| From the desk of Shaolin Warrior |
As martial artists we test and promote our colored ranks on competency. This in no way
indicates the students ability to defend themselves with the technique, it merely means that
they have worked hard to learn the block/strike/takedown sequence of events. Is this a bad
thing? No, it speaks volumes and lends credibility to the martial arts, this basic principle is
why martial arts training so valuable. It allows students to experience first hand a great
sense of accomplishment, it teaches them to set and achieve short term goals, it helps them
to focus and teaches them self sense discipline, and it also builds self esteem. While these
are all positive aspects of martial arts, for every yin there is a yang. The down side to
competency testing is that we build a martial artist unprepared to defend them self, we
send them out into the world with a false sense of confidence. Let’s face it, who wants their
nine year old son armed with the competency and the self confidence to hurt, mame or
possibly even kill a would be attacker. Martial arts training for children is not a self
defense system; I equate it to giving your child a toy gun and a truck load of flat screen
TV's and dropping them of on the bad side of town to protect their inventory. It’s not going
to happen, does that mean that only 180 pound 14 year old kids jacked on bovine growth
hormone should be able to test for black belt. No absolutely not. I’ve got news for all you
martial artists with a 3rd degree brown belt and six years invested in the martial arts,
you’ve worked so hard at becoming competent at your skills, and eventually you will test
for and earn your black belt. Welcome to the white belt advanced class. You know all the
basic and I do mean basic block/ strike/takedown sequence of events. Now while we
progress from novice to intermediate level martial artists, we start the long road to
perfecting what it is we do, and we have a few years and many bumps and bruises until we
earn another red stripe on our still crisp Shodan Belt. Competency is no longer an issue, if it
was, you wouldn't have gotten this far. The new task at hand is confidence. With nothing
but time on your hands, use it wisely. Be like the watch maker; take apart every one of your
techniques, fine tune and adjust them, look for the physical intent and not just the content,
work body mechanics and proper weight distribution, strike with maximum efficiency not
just proficiency.
| Competence or Confidence |
| Learn to master the machine that is your body and then and only then, will you truly have the level of self confidence that it takes to walk the walk. |
| Shaolin Warrior ~ Peace ~ |
| July 30th, 2009 |
| Kempo Defense Systems |