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Instructor Certification
Instructor certificates are
available to all martial artists that are approved for certification by the
SMAA.
A martial artist that desires instructor
certification with the SMAA must first have his level of ability (as an
instructor, in addition to his technical ability
and rank) confirmed before any instructor certification can be made. This confirmation
must be in the form of personal or video demonstration. Various levels of certification
are available and have different requirements in addition to the above:
Certified Assistant Instructor must be recommended by his own teacher. There is no
minimum rank requirement.
Certified Instructor
must be recommended by his own teacher (if he has one.) This certification
is available only to martial artists who hold the rank of 1st, 2nd, or 3rd dan.
Certified Senior Instructor must be recommended by his own teacher (if he has one) and must
have at least one student who is an SMAA Certified Assistant Instructor or
higher. This certification is available only to martial artists who hold
the rank of 4th, 5th, or 6th dan.
Certified Master Instructor must be recommended by his own teacher (if he has one) and must
have at least one student who is an SMAA Certified Assistant Instructor or
higher. This certification is available only to martial artists who hold
the rank of 7th, 8th or 9th dan rank)
Certified Senior Master Instructor must be recommended by his own teacher (if he has one) and must
have at least one student who is an SMAA Certified Master Instructor or
higher. This certification is available only to martial artists who hold
the rank of 10th dan rank)
Instructor certification fee
is to be paid after confirming the individual’s level of ability.
One must first be certified at their rank (except in arts that do not use numbered ranks)
then they may be considered for instructor certification. After receiving
instructor certification, one may be considered for rank examiner
certification. Contact
the SMAA for information on instructor or rank examiner
certification if your art does not use a numbered rank system.
Some may consider this verification process unnecessary, but
nothing could be further from the truth! No instructor would promote or
certify an individual without actually seeing what they are capable of
performing at, and we are in the very same position – but on a much larger
scale. If some feel this process is unwarranted, then clearly they are not
the type of martial artist the SMAA is looking for!
It is our sincere hope that each and every SMAA member understands the
reason for this…it is not meant to doubt an individual’s ability or question
their integrity…it is merely to confirm the ability of those
individuals that the SMAA has no personal knowledge of. If we document
their skill level in person or on video, then we are 100% justified in
certifying that individual at the appropriate level and NO ONE can ever
question our motives or integrity, or the credentials that we have
awarded. This is quite different from many other organizations where you
can just send in your money to get whatever rank or certification you want, and often all
of this is done with no form of verification of that individual’s ability.
You will also note that we have reduced many of the fees for
certifications and promotions...we don’t ever want money to be a factor in
how we administer our services to the martial arts…quite a change from how
things have been done in the past.
PLEASE NOTE:
We do not wish to circumvent
the traditional teacher/student relationship in any way. If an
individual is currently under the guidance of an instructor, the SMAA
will only work with that individual once we have the express consent and
blessing of his/her instructor.
The SMAA encourages the
highest level of loyalty to one's instructor and seniors. Please don't
ask us to undermine this loyalty by going behind your instructor's back
to explore possible rank evaluation, promotion and certification - we
will never knowingly work with another instructor's students unless
given permission to do so by that instructor.
Donn Schucker, Executive Director
P.O. Box 2171
Florissant, MO 63032-2171
Phone: (314) 606-7306
Email: ds@smaa-martialarts.com
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