MonkeySlap Too
02-24-2005, 01:23 PM
This years observations to bore you by:
1. It hurts to get old. A buddy of mine said this when HE was pushing forty. He's a tough 61 year-old now. Saw him this weekend, and told him he was correct. dangit.
2. More and more I just don't hang out with TMA types. Except for the very few. This was pretty much always true. But now it's more overt, and there are other MA types to hang with that are fighters. (In the past it was all JKD wannabes, who never wanted to fight in our ring.)
3. The student-teacher model driven by confucist idealls is almost dead. Too many schools go beyond respecting the teacher, being respectful and evolve a master/slave thing. Somewhere there is a happy medium, and I think it's the old fashioned Western idea of a Coach as a good example and perhaps father figure for troubled folks - but not the 'master' 'father' thing so prevelant in the East.
4. Students will always do stupid things, because they are trying to stand on thier own. Let them.
5. If you like teaching, don't try to create an 'organization' that requires anything more than people training.
6. When a school starts telling you who you can hang with, and who you can't, it's time to p!ss off. There is plenty of good stuff out there.
7. The idea of a 'style' is breaking down. People look for experts in specific skills, but are not so interested in learning a 'curriculum'. This is a good thing, but is not so different from the 'old days' - examples include Chang Tung Sheng or Wang Xiangzhai traveling around learning specific things from different teachers.
8. Training methodology is more important than 'technique.' For those of you who have been asleep.
9. If you are doing CMA, and CAN'T impress an MMA guy with your skills, you are probably not doing an actual CMA.
10. Guys who have HAD to fight for real often evolve smilar skills/strategies that you learn from a good coach. I've met a guy who was a SWAT guy/ex-marine who has had hundreds of 'encounters' - his fighting 'style' he evolved is incredibally similar to mine - yet he never heard of any of this stuff before he met me. This is not a 100% true rule, but in this one case, it did happen.
1. It hurts to get old. A buddy of mine said this when HE was pushing forty. He's a tough 61 year-old now. Saw him this weekend, and told him he was correct. dangit.
2. More and more I just don't hang out with TMA types. Except for the very few. This was pretty much always true. But now it's more overt, and there are other MA types to hang with that are fighters. (In the past it was all JKD wannabes, who never wanted to fight in our ring.)
3. The student-teacher model driven by confucist idealls is almost dead. Too many schools go beyond respecting the teacher, being respectful and evolve a master/slave thing. Somewhere there is a happy medium, and I think it's the old fashioned Western idea of a Coach as a good example and perhaps father figure for troubled folks - but not the 'master' 'father' thing so prevelant in the East.
4. Students will always do stupid things, because they are trying to stand on thier own. Let them.
5. If you like teaching, don't try to create an 'organization' that requires anything more than people training.
6. When a school starts telling you who you can hang with, and who you can't, it's time to p!ss off. There is plenty of good stuff out there.
7. The idea of a 'style' is breaking down. People look for experts in specific skills, but are not so interested in learning a 'curriculum'. This is a good thing, but is not so different from the 'old days' - examples include Chang Tung Sheng or Wang Xiangzhai traveling around learning specific things from different teachers.
8. Training methodology is more important than 'technique.' For those of you who have been asleep.
9. If you are doing CMA, and CAN'T impress an MMA guy with your skills, you are probably not doing an actual CMA.
10. Guys who have HAD to fight for real often evolve smilar skills/strategies that you learn from a good coach. I've met a guy who was a SWAT guy/ex-marine who has had hundreds of 'encounters' - his fighting 'style' he evolved is incredibally similar to mine - yet he never heard of any of this stuff before he met me. This is not a 100% true rule, but in this one case, it did happen.