Opinion: How Far Is "Too" far?

[Kaygee]

Hi,
I found a pure Tang Soo Do Mu Du Kwan school. It is the school that both of the masters from my old school trained at and they also received their black belts from the grandmaster there.

***On a side note, I sensed that this grandmaster was "disrespected" by my former instructors. I had no idea he knew them, but when I mentioned who my former instructors were, he mentioned them by their first names and nodded and then gave a wicked grin. Then he said, "some people, think they get black belt and can run own school and forget about where they come from in order to make money. Anyone can get instructor belt and say they are a master." (The grandmaster's first language is Korean, being that he is from there. I am not making fun of him, just quoting him)***

I figured I would drop it there.

But he extended his very strong opinion how Tang Soo Do has become "commercialized". He is against tournaments because he states that Tang Soo Do is an art and a system of self defense, not a sport where you go out and win trophies.

Anyway, to the point:
His school is about 20-22minutes away from my house (8 1/2 miles). How far do you all think is too far to travel to train in an art? My previous school was less than 3 miles away and I could get there in 8 minutes.
The real "kicker" here is that this school is basically 5 minutes from where I work, but I get done work at 5pm and his classes do not start until 7pm. So I will be driving home and get home at 5:30 and then have to head back towards that area at 6:30.

What do you think?

 

[ballen0351]

Hi,
I found a pure Tang Soo Do Mu Du Kwan school. It is the school that both of the masters from my old school trained at and they also received their black belts from the grandmaster there.

***On a side note, I sensed that this grandmaster was "disrespected" by my former instructors. I had no idea he knew them, but when I mentioned who my former instructors were, he mentioned them by their first names and nodded and then gave a wicked grin. Then he said, "some people, think they get black belt and can run own school and forget about where they come from in order to make money. Anyone can get instructor belt and say they are a master." (The grandmaster's first language is Korean, being that he is from there. I am not making fun of him, just quoting him)***

I figured I would drop it there.

But he extended his very strong opinion how Tang Soo Do has become "commercialized". He is against tournaments because he states that Tang Soo Do is an art and a system of self defense, not a sport where you go out and win trophies.

Anyway, to the point:
His school is about 20-22minutes away from my house (8 1/2 miles). How far do you all think is too far to travel to train in an art? My previous school was less than 3 miles away and I could get there in 8 minutes.
The real "kicker" here is that this school is basically 5 minutes from where I work, but I get done work at 5pm and his classes do not start until 7pm. So I will be driving home and get home at 5:30 and then have to head back towards that area at 6:30.

What do you think?

Well my dojo is 79 miles each way so

 

[Touch Of Death]

Hi,
I found a pure Tang Soo Do Mu Du Kwan school. It is the school that both of the masters from my old school trained at and they also received their black belts from the grandmaster there.

***On a side note, I sensed that this grandmaster was "disrespected" by my former instructors. I had no idea he knew them, but when I mentioned who my former instructors were, he mentioned them by their first names and nodded and then gave a wicked grin. Then he said, "some people, think they get black belt and can run own school and forget about where they come from in order to make money. Anyone can get instructor belt and say they are a master." (The grandmaster's first language is Korean, being that he is from there. I am not making fun of him, just quoting him)***

I figured I would drop it there.

But he extended his very strong opinion how Tang Soo Do has become "commercialized". He is against tournaments because he states that Tang Soo Do is an art and a system of self defense, not a sport where you go out and win trophies.

Anyway, to the point:
His school is about 20-22minutes away from my house (8 1/2 miles). How far do you all think is too far to travel to train in an art? My previous school was less than 3 miles away and I could get there in 8 minutes.
The real "kicker" here is that this school is basically 5 minutes from where I work, but I get done work at 5pm and his classes do not start until 7pm. So I will be driving home and get home at 5:30 and then have to head back towards that area at 6:30.

What do you think?

He was doing what we Americans call, whining. You should have countered with, "If they are so darn stupid and ill informed, why did you give them a Black Belt?"

 

[Flying Crane]

Hi,
I found a pure Tang Soo Do Mu Du Kwan school. It is the school that both of the masters from my old school trained at and they also received their black belts from the grandmaster there.

***On a side note, I sensed that this grandmaster was "disrespected" by my former instructors. I had no idea he knew them, but when I mentioned who my former instructors were, he mentioned them by their first names and nodded and then gave a wicked grin. Then he said, "some people, think they get black belt and can run own school and forget about where they come from in order to make money. Anyone can get instructor belt and say they are a master." (The grandmaster's first language is Korean, being that he is from there. I am not making fun of him, just quoting him)***

I figured I would drop it there.

But he extended his very strong opinion how Tang Soo Do has become "commercialized". He is against tournaments because he states that Tang Soo Do is an art and a system of self defense, not a sport where you go out and win trophies.

Anyway, to the point:
His school is about 20-22minutes away from my house (8 1/2 miles). How far do you all think is too far to travel to train in an art? My previous school was less than 3 miles away and I could get there in 8 minutes.
The real "kicker" here is that this school is basically 5 minutes from where I work, but I get done work at 5pm and his classes do not start until 7pm. So I will be driving home and get home at 5:30 and then have to head back towards that area at 6:30.

What do you think?

I used to train at a school where I travelled an hour and a half each direction. Later, I trained at a school where I travelled an hour each direction. THose were both in other cities, I was travelling on the highway, not thru a busy big city.

Now, I travel about 20 minutes to get to my sifu's place, but it's city driving.

Decide if the quality of the training is the best. Decide if it's worth it to you.

20 minutes away? 8-9 miles? really, that seems like nothing to me.

 

[Sukerkin]

Aye, only the individual can decide if the training is worth the travel and inconvenience at the end of the day. After all, let us not be too precious about what we do for a hobby, it is a hobby, even if it is one from which we get a great deal of personal satisfaction and psychological benefit. Well I do at least when it comes to my last remark - I always say that I am never calmer and more relaxed than when I have three feet of steel in my hands .

 

[dancingalone]

I fly cross country once a quarter to visit my karate sensei since I moved away. It's sometimes a burden, but I obviously think it is worth it. I did train for years with him previously though and I used to live with the man.

 

[arnisador]

This sounds well worth a try, but only you know how it fits into your schedule.

 

[Tames D]

Hi,
I found a pure Tang Soo Do Mu Du Kwan school. It is the school that both of the masters from my old school trained at and they also received their black belts from the grandmaster there.

***On a side note, I sensed that this grandmaster was "disrespected" by my former instructors. I had no idea he knew them, but when I mentioned who my former instructors were, he mentioned them by their first names and nodded and then gave a wicked grin. Then he said, "some people, think they get black belt and can run own school and forget about where they come from in order to make money. Anyone can get instructor belt and say they are a master." (The grandmaster's first language is Korean, being that he is from there. I am not making fun of him, just quoting him)***

I figured I would drop it there.

But he extended his very strong opinion how Tang Soo Do has become "commercialized". He is against tournaments because he states that Tang Soo Do is an art and a system of self defense, not a sport where you go out and win trophies.

Anyway, to the point:
His school is about 20-22minutes away from my house (8 1/2 miles). How far do you all think is too far to travel to train in an art? My previous school was less than 3 miles away and I could get there in 8 minutes.
The real "kicker" here is that this school is basically 5 minutes from where I work, but I get done work at 5pm and his classes do not start until 7pm. So I will be driving home and get home at 5:30 and then have to head back towards that area at 6:30.

What do you think?

What do I think? With all due respect, I think you need to get in your car and drive to a training hall and train. Don't worry about distance, just do it. You over analize. Stop.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

His school is about 20-22minutes away from my house (8 1/2 miles). How far do you all think is too far to travel to train in an art? My previous school was less than 3 miles away and I could get there in 8 minutes.
The real "kicker" here is that this school is basically 5 minutes from where I work, but I get done work at 5pm and his classes do not start until 7pm. So I will be driving home and get home at 5:30 and then have to head back towards that area at 6:30.

What do you think?

I've attended a lot of schools where my commute was longer than 20 minutes (sometimes much longer) and thought it was totally worthwhile. As others have said, however, only you know your current schedule and priorities. (That said, my current school is very close to my home and I totally appreciate the convenience.)

 

[Uncle]

Stick around after work, get some food and see if you can show up early to train!

I used to walk an hour each day to where I trained while in highschool.

 

[Kaygee]

You over analize. Stop.

Lol! You sound like my wife when I try to talk to her about this.......except when you say it, I think I agree with you!

 

[WaterGal]

I did TSD for a year in high school. The school was only 2 miles away, but the bus I took stopped running by the time the adult class was out, so I had to walk home. That's part of why I stopped doing it, to be honest, but I guess I don't think that driving in a car for 20 minutes is a big deal.

 

[clfsean]

My full time teacher is 10 miles one way. I do that 6 days a week.

I drive about 35 miles one way once a week to play with Xingyi with some friends. I drive farther to teach (for free) at times.

Get over it & train.

 

[lklawson]

I find this thread interesting. Back in about 1985 or so, I used to drive almost exactly 20 minutes from my home in Flint, MI (near Averil Ave.) out to see my Tang Soo Do instructor, Merle E. DeMott (RIP), in Mount Morris.

It didn't seem too bad to me.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[geezer]

Jeez, I sometimes fantasize about having a school under ten miles away where I could train at least 3 or 4 times a week. As it is, I drive a 60 mile round trip every Saturday to work with my Eskrima instructor at a public park, and I fly about 1,200 miles across the country a couple times a year to continue my Wing Chun training with the instructor of my choice, or else pay some serious bucks to fly him out here.

On the positive side, it's only 1/4 mile to the dance studio where I rent space to teach my group.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I drive 20-25 mins each way three days a week to train and teach. On two of those days, I've generally worked a 12 hour shift the night before, gone home and slept 3, maybe 4 hours before getting up for class.
Visiting our Kwanjangnim is about a 3 hour drive, if traffic cooperates.

Just go train. It's really that simple. Go. Train. Repeat.

 

[Kaygee]

I appreciate almost all of the responses and advice here. I found a school, so this discussion is kind of pointless to take any further.
Thank you for your time!

 

[lklawson]

I found a school, so this discussion is kind of pointless to take any further.

Maybe for you. But it might be useful for other readers and, heck, some of us like to reminisce about "the old days."

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[GrandmasterP]

Our chap lives and works in China so that can be a bit of a trek.
He does come over here now and again though.
If it's worth having you go and get it.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Maybe for you. But it might be useful for other readers and, heck, some of us like to reminisce about "the old days."

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

Kirk, didn't you have to walk like 10 miles in the snow, uphill both ways, just to get to school? While ninjas and MMA fighters lurked in ambush?