Ok ya right.....Whatever....
Earth Dragon
I can't believe you think Yang Lu-chan sucked!
He welcomed anyone into his Kwoon that wanted a match!
I can't believe you think Chen Fa-ke sucks.
Heck, by all accounts he went looking for matches at other Kwoons
Wang Shu Jin: he would accept a challenge just about anytime....in class out out of class, it didn't matter..
I guess you think he sucked also!
How about Chen man-ching? Didn't Robert Smith write about Master Chen accepting a sparring match from a Karateka? on a moments notice.
I guess he was a man of low integrity also.....
I could go on and on.....with examples like this
Here is a modern example:
We wouldn't know about Gracie BJJ if they didn't accept people comming into the dojo and asking to sample the goods ("granted... I think they took this to the extreme....but Gracie BJJ!!! nuff said)
If anything, the Chinese masters I listed above had that same mentality that the Gracie's have.
This is the mentality I was talking about, this is the mentality of a good teacher.
Chances are if an instructor or one of his senior students will spar with you (being new to a school) they got something you want and they have nothing to hide.
Most of the time you know right when you walk through the door if an instructor is legit. Most of the time you can tell by his/hers students (because they are a direct reflection of the instructor) However, we are talking about internal arts and sometimes it hard to tell who knows what.
Lots and lots of fakes and frauds abound in the internal arts.
It seems to me that this fighting mentality is the same mentality towards martial arts you and GLW put down as low integrity teaching or "BS"
I personnaly (as with a few other instructors) don't have a problem answering a question in a physical nature to people new to my methods.
There is nothing wrong with this, nor is it somehow ego inflation either...
If anything it's enlightenment!
As with GLW we also are going to have to agree to disagree on this matter...
My, what a personal debate.
So if its bad form to cross-hands with someone off of the street, what about the person that comes to you with genuine concerns about your skill level? How can you enlightened fellows spend so much effort trying to make gross generalizations about broad issues?
One of the problems with the internals is that you must touch to really guage a person's level. The beginner with absolutely no structure, unsure of the ends of his own limbs, may be the exception, yet I've seen people who look full, but are empty and vice versa.
"Can I feel it?" is not too confrontational and a legitimate request. At the same time an instructor who is reluctant is not necessarily a sham either, perhaps there are good reasons to be cautious. Maybe we need to consider whether or not we are talking about any extenuating circumstances.
All unusual variables aside, my bias is towards the instructors who will touch you. My usual response to "can you really use this stuff?" is the reply "sure, do anything..." Thats been enough for most people. So far, no-one who has come for instruction has either been an idiot or my superior. That isn't to say I haven't met the odd upper-body meathead who just wanted to play so-you-think-you-are-tough. The difference between these types of people has, to this point, been clear and unambiguous. Where is the problem?
I 'll go do some deep breathing now, someone has to. ;)
"The heart of the study of boxing is to have natural instinct resemble the dragon" Wang Xiangzai