What does everyone think of this? http://www.thedigitalmaster.com/ If you look in the FAQ's... "What other Black Belt Ranking is available? You can earn World Recognized Black Belt ranking in the art of Taekwondo and coming soon, you will be able earn Black Belts in the arts of Hapkido, Shotokan, Kenpo, and many others. Plus, there will be specific Certification Courses in various skills, such as Escrima, Staff, Nunchuckus, etc. " He has a little disclaimer about trying to find a local school but can you just imagine the breed of Black Belts that this will produce? Another quote from the video you can download. "Not enrolled yet?" "Quite dreaming about being a Black Belt." "And BECOME one" "For a fraction of the cost of traditional training" "Train at your own pace at your own place!" "24/7" In the FAQ's it even suggests you can learn without a partner. Very very... I'm at a loss for words on how to describe this.
I find it ironic that in the testimonials section someone has complimented this 'master' with the words "This is a NO BRAINER" - I think that phrase about sums it up for me.
lol shocking, technically, those people that sign up to that are just as likely to buy a black belt and a gi from a martial arts store and pretend they're a bb anyway. Hopefully they get their asses handed to them
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Ouch! The real difference lies in "Anybody can BUY a black belt, but not everybody ARE a black belt" If you've only learnt from the internet, you will get your butt handed to you when you face an opponent - and we can only hope there are no deaths due to overconfidence. "I can take anything, cuz I'm a black belt!" - the worst thing you can think when facing a few thugs...
Digital Master The Master of this on-line program used to be a member of ICHF. In fact he was the Director for California when I first joined ICHF in 1993. Even though I am no longer affliated with ICHF, I think it would be wise to check this program out to see if he is offering ranking in Combat Hapkido. Especially since he is flying the ICHF logo at the bottom of his web site. :bang: Bob Ingersoll Combative Arts Association PS: Thanks to MaxG for bringing this to the attention of the forum!!
...and they wonder why I drink... Seriously, this is no different from those schools that offered rank from video training. While I think that it's not nearly as productive as training with a live instructor, in some cases, it may be better than nothing. If it is your only training because HKD, or MA in general is not available in your area, then maybe this is your only option. Certainly you would want a training partner for live work and I know that there is no one there to correct your mistakes, but one can garner some small part of the training. If you are using this as a suplement to your current training, then there might be more of a legitimacy to it. You are already in a school and have the fundamentals (like footwork) working for you and want to add to your arsenal. In that case, I can see using something like digital master. Getting a black belt? I don't think so. It is obvious that he took a page from the McDojang marketing manuel and isn't selling MA as much as he is selling belts. That is the part that needs addressing as much as the digital training. What were the results?
