P.S. - Back when I started my first dojo, I had a group of teens in my school that wanted to compete in Olympic tae kwon do. This was back when people got knocked out a lot at those tournaments, so I spent months preparing them mentally and physically for their first competition. "Now remember," I'd say, "when you face your first opponent, their going to try to take your head off. So, make sure you do it to them first." I must've said this a million times during our competition classes and in sparring class.

So, the day of the first tournament of the season rolls around. As it turned out, there weren't a lot of teens in the boys' bracket, so in the first match two of my students who were good friends got paired off with each other. I'd watched these kids spar a hundred times at the dojo, so I figured it would go just like it did at the school... there'd be a little light contact, and the more talented kid would dominate the other and win on points. 

Nope.

The bell rings, and the more talented kid hurtles across the ring and nearly knocks out his classmate. The ref stops the match and the kid who gave the beating comes back to the corner. I run over there and yell, "What're you doing? That's your classmate in there that you're fighting with!" And of course, the kid answers back, "I'm just doing what you told us to do!"

That kid ended up winning state and going to nationals that year. But unfortunately, his friend ended up dropping out. And the moral of the story? You'd better watch what you say to your students, because sometimes, they actually listen.