By Birger Messerschmidt, 6th Kyu, Yakami Shinsei-ryu

On a daily basis, we are used to seeing our instructors in action, but have you ever considered what it would be like if you yourself had to face the task of running a lesson - and then an unexpected situation arose, which you also had to cope with - simultaneously?

This image was the focal point of the recently held Instructor 1 course, with Søren Renshi and Martin Renshi at the helm.

The simplest and most effective way to get an idea of the task is to be put in the situation, add some "typical" problems, and then see how you manage.

To this end, everyone took turns trying to be employed as an instructor or assistant instructor in an everyday teaching situation – adding moments of disruptive guests, unfocused participants, unruly children and much more – until you were trapped in a death spiral of distractions from the training you had to complete.

There was a fantastic and playful atmosphere with lots of energy – and a completely different way of building and training than at, for example, our combat-oriented and tool-oriented courses; here it was the mental boundaries, control over the situation and self-control that were trained.

The experience gives you an idea of what you also need to be able to handle as an instructor, recognition of how your autopilot acts under pressure, and food for thought about where you need to improve and prepare for the day when the scenario might become real. And then you get a wonderful experience with the friends above 🙂

Birger Messerschmidt, 2012
Happy participant