Martial arts discussion thread

[Bartrim]

First lesson back after a 6 week hiatus due to a bulged disc. I'm gonna be sore tomorrow.

[KalEl]

I intend on getting back to training myself in the next few weeks.

[GoktimusPrime]

I've pretty much given up finding a martial arts school in my local area. There just aren't any schools in my area that teach authentic/traditional martial arts. I'm just sticking to self training/practice.

...................................

The news have been covering two stories that have some relevance to martial arts in Australia.

1) Man accused of 'one-punch' death of Daniel Christie to stand trial for murder. The accused is a self-proclaimed mixed martial arts fighter. If it's true that he's actually received martial arts training before (and unfortunately it wouldn't surprise me if he has), then that's really upsetting. I really cannot abide how so many martial arts schools aren't more selective with their students. What kind of instructor/school teaches a combat art to a person with a violent/thug-like disposition and history of drug use? Unfortunately I have come across people with violent/thuggish tendencies being trained in martial arts. It just reeks of massive irresponsibility on the part of the instructor/school. I've also come across some instructors who will either modify their teaching programme towards such people (i.e. deliberately watering down that student's curriculum so that they're not actually acquiring new skills that they can use to hurt people with), or just outright expelling that student from the school. IMHO there are not enough instructors out there who are doing this. Christie's father has said, "We as mature adults need to do something to contain it (the violence)." -- and IMO, something that the martial arts community can do to help contain it is to NOT teach unfettered martial arts to people with dubious personality traits. It does depend on the style as well... Aikido instructors probably don't have to modify much if anything, since their art is entirely defensive and lacking any offensive capability in the first place.

2) Teenage Chinese lion dancer critical after stunt goes wrong in rehearsal -- TV news reports that the teenager is now in a stable condition
A timely reminder that all martial arts schools and instructors do have a legal duty of care over their students. Now I'm by NO means making any allegations in this particular case; the story doesn't give us nearly enough details to make any kind of judgment like that. We do know that other members of the school rushed to perform CPR and called emergency services, and the police have commended their immediate use of first aid which has probably saved this kid's life. So it does sound like the school has exercised reasonable care in responding to the accident, but it will be ultimately up to the school's insurer to determine of reasonable care was taken or not. I really hope that they do find in favour of the school, because, as we all know, if the insurer determines that the school was negligent, then this in turn contributes to the rising cost of martial arts insurance (which all MA students pay for in annual fees). Again, I'm not making any suggestions or allegations about this particular school or case, but these cases ought to make us all reflect on how we are making our training as reasonably safe as possible. And I'm sure we all are, but sadly, there are a lot of schools out there that don't. I've seen schools where students are allowed to free spar... without wearing any protective equipment... without supervision from the master (only from senior students; the master is nowhere to be seen).

[Sinnertwin]

i suppose the instructor may have been aware of the individuals' thuggish disposition after watching his behaviour during lessons & proceeded accordingly. But if i was Billy Badass & wanted to learn how to inflict maximum damage on an individual through martial arts, i'd keep my mouth shut, eyes & ears open & stay in line.
My question is, do classes these days do a background check to determine if somebody has any sort of criminal behaviour? Do they do any sort of a check?

[GoktimusPrime]

That's a great question. My old Chen Tai Chi school conducted background checks -- we had one student who had a thuggish disposition and a background check revealed that he had a history of violence. That student's curriculum was modified. I've never seen any other school do it, but I've come across several students with questionable thuglike tendencies. So in my personal experience, I've only come across one school that conducted background checks and would appropriately modify teaching content for questionable students. IMHO it's something that should happen in every MA school, but I've seen a lot of schools that don't, and continue to teach students who are unable to keep their aggression in check.

[Bartrim]

That's a great question. My old Chen Tai Chi school conducted background checks -- we had one student who had a thuggish disposition and a background check revealed that he had a history of violence. That student's curriculum was modified. I've never seen any other school do it, but I've come across several students with questionable thuglike tendencies. So in my personal experience, I've only come across one school that conducted background checks and would appropriately modify teaching content for questionable students. IMHO it's something that should happen in every MA school, but I've seen a lot of schools that don't, and continue to teach students who are unable to keep their aggression in check.

I love mixed martial arts but I hate mixed martial artists. In my opinion a mixed martial artist should be someone who has trained in multiple martial arts not studied some hybrid because they want to let everyone know they "train UFC bro". This thug who was a "MMA fighter" is a coward who would probably freak out if he had to take part in any real competition. I can't describe in words how ashamed I am to be a part of community that people like that want to associate with.

My school doesn't do background checks but my instructor has booted people for thuggish behaviour. Overall I am really enjoying my school. We have great teachers and a great core group in my class of 8-10 that show up regularly and we've developed a close bond.

I've never modified a class I've taught due to aggressive behaviour but I have modified individual student curriculum twice. One was an autistic teenager who was quite talented once I broke the moves down for him and the other was (working with a health retreat) for a man going from 330kg to 110kg. There is a documentary being made on his journey. I don't know if I have a cameo in it but I am proud to have been part of it

[GoktimusPrime]

My school doesn't do background checks but my instructor has booted people for thuggish behaviour.

Most excellent.
Whether a school chooses to modify curriculum or outright expel the student, the important thing is that the school is doing something to address the issue of having a thug in the class. It really bugs me that there are so many schools out there that do nothing about it. Or even worse, when the master himself is a bully/thug (yes... I have seen this too at two different schools ).

I've never modified a class I've taught due to aggressive behaviour but I have modified individual student curriculum twice. One was an autistic teenager who was quite talented once I broke the moves down for him and the other was (working with a health retreat) for a man going from 330kg to 110kg. There is a documentary being made on his journey. I don't know if I have a cameo in it but I am proud to have been part of it

That is freaking fantastic. This shows that you are treating your students as individuals and are willing to customise your teaching to cater for your students' individual needs, as a teacher should! One of my pet peeves about a lot of martial arts "teachers" is how they simply treat all students the same, which is not what a proper teacher does. Good teaching should be more student-centred, but I find a lot of MA schools are too teacher-centred.

[5FDP]

Thinking of enrolling my daughter into a class sometime in the new year. She's done all the dancing stuff, gymnastics stuff, ballet stuff already. I want her to learn something practical / useful. I've never heard of anyone using ballet to get themselves out of trouble. I would also sleep a lot easier knowing that she can look after herself (when she's 10 years older and a third degree blackbelt ). Anyone here have kids under the age of 10 attending a school and what feedback / advice can you give me?

[GoktimusPrime]

Just my personal thoughts...

IMHO if you're looking for something practical/useful in terms of self defence, then the more traditional/authentic, the better. You want a school that predominantly or solely focuses on teaching martial arts as a survival skill rather than a hobby-sport. The atmosphere of the class would be somewhat similar to what you might expect in say an advanced First Aid course, where the teaching/learning is just about honing skills to optimise survival. There's nothing about glory or impressing a judge or audience or winning points or trophies etc. It's just about keeping yourself safe from harm.

But all the authenticity in the world is no good if the teaching is bad. Last year I trained in a traditional Okinawan style of Karate, but after about a year I quit because the teaching was just awful. So teaching methodology/quality is also key Student-centred learning is far more effective than teacher-centric classes. Think of the dull teacher who stands at the front of the classroom telling students what to do, and the students blindly copy without question. It's passively mind-numbing rote learning, which tonnes of research has demonstrated as a POOR method of teaching and learning. School teachers try to avoid teacher-centred passive learning as much as possible, and shift more towards student-centred active learning where students are given ample opportunities of problem-solve, formulate/answer questions, discuss, explain, debate, brainstorm, as well as engaging in learning via cooperation, inquiry, discovery etc. Teacher-centred learning is like the Michael Bay of teaching/learning... it's a popular method, but ultimately shallow. Student-centred learning is more like say IDW G1... not as widespread, but far more in-depth and richer in quality. Student-focused schools are more likely to cater for individual differences in learners rather than blindly treating them all as clones.

I would strongly suggest shopping around. Check out as many schools as you can. Give them a visit and try to observe at least one lesson. Even better if the school offers trial lessons (though I find these days many don't ).

Good luck

[5FDP]

Thanks for the tips Goki. I'm surprised that many don't offer trial lessons these days. Back when I was training, my instructor wasn't even fussed if we paid him 6 months late.

I know of a parent from her school that teaches a class at his home. I think I might take her to give that a try. She's a fairly shy little girl and going to a class with 10 or more students might scare her off. From what I have heard, he keeps his classes fairly small as he doesn't advertise.