I have been a teacher for the last 13 years, and over that time, I’ve gone through the ranks of Purple, Brown, Black, and now 1st Degree Black Belt. For the last 6 years as a Black Belt, I’ve struggled with feeling “worthy” of the title Professor.
My students refer to me by a lot of different names – Professor, Coach, Mestre, and simply “Collin” a lot of the time during class, but nothing feels as comfortable to me than hearing my own name. When they ask me what I prefer I always say Collin. I don’t know if that makes us different from most academies, but for some reason it just feels right at ours.
I look at my students as my friends. I call them by their names, so it only feels natural for that to be returned. Although I’m the teacher at heart we are all students. I study, learn and work hard to get better – to be a better teacher, practitioner and person.
If you’re interested in trying a new way to work out or already train=, I humbly invite you to stop by and give the academy a try. Just ask for Collin.