Input appreciated (warning long post)

[Jester]

Hi all, I had a bit of a brain wave while driving home from my kick boxing class last night. I wanted to see what you all think.

Ok I’ve been considering cross training for some time now to broaden my knowledge of the martial arts. Now that’s all so well and good and I still plan to do this however the thought occurred to me that I’m never going to get everything I want, I’m still going to be restricted to the limitations of two clubs.

So I started thinking, and the only place I get to try a bit of everything is in my own private little sessions. A few lads and me get together twice a week and train in the martial arts, we do all sorts, pretty much whatever we fancy on the day, but as the only experienced martial artist there we’re limited to my knowledge. But the point is style or club does not restrict us, we do what we like.

So that got me thinking. I can’t be the only martial artist desperate to cross train so why don’t I try and run these sessions on a larger basis. I could put together a syndicate of martial artists, now this would not be for beginners, it would be for those with enough knowledge and confidence to cross train into other areas.

Now once I had a syndicate what would happen is we would get together once every two weeks or even once a week and every session we would have someone different running it and therefore bringing their martial art into the group. E.g perhaps I could run a session and we could do kick boxing pad work, or maybe another session, kick boxing sparring. Maybe a jujitsu guy could come in and do a session on throws and holds, a kendo guy could come in and do a bit of sword training. You get the idea, we’d all be benefiting from each others knowledge as well as enjoying working together at a high level.

Once I had a group of people I could plan out what sessions were happening when and everyone in the syndicate could choose which sessions to turn up for. E.g I fancy doing low kicks, knees and elbows but I don’t really fancy kata training.

It would all be run from a central website. So people could keep up with what was happening, when and where we were getting together all bringing the knowledge from our own clubs to each others training. It wouldn’t be a business I’m not talking about running it as a club or anything like that, we might all put a little bit of money into a pot to cover the cost of a training venue, maybe a kitty for equipment and perhaps a small few for whoever was running the session that week.

We could get feed back on each of the sessions maybe even rating each other sessions so that the more popular ones came up more often.

I only came up with this idea last night guys so I’m just bouncing ideas around. I would appreciate hearing what you think and getting some feedback. Has anyone done something like this? Would anyone be interested if it came up? Any ideas that would make it work?

Thanks in advance guys.

Andy

 

[MantisMan]

Jester,

This is a great idea! I may have a venue for you to try this out at - it's a new venue opening up in Warrington that would be perfect and quite central to most North West UK martial artists.

Calling all North West UK martial artists! Post your responses to this, please. If you think you could add your skills to the mix, and you want to get trained in styles you may not have come across then now is the time to get involved.

MantisMan at your service for Kung Fu, Karate, Judo and KickBoxing tuition.

Q. Do you envisage one person running a whole session, or perhaps several people doing short slots? Having more than one 'guide' might give more reliable coverage in case someone can't make it on the day.

 

[Jester]

I love it when a plan comes together.

Venue sounds ace.

As far as having more than one person running things. This would probably be a good idea but would no doubt depend on numbers and how many we had from a specific art. Time will tell on that one.

 

[oldnewbie]

I would love to take part in this, except the drive from Floida would be a problem,

Too bad more people don't think like this, we would "all" get along better (share and share alike)

 

[Andi]

You're NW too are you Jester? Shame I'm not in Manchester any more these days, it sounds a good idea. Hey if you do set anything up could you post it? I'm interested.

 

[Shodan]

Sounds like a great idea to me too- and fun!! I would love to participate in something like this......unfortunately, it is a long ways away from California and I don't own a jet!!

Best of luck to you in pulling this together though- should be a blast!!

:asian: :karate:

 

[Elfan]

I am actaully considering something similar myself. The university I attend doesn't have any martial arts clubs that I am interested in, nor are their any local schools. I was considering starting a club of my own, but I do not yet feel ready to teach on my own yet. What I was thinking of doing (after talking my situation over with some friends) was to start a club where people from differnt backround take turn teaching or leading the class. This would remove some of the burden from me and, more importatntly, let me hit people.

 

[Jester]

Thanks a lot guys it's good to get some positive feedback.

I think this is something that will probably happen. Have to get designing a site. I'll keep you updated how it goes.

Look for future posts headed 'Martial Arts Syndicate'

 

[MantisMan]

Ut-oh! Looks like Jester's going to be The Godfather, what with all his talk about "The Syndicate". If he turns up to a session with a violin case, I'm out of there!

 

[Jester]

Very good Mantisman, as always your wit amazes me.

I hope you aren't planning to run a session called 'how to be funny'

 

[MantisMan]

You'll be rolling around the floor laying eggs when I demonstrate "chicken style kung fu".

 

[Cthulhu]

I would try to make sure anyone who would be instructing at these sessions be of instructor ranking in their respective systems. It's a good idea, but if everyone is training something incorrectly, it defeats the purpose.



Cthulhu

 

[MantisMan]

Cthulu,

I understand what you're saying, but I have a few points that I wish to raise about it:

1. I don't believe that if you are 'uncertified' (and in the MA world - what the hell does that mean anyway? esp. Kung Fu!!) that you have nothing to teach
2. Teaching in a certified manner insists (by definition) that a move be performed in the "correct" manner. I am happy to allow people to "show" a technique, which others may feel free to discuss, argue about, dismiss, adopt, adapt, improve upon....all those things.

Perhaps the real value from these sessions is not the number of techniques you acquire from other arts, but the ability you gain to interpret, adopt and improve upon martial arts concepts.

Saying that, I feel sure we will be vetting the tuition to the extent that we are convinced that someone has the ability to at least demonstrate a technique effectively so that others can learn from it.

The teachers may learn as much about teaching as the students learn about learning.

 

[Jester]

Couldn't agree more Mantisman, the purpose of these sesssions is not for peopel to get together and say this is how to do this and my way is right. Otherwise we'd just all end up arguing.

People will come and show what they do, and if we agree we will adopt methods from that training into our own.

This is why this wouldn't be for beginners. Martial artists need to have the confidence and experience to evaluate techniques and ideas themselves.

 

[Cthulhu]

The reason I suggested it is because there is a good chance you could show each other the incorrect way to do these various techniques. I'm not saying it will always be the case, but it is a distinct possibility.

Whatever...it isn't my training.

Cthulhu

 

[MantisMan]

No, no. Don't get me wrong, Cthulhu. I think there is a VERY HIGH likelihood that we will be opening ourselves up to "bad technique".

But the idea is not to prevent this from happening, rather to respond appropriately when it does. It's just a more engaging experience that way, where the experience of the many produces a better response than the dictat of the one.

 

[kkbb]

I think your intentions are good...but.... a few things. The real big one is money...
Most peoples intentions are good until they have to cough up.... then all of the sudden they are "busy" or some other lame excuse..
How do you know what you are going to study will not do more harm than good... what about recourse...

Aren't you all in danger of becoming the "master of nothing"

The search for a well rounded cirriculum in and established setting would probabley more fruitful for you.

I think you wil also find that you will have a great many contradictions in the different systems. SOME of those attending will not enjoy it, or choose not to come back.

Just some negative thought for you to think about... before you put to much into your endevor

:asian:

 

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by MantisMan

1. I don't believe that if you are 'uncertified' (and in the MA world - what the hell does that mean anyway? esp. Kung Fu!!) that you have nothing to teach

My only thoughts, and maybe un-needed or un-wanted, are that there is a reason why most legitimate teachers(you mentioned kung fu so I'll use that example) do not just throw their students out to start teaching. It takes years, and years, and years, before a Sifu might acknowledge a student to teach. This is because it takes so long to truly understand the principles behind a move, or the application to a certain technique.
I'm always amazed at the amount of narcissistic tendencies people (including myself) show after simply learning the moves of a basic technique. We see the movements and think we can teach it. I just think there is much more understanding to be gained before actual teaching can occur.
I'm not trying to say your idea is wrong or a bad one, but I'm just saying that it might be wise to have someone well versed in MA or a particular system there to help interpret the good from the bad (harmful) techniques.

JMHO
7sm

 

[Cthulhu]

Originally posted by MantisMan
No, no. Don't get me wrong, Cthulhu. I think there is a VERY HIGH likelihood that we will be opening ourselves up to "bad technique".

But the idea is not to prevent this from happening, rather to respond appropriately when it does. It's just a more engaging experience that way, where the experience of the many produces a better response than the dictat of the one.

So you're conciously going to teach each other incorrect technique, and possibly pass those on to still more.

Good luck with that.

Cthulhu

 

[tshadowchaser]

Teaching a technique wrong after 3 or 4 generations of teachers make it correct in the teacher and student minds but it is still incorrect to those that have more knowledge.
My students are given a student to train after they have been with me for a year or so. I watch them teach and correct what they do wrong . I may let a technique be instructed wrong once but i will take my student teacher aside and explain what i saw wrong so that he/she may correct it asap.
Teaching seems easy but one must know the techniques fully not just have an idea of how and why to use them then one must be able to explain the tchnique to individuals of varrying degrees of intellegence and athletic ability