School
Identity
If you think about the Kempo classes in the early days, the
'attendance' list reads like a who's who of the martial
arts - Chow, Emperado, Parker, Lowe, Leoning, Godin,
Gascon, and so on. Seeing as we know a lot more today about
exercise, physiology, pedagogy and tactics used by other
arts, we should be producing whole crops of students that
surpass the revered elders. Why aren't we?
Because the reason the class list read like a who's who
back then was that the non-hardcore students were removed
via attrition. The only folks who stuck around were the
ones who would have kicked your butt no matter what they
trained in. By trying to keep the average joes, soccer moms
and kids, we've flooded the martial arts schools with
hobbyists. Is this bad? Good? I think it's just a matter of
opinion or philosophy. Are you trying to create peerless
fighters or just do the most good for the largest number of
people. I have some friends who teach at a school a couple
of towns over, and I've recommended about a half dozen
students to them over the last year. I teach at a different
school, so why on earth would I send them to 'the
competition'? Because they aren't the competition. They
gear themselves directly to the 18-23 year old male UFC
hopeful demographic. They are a small school in someone's
basement. They will never be a big school. They have no
website, and I'm not sure they even have a sign. They have
business cards now and then. And if you survive a month
there, you are allowed to add your name to the roster. Only
a small percentage of folks do. The last guy I referred
there (about 6 months ago) has lost 50 lbs. He has a
cauliflower ear now. He's as happy as a
clam. How many soccer moms or kids do you
think they have? How many of your students would last a 2
minute round MMA style with any of their '1-year' veterans?
How many of your blackbelts? You make your choices based on
your personal philosophy and how you want to focus your
life and time.
I'm not saying that either one is bad or good. What I am
saying is - run your school the way you believe is right.
You will attract that type of student. If you try to cater
to everybody (from hardcore to soccer mom) in
one program, you will alienate half of your
students on a regular basis. If you want to teach the hard
core and the soccer mom, learn to separate your goals from
the goals of your students. Plan a class for each, but
don't expect one class to fit the needs of everyone. If you
teach in a way that you don't personally believe, your
students will figure it out. Run the school the way you
believe. Your students (although they may not be a large
group) will find you.
