(Previously enjoyed from July of 2021) I had the pleasure of watching an outdoor Taekwondo class last week. It was a tremendous time in a local park where twelve participants learned and practiced intricate moves. I have no frame of reference for what was actually happening, but one thing did stand out. There were young students that worked hard, kept repeating the moves to try to perfect them and were clearly getting tired. And these students did this whether the teacher was watching or not. In other cases, there were participants that did what they needed while the teacher was facing them but took things slower or even took a break when the teacher was with other students and could no longer see them. I am not about to surmise that these are extreme character differences, after all knowing when you need a break is also a good quality. However, I do think that if the goal is being good and getting better at the art of Taekwondo, there will be a measurable difference in the kids that seem driven to be accountable to themselves for hard work and do not need the watching eyes of the teacher or others to motivate them. There are plenty of platitudes that back me up on this, but most impressive to me was the drive and determination of the kids that did kick after kick assessing for themselves if it was yet good enough. Lots of people might comment on how we do what we do, and praise and instruction are terrific motivators, but if we can strive to do better for the sake of being better, the world of possibilities opens, a world where we get to choose how we improve for us.
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