I think the situation I am mulling over is more along the lines of not having anyone to really work on this material with. For instance, YMK 4th Dan material has a lot to do with swordwork and Unarmed techniques in relationship to swordwork. This includes binding techniques, disarms and the like. Its really hard to work on these techniques if one's partner does not know how to use a sword to begin with and I have to teach them, say, the binding techniques first. Even something as simple as the SOH BONG ("mini-stick") has some fascinating material but its no good if a person does not first know the 38 Preasure points. Same thing goes for using the DAN BONG without knowing the 36 strike points. What I think is becoming apparent is that a lot of the talk in the Hapkido community has turned out to be just that--talk. Somebody can parade around as a 6th Dan....but what good is that if their information level is stuck back at Second Dan and never got any better? FWIW. Best Wishes, Bruce
I have trained Hapkido about 14 years 4th degree BB. Do i know everything you might or Mr. Sims, most likely not. Mr. Sims complained about just wanting to train and no one around that can add on to his material.
Do you keep in contact with any old training partners, or anyone that knows some Hapkido? Maybe part of your teaching someone can be mixed in so you can train what you know. If your talking about beginners than i can see why you will most likely never get to train what you would like to.
Bruce, I had a similar issue when I started my club. For me, what I really wanted to work on was live, non-choreographed training. I knew that even if I found another hapkido school, it would be unlikely that they would know how to do this, and if they did it would look like bad jiuijitsu instead if hapkido. After looking around and not really practicing for three or four years, I realized that enough time had passed for me to teach people up to that level if i had just started in the beginning. For you, if you are really into sword material, for instance, then i think it is very unlikely that another Hapkido school is going to give you what you want anyway, so teaching someone would essentially be like investing in practice partners a few years down the line. I dont mean to keep coming back startibg a club, but a few years back I was in the same position. I was ready to join another school, but couldn't find one. I threw down some mats in my garage and found a couple guys on craigslist. I told them that I would teach them for free, but they would have to commit to really learning, and not just blow in and out as they please. Four years later, We have only about six or eight people, but they are all solid. Most people turned out to be black belts in Teakwondo who knew a little hapkido or bjj already, so they learned fast. We restructured tge material i knew, and found an instructor a state away we could learn new material from, as well. When we accect knew students, we have an informal i terview porocess to keep away people who i don't think would be good members. We mostly have people who are black belts in a KMA already who weren't interested in commercial schools. Best training group i've ever had, and i dont worry about rent. Everyone pitches in thirty bucks a mont tho help out with my insurance, equipment, cleaning supplies, and the like. The best part is that there's no travel time, because they come to me! Edit: please excuse the errors as i am posting via mobile device
I asked for your rank based on your statement here. Please do not take offense, as none is directly intended...but you have missed the mark here. Hapkido has graded material, new material, through 7th dan. And the concept of "making up your own techniques" is sort of out of place unless you have learned the whole curriculum. And as far as being "stuck teaching", far from it - most people get better at any technique they have to talk through to show someone else... "Secret", not really, but certainly there are higher levels past 4th Dan... Again, please don't be offended, just wanted to give a wider view of Choi Dojunim's art.
I like the idea of having a place to "call home" even if it really IS home! Barrie (Restall) in the Land of Oz has a small dojang on his property in Queensland and what you describe is very much how I think he got his group together. Having a small study group would be ideal but it might take a bit to find a place where there is enough space to construct a small enclosure with a solid floor to lay mats on. Thank Gawd I held onto my folding mats from my days teaching at the Community College! Returning to my original theme, I still wonder quite a bit at how difficult it is for someone who has a goodly amount of experience to find another to to train with. Hate to think of using CRAIGSLIST but it may come to that! Best Wishes, Bruce
CL has actually worked out okay for me. Just meet people at Starbucks first before you tell them where you live. Also...there comes a point (for me, at least) where just seeing people with a different approach is good, even if it's not necesarrily more "advanced". You never know who might answer a Craiglst ad. I live in area with a large Korean American population, and i've had guys come through my club with anywhere from 1st to 6th Dahn rank...and I know there are more out there!
I don't think it's all that surprising Bruce. I've seen numbers saying that about 2% of the population train martial arts, that's not very many. If only 3% of those even get to 1st dan, and 3% of those get to 2nd dan, you're looking at very, very few people who reach your level at 4th, especially if you narrow it down even further to a less common style like Hapkido. Some Aikido schools do a lot of sword work, maybe you can find a mid dan Aikido practitioner who is willing to work with you on the sword work? Not an ideal solution, but you could end up learning a lot. The Craigslist idea may feel tacky, but it would be an interesting experiment to see what kind of response you get.
