Rank,Titles,Time Training,Age

[Tames D]

 

[Gerry Seymour]

You make the blanket statement that time-in-grade is about money. How do you account for associations that don't make money off the time? The NGAA, for instance, only gets any payment at two points: when you join ($40 when I joined), and when you are promoted (I think something close to $10 to cover administrative fees). They don't get a portion of monthly fees. So far as I know, that hasn't changed since I left. I don't think they're alone in that.

I agree that there's a lot of energy now around people being "too young" for a given rank or achievement. I think some styles flourished because their founder was around to keep tuning, building a student base, and developing instructors to follow them. If they founded a style at 60, there's not much time to accomplish all that.

 

[skribs]

Some thoughts I had while watching this:

• It's harder and harder to create a style these days. For one, people don't trust new offshoot styles, and prefer established training methods. More and more people are trusting the competitive arts, that if your art isn't part of a major competitive scene, it's less likely to draw members. New styles are more likely to be along the lines of Ameri-do-te than Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. But there's also so many martial arts, that creating your own style is basically going to be recreating another style, unless you find that special gem of uniqueness that's still hidden to us.
• What you say about federations is true, and there is a business aspect. But businesses are going to make their money somewhere. Which is better, a business that says "get your black belt in 1 year" and then students quit, or one that keeps people training?
• You talk about the Masters that created arts at 22. Imagine how much more experience can be brought to bear by someone in their 60s and 70s? Someone who has seen how the training methods work for thousands of students.

I don't think it's a big conspiracy or a cash grab. I think it's just what happens as federations mature.