Not everyone can handle the same amount of physical exercise. I know that many of my fellow instructors can go for hours continuously practicing, while I get winded after the first hour. Students are the same way; we are all human after all, and I definitely learned that after one of my students fainted on me. Still, I had to have another example of this before I really got it into my brain, and this time, blood was involved.

I had just tested my first student, who is amazingly talented for a seven year old. The test was only about 30  minutes long, so it never really came to my mind that this might tire her out. Besides, she was so excited, I didn’t think she would pass out any time soon.

After her lesson, I talked to her mother to set up a make-up lesson date, since they had missed her lesson the previous week. However, the mother asked if we could just have her lesson at that moment. The girl would be going to class in the next half hour, anyway, and I wasn’t doing anything at the moment. Makes sense, right?

The lesson began very well. She was picking everything up quickly, and having fun all the while. At the 20  minute mark, she was beginning to slow down. Her kicks became less powerful, her stances a bit higher, and form slightly sloppier. For the record, I did notice this, and I let her rest a bit while I explained a few concepts to her.

It was about this time when her nose started bleeding. And bleeding. And bleeding. I never thought that a girl that small could gush out all that blood. This was four days after my other student had fainted in her lesson, so I had a bit of a heart attack. For obvious reasons, I closed up the lesson quickly and, trying to hide my panic, guided her to the bathroom where I gave her some tissues to stem the river of red.

As I have mentioned in previous stories, I have the medical experience of Neanderthal. My best advice is to not ask me for advice, and to immediately see a doctor, because I honestly do not know the answer. So, I located the mother, and had her tend to her child. I had no idea what the other students were thinking of me after having two of my students become medically impaired, but it can’t have been pleasant.

All turned out for the best, of course. You’d have to have some really bad luck to be seriously injured from a bloody nose, but this should not have happened in general. As a teacher, I need to know the limits of my students. They don’t come in little six packs of identical people. Each one is different, and I need to treat them as such.

But changing your teaching style to fit each individual is difficult, and, even now, I’m still learning to change up the way I teach from person to person. At least I’m only teaching one person at a time. Oh wait, I’m often not…I’ll tell you how I deal with that later.