View Full Version : What is the MA Mecca of the USA?
I would say San Francisco is a strong possibilty, having graduated from a High School in San Francisco, there seemed to be a martial arts school every other block in the city by the bay, including many USA headquarters of the said art. If you included the entire Bay Area, the contention would be even stronger. I've heard New York City is the Mecca of martial arts in the USA, and there are certainly a lot of them in the Big Apple. Los Angeles would likely be a strong contender as well. What do you think is the Martial Arts Mecca of the USA?
I will state Dover, Delaware is not the Mecca of martial arts in the country, as I'm living near there, and the schools are few and far between, and many of them cater to kids, becoming more like day care centers than serious martial arts schools often unfortunately. Fine schools for the kids I'm sure, but I'm not a kid.
Himura Kenshin
03-31-2009, 11:03 AM
I guess it depends on where the HQ of your art would be. To me it's either in Illinois where my main dojo is or Kansas City Misouri where the founder of my style lives.
I guess it depends on where the HQ of your art would be. To me it's either in Illinois where my main dojo is or Kansas City Misouri where the founder of my style lives.
I'm thinking of the Mecca for all martial arts combined. In other words, where is the most concentration of various martial arts in the USA, where would one find the most, varied, and the like, not a specific Mecca of a specific martial arts style.
clfsean
03-31-2009, 12:40 PM
There isn't a single one.
West Coast = SF
East Coast = NYC
M/West = Chicago
etc...
Flying Crane
03-31-2009, 12:58 PM
There isn't a single one.
West Coast = SF
East Coast = NYC
M/West = Chicago
etc...
Agreed.
I would add that SF is a mecca particularly for CHinese martial arts, altho we've got quite a variety of other arts here as well.
I don't know much about NY or Chicago.
chinto
03-31-2009, 01:11 PM
Seattle Washington has a large number of schools, and some extremely good instructors in different arts too.
Brian R. VanCise
03-31-2009, 01:12 PM
It would be hard to not say that California is loaded as far as martial training goes. Chicago and NYC both also have a plethora of teachers and people training. It is a little known secret that Michigan is also loaded as well. (absolutely loaded with great teachers) Florida also has a great amount and the list could literally go on and on. http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/images/icons/icon6.gif
tellner
03-31-2009, 01:18 PM
Los Angeles would be a good pick.
Daniel Sullivan
03-31-2009, 01:21 PM
NY tends to be a strong presence in almost everything. As a port city and major economic and cultural center, it has great diversity in culture, not to mention that it is one the places in the country that people move to specifically to 'make it big' in their endeavors, including martial arts. With a strong international community, it is ideal for the martial arts.
Washington DC is, to a lesser extent as well, and for many of the same reasons. Having lived in the DC area all my life, I can say that if there is a martial art, there is likely a school for it somewhere if you dig hard enough. Jhoon Rhee's presence here doesn't hurt either.
SF I'm sure is similarly a hot spot, though it has been over two decades since I've been there, and at that time, it was not for checking out dojos. I remember the city very fondly, particularly how nice the climate was as compared to the DC area.
Daniel
Aikikitty
03-31-2009, 01:38 PM
For mentioning states with many schools and arts available, I'm surprised that no one put Texas on the list yet.
Anytime I'm on vacation and have access to a phone book, I enjoy looking up the martial art schools just to see what's available and count how many listed schools there are for which style. Houston had an impressive list, I thought.
I'm sure any state that has a high and diverse population would have a lot to choose from.
Robyn :)
searcher
03-31-2009, 01:49 PM
California is a good pick and so is NYC, but I am going to go with Hawaii. It is the halfway point between Asia and the Continental US and there are a great number of MAists there.
clfsean
03-31-2009, 02:08 PM
For mentioning states with many schools and arts available, I'm surprised that no one put Texas on the list yet.
Nah... nobody likes Texas... hehehehe
besides the Republic of Texas has The Chuck... nothing else is needed & it's borders are secure once he's ensconced on the throne as the God Emperor of the Kingdom of Texico...
dancingalone
03-31-2009, 02:38 PM
Jokes about Texas aside, I'll admit it's a bit of a desert for martial arts. There are some noted instructors in seven star mantis and shorin-ryu karate that I know of. Also a very impressive tai chi man lives within 50 miles of me. Still, Texas doesn't quite have the density of credible teachers that NY or California do. Lots of mcdojos for the kids, though.
Daniel Sullivan
03-31-2009, 03:03 PM
For mentioning states with many schools and arts available, I'm surprised that no one put Texas on the list yet.
Anytime I'm on vacation and have access to a phone book, I enjoy looking up the martial art schools just to see what's available and count how many listed schools there are for which style. Houston had an impressive list, I thought.
I'm sure any state that has a high and diverse population would have a lot to choose from.
Robyn :)
I know that we have a goodly amount of instructors on here on MT from Texas. In my response, I was thinking of specific cities, but as large as Texas is, I'd gather that its cities boast a good cross section of the martial arts.
Daniel
dancingalone
03-31-2009, 03:16 PM
I know that we have a goodly amount of instructors on here on MT from Texas. In my response, I was thinking of specific cities, but as large as Texas is, I'd gather that its cities boast a good cross section of the martial arts.
Daniel
Honestly, we have lots of the typical studio martial arts, but relatively few (compared to NY or CA) of what I would call profound MA. It seems like in some CA cities, you can go to a park and stumble across some excellent teachers teaching for little or no fee. That's really not the case in Texas, and even if pay for lessons as most of us do, the level taught is not high for the most part.
Again, just my personal experience. I know someone will inevitably pipe in with an example of a great teacher I missed, and I freely admit I don't know everyone in every martial art. My interests in MA is esoterical, and I've seen a lot of BS in my time as I've travelled across the country working in my career. In fact, I still travel back to CA every quarter to spend time with my sensei as his philosophy and teaching style fit me best.
There isn't a single one.
West Coast = SF
East Coast = NYC
M/West = Chicago
etc...
Makes sense to me
Agreed.
I would add that SF is a mecca particularly for CHinese martial arts, altho we've got quite a variety of other arts here as well.
I don't know much about NY or Chicago.
It's pretty much whatever you want in San Francisco at least when I went to school there. I counted 50 kenpo karate schools alone in San Francisco in the phone book.
Seattle Washington has a large number of schools, and some extremely good instructors in different arts too.
Your quite correct, and there has been a real boom in martial arts schools in Seattle the last few years. I went to two that were particularly good for what they were trying to achieve in Seattle, a lot of work, but the results were quite good, good teachers. But there are far more schools in San Francisco than Seattle.
It would be hard to not say that California is loaded as far as martial training goes. Chicago and NYC both also have a plethora of teachers and people training. It is a little known secret that Michigan is also loaded as well. (absolutely loaded with great teachers) Florida also has a great amount and the list could literally go on and on. http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/images/icons/icon6.gif
I'll keep that in mind, my wife and I may be moving soon. The part of Delaware I live in has very few, they may be fine schools, I've never visited them, but the number is very low unfortunately, with lots of kids as students normally. Thats fine if your a kid, but when your 46...
Los Angeles would be a good pick.
I'm sure LA has many fine schools as well, a very large Krav Maga school I know of.
NY tends to be a strong presence in almost everything. As a port city and major economic and cultural center, it has great diversity in culture, not to mention that it is one the places in the country that people move to specifically to 'make it big' in their endeavors, including martial arts. With a strong international community, it is ideal for the martial arts.
Washington DC is, to a lesser extent as well, and for many of the same reasons. Having lived in the DC area all my life, I can say that if there is a martial art, there is likely a school for it somewhere if you dig hard enough. Jhoon Rhee's presence here doesn't hurt either.
SF I'm sure is similarly a hot spot, though it has been over two decades since I've been there, and at that time, it was not for checking out dojos. I remember the city very fondly, particularly how nice the climate was as compared to the DC area.
Daniel
Yeah, I did a search of NYC schools on the internet and was very impressed by what I saw. I would love to go to John Perkins school.
For mentioning states with many schools and arts available, I'm surprised that no one put Texas on the list yet.
Anytime I'm on vacation and have access to a phone book, I enjoy looking up the martial art schools just to see what's available and count how many listed schools there are for which style. Houston had an impressive list, I thought.
I'm sure any state that has a high and diverse population would have a lot to choose from.
Robyn :)
I'll keep that in mind, although my wife doesn't want to move to Texas. Hey, Chuck Norris is there!
California is a good pick and so is NYC, but I am going to go with Hawaii. It is the halfway point between Asia and the Continental US and there are a great number of MAists there.
My understanding is Kenpo came to the manland from Hawaii. From talks with someone I know from Hawaii, there arn't a huge number of schools there but they are very good. My wife would like to live trhere for awhile, if we can afford it I'm all for it.
JadeDragon3
03-31-2009, 04:03 PM
Depends on how you define mecca. Are you going by population/martial art school ratio or are you going by just the number of martial art schools in that city? If you go by per capita then Lexington Kentucky has it hands down. We have TKD schools on every corner, we have Shaolin Do's headquarters here, we have a Bujinkan Dojo here, we have mma schools here, we have a few aikido schools here, and lastly we have the Al Tracy Kenpo headquarters here. and we're just a small town.
Depends on how you define mecca. Are you going by population/martial art school ratio or are you going by just the number of martial art schools in that city? If you go by per capita then Lexington Kentucky has it hands down. We have TKD schools on every corner, we have Shaolin Do's headquarters here, we have a Bujinkan Dojo here, we have mma schools here, we have a few aikido schools here, and lastly we have the Al Tracy Kenpo headquarters here. and we're just a small town.
What I mean by it is the sheer number of schools in total. You can intepret it anyway you want of course, but that's what I meant by it, as well as diversity of styles.
JadeDragon3
03-31-2009, 04:11 PM
Your larger cities will have more schools then. I'd have to say either San Fransisco or Chicago or New York or Miami. Per capita then Lexington, Ky.
Your larger cities will have more schools then. I'd have to say either San Fransisco or Chicago or New York or Miami. Per capita then Lexington, Ky.
The larger cities will of course. I live in an area without a lot of people, hence there arn't very many, not very diverse, not normally meant for adults but mostly kids, and most are really day care centers as well as martial arts schools and there arn't a whole lot per capita either. But I'll keep Lexington in mind, my wife is really into horses, we could definitely end up there, thanks.
JadeDragon3
03-31-2009, 04:35 PM
The larger cities will of course. I live in an area without a lot of people, hence there arn't very many, not very diverse, not normally meant for adults but mostly kids, and most are really day care centers as well as martial arts schools and there arn't a whole lot per capita either. But I'll keep Lexington in mind, my wife is really into horses, we could definitely end up there, thanks.
We are the horse capital of the world. And we have a large variety of martial arts here. Krav Maga, TKD, Kung Fu, Ninjutsu (Bujinkan Dojo), Aikido, MMA, Kenpo, and even a muey thai school (although it looks more like an aerobic class from what I've seen of it).
blindsage
03-31-2009, 04:50 PM
Your quite correct, and there has been a real boom in martial arts schools in Seattle the last few years. I went to two that were particularly good for what they were trying to achieve in Seattle, a lot of work, but the results were quite good, good teachers. But there are far more schools in San Francisco than Seattle.
There is a good selection here, and if you want to train you can find something that will appeal to you, but Seattle is far from a MA mecca in the States.
Flying Crane
03-31-2009, 05:58 PM
It's pretty much whatever you want in San Francisco at least when I went to school there. I counted 50 kenpo karate schools alone in San Francisco in the phone book.
hmmm, no there are actually very few kenpo schools in San Francisco proper. Of the top of my head, I can think of maybe four, including a USSD school and a couple others. No strict Parker schools, nor Tracy schools that I'm aware of.
The greater Bay Area has several, if you go all the way down to San Jose and up to the North Bay as well and include Oakland and the East Bay. But even there, I'd say there are far fewer than 50.
LA, and Pasadena, however, has quite a lot. Ed Parker settled in that area, and a lot of his lineage still reside down there.
Daniel Sullivan
03-31-2009, 10:26 PM
When you said 'MA Mecca of the USA', I was thinking along the lines of the places that people go specifically out of their way to visit due to not just the quantity of schools, but because of who's schools are in the area. Or due to the MA history in the area.
Daniel
Omar B
03-31-2009, 11:15 PM
I'm gonna have to go with NY on this one. My old apartment in Queens in a mostly residential neighborhood had 2 MA schools on my street alone (TKD and Ninja). Within a half mile there are more than 15 schools, all that without getting in a car or on the train. TKD, Shotokan, Ninja, Eskrima, Shorin Ryu, MMA, Kenpo, Kyokushin, the list goes on.
But what really makes me think that way is that on my morning runs I would meet up with instructors from 2 separate TKD schools in the area and we would work out after our run in the playground (padded ground). Not very often on a random morning job you get to work out with 2 qualified instructors. Makes me feel like I was doing TKD for about 3 years though.
Here's a pretty good listing of school in the area. http://www.martialartsny.com/index.html
Ronin74
03-31-2009, 11:42 PM
As far as having a variety of martial arts, I'd have to agree that California in general has quite a lot to offer. As a resident of the Bay Area, it's not hard to find a martial arts school between the North Bay to the South Bay. Going further out, Stockton was once considered the Mecca for Filipino Martial Arts.
That said, I can't readily say that all of these schools actually offer a good quality of training. So if the question is where can person find a concentration of quality schools or gyms, you might be hard pressed.
As far as MMA goes, it's a tough call, but they all end up in Vegas for the big leagues.
Guardian
04-01-2009, 07:32 AM
Nah... nobody likes Texas... hehehehe
besides the Republic of Texas has The Chuck... nothing else is needed & it's borders are secure once he's ensconced on the throne as the God Emperor of the Kingdom of Texico...
Amen to that one! :)
Guardian
04-01-2009, 07:37 AM
When you said 'MA Mecca of the USA', I was thinking along the lines of the places that people go specifically out of their way to visit due to not just the quantity of schools, but because of who's schools are in the area. Or due to the MA history in the area.
Daniel
I was thinking of the same thing.
I would say San Francisco is a strong possibilty, having graduated from a High School in San Francisco, there seemed to be a martial arts school every other block in the city by the bay, including many USA headquarters of the said art. If you included the entire Bay Area, the contention would be even stronger. I've heard New York City is the Mecca of martial arts in the USA, and there are certainly a lot of them in the Big Apple. Los Angeles would likely be a strong contender as well. What do you think is the Martial Arts Mecca of the USA?
I will state Dover, Delaware is not the Mecca of martial arts in the country, as I'm living near there, and the schools are few and far between, and many of them cater to kids, becoming more like day care centers than serious martial arts schools often unfortunately. Fine schools for the kids I'm sure, but I'm not a kid.
I would definately say that California seems to be the mecca. I mean, you can pretty much find anything and everything there, and there are many top practioners there. Kajukenbo, JKD, Kali, BJJ, Kenpo....Ca is where everyone is. Now, this isn't to say that you can't find those things anywhere else, but, the majority of people are there.
bluekey88
04-01-2009, 11:39 AM
It seems to me you'd want to add Hawaii to the list as well.
Daniel Sullivan
04-01-2009, 11:40 AM
It seems to me you'd want to add Hawaii to the list as well.
Wouldn't it be cool if all US martial artists had to make a Hawaiian pilgrimage?
Daniel
bluekey88
04-01-2009, 11:43 AM
Someday I intend to do just that.
Ronin74
04-01-2009, 01:17 PM
Nah... nobody likes Texas... hehehehe
besides the Republic of Texas has The Chuck... nothing else is needed & it's borders are secure once he's ensconced on the throne as the God Emperor of the Kingdom of Texico...
I'm sure somewhere in small print for this site, it mentions that the answer for all questions on MT is "Chuck Norris", and that all other replies are meant as "next to" or "second to" the Chuck.
Omar B
04-01-2009, 04:26 PM
Wouldn't it be cool if all US martial artists had to make a Hawaiian pilgrimage?
Daniel
I'm with you on that man. But first I have to make it to Korea. Japan I've done, I think I've gotta do Korea then Hawaii.
joeygil
04-01-2009, 06:28 PM
For MMA, I'm guessing Huntington Beach, CA - which is in the Greater Los Angeles Area. I was in that area over the weekend, and spotted the Gracie Jiu Jitsu school, and several MMA gyms.
More over, in the Los Angeles area is Reseda, which was a big Kempo / Karate mecca from what I remember (anyone seen 'Karate Kid').
A little north of LAX, you'll find the Inosanto Academy, where people come in from all over the world to train.
Daniel Sullivan
04-02-2009, 09:56 AM
I'm with you on that man. But first I have to make it to Korea. Japan I've done, I think I've gotta do Korea then Hawaii.
I hope to visit Japan and Korea in one trip, then go back and visit each one exclusively. I suppose that there is no good reason that not to go to Hawaii first then fly to Japan from there.:D
Daniel
Huntington Station, New York... home of www.silkwindstudio.com (http://www.silkwindstudio.com)
what can i say, i am biased.
pete.
Carol
04-02-2009, 05:32 PM
I'm definitely a bit biased ;) but seriously I wouldn't rule out the greater Boston area. There are a wide variety of training facilities here, and many top-notch instructors. :asian:
IcemanSK
04-02-2009, 07:02 PM
I wouldn't try to sell anyone on the idea that the Los Angeles area is a mecca for MA, but we sure market it well.
Black Belt magazine is published in my town (north of LA) & Big John McCarthy (former UFC ref) has a HUGE MMA gym within a few miles of BB magazine. There's no secret that BB taps a lot of So. Cal folks for articles & to do stories about them.
"Judo" Gene LeBell spends a great deal of time at a local MA supply store in North Hollywood. If an MAist has hopes of a movie career, they show up here. So, many "noteables are here. If you're "somebody" (or used to be somebody) you might be here.
Guardian
04-03-2009, 06:35 AM
I wouldn't try to sell anyone on the idea that the Los Angeles area is a mecca for MA, but we sure market it well.
Black Belt magazine is published in my town (north of LA) & Big John McCarthy (former UFC ref) has a HUGE MMA gym within a few miles of BB magazine. There's no secret that BB taps a lot of So. Cal folks for articles & to do stories about them.
"Judo" Gene LeBell spends a great deal of time at a local MA supply store in North Hollywood. If an MAist has hopes of a movie career, they show up here. So, many "noteables are here. If you're "somebody" (or used to be somebody) you might be here.
I have to say, after reading all of these over the past couple of days, this one seems pretty reasonable on all fronts.
hmmm, no there are actually very few kenpo schools in San Francisco proper. Of the top of my head, I can think of maybe four, including a USSD school and a couple others. No strict Parker schools, nor Tracy schools that I'm aware of.
The greater Bay Area has several, if you go all the way down to San Jose and up to the North Bay as well and include Oakland and the East Bay. But even there, I'd say there are far fewer than 50.
LA, and Pasadena, however, has quite a lot. Ed Parker settled in that area, and a lot of his lineage still reside down there.
That was back in 1980. 46 went under since than, what a drag! Some were in the surrounding areas like Daly City, Ralph Castro's Kenpo Karate comes to mind. Back in 1980 there were 50 in the yellow pages.
Ninebird8
04-03-2009, 04:55 PM
I respectfully disagree about my fair country of Texas. And, I have a unique base of comparison since I trained in NYC and Hong Kong as well as going all over competing in the old days and judging now. Texas has some great kung fu schools like Raymond Fogg (John Cheng's teacher in Texas and his training bro Jeff Hughes in Austin), Johnny Lee (Mijhonglawnhorn, ba gua, and Wu tai chi), Jimmy Wong (Chin Woo and Wu Hao tai chi), Jeff Bolt (Long Fist, White crane, Yang tai chi), Henry Poo Yee (Southern Preying Mantis), Ricky Anderson (Wudan Shaolin and Internal), David Pickens and John Wang (Chinese wrestling), Paul Chu, George Hu, Cheng Sai, etc. That is just Kung fu and I have left out many. There are also great tae kwo do like Ray McCallum, Billy Jackson, Walt Mason, Allen Steen, Tim Kirby, the Lopez brothers, etc. Then there was the great Bill Sosa in aikido, I could go on and on. The general theme is that Texas does produce a preponderence of great fighters including Guy Metzger, etc and yes Chuck does live here nearby with ranches near Ft. Worth and in the Valley near Tommy Lee Jones, a fair actor. Betcha did not know Houston as the 4th largest Asian pop in North America, almost 500k, and the Chinatown here is the 5th largest in North America! So there, padnuh!!
Flying Crane
04-03-2009, 05:30 PM
That was back in 1980. 46 went under since than, what a drag! Some were in the surrounding areas like Daly City, Ralph Castro's Kenpo Karate comes to mind. Back in 1980 there were 50 in the yellow pages.
wow, well I guess times have changed between then and 1994 when I arrived.
Ralph Castro is still in Daly City, and there are a couple right in San Fran, but most of them I'm not sure of their lineage. Navarro's, and Vega and Beliso and Alemany and a USSD school are all that come to mind.
There are some others in the greater bay area.
VegasM4
05-06-2009, 02:15 PM
How about Las Vegas?
-Las Vegas has more than 100 MA schools.Krav Maga,Karate,TKD,BJJ,Judo,Aikido,Kenpo,MMA,boxing,M uay Thai, and others are all represented
-Las Vegas is home to the UFC and most fights take place here.
-Las Vegas has a large Asian population including a "Chinatown".
-Las Vegas is the home of many prominent UFC/MMA fighters including Frank Mir and Randy Couture
-Las Vegas being the entertainment capital of the world is host to numerous MA events including seminars and tournaments.
-Las Vegas is the boxing capital of the world.Many of the most famous fights have taken place here even in fiction.Rocky's last fight was at the Mandalay Bay events center.
IcemanSK
05-07-2009, 09:56 PM
How about Las Vegas?
-Las Vegas has more than 100 MA schools.Krav Maga,Karate,TKD,BJJ,Judo,Aikido,Kenpo,MMA,boxing,M uay Thai, and others are all represented
-Las Vegas is home to the UFC and most fights take place here.
-Las Vegas has a large Asian population including a "Chinatown".
-Las Vegas is the home of many prominent UFC/MMA fighters including Frank Mir and Randy Couture
-Las Vegas being the entertainment capital of the world is host to numerous MA events including seminars and tournaments.
-Las Vegas is the boxing capital of the world.Many of the most famous fights have taken place here even in fiction.Rocky's last fight was at the Mandalay Bay events center.
I'l agree that it is/was the boxing capital of the world. If boxing still can cal anyplace home. Vegas has a growing MMA community to be sure. With Los Angeles only 4 hours away by car, many MMA folks prefer to go back & forth between the two cities. Your point is well made.
Sensei Payne
05-08-2009, 06:27 AM
Over all I think it comes down strictly to opinion to where the Mecca would be. I have read though all the other posts and people tend to put where there style came from or there headquarters...
I would have to say that for me, my Martial Arts Mecca is where ever that there are Martial Artists wanting to enrich there lives and there minds, by sharing and keeping an open mind to the Principals and knowleadge of others, and that keep in mind that we are all brothers and sisters bound together as students of the Arts.
Cheers
VegasM4
05-08-2009, 02:57 PM
I'l agree that it is/was the boxing capital of the world. If boxing still can cal anyplace home. Vegas has a growing MMA community to be sure. With Los Angeles only 4 hours away by car, many MMA folks prefer to go back & forth between the two cities. Your point is well made.
I agree.California as a whole is probably it as far as schools,organizations go.Las Vegas is known for hosting alot of MA/boxing events.
LuckyKBoxer
05-08-2009, 04:49 PM
I think a better way to answer what the MA Mecca of the USA is, would be to do a few things.
1st. Put a label on the different Martial Arts being taught in the USA Today
2nd. Put a label on the top 5-10 instructors of every martial art being taught in the USA Today
3rd. Put a label on the quantity of schools per population in each area.
4th. Put a label on the amount of tournaments, seminars, and other events that are held in each area, how big they are, and the draw they have.
I am sure there are other items that could come up, but those strike me as some of the most important.
I have been to many martial arts schools that are pathetic, horrible instruction, and horrible students. I am not bashing the style, it was just apparant that the teachers were absolutely horrible. So a city with 50 little crap schools with horrible instructors does not equal a martial arts mecca, a city with 5 heads of nationally recognized styles, is a martial arts mecca. I would also say that if there are 10 million people in an area with 100 schools, and you have another area with 500,000 people and 50 schools that the smaller area very well may be more of a martial arts mecca then the larger.
If I had to guess I would say Southern California in General, and Los Angelos specifically as being a MA Mecca, not sure if its the MA Mecca of the United States, but its pretty close if not the one.
girlbug2
05-08-2009, 07:29 PM
Luckyboxer, yeah, I live in north Orange County and I'm hard pressed not to find a TKD or Karate school in every flippin' strip mall on every corner!
In the last two years or so I'd add Brazillian JiuJitsu to that list as well. OC must be some kind of B JiuJitsu mecca. I know that the Gracies have a boatload of schools just minutes south of my humble home...the further south one travels, the more BJJ you run into, LOL. Somebody must have leaked the word out about our fair weather...
Senjojutsu
05-09-2009, 07:44 AM
I think a better way to answer what the MA Mecca of the USA is, would be to do a few things.
1st. Put a label on the different Martial Arts being taught in the USA Today
2nd. Put a label on the top 5-10 instructors of every martial art being taught in the USA Today
3rd. Put a label on the quantity of schools per population in each area.
4th. Put a label on the amount of tournaments, seminars, and other events that are held in each area, how big they are, and the draw they have.
I am sure there are other items that could come up, but those strike me as some of the most important.
I have been to many martial arts schools that are pathetic, horrible instruction, and horrible students. I am not bashing the style, it was just apparant that the teachers were absolutely horrible. So a city with 50 little crap schools with horrible instructors does not equal a martial arts mecca, a city with 5 heads of nationally recognized styles, is a martial arts mecca. I would also say that if there are 10 million people in an area with 100 schools, and you have another area with 500,000 people and 50 schools that the smaller area very well may be more of a martial arts mecca then the larger.
If I had to guess I would say Southern California in General, and Los Angelos specifically as being a MA Mecca, not sure if its the MA Mecca of the United States, but its pretty close if not the one.
I do not necessarily disagree with this sentiment and other posters.
It is almost to say you need a critical mass of agreed upon criteria within a defined geographical area to qualify for this title. Now comes the hard part - agreeing.
:)
However now taking a slightly contrarian view.
Doesn’t it also matter what MA you want to study?
If I am an eighteen-year old athlete who wants to be an Olympic competitor in Judo, what then is the US Judo epicenter to where I should relocate to?
Finally it’s like being a lonely boy in the big city. A target-rich environment eventually becomes as much as an aggravation and distraction until “the one” is found. Sigh, I really do have to stop watching the Bravo network.
LuckyKBoxer
05-09-2009, 11:54 PM
However now taking a slightly contrarian view.
Doesn’t it also matter what MA you want to study?
If I am an eighteen-year old athlete who wants to be an Olympic competitor in Judo, what then is the US Judo epicenter to where I should relocate to?
Naw, this was specifically called Martial Arts Mecca, which is plural and all encompassing, if you are looking for a specific martial arts mecca, that could then be dependant on specifics for that given art... like your Judo example.
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