What seperates a professional instructor from others?

This is a topic I love to talk about, precisely because professionalism has such a big impact on students and the environment.

Being a professional instructor is not just about how many tricks you can do, or that you have good competition results.

Yes - of course we expect an instructor to have a certain level of technical knowledge. It creates trust when you can show that you have good practical knowledge and beautiful aesthetics. But being a good and professional instructor is a lot than that, about everything around the practical knowledge.

Your mentality.

The way you communicate.

How you handle responsibility.

How you influence people around you.

The way you see, understand, and take care of your students.

A professional instructor has the knowledge and understanding of why what they teach works. They communicate not only what the student should do, but also why.

They know how to set boundaries, follow up, and handle uncomfortable situations.

A skilled instructor can see the limits of their students, they know when a student is ready for the next step - and when they are not. They are not afraid to make a student unhappy, or to not meet their wishes when it comes to their safety.

They do not send students up a level because the student wants it, or because "it went well today". They do it when the student actually has the understanding, control, and technique required to develop safely.

It is also about being humble, and daring to admit that you can be wrong. Sometimes we say wrong, teach wrong, and that is human.

A good instructor also understands their own limitations, and feels confident in being able to refer students to other instructors.

A good instructor reflects on the quality of their teaching, and prioritizes personal development both as a student and instructor. Personal development is as much about mental development as it is about physical development.

Instructor - role model - inspiration

A professional instructor understands how much influence they have - both through the way they teach, how they speak to students, and how they behave both in and out of the studio.

Many people may think that in the studio they are at work, and yes that's true. Yet one must remember that with a job where you work with, and are responsible for other people, comes responsibility.

Instructors are responsible for the student's safety, security and development, and affect both the student's mental and physical abilities.

As an instructor, you are a role model, an inspiration that your students look up to. For some, you are the person who opened up a new world of joy, challenge and self-confidence. Students follow you when you train in the studio, and love to see what you share on social media. How you communicate and behave when you are not teaching therefore has an impact on how you influence your students.

And what is even more important - you are also the foundation for those students who later become certified as instructors. Students are shaped by you and the way you teach, who will subsequently train their own students based on much of what they have learned from you.

You influence not only your students directly, but several generations of instructors after you.