Is interest in WC declining?

[VPT]

Zhong Luo and Eddie Chong both train in Fatsan Bak Mei stemming from a fella called Lau Siu Leung , which claims no connection to Cheung Lai Cheng (which is hardly even possible). I believe the Fatsan style is a mix of Choy Lee Fut and CLC Bak Mei.

 

[Juany118]

HEMA actually fight. If I was going to do a weapon art it would be HEMA because their validation Methods are the same as mine.

The thing is FMA actually fights as well (just mentioning because of the original reference.) You have the "traditional" competitions and then the Dog Brothers Gatherings etc. I wouldn't say that HEMA is about knights and stuff though. I think it is more because people often look to TMA's as a way to connect with their History and so as HEMA becomes more established it seems only natural for people who live in Regions connected to Europe to want to learn a European Martial Art.

That said while HEMA is arguably taking from the FMA crowd I think that both are kinda niche. They both include empty hand techniques but are largely, in competition, focused on the weapons. Weapons based martial arts will always be less popular because people think, in terms of self defense, "how often will I be walking down the street with a stick/sword". They don't realize, unless they actually walk in the door, that

A. there is empty hand and many of the armed principles can be applied to empty hand.
B. if you are aware of your environment you can often find an analogue of the weapon you trained with.
C. just being in a pressure testing/competitive environment is excellent for helping you come out the other side of a violent encounter in one piece, even if you can't use the precise techniques you trained.

 

[Juany118]

To the original point I think it has A LOT to do with how WC trains. I will use TKD as a counter example. Yeah TKD has the "McDojo" rap BUT they spar, have competitions etc. On the other hand many WC schools stop at light sparring, if they even get that far. Now people may send their kids to martial arts schools for fitness, discipline etc BUT most people I know, when paying their own dime, are taking a martial art to learn how to fight and if the "fight" isn't in the school, people walk away and word of that gets around.

 

[Andrew Green]

I've noticed getting fewer inquiries regarding WC and no new students at our club in a while. And even though we have always been an adult class, the average age seems to go up every year. And I think I'm seeing something similar on this forum.

Maybe it's just the way things are going lately. Any thoughts?

Couple things to consider first:

Everything has changed in marketing. 15 years ago if you had a big yellow pages ad you'd get calls. That's no longer the case at all.

Do you have Facebook? Instagram? Are they active? Do you have online reviews?

Take this for example:

"Ving Tsun Arizona offers quality instruction in Ving Tsun (Wing Chun) kung fu in the Phoenix metro area. Classes are taught under the direction of Sifu Steve Frerichs, an instructor with more than 45 years of experience in the martial arts. As an affiliate of the National Ving Tsun Organization, Ving Tsun Arizona is also host to periodic seminars taught by the NVTO chief-instructor, Master Jeff Webb."

No one cares.

Well, almost no one, people with a martial arts background looking for specifically what you do might, but beginners won't. It's just words they don't know and people the've never heard of.

What will your services do for them, that's what they want to know. Not your family tree, only MA nerds care about that.

All that said, it might be. I don't know, not really involved in WT at all. Bruce Lee probably gave it a big boost, that is likely worn off, the Ip Man movies might have given it a bit of a boost too. But the reality is the style isn't really that important as 99% of the people in the country don't know the difference between styles when they first walk through the door anyways.

Truth is most people are going to think of you as "Karate" no matter what you actually teach until you teach them otherwise

 

[Blindside]

The thing is FMA actually fights as well (just mentioning because of the original reference.) You have the "traditional" competitions and then the Dog Brothers Gatherings etc. I wouldn't say that HEMA is about knights and stuff though. I think it is more because people often look to TMA's as a way to connect with their History and so as HEMA becomes more established it seems only natural for people who live in Regions connected to Europe to want to learn a European Martial Art.

Honestly at this point I think HEMA is eclipsing FMA in terms of visibility and growth. The online groups are very active and constantly discussing different items and research and tournaments. FMA online is just dead, guys promoting a bunch of seminars of their grandmasters and a couple of vids. Tournaments, in my area (the Pacific Northwest, being generous lets call it Washington, Oregon, Vancouver BC, and Idaho) there is one stickfighting event that is aimed solely at the FMA crowd that is part of a karate tournament and two light armor weapon fighting events that are open to all weapon systems (Beat the Crap Out of Cancer, Warrior Tipon-Tipon). In comparison there will be six HEMA tournaments in the same region put on by various schools.

 

[Juany118]

Honestly at this point I think HEMA is eclipsing FMA in terms of visibility and growth. The online groups are very active and constantly discussing different items and research and tournaments. FMA online is just dead, guys promoting a bunch of seminars of their grandmasters and a couple of vids. Tournaments, in my area (the Pacific Northwest, being generous lets call it Washington, Oregon, Vancouver BC, and Idaho) there is one stickfighting event that is aimed solely at the FMA crowd that is part of a karate tournament and two light armor weapon fighting events that are open to all weapon systems (Beat the Crap Out of Cancer, Warrior Tipon-Tipon). In comparison there will be six HEMA tournaments in the same region put on by various schools.

Oh I agree on that point entirely. My main thrust (pun intended) was to point out FMA has the fighting/competitions vs just training so the lack there of doesn't seem to be the issue. I think the larger issue is people wanting to feel a connection to their own cultural history through the Martial Arts and since far more people in NA draw a connection Ultimately to Europe than the Philippines, the dynamic you note seems a natural consequence.