My imaginary Letter to the Editor of a martial art magazine

Dear Editor,

       I am a martial artist, an instructor of martial arts, and an a self-professed scholar. I also happen to like mixed martial arts, primarily for the amusement of watching classically trained martial artists wipe the mat with "brawlers", and for the antics of  the "Ultimate Fighter" TV show contestants who should know better. I realize that, although my almost ten years of being involved in this world of martial arts is very short by comparision to others, I have been here long enough to discover some basic universal truths. One; there there will be as many schools and styles of arts as there are students to explore them, and someone's heaven on Earth is another man's Mc Dojo. Two; that no matter what style or school you decide to train in, in the end the one responsible for your growth the most is yourself. And three (and perhaps most naive of me); we martial artists have to stick together, especially in tough times like these.

       My senior thesis at college was on the examination of community relationships within the local martial arts community. In English, that means I studied how people in martial arts schools behaved. Although I spent a year bouncing between two karate schools that were as different as peanut butter and jelly, I found many similarities; highly structured activity, closeness within members, and a drive to create harmony out of chaos. The most striking aspect for me was seeing that not only did successful schools run like a well-oiled machine, they were also friendly with each other. We, the martial arts community, can in fact be considered a modern guild. We are different with a common purpose- to disseminate our knowledge, and to make money doing it. Unfortunately, several of our colleagues have chosen to focus on the latter part, and forgo any obligation to be nice at all. As a result, many of us engage in mud-slinging with our students (our "children" that we are supposed to be looking out for) caught in the middle, and as a result, many unscrupulous people are able to prey on them.

      Styles and schools within the same style have fought for years about everything from the right age to start training to what it should take to be a black belt. Lately, a lot of the fighting has been exacerbated by the rift formed between traditional and mixed martial arts, or MMA. Essentially, MMA started as a contest to answer the age-old question- what martial art is the best? The Gracies, a family of great martial artists and very smart businesspeople, rode MMA's wave to fame, making Brazilan Jiu Jitsu one of the most popular styles in the world. It didn't take long for watchers to realize that it wasn't the style, but the person who came out on top, and usually they were the fighters that were  the most well-rounded. Thus, the multi-style hysteria  is born. Nowadays, you are no longer considered "complete" unless you can fight on your feet and your back. This concept horrifies traditional martial artists. After all, how can you master a style when you are studying five all at once? The consequences over the last five to ten years have been incredible. For starters, students want more out of training- more conditioning, more classes, more...everything. Unfortunately, a student'stalent and work ethic often falls short of his zeal. They either leave because they are too schizophrenic with training, or they burn out. As a result, the attrition rate at martial arts schools is now sky high. 
  
     This attitude has developed the Generation Me phenomenon, encouraging new martial artists (especially children)  to demand that the style work for them, inside of the previous "how can I fit in with the style?" attitude of years past. As a result, many traditional martial artists blame MMA for their problems, but what it's really done is make us evaluate how we can compete in this changing world. Not all of the Me attitude is unjustified- after all, even the most pious of schools are out for a buck, and as such we student/customers ought to get what we pay for. Many old-schoolers have chosen to rest on their laurels and be unfriendly to schools around them, especially to the newer MMA schools. Instead of choosing to advertise our successes with students, we instead put down other schools. X style is not good, or Y teacher is crap, because only I know the right way. And wouldn't you know these are the same people who have not practiced or trained under anyone themselves for several years. The old cliche, "the fancier your belt, the fatter your waistline" is starting to hold true, and that scares me. We are driving our own students away by being stale.

    Bruce Lee was a major pioneer in the martial arts world- not because he wanted to prove he was the best- no, because he wanted to share his knowledge with others. He once said- "I am a martial artist first, and an actor second." He was not shy in admitting that he acted for the money, remarking in several instances that he was a terrible actor. But he hoped it would help promote his little nugget of truth- that a style of "no style" made the best martial artist. But many have misinterpreted this comment, believing he advocated quantity over quality. What he really meant was that to think that "this style is the best" or "this works well for this situation" would only serve to stunt your growth as a martial artist, be it one style you study or five. The best philosophy is to open your mind to many. This was not a new concept by any means. Several hundred years before, the great swordsman Musashi indicated in his The Book of Five Rings, that the only things of use where the things you understood. The modern translation would be that although BJJ is "great for ground game" it will be utterly useless to you if you suck at it.

     But what does this have to do with community? Well, traditional and MMA schools, I have written this plea to you in hopes that you will realize we are all under attack. We have been for many years, by people who are only interested in making us look bad and profiting highly off of it. Lately, these people are under the guise of MMA, even though their ideals are not even close. You might have seen them in your neighborhood. All of a sudden, thanks to television, more schools than ever are popping up offering MMA. Some of them are already established schools who seem to magically acquire cage fighting skills overnight. They offer maximum training at inflated prices and false promises that they can turn you into a fighter. There seems to be no limit to how low these people will go to steal our students away, and probably the worst of it all is watching them market directly to children. Let the buyer beware- being a member of a school like this will not help you become a professional mixed martial artist, won't teach you self-defense, and will hand you disappointment and an empty wallet.  The very usage of MMA in the title of these schools is a joke- teaching bits of several martial arts is not mixed martial arts. Those schools who cannot discern the difference between the sport that is MMA and a school that offers classes in different arts have no business using MMA in their school's title.  I find it pointless to offer MMA to people who don't understand that a match is not a real fight (as many teenagers and highly-testosteroned young men don't), or to offer it in a state like NY where competing in it is illegal, and you are several hundred miles away from any venue that allows it. That being said, many MMA schools should be sweating these fraud places. It is a black eye for the sport of MMA as a whole, much like a boot camp for anorexic girls is bad for the sport of gymnastics.

     We don't have to agree on everything. I think there is a certain beauty to that. Just look at how vast the world of visual arts is, where Van Gogh can exist with Warhol. There is plenty of room for everyone if we play our cards right, but we have to look out for each other. Stop bickering. Start becoming involved in the community that you are supposed to be supporting. If martial arts is to survive past this Me era, we are going to have to let go of our preconceived notions about how we run things, and get back to what's important. In the end, we teach martial arts for two reasons- because we love it, and want to share that love.

Regards.