my si hing Ron Wheeler posted a comment, why the kung fu tournament has a hard time attracting a lot of competitors. he says they should pay competitors and I agree completely. how can a kung fu guy really take his skill to the next level unless he is able to do this full time, pay a few bills and test himself against others like himself to see where he stands? is the tournament only suppose to line the pockets of the promoter? here is my comment to him, and I thought I would share it. i have a few theories Ron: 1. CMA teachers are focused on themselves, not the students. this is why articles are almost always about themselves and not their boys. very few kung fu teachers try to make their students better than themselves. karate/tkd/muay thai teachers are not like that, they put a lot into their students, and try to make students more famous, more skilled than themselves. even when they compete, students are there to build the reputation of their teachers. competition, then, is about the promoter, not the competitor. you are here to pad MY pockets not your own. if you want money you must be selfish 2. most CMA teachers bringing students were not fighters/competitors themselves, so they cannot take thier students to a high level, and they often even fear for the safety of their students (like they themselves would be fearful of fighting). this is disguised in well i cant use my system in karate tournements/they discriminate kung fu people/the rules are not realistick enough. even in forms competition, many teachers dont know how to refine students form so that they are increasingly getting better as they go through the ranks. very little difference between skill at intermediate vs advanced/expert level in form. 3. the insecurity of teachers who dont want their students around foreign students and masters . it keeps them indoors, inside their walls, so we are really only good for a few tournaments a year vs a tournament every month. 4. the insecurity of CMA teachers around each other. teachers are so friendly with each other, they are afraid of a little competition. most CMA communities have ONE big guy in the center, and bunch of little CMA teachers who feel inferior/less qualified than the big guy. I dropped out the scene when NACMAF was getting big, and what I saw was a bunch of followers around Tai Yim and Anthony Goh (who was a karate to kung fu convert) who did not dare go outside that safe little circle. I remember non-Chinese teachers like Mike Barry who were not respected even after all the years he put in the art. Im sure Dennis Brown would have been in that position, but he said, screw you guys, Im going to grow big over here ---> with the karate guys. 5. we dont have a big culture of active competition in the kung fu world. and then those who do compete and serious about it, are not respected as real kung fu guys, were just kung fu guys who do a lot of tournaments. you should know this one, in our little Jow Ga family, instead of saying Ron is one of our best, we have people saying ron still competes against the young guys as if winning tournament does not translate to being good in the martial art. so if you cannot compare your style against other fighters, what measureing stick do you use to determine good kung fu versus needs more work? how much mandarin you speak? how many times you been to china? how many articles you write? how loud they clap their hands at the last chinese new year? we dont even have ranks to say who is better than who, so one guy with 4 years of training is a sifu over here, and another is a sifu after 8 years over there. but the one who is more asian, or has more articles written on him, is the one more respected. Kung Fu people dont put very much imprtants on trying to find out who the BIG DOG is. 6. finally, the fake humility crap we have in the CMA. if you WERE trying to be the big dog, and trying to become better than the next guy, and even *saying* Im the best, kung fu people get offended. as if we are all suppose to keep our mouth shut and be satisfied being mediocre. and we have lots and lots of mediocre in this community... the whole idea that one style of kung fu cannot be compared against another style is a silly, sissy one. so the wing chun people need their own division over there, and the choy lay fut needs their own over here, and we have 500 tournament competitors and no one has really put themselve to the test against another, so that we can judge fairly. hog wash. what is competition, but a place where the best can go home a winner and the worst goes home the loser? but not us, in our tournament, you can lose a fight, do a poor kung fu form, and go home with two medals. LOL a few seconds ago
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 01:19:15 +0000
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