The bird’s eye view from my office at the dojo. What a treat to see Ted Heffernan running through forms with John Cooper and Craig Wharem. Ted was a mentor to me when I first started teaching. As a young black belt, and before I began teaching full time at my first school, I “interned” under Ted at his dojo in Salem, NH.  Ted taught me that it was okay to smile while you were teaching. It was okay to give thumbs up to a student and give him recognition. He basically taught me it was okay to be a little “whacky” on the mat. That actually suited me fine as I was a motivator by nature. As an injured player during my Baseball career in high school and Legion Ball after, I often found myself on the bench jumping up and down telling everyone, “Its ok, we’re only 11 runs down”. Due to injury I lost the ability of my throwing arm, but I never lost my desire to uplift people and get them to view the glass as half full rather than half empty. Ted taught me it was okay to return to that.
 
Although I had many teachers in the martial arts, Ted was a quite a contrast to what I was used to. Particularly different than the man who I consider one of the most early influencers in my martial arts career, and second only to my father in my personal life, Bud Barrett. Barrett Sensei was/is a tough guy. He didn’t beat around the bush and he didn’t make time for games. You worked hard in his class and if you didn’t he let you know. He had few students, but they were good and they were tough. Barrett Sensei taught me how important a foundation was. With a solid foundation you could build anything upon it. Without it, you may as well pack it in. Fortunately, he also had a sensitive side. During a few rocky times in my life he was a sounding board. Non-judgmental, and totally unselfish, he listened to me and helped guide me. I have no idea what my life would have been like if he had not been in it. I wouldn’t want to know.
 
So I had these two completely polar opposites, and a few other instructors, all blended together to create my own personal teaching style. My goal was to develop the best possible technical trained students I could, but still let them know when they did a good job. I wanted them all to become better than me. That was my goal (it still is).

Looking back I think I did okay. I have students who have grown up, gone to college, started families and lived successful lives. Some of those students have gone on to teach and run their own dojos. Sometimes I bump in to students of students I taught and it’s nice to know there is some kind of lineage connection there. That’s a cool feeling.

Back to the birds eye view. Ted, Cooper, and Craig are winding down their session. They are smiling and it’s obvious they enjoyed the training. I love it.

- Shawn Flanagan