What happened to Foul Up Karate!
Karate hit the United States back in the fifties. Advertisements promised that a slight woman could beat up a grown man, and showed men killing bulls. It was said that even a child. who was properly trained in Karate, could do amazing things.
So why didn't it all happen? The reason is that so many people wanted the art that there weren't enough teachers to teach it. And what, you might ask, does a person need to teach Karate?
When Karate first was being taught in the US, guys were getting their black belts in three years, and then opening their own schools. But it took a dozen years to master the art, and a master doesn't even have the information that an instructor needs. Knowing the data, and being a master, doesn't mean that you can teach somebody else.
Now we come to modern times. You've got guys with thirty years experience saying they are teachers, and they've mastered the art, but, like as not, they don't really know how to teach. A master can be made by simple experience, it is true, but an instructor needs more than simple experience.
To be an instructor requires specialized data. He doesn't just need boot class to get tougher, he needs to find out the reasons why things work, and be able to get other people to understand those reasons. It is a matter of a real education, you see.
So you want to take karate, and you walk into a school and observe a teacher. Is the teacher explaining why things work? Or is he merely asking people to mimic him?
Yes, it is important to have the student Monkey see monkey do in the beginning, but only for a while. The real real reasons for the workings of a technique must be appreciated, or what is being taught will become nothing more than memorization. And when the muggers charges out of the alley, do you want to remember how to defend yourself, or do you want the instantaneous intuition that is possible if you know and understand the how and the why of why the moves are what they are?
So there is it. A martial art that could do all it claimed, but was savaged by quick black belts who wanted to make money, and who didn't take the time to ask why they were doing what they were doing. I trust this information will help you when you seek an instructor, and when you are undergoing instruction.
About the Author:
Al Case has dissected the martial arts for over more than forty plus years. You can become a Real Instructor at Monster Martial Arts.
---------------------------------------------------
You are receiving this because you signed up for it on 2009-04-23 from IP 152.135.235.188
To fine-tune your selection of which articles to receive, just login here
using your username: kevinh
To unsubscribe please use the following link: unsubscribe
---------------------------------------------------
