Is Shaolin-Do for real?

[MasterKiller]

So you are not part of an Alumni or school group from college.

No.

You dont have a bumper sticker that says my child and money go to so and so.

No.

You dont have your certificates from your teachers showing rank ??or pics of your teachers up in the school like Funikoshi GMS etc.

I have no pictures hanging in my school. I have no rank certificates displayed in my school. I have no lineage chart in my school. All of that stuff is in my garage, where I train at home.

But if my students ask, I freely tell them where I learned what I teach, even if I picked something up off Youtube.

What do you call your school ?? Way of the stolen fist ??? KC

How can it be stolen when I paid for the lessons? If you are selling lessons, the person who buys the material owns it.

I run an open school. I bring in wrestlers, judoka, boxers, submission wrestlers...anyone I can get to come in and help teach. At any given time, I might have 3 teachers there, all from different disciplines and all helping me train my students.

I'm too busy improving the skill level of my students to worry if they will honor me with an altar or not.

[kwaichang]

That is such a warped perspective , if you borrow a car is it yours can you sell it ? Sure but that is stealing. You dont own the art or style it is not yours you were accepted as a student in the hope that you would be a student until you learned it "all". But you get a small tid bit and go and try to teach what you know or think you know. Werent you wanting the paper work to the Huas and 5 Animal Fist ??? Why dont you write your own if it is yours. You cant deny the Origins of the things you know. You have basically done what many others have done tried to go out and start your own style before Mastering the one you were learning. Jack of all master of none. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Would you go to Medical school for a year and then attempt a Heart Transplant ??? Hey you went to Med school right ?? So you must be a Doctor. KC

[Leto]

In the old days, if someone didn't want to tell where they learned something from (because they didn't have permission, or they had a falling out with their teacher, or they invented it), maybe they'd say "a wandering monk showed me", or "I visited a hermit on a mountain."
We can't really use those excuses anymore. The people who try it end up looking like complete scam artists.
Things change, grow, evolve. Some people embrace that and encourage it, and others try to stop it and keep things static. There doesn't need to be any disrespect involved...but sometimes it's unavoidable, when your teacher is of the latter school of thought and you are of the former. Your teacher demands that you only teach other people what he taught you, unaltered in any way. You have grown as an artist (as we all do through years of practice), and have new ideas and do things differently, in addition we learn from various sources whether we want to or not. Your choices are: wait until your teacher passes on before doing what you want, or "disrespect" him and go in your own direction (without permission and maybe not being allowed to even mention officially that you were his student).
Another factor today is business and legal stuff like copywrites. In the case of some chains of schools, you can't legally call your school by the same name as them without permission, being a part of the organization. You might not even legally be allowed to claim them as your teachers unless you are in the group and following all their rules. So do you give up your martial arts pracitce? Acquiesce and just follow all their rules, despite your misgivings? Or teach what you want and how you want, just call it something else and accept a level of "shadiness" in the department of lineage?
Though I prefer honesty in all situations, I don't hold it against anyone who teaches without the permission of their teacher, or makes changes to curriculum. The martial arts skill will speak for itself. Names on certificates and historical ties don't automatically confer skill or "worthiness". I won't judge anyone without practicing with them or at least seeing how they practice. That's the only way to know how sincere they are, and how skilled they are.

[MasterKiller]

That is such a warped perspective , if you borrow a car is it yours can you sell it ? Sure but that is stealing.

If your PAY for lessons, you are BUYING knowledge. Last time I checked, you can legally sell something you legally bought.

You dont own the art or style it is not yours you were accepted as a student in the hope that you would be a student until you learned it "all". But you get a small tid bit and go and try to teach what you know or think you know. Werent you wanting the paper work to the Huas and 5 Animal Fist ??? Why dont you write your own if it is yours. You cant deny the Origins of the things you know. You have basically done what many others have done tried to go out and start your own style before Mastering the one you were learning. Jack of all master of none. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Would you go to Medical school for a year and then attempt a Heart Transplant ??? Hey you went to Med school right ?? So you must be a Doctor. KC

You must have me confused with someone else. I have my whole system. I was promoted to full instructor before I left my school. I know my material as well as you know yours.

[kwaichang]

That last statement is questionable but not worth debating. You are not in the SD system you have severed ties as it were. So you learned some thing worth teaching but to teach w/o permission is wrong and shows the lack of respect permeating the M/A today Many students in the past me included went to study other systems but I had permission from my previous teacher. This why some systems are so watered down and lacking. You seem to be saying because you were a full teacher that you know enough to start your own style and GMT cant teach you anymore??? KC BTW what rank did you get in SCS SD

[Yao Sing]

Your warped perspective, a tourney is not an indicator of skill level KC

Only in the world of SD. So you're saying the guys that win competitions do so by good looks or paying off the judges?

Or do they win because they're good (read skilled)?

But funny that the rest of the post is shrugged off and only the tournament comment gets a response, as if that was the heart of the comment.

Actually I was extending it to AT LEAST a tournament win over your peers in other styles. Pretty much the bottom of the credibility barrel.

Your response pretty much validates my assertion. Almost 500 pages later the answer to the question turns out to be 'no'.

[Yao Sing]

BTW, I'm not anti-SD. I really don't care that much but when you look at what's presented it becomes fairly obvious.

[tattooedmonk]

the name the name of my school is in honor of my Master

[tattooedmonk]

but at this slow rate it might take a while.

[kwaichang]

So if you grade a style by how well you fight then you must be a good fighter if you win tournaments. KC Tournament are mostly luck not skill. Tag your it.

[Shaolin Wookie]

If your PAY for lessons, you are BUYING knowledge. Last time I checked, you can legally sell something you legally bought.
.

This isn't true. I thought it was, but it's not. I bought my wife from a Russian smuggler, and tried to rent her out to my buddy. I got arrested for pimping.

P-O P-I M-P OLOGY.....

[kwaichang]

" imagine SD will continue to catch flak until some more substantial proof of the lineage claim or skill level is presented.

Seriously, what would you think of a school with hundreds of students, who knows how many instructor level practitioners, and decades in business that can't produce one video clip representative of the skill (to date all known video has been claimed as being not the true skill level, no offense JP) or placing in a non-SD only event?
Until then we'll just have to believe that the available video IS representative of the skill level of the more 'advanced' SD practitioners and it doesn't get much better than what we see."

The lack of a clip means nothing The tournament in Lexington is next week come and watch you will see good and bad. also the quality of the form means nothing the practioner could have had a bad day. KC

[MasterKiller]

That last statement is questionable but not worth debating. You are not in the SD system you have severed ties as it were. So you learned some thing worth teaching but to teach w/o permission is wrong and shows the lack of respect permeating the M/A today Many students in the past me included went to study other systems but I had permission from my previous teacher. This why some systems are so watered down and lacking. You seem to be saying because you were a full teacher that you know enough to start your own style and GMT cant teach you anymore??? KC BTW what rank did you get in SCS SD

Ummm.... I'm not an SD student. I have never studied SD/CSC. Put the crack down. You seem to be confusing me with TTM.

[Yao Sing]

You seem to be missing the point. So all those bad videos of SD are because they had a bad day? And they can't post a good video because nobody has a camera when they're having a good day?

And competitions are not good for determining skill level so SD doesn't bother to compete with other styles but they feel it's worthwhile to compete against themselves? Do you think nobody outside of SD is a skillful enough opponent?

I doubt I'll be getting out to the tourney in Lexington because, well, I just don't care enough to burn the money to fly there. How about you video tape a few of the better performances, both fighting and forms. Maybe you'll get lucky and tape the Grand Champion so we can see SD at it's best.

Or maybe a bit of the Masters demo. Wouldn't that be top of the line SD?

[kwaichang]

Sorry MK I was adressing TTM about SD KC