Ive become an amateur self-defense instructor - advice?

[tellner]

merriam webster:

Amateur: Function: noun
Etymology: French, from Latin amator lover, from amare to love
1 : DEVOTEE, ADMIRER
2 : one who engages in a pursuit, study, science, or sport as a pastime rather than as a profession


pro·fes·sion·al
Pronunciation: pr&-'fesh-n&l, -'fe-sh&-n&l
Function: adjective
1 a : of, relating to, or characteristic of a profession b : engaged in one of the learned professions c (1) : characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession (2) : exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner in the workplace
2 a : participating for gain or livelihood in an activity or field of endeavor often engaged in by amateurs <a professional golfer> b : having a particular profession as a permanent career <a professional soldier> c : engaged in by persons receiving financial return <professional football>
3 : following a line of conduct as though it were a profession <a professional patriot>
- pro·fes·sion·al·ly adverb

 

[strambo]

You're talking two different subjects; 1) Qualifications and 2) Certifications. I have found that while sometimes the same and the public and any employer you teach under will probably think of them as the same...they often are not.

You can attend the best training in the world and have a wealth of experience qualifying you to teach at a professional level above anyone else in your community without a piece of paper saying you are an "instructor".

You can have almost no training or experience and go to a 5 or 10 day "instructor training course" and have the paper.

I spent over 10 years seeking the good training for it's own sake. Now, I understand the importance of the "paper" as well and am boning up my instructor creds. I'm also not implying that instructor courses are bad...the one I've taken so far well exceeded my expectations.

Bottom line, the instructor certs establish initial credibility and hopefully, teach good instructor skills which are different then just being able to do the tasks. Once your initial credibility is established, then the meat of what you teach and the quality comes from those experiences and training you have well above and beyond what the paper says.

There isn't a licensing body for self defense instructors anyway, no reason why you are an amateur and "Joe black belt" down the street is a pro other than the question of who's charging and who isn't. You mentioned you are a LEO, see if your department will send you to an ASP/OC instructor course and maybe the NRA LE instructor courses. Then practice teaching your fellow LEO's. Good luck!

 

[oregonshooter]

You description of yourself is about the same as my background. I have the cert for weapons to meet the Oregon criteria for CHL classes, but the rest is experience from schools, my own "working the problem", and LEO DTs.

I consider myself an amateur.

Amateur does not equal incompetence. It means that the food is not being put on the table from the endeavor. I'm also an amateur machinist, photographer, etc.

*****

The most important issue with women is teaching awareness and aggressiveness. The later is a problem with men and women. It's a lot easier to teach skills to an aggressive person than to convince a meek person they need to get "savage" in a fight, be it H2H, impact, or gun.

Pepper spray seems to be the first choice of weapon for women because it won't hurt the BG, but it's really ineffective IMO. If they insist on it as their primary weapon, then do them a favor and go live with it and show them how easy it is to get past it and do them harm.

I teach and give them a keychain Kubotan because they will have it out and ready when going to the car, where most will leave the PS in the purse.

Mindset is the most important lesson you can give them though. A BG will be able to find a ton of women walking around meekly with their heads down and/or task fixated and will pass on the one keeping eye contact, maintaining distance, packing a stick in their hands.

It's not just a woman issue though, a lot of guys are the same.

 

[tellner]

That's exactly why I don't teach weapons first to women. Not OC. Not kubotans. Certainly not guns or knives except for some very unfortunate and highly unusual cases. Teaching them to think of self defense as "buy and rely on the tool" is about as wrong as you can go, especially for most women. The first thing they need to do is learn to rely on themselves, that they are responsible for and capable of defending their safety. Then she can decide what sort of tool if any is appropriate for her circumstances and budget.

Buddhist and Sufi mystics both say "The body trains the mind. The mind directs the body." The Yoga Sutras say "You can reach enlightenment from the bottom up or the heart out, never from the head down." It's not woo-woo. It's a simple statement of fact. You can think and rationalize forever without changing anything. What you do changes how you think and what you want. Once those are right the brain can make better decisions about how best to accomplish those goals.