shhhhh, don't tell anyone

[red5angel]

I am not going to tell anyone else I am a martial artist. :mad: I am getting sick of running into all sorts of people who get me excited talking about wanting to learn or train and then dropping the ball.
Seriously, in the last month, no less then 4 of my freinds, one twice, have come up with some dumb excuse for not showing up to train, after telling me up to the very last minute, they were going to be there.

[dezhen2001]

i dont tell many ppl i am a martial artist either... coz usually they end up trying to hit me to see if i can fight :mad: which is all fine and well, but not when ur in the middle of having a normal conversation or with friends :mad:

im glad the way our classes run - its basically turn up and train, everyone gets individual attention. So if not many ppl turn up, then we get more attention as well as group attention :) Also it means my seniors get to do some of their own training as well as helping those of us who are there, so it can be good for all ;p

dawood

[Laughing Cow]

I simply tell people I do TJQ, if they ask.

Our classes are run very similar to Dezhen2001's.

Show up, train, get called over for personal tuition/correction, train some more.
Seniors will answer questions and assist juniors too.
Plus, we can still use the facility after Sifu is gone home.

When I started we had 5 Students at my level, currently it is either me alone or another guy, the rest haven't seem them for a while.
:(

[Ford Prefect]

red5angel,

Something we can agree about! :) I gave about telling anybody about martial arts a while ago.

ghthomason,

To be fair to all the dojo/kwoon/academy/etc visitors, maybe some just didn't like the place. I've visitted a few places, which I didn't like at all, but for the sake of being polite I never said anything negative. Of course, I never led them on either.

[red5angel]

yeah you get those people too, the kind who come into class once or twice. I can ignore those guys those. I get to hear how much my friends want to be learning martial arts and yeah yeah I want to train with you and just name the time, and then the string of excuses as to why they can't show up.

[red5angel]

ghthomason, good way of putting it.

[Ford Prefect]

I think they realize that they will have to shed a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in order to make progress. It's especially humiliating in a sport setting because you get your arse handed to you on a daily basis for months feeling like you aren't making any progress. It's not the romanticized version of MA training they saw Daniel-san go through.

[Laughing Cow]

Originally posted by ghthomason

I'm talking about the people that leave pumped up. It's a lot of fun to imagine knowing kung fu, but most people lose interest in the process of learning kung fu.

Most of the People that leave us fall into the 2nd category.

2 reasons:
1.) We don't advertise much publicly.
2.) You need to call before and make arrangements/get directions before dropping by.

[gnugear]

90% of the people I talk to bail out on me.

Either that or they'll work out once and I can't get them to commit again.

[Lao_Peng_You]

gnu:

All?
No All!

[anerlich]

At my kwoon about one percent of those who start complete the curriculum to first instructor level.

Not everyone gives MA training the highest priority. A lot of people just do it because the school is close by and it's more interesting than aerobics. Move another mile away and it's too far to travel.

Some do it while they're at school and have a flixbile timetable but quit when they get a real job and have to manage their time.

Many have spouses or SO's who resent the time it takes away from them, and when the foot gets put down the student chooses the relationship. Sad but true.

Many give up when they get past the original rush of learning the basic stuff and hit their first training plateau or find the first aspect of training that doesn't come easy to them. Or the first time they get hit hard. Or even when they get out of breath.

Just the way it is. No point getting upset about it. If I allowed myself to get upset over the volume or unfulfilled talent I've seen blow out of various places, I'd have slit my wrists long ago.

I normall only mention my interest to non-MA people I meet after I've known them for a while. Too many people have stupid ideas about MA, like I'm going to suddenly turn homicidal on them, or that I'm fair game for them to try a sucker punch on, or that they think their inane jokes about MA that everyone else makes too are going to impress me. Turning up to work with a black eye:

99.5% of respondents said: "Wife beat you up, did she? Hah Hah Hah"

0.4% said: "Walked into a door, did we?"

Gets really boring really quick...

[StarBoy]

2.) You need to call before and make arrangements/get directions before dropping by.


I've never done that. In the past, I've never had a problem with just showing up to a school and watching a class. In fact, most instructors insist I stay and watch. I did run into that problem once. It was this Kung Fu school that I later found out was run by a bunch of yuppies that didn't really know anything. I stopped by when I knew they were about to have a class, and they told me I'd have to make an appointment just to watch (on the pretense that they were worried about equipment getting stolen?). I don't see what the difference is whether or not they know I'm coming. I also found out that they almost never compete (forms or sparring), and when they do, they get spanked. Add that to a bizarre contract for people who want to train there, and you have one shady school.

My rule, if they don't let you just show up and watch, then it's a school to avoid.



Many have spouses or SO's who resent the time it takes away from them, and when the foot gets put down the student chooses the relationship. Sad but true.


The foot was put down with my last girlfriend. But then I told her that if I don't train, I don't stay in shape, and then she'll have a flabby boyfriend. The foot then proceeded to be lifted. :D

What I dislike is the people that do it just for the exercise (or to lose weight) and don't appreciate the art itself. If that's their attitude, they should just buy some Tae Bo tapes or something.

My undergraduate university offered kung fu and tai chi classes as credit for the phys. ed. requirement. Of course I took them (more opportunity to train? heck yeah). The people that were doing it just for credit were just sad. For god's sake, it's called LONG fist, not LIMP fist. :rolleyes:

[Laughing Cow]

Originally posted by StarBoy

I've never done that. In the past, I've never had a problem with just showing up to a school and watching a class. In fact, most instructors insist I stay and watch.

My rule, if they don't let you just show up and watch, then it's a school to avoid.

Like I said we don't advertise much and there is no sign outside the building for our kwoon, hence the need to ask for directions.
We are also a few minutes walk from the closest train station.

Secondly, we don't let people watch they join in and train along.
By calling beforehand our Sifu can get an idea of what they are after, experience level and so on.
Sometimes we also need to move to an alternate location due to scheduling conflicts or there are changes when the class is being held.

This way the class is not interrupted with people wanting to try things out and they can see how we train normally.

Said that, most of the People that come and take a trial lesson already know of my Sifu and his lineage and so far ALL of them signed up.

We believe that a Students needs to find a teacher, and that shouldn't be done by opening the yellow pages.
;)

BTW, we do compete and next week one of our students is moving to China to do full-time studies in CMA.

Cheers.

[StarBoy]

BTW, we do compete and next week one of our students is moving to China to do full-time studies in CMA.

I'm curious, how is the student doing this? I was thinking of doing something like that once I finish my degree and take care of a couple other things. The only financially possible way I came up with is if I work over there during the day teaching english and use my evenings to train. If there is an easier way (and a way that lets me train even more), I'm curious as to how your classmate is arranging it though.

[Laughing Cow]

Originally posted by StarBoy


I'm curious, how is the student doing this? I was thinking of doing something like that once I finish my degree and take care of a couple other things. The only financially possible way I came up with is if I work over there during the day teaching english and use my evenings to train. If there is an easier way (and a way that lets me train even more), I'm curious as to how your classmate is arranging it though.

I will ask our Guy on Saturday exactly how he plans on doing it.

I know he signed up for a University there to study Chinese and will be staying at our Sifu's hometown and study MA there.

Will keep you posted.

[dezhen2001]

chenjiagou?

i know a few seniors who have been there too and said it was very tough training! of course that was a few years ago before it became more 'commercial' as the shaolin temple has... but i thikn you can still find the good stuff, especially if you have contacts there :)

dawood

[gnugear]

Originally posted by Lao_Peng_You
gnu:

All?
No All!

Would you like Bill's sperm with that?

No!

[red5angel]

gnugear, LPY, this isn't a dating forum!!! ;)

[Laughing Cow]

Originally posted by dezhen2001
chenjiagou?

i know a few seniors who have been there too and said it was very tough training! of course that was a few years ago before it became more 'commercial' as the shaolin temple has... but i thikn you can still find the good stuff, especially if you have contacts there :)

dawood

He won't be at chenjiagou, but might train there at times.

He might also do some training at shao-lin as it it fairly close to chenjiagou. I think 'bout 2hrs by Car.

Agreed, that anybody that wants good training at either of those locations should go via their Sifu or similar contacts..

Cheers.

[dezhen2001]

cool :)

i think its a few hours away between sholain and chenjiagou for sure... i would love to visit shaolin just to see the place.

my sisuk entered the annual tui shou competition in chen village a few years ago. from all accounts it was a good experience but he gopt injured from over-training i think so got knocked out after a few rounds in. frm the pics i have seen it seemed to be quite an experience so im sure your friend would love it! :)

dawood

[TaoBoy]

Sadly, I've stopped bothering to learn the names of the new people until I've seen them around for a while. There's just no bloody use - these kids just leave. I probably come off as a smart-ass, stuck-up pr!ck.


Oh well.

[Serpent]

No way, man, I'm the same. No point in remembering someone's name till you've seen them a bunch of times.

[dezhen2001]

lol... even after u know them, names are not needed anyway in conversation so no problems :D

dawood

[Serpent]

This from a guy with about four names!

[dezhen2001]

:D

whats your point?

dawood/david/dezhen/mr. nice guy.

[Serpent]

Sorry, what was your name again?

[dezhen2001]

whats YOUR name? ;)

dawood

[Serpent]

Serpent.

[dezhen2001]

lol :D

dawood

[Serpent]

:)

[dezhen2001]

smartarse.

dawood

[Serpent]

I prefer the term Intelligent Bottom actually.

[dezhen2001]

im out of here before u make me go mad :D

dawood

[Serpent]

Too late for that, bud.

;)