to the rest of the class: nothing less than 100% compliance is acceptable.

Conclusion: Teaching Discipline Means Enforcing Discipline

If you promise to teach focus and discipline, you have to uphold that promise by ensuring complete compliance in your class. Anything less undermines your authority and the principles of martial arts.

Set the standard at 100%, and watch how the energy, discipline, and respect in your class improve.