Originally Posted by
Grumblegeezer
I've got to disagree with this "old school" attitude. Sometimes this approach might work with young (teen-age to twenty-something) athletic men who's objective for training is to learn fighting. But I just came back from a large seminar at our head school in Austin. I met with students of all ages and levels of ability. Your recommended approach would only apply to one limited group... certainly not to kids or the older students (many in their 60s and above) the disabled and so forth. Yet these less athletic and combative students students all gained much of value from their training.
And to the point you made earlier stating that you can't learn anything from somebody unless they can beat you... that makes no sense at all. I've learned tons from older instructors who couldn't still compete at a high level. Or to give a more directly related example, my first WC sifu was fortunate enough to have trained with Grandmaster Ip Man close to the end of his life. Of course my instructor could have defeated the sick and dying grandmaster in combat, but that didn't diminish the knowledge that Grandmaster Ip had to impart.
Even with young instructors, like myself (barely turning 56 next week) ability to kick butt isn't the ultimate concern. My current VC instructor can easily kick my butt empty handed, but I teach him eskrima... in fact he recently appointed me the head instructor for Eskrima in his association. Combat skill is important, but there are so many other factors that need to be considered in choosing a school that meets your needs.