Sami Ibrahim
Green Belt
In some American Kenpo circles an Instructor says "I can teach anyone to fight in a relatively quick time frame" and this is usually followed up by explaining that the reason students stay in the art beyond that point is for other personal reasons.
On the surface this may seem like a harmless statement that is elevating a pugilistic endeavor into some noble and higher purpose but actually it is not true. It is a misleading statement about fighting and can cause some to shift the focus of their training from the practical to the impractical, leaving them vulnerable.
Fighting skills are subject to the law of daily decrease, each day that you sham out of effective training is a day your skills decline. Just as Martial skill is built brick by brick, day by day with time and effort, the daily decrease comes along and kicks your building down when your no longer maintaining it. Also to say that you can teach someone to fight in a relatively quick time frame implies that their is this imagined end to fighting ability.
"OK little Billy, you have complete your fighting lessons you are now and forever the greatest fighter in the Galaxy and can focus your training on frivolous or fancy stuff at your leisure."
Sounds pretty stupid when I say it like that but that is basically what teachers are doing when they down play the importance of fighting in regards to Kenpo. Your training should always be elevating your fighting skill, your not supposed to give your students false confidence that they have "arrived" and are now capable fighters because the next stop for them is the XMAs lol
Any thoughts?
On the surface this may seem like a harmless statement that is elevating a pugilistic endeavor into some noble and higher purpose but actually it is not true. It is a misleading statement about fighting and can cause some to shift the focus of their training from the practical to the impractical, leaving them vulnerable.
Fighting skills are subject to the law of daily decrease, each day that you sham out of effective training is a day your skills decline. Just as Martial skill is built brick by brick, day by day with time and effort, the daily decrease comes along and kicks your building down when your no longer maintaining it. Also to say that you can teach someone to fight in a relatively quick time frame implies that their is this imagined end to fighting ability.
"OK little Billy, you have complete your fighting lessons you are now and forever the greatest fighter in the Galaxy and can focus your training on frivolous or fancy stuff at your leisure."
Sounds pretty stupid when I say it like that but that is basically what teachers are doing when they down play the importance of fighting in regards to Kenpo. Your training should always be elevating your fighting skill, your not supposed to give your students false confidence that they have "arrived" and are now capable fighters because the next stop for them is the XMAs lol
Any thoughts?