How To Teach Discipline & Respect At Dojo

Like teachers at school, martial art coaches are also responsible to teach their students about respect and discipline.

Martial art coaches also have same right with school teachers, we also have right to reprimand (or even expel) undiscipline - disrespect students. As teacher or coach, sometime we must act soft and sometime we must act hard, we must can act on both sides balancely like in Yin and Yang principe.

Being too soft, the students won’t respect you, you will be stress. Being too hard, the students also won’t respect you, you also will be stress. So you act balancely like Yin and Yang.

In many martial arts traditions, "Punishment" in the sense of physical or harsh treatment is generally discouraged. Instead, instructors focus on instilling discipline through structured training, emphasizing respect, and correcting mistakes with constructive feedback and guidance. 

Martial arts, by their nature, cultivate discipline, respect, and self-control. Instructors strive to instill these qualities in students through structured training, not through arbitrary or harsh punishment.

Some militaristic instructors incorporate physical exercises as a form of discipline (like 100 count Push Up or 100 counts Sit Up) or harmful physical punishment (like slapping the face or punching the stomach) can be detrimental to a student's well-being, leading to fear, anxiety, and even physical injury.

Instead of physical punishments, instructors should use verbal corrections, physical demonstrations, and other techniques to guide students and help them understand where they need to improve. This approach fosters a positive learning environment and promotes a deeper understanding of the martial art.

For examples are at my Aikido, Kickboxing and Jeet Kune Do clubs. My coaches never do any physical punishment to their kids - teenagers age student because they only accept and teach students who are come to dojo to train seriously, obey the dojo rules and who will obey to correction.

Sometimes we’ve also had a few people come to dojo but lack of motivation or even have bad habits – violating dojo rules many times, but my coaches are just asks them to leave their club immediately. Debate or fight with disrespect people like those guys is going to waste time and disturb other students during class, if they won’t listening us (as coach), then just expel those guys for our dojo peace.

Ultimately, the goal of martial art is to help students develop self-discipline, which is the ability to regulate their own behavior and actions. This internal motivation is more effective and sustainable than external punishment. 

It's crucial for instructors to respect students' physical and emotional boundaries. Physical punishment can erode trust and create a negative learning environment.