Some parts of the ad were fine and I'm not slinging mud by any means, however large chunks of it go against the very fiber and philosophy of our own gym. Don't get me wrong, I understand that its advertising and a gym has to try and set themselves apart from all the rest. Anyways here are some of the things that made my jaw drop.
Some of the key words were Real Gym, kinda like: We are a REAL GYM, thus implying that many of the other fine martial art gyms and clubs on Okinawa are not real... Maybe that wasn't the intention but I wasn't the only one who thought so.
Another key word was Safe environment. Nothing against this on the whole, I mean that's why we wear mouthguards and shin pads etc. We're not trying to kill each other. But, as our JukuCho once pointed out. "Everything comes down to a street fight" I will tell you honestly, WE ARE NOT SAFE. We are a sparring gym first and foremost. You will learn more from practical application than all the mitt work, thai pads, and bag work combined. I have walked out of this gym with broken ribs, hematomas, damaged ligaments and tendons, black eyes galore, AND I wouldn't trade any of it.
I was just told yesterday that the MCMAP program no longer includes body hardening because its considered hazing. Basically people were getting hurt. It always seems like when you start off with a good thing or idea it gets marginalized to the point where its child safety approved. If this was supposed to be EASY everybody would be doing it. I don't want safety, I want greatness. And on the path to greatness sometimes you have to put yourself a risk.
Organized. We are NOT organized. We have a general outline we tend to go by but that can go right out the window at a moments notice. We improvise and adapt. Apparently part of this organized lesson plan has the instructor training at your side the entire class. Sometimes we train alongside our students sometimes we don't depends on the situation. Cus D'Amato probably one of the greatest boxing trainers the world has ever seen was half blind in one eye and an old man by the time he started training Mike Tyson. He had to have two younger guys help. Freddie Roach also probably one of the best trainers alive today suffers from Parkinson's Disease and doesn't train directly with students. Its not a matter of "Do as I say and not as I do" but more of an apprenticeship and passing on wisdom. I'm a disabled combat vet, I do what I can with what I have.
Family Environment. Also something I'm not against, and I give huge amounts of credit to anyone who has the patience for training children. Its just that we are NOT a family environment. We don't even teach children, We direct them to some of our friends that do teach children.
Lesson Plans? "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" Sorry for the bad humor, but it illustrates the differences between philosophy. We can go from straight stand up kickboxing to grappling and MMA in heartbeat if the spirit takes us.
Train as easygoing or as hardcore as you like And this makes me think of someone trying to be everything to everyone. We have one gear: Hard
Now I understand that this is marketing and advertising. Some of this comes right out of business school 101. So I'm not hating on this gym for following the playbook. Where I think this mostly comes from is that they are trying to make a living wage off running a martial arts gym. And thats REALLY hard to do in Okinawa. Our JukuCho had a really hard time doing it here when there was hardly any competition. That's one of many reasons why he opened a gym in the mainland. Now there are a few dozen gyms in Okinawa all with great trainers. Its must be ten times harder now.
So in the end I wish them luck, I really do.
0 comments:
Post a Comment