I quit

[kuk sool won]

Well, i have quit my Kuk Sool Won school. I guess reality finally caught up with my and slapped me in the face. I knew what was happening to my school but i just refused to beleive it.

I have watched it ever so slowly go from an extremely good school to a complete McDojo, selling out at every corner

Reckens i need to find a new art now! Should i go for a change and move from the traditional scene for now? Or stay with my 'roots'?

[Sagacious Lu]

You sound like you're where I was a little over a year ago. My answer was to join a boxing gym and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made.

[Tom Yum]

I have watched it ever so slowly go from an extremely good school to a complete McDojo, selling out at every corner

Reckens i need to find a new art now! Should i go for a change and move from the traditional scene for now? Or stay with my 'roots'?

I've seen it too, KSW. Guys getting promoted up to 1st BB who gass out doing forms, can't spar there way out of a paperbag and just plain sloppy technique.

If you decide to stay traditional, do it in a no nonsense art, like silat or authentic muaythai.

[GranFire]

^_^....guys.....


Anyhow, shop around!

[kuk sool won]

well there are some great guys there, some real class acts with some amazing skill. They're at both ends of the spectrum too, some with some amazingly flash ability and others that could, and have, sparred in some of the best fighters around in any art. But I suppose like a lot of the guys who have great skills i didnt see it as a school that could take me any further. When i first started there some of the higher belts could hold their own with anyone and they had the history to prove it but its just become a school of half hearted practioners crammed into a tiny room.

The problem is that I live in a seaside town and there arent too many decent schools in the area, its quite a large town but we have nothing like muay thai and silat which is a shame because the thug culture has become quite active recently and a good few MA schools could make these arseholes think twice.

I think the only solution I have left is travelling 20 miles or so to get some decent training and not being able to drive does hinder my chances of ever doing that quite a lot.

[Hardball]

Stay with your roots until you get your Black Belt. Then branch out. The sky is the limit. My .02 worth.

[shaolin-warrior]

ksw,
I feel your pain. Make your school better, set the pace, be the exception not the rule. Be like a watch maker, take everything you've learned and dissect it. Put it all back together harder stronger and faster. Make it yours. Set the bar for yourself and be the one person that that everyone else aspires to be like. Your ranks will be earned and deserved. Thats what I love so much about Martial arts, What I've learned is mine and if I was stripped of all my worldly possessions you still couldn't take from me my second degree black belt, because i don't need to tie it on to be one, I trained hard and became one. Lend to the credibility of your school , your teachers and your system, and make peace with the fact that there will always be people who get undeserved promotions and credit where none is due them. Peace.

[Hardball]

ksw,
I feel your pain. Make your school better, set the pace, be the exception not the rule. Be like a watch maker, take everything you've learned and dissect it. Put it all back together harder stronger and faster. Make it yours. Set the bar for yourself and be the one person that that everyone else aspires to be like. Your ranks will be earned and deserved. Thats what I love so much about Martial arts, What I've learned is mine and if I was stripped of all my worldly possessions you still couldn't take from me my second degree black belt, because i don't need to tie it on to be one, I trained hard and became one. Lend to the credibility of your school , your teachers and your system, and make peace with the fact that there will always be people who get undeserved promotions and credit where none is due them. Peace.

I admire that. I hope to get mine this year. I've been a first for exactly 3 years now. I took 18 months off and just taught private lessons. Now, I am active again 9 (for a year) under a 9th and a 8th. They are busting my balls hard about this second but they know I don't intend to give up. Congrats on getting your second. How long did it take you to go from 1st to 2nd?
What did you have to do? ie., Money, techniques, testing?

[shaolin-warrior]

Three years and four months. It seemed like forever. But what a high to get it. Better than any drug, and I tested with my wife which was preety cool also.

[Hardball]

Three years and four months. It seemed like forever. But what a high to get it. Better than any drug, and I tested with my wife which was preety cool also.

How did the test compare to the 1st dan test?

[shaolin-warrior]

The test was four and a half hours long. Cost $500 for mine and $250 for my wifes. We started with an hour of basics to wear us down and warm us up. Then we did about an hour of Mat work and ground fighting. Than we did sparring and multiple attacker. We call it the gauntlet. One man in a circle and everyone else takes turns attacking you, with contact, only one at time, but they come in so fast and your so fatigued that it seems like it will never end. Then we did all of our forms, 16 in all. 26 system kempos on attackers with contact. And we had to demonstrate our five Animal Kempos that we had to develop or make ourselves. And 36 combinations on attackers with contact. Long night. Wont forget it though. First Dan was all endurance and lots of basics but second was more technical. But in retrospect, basics is really all you know up to first degree. Thats when the real learning begins. Don't you think?

[Hardball]

The test was four and a half hours long. Cost $500 for mine and $250 for my wifes. We started with an hour of basics to wear us down and warm us up. Then we did about an hour of Mat work and ground fighting. Than we did sparring and multiple attacker. We call it the gauntlet. One man in a circle and everyone else takes turns attacking you, with contact, only one at time, but they come in so fast and your so fatigued that it seems like it will never end. Then we did all of our forms, 16 in all. 26 system kempos on attackers with contact. And we had to demonstrate our five Animal Kempos that we had to develop or make ourselves. And 36 combinations on attackers with contact. Long night. Wont forget it though.

I'm confused, are you talking about 1st dan test or 2nd dan test?

[shaolin-warrior]

I described second dan test, but made reference to first dan being more basics than technical

[Hardball]

Thanks. My first Dan test was 6 hours long. My second Dan test, I have no idea what to expect. So far just a two man kata in front of a committee!!

[shaolin-warrior]

I wish you much luck, it makes it that much more worth wile not knowing. You go in expecting the worst and you have no greater opponent than your own mind. When it's all over you say "i thought it was going to be a lot worse".