A funny thing happened on the way to class..

[girlbug2]

This past Saturday morning I show up for class (Krav Maga) and the place is filled with students from another school --not only that, but Tang Soo Do! Apparently their instructor is touring them around different martial arts schools in the region to give them an education in different traditions and styles. they will go through a complete one hour Saturday morning class at each school led by that school's instructors. They do this once a month I think.

Later on at the end of their class we got to watch several of them perform katas. It was a win/win event for both schools.

My thoughts on this are that I am very impressed with this idea, and I had never heard of this kind of thing done before. I think the sensei has to be very secure in his position as teacher and owner of a school to actively guide his students get a taste of what else is out there, i.e., the "competition" so to speak. OTOH maybe a few of us will end up in Tang Soo Do eventually. But the students can only benefit from such a well-rounded martial arts education. If more schools did this kind of thing it would enrich the entire martial arts community.

Is this unusual? It was certainly a first for me. I'd like to see more of this kind of thing.

Your thoughts?

 

[MJS]

Never heard of that before either, but IMHO, I think its a fantastic idea! There are so many different arts out there, I think its great for people to get a taste of them. I cross train in a few different arts, and I love comparing the way each of them views a situation. This also may, as you said, spark interest in people, to get out and crosstrain.

Mike

 

[terryl965]

Sounds like agreat ideal. Thanks for sharing

 

[geezer]

This past Saturday morning I show up for class (Krav Maga) and the place is filled with students from another school --not only that, but Tang Soo Do! Apparently their instructor is touring them around different martial arts schools in the region to give them an education in different traditions and styles. . I'd like to see more of this kind of thing.

I agree, it's a great idea. Many of us frequently spout sage and tolerant things like, "We respect other systems..." or "All styles are good, at least if properly taught"... or "Different styles each have ther place..." and so on. But how many of us really believe those things? If we do, visiting diverse schools is exactly the kind of thing we should be doing! Some of my old instructors actively discouraged this kind of thing. But, for myself, I try to never miss an opportunity to visit and learn.

 

[tshadowchaser]

I have always been in favor of educating my students to what others do in their schools. The why’s and how’s of what is done differently lets my students have a broader knowledge of the martial arts.
This practice also breaks down some of the misunderstanding about other arts

 

[shesulsa]

I think it's GREAT! In fact, this could serve to not only abate the Curious George dropoff in enrollment, but also better everyone's education and understanding in the arts, hopefully foster mutual respect, appreciation and brotherhood, and ... all the fringe benefits that come from such activities.

Kudos to this instructor!

 

[jks9199]

I think it's GREAT! In fact, this could serve to not only abate the Curious George dropoff in enrollment, but also better everyone's education and understanding in the arts, hopefully foster mutual respect, appreciation and brotherhood, and ... all the fringe benefits that come from such activities.

Kudos to this instructor!

Many years ago, it wasn't that uncommon for a couple of schools to get together for a joint session. It's been given different names, and took different forms, ranging from a weekly or monthly regular session at one school that I've heard of, to just two schools getting together, training for a few hours, and having some lunch or dinner to seal the friendships.

I think it's a good idea... but can be hard to do today between the commercial day care martial arts schools, and just plain general time issues.

 

[Punchy]

Back in the '80's our kung fu school would invite other schools to our school for a sparring match or we would go to theirs. We did this maybe a couple of times a year. The students got a chance to see how other styles trained and sparred without all the animosity that comes with tournaments. Thinking back there were a couple of different TKD schools, 2 different types of kempo and some other kung fu schools that we sparred with. It was always a positive experience.

 

[MBuzzy]

I think that it is an incredible idea. Even if you do lose a student here and there, you will produce students of a much higher quality in the end. Plus, it would give me great confidence in my instructor that he was willing to do this and forward thinking enough to do it.

 

[Kacey]

I think it's a great idea - but you have to find other schools willing to let you in, and that could be easy or hard, depending on the school... there are lots of schools around here that won't let visitors in, never mind visitors in uniform from other schools. It's kind of sad, really.

 

[Sukerkin]

I'm sadly not surprised in some ways to hear that, Kacey.

It's another facet of what happens when 'money' comes into the equation and martial arts schools become businesses rather than places of learning .

 

[morph4me]

A couple of years ago we had group from another dojo come and take a class, they were on what their sensei called a "friendship tour", they were going to try to hit every dojo within a certain radius from theirs, and invited the members of each dojo they visted to visit theirs. It was a lot of fun and a great experience to anyone who participated.

 

[girlbug2]

So what I'm hearing is that this isn't entirely new but it's become rarer now. "Friendship Tour" is a good term for it.

I'll ask the Master if there's a day we can go train at that TSD school to reciprocate, like exchange students. I'd also like it if we could tour as a group to some of the local Aikido, Judo and BJJ dojos. So exciting...I don't want to get my hopes up.

But on the off chance that I do get a chance to do any of this, I'll post all about it.

 

[Shicomm]

It's a great thing to do and it can be done in multiple ways i think
It's always nice to have a look 'next door' to see what's going on ; could be a trial class but you also can try to get some people together in some kind of gathering where you got to get a taste of eachother art

I've co-hosted a few of those gatherings and it was always great
It's nice to meet people from other arts and it's very interesting to share some of your own art to others and pick up something from other arts as well

 

[Nolerama]

That falls in my "Awesome" category.

It might open a student's eyes as to what MAs/ranges really interest him or her.

I think your instructor is a good, well-rounded person for doing such a thing. It shows confidence in his teaching ability and performance.

It also shows you how to recognize the movements of another art, and find holes using your own art. That's a plus, to me, and definitely something I'd expect your instructor to go over when you guys are back home at the fort.

 

[Deaf Smith]

This past Saturday morning I show up for class (Krav Maga) and the place is filled with students from another school --not only that, but Tang Soo Do! Apparently their instructor is touring them around different martial arts schools in the region to give them an education in different traditions and styles. they will go through a complete one hour Saturday morning class at each school led by that school's instructors. They do this once a month I think.

OUTSTANDING! That's my thoughs.

That instructor is way ahead. He (or she) has an open mind and has enough self confidence that they are willing to let the students decide instead of saying "This style I teach is the best of the best and has nothing to learn from other ways."

If only more were willing to explore other arts, just for a day or so, it would vastly help open the lines of communication between other arts.

Deaf