We need a kick in the pants!!!

[Kung Fu Wang]

What's happened to our forum here guys?

In another MA forum that whenever I post my opinion, someone would always post right under my post and said how wrong I was. Of course I can spend my time to argue with that person. But the way I look at this is "If it's not fun, don't play it." I have deleted the ICON to open that forum so I won't get to it by accident.

When you play some music but nobody appreciate/understand your music, one day you will stop playing.

 

[Punchy]

In another MA forum that whenever I post my opinion, someone would always post right under my post and said how wrong I was. Of course I can spend my time to argue with that person. But the way I look at this is "If it's not fun, don't play it." I have deleted the ICON to open that forum so I won't get to it by accident.

When you play some music but nobody appreciate/understand your music, one day you will stop playing.

That's what I like about MT.
Sure we disagree on things, and we have the occasional jacka$$ come along, but at the end of the day, everyone tends to respect each other for the most part and we're able to have pretty good discussions here.

Sometimes I agree with you, sometimes I don't, but I always value your input. So keep strumming, or plucking, or tooting, or whatever it is you're playing.

 

[Buka]

Is anyone using “Ving Chun”? I haven’t seen that variation yet.

I'm pronouncing it that way, and with a Yiddish accent, from now on. I love accents.

 

[dvcochran]

Personally, I don't have a lot to say on the subject anymore. It's been a long slow process of disenchantment.

MMA training has forced me to supplant most of what I learned over 25 years with more functional techniques.

I wouldn't say any of it was wasted training, but it's certainly not the route I would take knowing what I know now, for my specific goals.

I would ask that you expand on your comment. I find it very interesting. The way I read it MMA has sullied your original training.

 

[dvcochran]

Personally, I haven't had as much to contribute lately either. I don't know what it is, but it's like I've been losing the faith. That long slow process of disenchantment.

You are the 2nd or 3rd person to use the word disenchantment. Are you speaking about the forum or MA in general?

 

[dvcochran]

I think I am one of the older folks who post on MT but I consider myself one of the young bucks on this forum, or any forum for any matter. I have never been on reddit. Our son frequents it and I have always had the impression it is a generational thing of sorts. Fb has it place and its merits, the same is true for LinkedIn for business/professional contacts. Sure there are sites exclusive to MMA, boxing, and probably for most mainstream Martial Arts. One of the greatest values I get from MT is the broad base of knowledge from almost every style. And the ability to post or gather information from a specific style if I wish. This is invaluable to anyone who is active or mildly interested in any form of MA. How many times have we seen post from a new student or concerned parent? This is unique. We should never be dismissive of post like these. If you have been a long time student of any MA you know it has been in decline for some time, finally showing some recovery in the last two years. Whether you consider your style traditional or not it is Martial and has a place of value on this site. I have zero perspective on increase or decrease to this site. I just know I enjoy and appreciate it. I hope the merit of this thread is to stimulate action to this site since it would be truly tragic to see it go away.
If there isn't already a board or leadership group who regularly has a meeting of minds that talk about more than just P&L it sounds like it is overdue.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

If there isn't already a board or leadership group who regularly has a meeting of minds that talk about more than just P&L it sounds like it is overdue.

Sadly I don't think there's even anyone who meets about P&L...that's mostly done by the owners of the site, and their pretty laissez-faire about everything.

 

[Martial D]

I would ask that you expand on your comment. I find it very interesting. The way I read it MMA has sullied your original training.

I guess that depends on how you define sullied.

My goal was never to be the best 'at wing chun', it was to be the best martial artist I could be, and can be.

At some point one must choose whether for them it's the style, or the results. It's always going to be one or the other. Any given style is only a piece of the puzzle.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I would ask that you expand on your comment. I find it very interesting. The way I read it MMA has sullied your original training.

I read it that his MMA training has provided better tools (at least in MD's opinion) for him in some areas, and he's incorporated those into his personal style. I think that happens any time you take on new (good) training. The question isn't whether something will be supplanted by an option that works better for you, but to what extent.

 

[dvcochran]

I guess that depends on how you define sullied.

My goal was never to be the best 'at wing chun', it was to be the best martial artist I could be, and can be.

At some point one must choose whether for them it's the style, or the results. It's always going to be one or the other. Any given style is only a piece of the puzzle.

A logical thought process. The availability of information in our society today can bring the arts closer together or further drive a wedge. I would hate to see any style go away. Somehow we have to find a way to balance the ideas of our given style that we find have value with the fact that progress is good and natural. I see no reason why techniques that are used in some of the modern fighting system, MMA for example, cannot be integrated into some TMA. If we cant figure out a way to do this with integrity, I do see some styles all be vanishing.

 

[dvcochran]

Sadly I don't think there's even anyone who meets about P&L...that's mostly done by the owners of the site, and their pretty laissez-faire about everything.

If there is a medium for contact, let's create a board and present our concerns with data to back them up. BTW, I am all for laissez-faire as long as it is working. If collectively we feel something is wrong and we should be doing something, well the course of action seems pretty straight forward.

 

[Martial D]

A logical thought process. The availability of information in our society today can bring the arts closer together or further drive a wedge. I would hate to see any style go away. Somehow we have to find a way to balance the ideas of our given style that we find have value with the fact that progress is good and natural. I see no reason why techniques that are used in some of the modern fighting system, MMA for example, cannot be integrated into some TMA. If we cant figure out a way to do this with integrity, I do see some styles all be vanishing.

MMA is just a distillation of what works. I know this isn't always the easiest pill to swallow, but it's completely results driven, and that's just the way results driven things roll out.

I really dislike the split in the community between TMA and MMA. They are both important.

There is no MMA if there is nothing to mix. Specialized styles are simply better at advancing specialized areas of fighting. The pressure testing MMA offers is the lab through which TMA science is tested and refined.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

There is no MMA if there is nothing to mix.

When people asked me, "Are you training your style pure?" My answer was, "I try very hard to train my style impure."