You all probably know that I rarely post on here any longer. There's not enough time in my day to work, then teach, try to visit with the kids then get on the 'net & try to balance wifey somewhere in there too. Recently I've been struggling with something. I would like to know your input before making a complete decision.
Those of you who may have been around when I started on MT which was in '02 might know my back ground. If not I'll provide a short synposis. I started TKD in July of '89. Made my way to 2nd black before leaving. During my time period with my instructor we had several other TKD instructor's in our studio. We trained in the olympic TKD w/one instructor. Another couple of guest instructor's who brought other idea's & training methods along as well. Besides regular tournaments, TKD tournaments, I had the opportunity to train in full contact kickboxing.
My last classes were in may of '94. In june of '94 I started american kenpo. Been at it ever since. Although on ocassion I would teach a class here and there for my former instructor when he needed help or if something came up he couldn't be there. Since my kenpo training started I opened my own small studio in Nov. '06. My area is small. There are only a couple of legit insturctors in town. The rest well, everyone has the rest of them hanging around too. My classes have been starving for students. Not that it all bothers me b/c this is a part time, love for the arts vs. trying to make sure my family has food in their mouths. I very much enjoy my day job, oh, & insurance (lol).
Here's where my dilhema comes into play. Sometime in dec. some guy's had contacted me to teach them TKD as they had heard through the grapevine I trained in it. To that I said there is one real good guy in town who does this. They all kind of balked at the idea. They pursued me, emailed me, & called me. From each they told me they wanted to learn to fight, kick, kick properly, punch, strike, & most importantly have sound basics when fighting. I still turned them down. One day the more vocal of the three said we would like a class. Put one together, let's do it & see where we fall. After that I said, you will have to come after my kenpo class. They need to stay seperate. The three of you will have to listen, go over the basic of the basics. You will do the front snap, roundhouse kick, w/the horizontal, & vertical punches at first. Don't bring ego's, be prepared to sweat & most important be ready to move.
Our day came 3 monday's ago. We put a lot of sweat on the mat. It was a great time. One of them had experience & found out he needed to hone his skills on the above which I touched on. After the class they all said this is what they were looking for. All 3 signed up on that night & committed to training every monday night. I had told them I was not interested in changing gi's. Wearing one then changing to start another class with another gi, new belt & so on. You probably get the idea.
Ok, that was 3 monday's ago. Since then I had another set of guy's come in to train. So, besides me there will be 6 more students. I have only 2 serious adult students taking my kenpo classes. People come then they drop out, none typically stay. Here I have 6 new people that want to just learn to spar & get into some real fitness.
During this class though, I told them it couldn't possibly be strictly a TKD class. There are drills from the chinese influence of kenpo I find an incredible amount of value in. Also, I will be teaching the freestyle techniques found in the kenpo system to these guys. This will help bridge the gap between self defense, sparring, & save your butt on the street. So you see, this is not a strict TKD & fitness class. I can't market it as that. At least I don't think so.
There have been women who wanted a fitness class who wanted to learn how to defend themselves as well as learn the basics of kicking, punching, & striking. Therefore I am now at a crossroads trying to figure out what exactly to do. My instincts tell me to open this up to others as a TKD & fitness class. If I do that then I would have to teach the full TKD curriculum. I'm not interested in doing that. The forms between the arts are much too different. That, & I really don't want to go back to brush up on my chong-ji through Po-Eun. There's too many in my head to begin with. If this is advertised as an actual mixed martial arts class then I will get the guy's who think they are going to learn stand up fighting then JJ. This is not the case either. I don't want someone suing me for false advertisement.
Lastly, I hope that this long lengthy message you all understand where I'm coming from? Let me know your thoughts please?
Respectfully,
Jason Farnsworth
Those of you who may have been around when I started on MT which was in '02 might know my back ground. If not I'll provide a short synposis. I started TKD in July of '89. Made my way to 2nd black before leaving. During my time period with my instructor we had several other TKD instructor's in our studio. We trained in the olympic TKD w/one instructor. Another couple of guest instructor's who brought other idea's & training methods along as well. Besides regular tournaments, TKD tournaments, I had the opportunity to train in full contact kickboxing.
My last classes were in may of '94. In june of '94 I started american kenpo. Been at it ever since. Although on ocassion I would teach a class here and there for my former instructor when he needed help or if something came up he couldn't be there. Since my kenpo training started I opened my own small studio in Nov. '06. My area is small. There are only a couple of legit insturctors in town. The rest well, everyone has the rest of them hanging around too. My classes have been starving for students. Not that it all bothers me b/c this is a part time, love for the arts vs. trying to make sure my family has food in their mouths. I very much enjoy my day job, oh, & insurance (lol).
Here's where my dilhema comes into play. Sometime in dec. some guy's had contacted me to teach them TKD as they had heard through the grapevine I trained in it. To that I said there is one real good guy in town who does this. They all kind of balked at the idea. They pursued me, emailed me, & called me. From each they told me they wanted to learn to fight, kick, kick properly, punch, strike, & most importantly have sound basics when fighting. I still turned them down. One day the more vocal of the three said we would like a class. Put one together, let's do it & see where we fall. After that I said, you will have to come after my kenpo class. They need to stay seperate. The three of you will have to listen, go over the basic of the basics. You will do the front snap, roundhouse kick, w/the horizontal, & vertical punches at first. Don't bring ego's, be prepared to sweat & most important be ready to move.
Our day came 3 monday's ago. We put a lot of sweat on the mat. It was a great time. One of them had experience & found out he needed to hone his skills on the above which I touched on. After the class they all said this is what they were looking for. All 3 signed up on that night & committed to training every monday night. I had told them I was not interested in changing gi's. Wearing one then changing to start another class with another gi, new belt & so on. You probably get the idea.
Ok, that was 3 monday's ago. Since then I had another set of guy's come in to train. So, besides me there will be 6 more students. I have only 2 serious adult students taking my kenpo classes. People come then they drop out, none typically stay. Here I have 6 new people that want to just learn to spar & get into some real fitness.
During this class though, I told them it couldn't possibly be strictly a TKD class. There are drills from the chinese influence of kenpo I find an incredible amount of value in. Also, I will be teaching the freestyle techniques found in the kenpo system to these guys. This will help bridge the gap between self defense, sparring, & save your butt on the street. So you see, this is not a strict TKD & fitness class. I can't market it as that. At least I don't think so.
There have been women who wanted a fitness class who wanted to learn how to defend themselves as well as learn the basics of kicking, punching, & striking. Therefore I am now at a crossroads trying to figure out what exactly to do. My instincts tell me to open this up to others as a TKD & fitness class. If I do that then I would have to teach the full TKD curriculum. I'm not interested in doing that. The forms between the arts are much too different. That, & I really don't want to go back to brush up on my chong-ji through Po-Eun. There's too many in my head to begin with. If this is advertised as an actual mixed martial arts class then I will get the guy's who think they are going to learn stand up fighting then JJ. This is not the case either. I don't want someone suing me for false advertisement.
Lastly, I hope that this long lengthy message you all understand where I'm coming from? Let me know your thoughts please?
Respectfully,
Jason Farnsworth