Why We Teach.

By Scott Reitz

A student recently asked me if I had any idea when we may stop teaching. When will we no longer wake up eagerly looking forward to range days training with all of the great students we have had the pleasure of knowing through the years. That’s exactly when. When we don’t wake up with that drive any longer. Good thing is, we’re enjoying running our school more than ever. Each year seems to bring new opportunities that keep us loving what we do.

Nothing is more enjoyable to us than teaching those who wish to learn. Nothing is more satisfying than watching students improve their skills greatly over the course of a single day or weekend. One of the many things that makes it all worthwhile is having those of you who have prevailed in harmful encounters (and there are many) as well as those who have prevented such encounters through what you have learned with us.

On the LAPD it was not uncommon for Officer’s to come to me right at the outset of a training session and ask “When are we going to get out of here?” We’ve never had that from a student at ITTS. That is incredibly rewarding. ITTS is much akin to an extended family. We have students from across the globe and from every profession imaginable. Many great friendships have evolved from students getting to know one another at our classes, which is a reflection of the quality of people we have the honor of teaching.

Teaching a class at the highest level of instruction is both intensive and tiring and yet greatly rewarding at the close of the day. The director Sam Peckinpah’s quote of always “Wanting to go through the door at the end of the day feeling justified” is more than an appropriate analogy for all of us at ITTS. I personally enjoy being with all of you and watching the leaps in improvement in each and every one of you through the course of the day.

I especially enjoy and always welcome the variety of thoughtful and candid questions posed as well. In my day, way back in time while on the force, questions were not so readily received and in fact somewhat discouraged. It was more of a ‘just do what we say and let it go at that’ sort of attitude. The learning curve was non-existent and subsequently the moral was rock bottom, so one really didn’t garner much from the experience. It was pretty much a wasted day and I always detested this type of program. The instructors worked and read off a written syllabus which denotes that they didn’t know the subject matter for a hill of beans and their enthusiasm was less than motivational. This is precisely why we instruct in the manner in which we do.

We thoroughly enjoy training with each and every one of you… and THAT is the answer to why we still do what we do!