Commercial Schools

I have thought many times over the years about the commercialization of Martial Arts. There are a few things that I find to be quite frustrating.

The schools that pressure you into joining when you were there to ask about a few classes. The idea is to sign up a bunch of students who ideally do not continue to show up so the space is able to accept even more students. Yes, you are there because you are interested in joining a school but I believe it should be up to the student to ask to join. When asked about selecting a style, I normally suggest that the student should try a few different schools and styles to see which one is to their liking. This should be a combination of liking the instructor, their teaching style, the location, the other students and enjoyment of the lesson during the time you were trying the class. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that the workout should be easy and therefore enjoyable, but more that the style of workout is what you are looking for.

The guarantee of attainment of the highest level within a certain amount of time is something else that I have heard of. I do not believe that it is possible to guarantee that someone will get their "black belt" in a certain amount of time.

I accept the existence of belt or ranking systems so people can see their progression within a style. I have also given into the need to show progression and gotten away from traditional style where all students were students, not a certain level of student. I do feel that some schools now are overdoing it with adding too many levels or levels within levels. In my opinion, it is a pure money grab because the school can charge for each grading,

Watered down systems due to the desire to generate instructors is a problem that I see in commercial schools. They want more instructors to spread the style but unfortunately, I have seen too many instructors teaching watered down versions of their style or not having time to mature before moving out to be an instructor on their own. I know that students are able to learn an entire style quickly if given the opportunity. Unfortunately these students have not been given the time to mature in the style and fully comprehend/practice the techniques. This leads to the situations I have seen where the instructor is not aware of why things are done a certain way. This knowledge becomes lost and as their students become instructors, even more knowledge is lost.

We have all seen schools display weapons on the walls or in a rack. Some of my students actually discovered a school that displayed swords and staves on the wall but upon asking discovered that the instructor did not actually know how to use the weapons and did not teach the weapons. Another one of those silly franchises that try to excite potential students by displaying "cool" weapons.

Fighting During Grading - What Are You Testing?

Many Martial Arts schools employ some sort of grading system to promote students up their rankings. These gradings can lead to a new belt/sash, promotion in title or simply a level or increase within the system. Often the grading process includes fighting to determine that the student is able to fight at an adequate level for promotion. I have seen gradings where there does not seem to be a purpose to them. What are we testing in our gradings? Within my school we actually have a few things that we are testing during the fighting portion of the grading:

• We try to determine that the student is able to defend themselves in a pressure situation.
• We try to press the student to ensure that they are able to control their emotions (fear, anger, doubt, etc.)
• We test to see how the student is able to control their techniques in full speed, pressure situations where emotions are trying to take over.
• We try to ensure that the students get a small taste of how things are in a real fight whether they are winning or losing.
• We test how students adjust and think through the different scenarios that are presented in the grading.
• We ensure that the student is able to use legitimate techniques in the fights.
• We make sure that the student has a very good chance of succeeding in a confrontation.
  

Our team of instructors all went through this to get to where they are today. All of us have these goals in mind as we train the next set of instructors.

Our School's Newest Instructor

The National Fut Gar Kung Fu Training Centre and I would like to announce that we have named our newest instructor, Steve Moore. Steve has been training with me for many years with several extended breaks due to non-kung fu reasons such as school and life in general. I doubted his dedication when he would not make a mere 5 hour drive to attend classes. Here are some parts of the ceremony where he received his belt and his certificate.




One thing that Steve did not know when we were filming this video of him demonstrating the Fut Gar form called Lung Fu Seung Voy (Dragon Tiger Meeting) is that it would be his very last form as a non-instructor. He was going at a slower pace as I told him I was recording it for the benefit of one of the other students.

Most Annoying Kung Fu Phone Calls

I often get people calling me about trying classes. I am happy to offer a free trial class to anyone that is interested regardless of their level of experience. I am also often in a position where I am accepting new students. Personally, I find these phone calls to be painful, especially as the person tries in some way to prove they know something. This is the main reason I prefer e-mail contact with a short list of questions on location, cost, training times etc.

Here are some of the most frustrating discussion points that I run into regularly:

• The prospective student for some reason feels that I need to have a very detailed breakdown of all of their previous Martial Arts experience. I really don't care what someone was years ago...if they are joining my school, they need to learn my basic techniques. I don't need a 10 minute Martial Arts biography.
• Come try the class and experience it when invited. Don't ask questions about what exactly will be done in class....if I explain everything that is going to happen then why would a trial class be necessary?
  
• Why do people that don't understand ask to compare our style to another style. I often get asked if we are similar to Wing Chun and when I try to clarify, the person actually knows nothing about Wing Chun so I could say anything and it would not make a difference.
• Is this the right class for me? I don't know....you just called me up out of the blue...I have never met you. Try some different schools and choose one that you like.
• What is the best Martial Art style? For these people, the answer is any style but mine....please go find one of those schools. Actually, I think I spoke about the school that claimed to be the best style in one of my previous entries...here's the link.
  
• When do I get to fight? Any time you like....go to a bar and punch someone in the head...congratulations, you get to fight.
• Then there are the people who have asked some good questions but instead of hanging up, start asking dumb questions just to continue the conversation....
• The people that describe their health issues and ask me if the style will help them. I don't know....I am not a doctor!!!! I can definitely assure you that it is better for you than sitting on a couch eating a bag of Doritos.
• How fast can I reach your highest rank? How should I know? Try showing up to class and giving us an idea of how quickly you learn, how well you correct mistakes and how diligent you are at showing up to every class for the next few years. At that point, I can give you an educated guess.

This is a list of some of the discussions I have with people that call in. I'm sure there are other things that I am missing that I will think of over time.

Karate Bloopers

OK...these really have nothing to do with Kung Fu or anything I do but they made me laugh.

Enjoy...

Look at all the Colourful Sashes/Belts - What Does It Mean?

Walking into my class you will notice a group of students dressed mainly in black with various coloured of sashes around their waist. This is very nice but keep in mind it is not the traditional way. For years I have struggled with the question of whether or not we should all wear the same colour of sash within the class and even went for a period of time with everyone wearing the same colour. Those in my class will understand that although we use colours to differentiate achievement levels, the real identification of where you rank in the class is by seniority/time as a member. We treat this as a family where your elder brother or sister will always be your elder brother or sister even if you surpass them in quantity of techniques learned.

Why have them? I have already mentioned that this helps me remember where the students are in their training and what they should have learned. I also believe that it is nice for the students to see advancement and achievement throughout their training in Kung Fu or any Martial Art.

What does it all mean? I would like my students to be proud of their achievements and be happy that they are progressing within our system. At the same time, I would like the students to understand that there are really 2 levels within the school, Sifu (instructor) or student. Within the school there is one Sifu....that being the head instructor.