I have not trained in twenty years, started in college, made red belt then just recently started training again. I trained privately here and there, so I am not that disabled. I am a traditional TSD practioner, and so remember training with no gear on a concrete floor.
After visiting a few schools I found my way back to a traditional TSD school that I initially thought was too expensive. But seriously, after visiting those other schools I noticed they had a very watered down version of the martial arts. Mainly they removed all the seriousness/discipline, lots of high fives, and played music (disco at times) for the whole session. Much of this I thought was marketing, emphasizing the exercise/aerobic quality, and making it fun so people would return. Too difficult, which is what martial arts training is, and you would be hard pressed to find students. That reminds me of the original episode of "Kung Fu" and David Carridine's young character whole waited in the rain for an opportunity to train with the Shaolin.
When I made it back to the TSD school the instructor and I talked for a while. Obviously liability and insurance dictated a soft floor, and padding on everyone. It seems like being black belt is everything and so some schools pretty much will give you black belt if you just show up enough times. As a friend said, "Getting a black belt is easy -- just remember a few forms, spar, and every once in a while break some wood". The martial arts always had its grounding in being martial, except now it is trying to compete with baseball, football, soccer, as sports. And, sadly it cant compete since those attract more of crowd and more attention. And, they are easier for kids and more fun to boot!!!
The martial piece got moved to the thugs that participate in competitive brawling, like the MMA. They have lousy technique and are basically large, violent people. I dont expect MA to stay the same, nothing stays the same, but must it evolve, or degrade into something worse. I think it is often like music, it sometimes has to get bad before it will get better again.
Any thoughts?
After visiting a few schools I found my way back to a traditional TSD school that I initially thought was too expensive. But seriously, after visiting those other schools I noticed they had a very watered down version of the martial arts. Mainly they removed all the seriousness/discipline, lots of high fives, and played music (disco at times) for the whole session. Much of this I thought was marketing, emphasizing the exercise/aerobic quality, and making it fun so people would return. Too difficult, which is what martial arts training is, and you would be hard pressed to find students. That reminds me of the original episode of "Kung Fu" and David Carridine's young character whole waited in the rain for an opportunity to train with the Shaolin.
When I made it back to the TSD school the instructor and I talked for a while. Obviously liability and insurance dictated a soft floor, and padding on everyone. It seems like being black belt is everything and so some schools pretty much will give you black belt if you just show up enough times. As a friend said, "Getting a black belt is easy -- just remember a few forms, spar, and every once in a while break some wood". The martial arts always had its grounding in being martial, except now it is trying to compete with baseball, football, soccer, as sports. And, sadly it cant compete since those attract more of crowd and more attention. And, they are easier for kids and more fun to boot!!!
The martial piece got moved to the thugs that participate in competitive brawling, like the MMA. They have lousy technique and are basically large, violent people. I dont expect MA to stay the same, nothing stays the same, but must it evolve, or degrade into something worse. I think it is often like music, it sometimes has to get bad before it will get better again.
Any thoughts?