Nino bernardo

Jealousy and Martial Arts

By Nino Bernardo

What happens when a senior student begins to outshine his or her wing chun teacher? It is a situation that arises fairly regularly in martial arts and teachers need to be careful about the way that they handle it.

I have found that normally in situations like this the student can´t thank his or her teacher enough. The student might not even be aware that their skills have surpassed those of the teacher as they will be having the time of their life in the kwoon.

Sometimes, though, the situation causes a short-circuit in the teacher´s head. Instead of feeling proud and happy, the teacher begins to feel jealous and won´t even be able to admit it to himself (or herself). If neither the teacher nor the student realizes what´s going on, this situation can lead to a new and bitter chemistry between them that can drag them apart.

Of course, in theory there should be nothing wrong with a student outgrowing his or her teacher. It´s a normal process. After all, parents are very protective of their newborn babies, but once they become teenagers they need to start making their own way in life.

In kung fu terms, we see our teacher as our father (or, much more rarely, our mother). In the same way, the senior students are our elder brothers and sisters, while those who joined after us are our younger brothers and sisters.

How the teacher handles the situation with students who are reaching maturity usually depends on how much self-awareness they have. At this point, it is important for the teacher to be honest with himself (or herself). I´ve mentioned in a previous column that there is no room for self-deception in a kwoon and it is especially true in this case.

Once a teacher looks within and analyses the situation, he or she can choose to accelerate the process or decelerate it. A wise teacher will hopefully recognize the symptoms of jealousy and try to re-adjust his or her emotions. The teacher will then be able to complete the education of the student, who will remain thankful afterwards.

If the teacher lets jealousy get the better of them, the situation can become messy. This is especially true when the teacher comes from an Eastern culture and the student comes from a Western culture. In cases like these, teachers often expect their students to remain affiliated after they´ve reached maturity and to continue to support the original kwoon, for example, by not operating a rival school in the same town or neighbourhood.

By contrast, Western students often believe that on completion of the system they should be free to do whatever they want. Sadly, this mix of jealousy and cultural misunderstanding is the source of much of the politics in wing chun.