Can a rank beginner join — how do you handle newbies and advanced?
Absolutely! Classes are taught on an ongoing basis with no given “start” and “end” date. As such people of all levels train together. And beginners can start anytime. How do you handle classes of mixed levels? Martial arts classes are almost always of mixed ranks. Some people will be brand new beginners and others will have trained for several years. The system that has proven to work well is to have the instructor give different drills for each level of student. So beginners will work on a simple technique, while advanced expand the technique into something more complex. Also it is the responsibility of those with more skill/rank to help those of lessor skill/rank. This way there is an entire community that is working together to help each other maximize their learning. It also helps advanced students learn by sharing some of the teaching responsibility. Also since the NCAR classes are small we can give lots of individualized attention to what each student really needs to work on.
