this is what i deal with in NY

[EarthDragon]

a friend of mine just posted this link on his facebook because his son is now a black belt and entering into XMA Xtreme martial arts...................... he's 9 years old and joined when he was 7

why is there not a line out of my kwoon's door?
wake up America.......... this IS NOT martial arts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is complete crap and this guys got 4 locations and almost 1000 students.
Funny thing is he was one of roberst summers students adn when sensei summers moved to NC Ketchen changed his title to master....... self proclaimed



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhC7R...layer_embedded

[Violent Designs]

maybe he's just better at business and marketing? (no offense)

XMA is more catchy to the eye for retarded non martial artists, it's the truth.

[taai gihk yahn]

he has a polished, professional image, his studio is clean, modern and well-maintained, his advertising is clear-cut and markets well to his target audience (mid- to upper income), he shows workouts with people having a good time and that seem approachable to beginners, etc., etc., etc.

not getting down on you, but it seems the exact opposite of what your place looks like and the image you project; which is fine, I am not criticizing you, but whereas you appeal to a niche market, his appeal is broad-based, and therefore he attracts more students; I am also betting his business plan and marketing strategy are well-articulated, and that he has a very non-intimidating personal style;

while you are railing at America for their lack of MA savvy, he's living the American Dream because he understands how to cater to the mainstream's conception of what they think MA is or should be; and honestly, his stuff doesn't look terrible, it's pretty much standard strip-mall fare;

honestly, you just seem sour that the mainstream isn't in sync w ur thots about da r3alz...as my sifu says, you can be the ony one standing alone on the street corner preaching the "Truth" to no one, or you can be more skillful, and get the students in the door by meeting them where THEY are, and then nudge them along over time to a more profound realization of what you are teaching (this is from a Buddhist perspective, FYI);

[cerebus]

As much as we may not like it, Taai Gihk Yahn is 110% on the money. It's not about being the better or more authentic school, it's about who is the better businessman...

[EarthDragon]

guys thanks for the advice but I am not bitter, envious or jealous of his business. i am not looking for any more students at this time, my classes are filled.

My point was this is the type of school that exsists in todays world adn it makes me sick to my stomach as a MA teacher. Why is it that people would watch this clip and think they are getting good MA instruction?

isnt this the type of school that gaives MA a bad name. As fellow martial artsits how can you have anything postitive to say about schools like this?

I just wonder how he can have 4 locations when he teaches crap like this? is America that ignorant when it comes to MA instruction?
I mean a rape awarness class that teaches women when they are being chocked by a 200 black guy they should yell kiai and do a cheesy 3 move combo? or 6 year old black belts? is this really where this county has gone for MA????

[五祖拳]

I mean a rape awarness class that teaches women when they are being chocked by a 200 black guy

is this really where this county has gone

A '200 black guy'? Is this really where this world has gone?

[Drake]

Best defense against a larger male trying to rape you? Step one, do everything you can to avoid the situation. Step two, carry mace. Step three, get a gun and friggin learn how to use it.

Unfortunately, with the element of surprise, much more strength than the victim, and the threat of death if the woman (or man) refuses to comply, the odds are normally stacked against the victim. No casual KF, MMA, TKD, or anything else will change that. It would take some dedicated training on the part of the female to even the playing field to any degree.


As for the school. Good advertising, excellent use of A/V to excite the consumer. Approachable teachers, excellent facilities, and family oriented. They also offer a wide variety (quality irrelevant considering the target audience) of MA. Most Americans just want their kids to avoid becoming obese. They don't want ninja munchkins running around the house.

He self proclaimed himself a master? Yeah, like THAT doesn't happen very often...

[taai gihk yahn]

guys thanks for the advice but I am not bitter, envious or jealous of his business. i am not looking for any more students at this time, my classes are filled.

that is good to hear; and it shows that in fact there are sufficient numbers of people who are interested in content-quality that are not prone to mainstream marketing; but those are obviously the exception rather than the rule

My point was this is the type of school that exsists in todays world adn it makes me sick to my stomach as a MA teacher. Why is it that people would watch this clip and think they are getting good MA instruction?

seriously? are you that out of touch with the mindset of the genera public when it comes to their perception of MA? people want accessibility - if you couch your art in anything even vaguely esoteric, MOST people are going to get turned off;

isnt this the type of school that gaives MA a bad name.

as opposed to the squeaky-clean world of TCMA where there are no politics, back-stabbing, charlatans, gang-world affiliations or ANYTHING that could possibly give MA a bad name

As fellow martial artsits how can you have anything postitive to say about schools like this?

because there are a lot of positives, in terms of how he presents himself, that he is able to operate a professional studio in an effective manner, that he appeals to a large range of people and is getting a lot of people off the couch and away from the TV and doing something physical; certainy there is a lot of BS in some of what he teaches, but of course, that is unique to XMA; you would NEVER EVER see anything BS or hokey in TCMA

I just wonder how he can have 4 locations when he teaches crap like this? is America that ignorant when it comes to MA instruction?

as my sifu told my wife when she first came to this country: "french fries with 3 ketchups"; meaning that when dealing with Americans, one has to be blatant, obvious, explicit, specific - no innuendo, no appreciation for nuance, no implication - it's all "what you see is what you get"; as such, you get the XMA phenomenon;
I agree w u tho - in fact, I have a funny story about the lack of appreciation for quallity: I once posted on some forum that had video archives for all the "point-style" tournies w the kids swinging around their tooth-pick bo staffs; so this 14 yo girl was doing double whip chains in the jr. BB div., and people were cheering and posting comments on it like it was the greatest thing ever; of course, it was horrible, she had no idea what she was doing, real whip-chain players the world over were writhing in psychic agony at the effrontery; so i posted something to that effect, that what she was doing was hardly BB / advanced, that she lacked a lot of basics germaine to the weapon, that one should look at what kids in china hlaf her age were doing, etc.; well, people freaked - accused me of hating, that I was being insensitive to her feelings, that I shudn't compare her to chinese kids, that she was great, etc, etc.; in fact, I almost got banned, LOL (I got into a protracted PM w the admin, who, while eventually having to admit I was 100% spot on, still defended her position because, well, just because);

I mean a rape awarness class that teaches women when they are being chocked by a 200 black guy they should yell kiai and do a cheesy 3 move combo?

and yet if you go into "reputable" and "traditional" schools, a lot of them are teaching crap just as bad...or worse, teaching knife / gun defenses with authority but having no idea about the actual context...

or 6 year old black belts? is this really where this county has gone for MA????

look, it's all relative; I;m sure that 100 years ago, karate guys were complaining "what? a 30 y/o BB w only 15 yrs. experience? what's this world coming to?"

[bawang]

one thing good about these guys is they are honest about what they do. "combine tae kwon do with flashy gymnastics".

this is complete crap

still better than wing chun.

[lkfmdc]

Actually, in Japan, everyone in Highschool has a black belt

Only in America did it become this oopper dooper high rank

[Jimbo]

It also seems like (most?) people in Korea have a TKD black belt by a certain age.

I don't really care for the XMA myself, but at least it's a physical activity for kids that gets them off the couch and away from video games/computer. For a lot of kids, the fact that Taylor Lautner did XMA probably hasn't hurt its popularity, either. If that eventually leads them to some other physical activity in or out of MA, that's good, too. It's not as if the moves they do in XMA are a lifelong activity; in their 20s, most of those extreme acrobatic abilities begin to deteriorate anyway.

If the guy is giving people what they want to pay for, and if the kids are enjoying it, I don't see anything wrong with it. If the teacher's making good money at it, more power to him. As long as he isn't marketing it as something it isn't, at least it's honest money; certainly far better than being a drug dealer, etc.

[Frost]

guys thanks for the advice but I am not bitter, envious or jealous of his business. i am not looking for any more students at this time, my classes are filled.

My point was this is the type of school that exsists in todays world adn it makes me sick to my stomach as a MA teacher. Why is it that people would watch this clip and think they are getting good MA instruction?

isnt this the type of school that gaives MA a bad name. As fellow martial artsits how can you have anything postitive to say about schools like this?

I just wonder how he can have 4 locations when he teaches crap like this? is America that ignorant when it comes to MA instruction?
I mean a rape awarness class that teaches women when they are being chocked by a 200 black guy they should yell kiai and do a cheesy 3 move combo? or 6 year old black belts? is this really where this county has gone for MA????

How can having a clean gym, well attended classes, an expanding curriculum, healthy fit students be bad for MA? s So some of it looked staged and there was no sparring that we saw the weapons stuff was too wushu like ..To be honest so what people don’t really want to really fight and just want to have fun and get fit, which that lot were doing
What would you consider better? full contact fighting, gun defence, a tradition that can be traced back a hundred years.....hat exactly? Let’s face facts all styles were made up by someone at one stage who ended up calling themselves a master, and people learn this type of thing because they enjoy it and its fun, the days of learning a MA primarily for self defence are long gone, guns made that obsolete years ago

[IronWeasel]

A '200 black guy'? Is this really where this world has gone?

He's right, though...

200 black guys would be tough to beat.

[SoCo KungFu]

As much as I agree with the sentiment and schools like that make me wish we could bring back the days of dojo storming and taking it to the fairy boxers, I would just like to add one point.

The things that people are praising him for: clean gym, organized management, professionalism, etc. Everyone of those things is equally applicable to a quality school. Look at Ross's clips for instance. Every bit as clean, structured and organized. Probably more so since he's training people for a very specific goal. Honestly most MMA gyms and such (the ones that produce) have all those same qualities. Clean gyms a must for obvious reasons. Well organized layout with all the equipment and such available also a must. Structured training programs to meet the very specific goals. And professional because from a business standpoint because you're typically always dealing with promoters, fight organizers, licensing and all that other BS. AND there just happens to be really intimidating looking people doing intimidating looking things that tend to scare of the fairy boxers. BUT the organization in training should be readily apparent and confers to that newbie that does stick around, "Yes I too can succeed at this." Best of both worlds. Nothing that can't be done with a legit TCMA school.

That said, I still think there's something invigorating about training in a gym that looks like something out of Soviet Russia.

[mooyingmantis]

Earthdragon,
I can empathize with your frustration. However, old school is dead. They just haven't had the chance to shovel the dirt on our heads yet.
Peeps today want "made in Mexico", not Picasso. We must somehow show them the differences and inspire them to seek quality over facade.