Focus on the Student

Focus is something we talk about regularly as martial artists. It takes focus to develop energy when striking, focus on your partner for safety, and focus on your training to improve.

When working with someone, whether it is in a teaching role or the role of a senior student, focusing your attention to that student is important for a number of vital reasons.

Safety - This is the obvious one. What we practice is vitally important to people, but has an inherent danger to it. When working with students of all ages, it is important to watch for where potentially dangerous scenarios.

Technique - The more focus we are on our student, or a class of students, the more we are going to observe. This gives us the opportunity to make corrections timely. Additionally, this allows us to prioritize what corrections to make first.

Connection - I cannot tell you how many times I have been distracted during a lesson or a class and something happened that I could have easily prevented. Additionally, I have observed that the more focused I am on a student, the harder that students seems to work. There is an intangible connection (sacred space?) between a teacher in a student that is strengthened by the focus of the teacher and the student.

There is also something to be said for us as instructors prioritizing the students we have in front of us. I would hesitate to encourage anyone to ignore anything around you. However, the idea that the student in front of you is more important than a phone call or a conversation with a friend can only make that student feel that much more special. The more special the student feels, the more attention that student is likely to give in return.