Having a Secret Makes a Student Feel Special

     When I was teaching Ninjutsu back in 1997 I remember having some difficulty motivating my partners to push themselves and maintain a daily regimen. It was hard for me to understand why they couldn't keep up with me back then, even when I openly invited them to train alongside me. Looking back, I realize what the missing element was that finally got them interested in really going for it.
     The fact that the student's lives were inundated with other daily responsibility had nothing to do with their lack of motivation in training. It wasn't that they couldn't find time to train, it was that they didn't see the value in it. In other words, they wouldn't find time.
     The value of their ninja training was built into the training itself. This was apparent, because I loved every second of it! Where the value lied was what was being overlooked. When I sat back and used my imagination, I could see the kids in class asking one another, "What is so exciting about learning Jay's Ninjutsu?" and it was then, that I pinpointed what that was.
     It was the secret. The techniques, though cool as they are, were not what created value in my lifelong training. No. The value was in possessing the secret. The secret is, 'I am a Ninja" and you are not. In the knowing that they possessed abilities that their friends may find envious, or simply in knowing that they had a secret identity was where inlay the passion.
     I felt special in a way because I knew that the midnight before I was wading through water in my ninja gear, doing something that maybe pressed the limits of social acceptance. Though I may have been simply exploring and practicing my aruki, maybe harmlessly trespassing on someones 100 acre farm, it made me feel a sense of owning some type of experience that no one else did. I was actually doing it- being a ninja.
     That was around the time that I decided to offer my students a taste of the real ninja experience. I brought the training outside. It had been during the day, but I would jog them, in full ninja gear (masks pulled down), to some of the nearby waterholes or cliffs and do some drilling. They would be jumping from heights they never knew possible, swimming in waters so cold they may freeze, and getting their tabis into some mud so thick it was like quicksand.
     The training was difficult, but the marked change in the kids' perception of who they were was worth every second. They became more confident. Some became so confident, in fact, that they began asking about nighttime ninja missions and claiming that they were ready. Of course, they weren't ready to face live opponents, especially at night in hostile territory, but a few of them were like teenagers to the members who relied on the belief that they were true ninjas. The more confident students became blatantly obnoxious. They would try and knock the shine off of the members who played along with the ninja dream. The confident members would tease the less coordinated and harder-working children by telling them that there was no real ninja mission.
      Though I was a only young adult myself, I knew the importance and magic of belief. I had a big brother who, one Christmas, told me a story of how he saw Santa Clause's black boots through the banisters one night. As adults, I know now that he probably already knew the truth about the red man and he was simply helping me retain the magic as long as possible. The memory, is something that I still hold dear. We all knew that there was no real ninja clan or rival ninja clan for that matter, but pretending that there was made the training special to us. So I did the only thing a teacher could do to put those confident ones back in check. I created a real ninja mission.

 


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Every Ninja Needs a Clan

     After publishing my fifth book on Ninjutsu, I began asking my students what their motivation was to train every day. Ninja-minded individuals are unique in their perception of life, I think. There is this drive, inside of some, that urges them to perfect each and every technique that they come across. To many, the word 'ninja', means the best. Perhaps, the person claiming to be a ninja doesn't necessarily believe that they are the world's best, but they do inherently believe that they have the potential to be a world's best  if that potential were only tapped.

     I once had a student tell me, "I just need you to beat me with a stick!".

     The student knew that he had the ability to be the best there was, but he felt he was falling short of his potential due to an inability to self-motivate. It was back then, more than 20 years ago, that I decided to give the guy some motivation.

     I did not beat him with a stick! Instead, I created a ninja clan called Tesaihiryu Ninja. When I was teaching this individual and his little brother, they had no idea who I was or where I came from. The fact was, I had traveled the country and developed a few small groups of martial artists that were interested in Ninjutsu.
     During my time with all of these groups, I would accompany them on mock ninja missions during nights between work hours, and we would practice together our martial art skills during the days. The missions created a bond between us. One so strong, that even today I could reach out to these people and call them brother.

     I used these groups to my advantage and partnered with a friend of mine to create the Tesaihiryu Ninja Clan and Ninja International. The idea was to get these students, who have a problem with self-motivation, off their rump and interested in training.
     Just as some kids need a reward waiting, other kids also need a threat to motivate them.

     The threat came in the form of our clan. We developed a group of us that randomly selects participants to join us on mock ninja missions. The chance of selection is so rare, that you would kick yourself to miss it. We decided we would select five or six people every six months to go on an all expense paid ninja mission. The mission is typically one night, but the person selected would have to take the day off work and the day after work to attend. Which would be mysterious to employers. We would pick up participants in the morning, drive them to the hotel, do some training during the day, and mission at night. The next day delivering the participants to their homes and back to their normal lives.

     The whole purpose of training Ninjutsu is to use the skills we love so much. I found if I simply nurtured my students' desire to train, and the fear of being unprepared for a mission if selected, they would train harder.

     At one point, a student of mine was so into his training that he would wake me up every morning, as he came up the front steps of my home, just to get an early start! Talk about keeping the teacher on his toes!

     Being part of a ninja clan, gives the student something, not only to look forward to, through missions; but also a sense of belonging to something larger than they are. It is okay to strive to be the best, but it is also healthy to share a connection with those who have the same dream.
I would like to hear your thoughts on my technique and how you motivate your own students to dig deep.


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