OK its been a while since I've started a thread on here, but it come from an interesting chat I was having with my little bouncy friend. Ok, so no one can deny that Kuk Sool has really started to take off over the last few years and rightfully so, they have put in some hard work with pitching and marketing of the art. The question I asked was did the fly boy think that the recent upsurge in the higher ranks throughout the art was to do with nurturing the people through their requirements better now, rather than the law of nature that tended to occur before where only the strong survived long enough. Or if that it was just that the numbers of students had risen so there was no increase in the number of people as a percentage starting that got to the ranks. It was just a case of that if 1 in 10 made it to 3rd dan then if you then got 100 people you would get 10. The reason I ask this is because I actually think that the wksa and its instructors are taking a bigger interest in their student development and being more concerned with taking them further than just getting the black belt. Would anyone else agree with this or do you just think its a numbers game. This is not an excuse to say the standard is dropping and have a go about that. This is a discussion about the standard of care within the art, if you want to discuss standards can you please start another thread.
I feel it's partly what you stated, and partly that before, while there were exceptional masters afoot, they tended to expect a great deal from the students in their fold. I also think that they gave ample encouragement, but few people were up to the challenge. And yes, increasing numbers in the association over the years probably had lots to do with more upper ranks persisting rather than deciding they've had enough (not everyone that continues to promote is looking for a career in MA, and only recently did WKSA change those requirements about masters needing to operate a dojang).
Really ?, I was told that you had to have a school or be the primary instructor at a school before you could start testing for 6th degree. as to monks question I think its just a numbers game. Also I think the reason for the higher ranks is because the availibility of higher level of instructors has grown, before all anybody had was really KSN. now we have loads of senior masters.
IDK for sure what the new requirements are for the various upper ranks. I was referring to recent promotions such as Terry Heaps & Arby Hinojosa, both of whom were promoted to "master" (5th dahn) but neither of which runs a dojang. This was the point I was getting at, that before many people just decided they'd gone as far as they cared to, or perhaps as far as they thought they could. Over time, the sheer numbers eventually proved that some would *continue* upwards in rank (meeting all necessary qualifications, of course). note: the purple text in hwarang's quote was added by me for clarity, as I easily get KSN confused with Kyo Sa Nim and why I prefer GM IHS when shortcutting for Grandmaster In Hyuk Suh.
I've never seen any marketing or pitching Kuk Sool. I've never knew such an art existed until some guy told me he practiced it. I've never seen anything on it anywhere. Nobody has heard of it outside of practitioners. Karate, Kung Fu, Hapkido, TKD, BJD. How do you mean it's grown because of marketing. I'd say it's grown from positive word of mouth. Nobody knows what it is, unless a dedicated practitioner explains it to the curious, is what I've found.
This statement is fairly accurate for the current decade, however, in the 90's there were numerous articles in various MA magazines, in several different countries, no less. I believe the WKSA still advertises in some of the more prominent MA magazines, all you need to do is flip through one to find such an ad (advert for my UK friends). With the advent of the World Wide Web and easy internet access where anyone can readily Google KSW, admittedly, there has been less *outright* promotion in the usual sense. No doubt, this statement holds a fair amount of truth as well.
which is the best ad one can ever get, or need. i prefer it being this way, ofcourse Im not a school owner.
also the amount of vids on youtube has increased massively over the last couple of years with not just students putting up vids, but seniour masters as well, all helping to showcase and promote the art.
i'm sorry but what is BJD? karate and kung fu are used as genereic terms for pretty much all ma's by those who don't involve themselves in martial arts. i will bet that these same people have never heard of eskrima, krav maga, CKD etc. there are many different styles of karate and kung fu but there is only one kuk sool won (ok there are other variants but we won't worry about them :hat so it stands to reason that the general public are more likely to have heard of them rather than KS(W).
I'm gonna take a SWAG and say Brazilian JuDo (as opposed to BJJ = Brazilian JuJitsu). No disrespect to Kwang Jo Choi, but the thought of naming a style Choi-Kwang-Do just cracks me up ~ ROFLMAO (FYI- Koreans would say his name as Choi Kwang Jo). For a completely different guffaw, try saying TKD-CKD (TaeKwonDo-ChoiKwangDo) three times fast.
Thank you. I can't say it was a typo, but I was meaning the acronym for Brazilian JuJitsu. Yes. I think, the style of marketing KSW chooses to do is very high brow and academic. It's a learning tool. The university degree you can attain in Korea for instance, and their sharing of resources and Korean history. They are the experts. Because, as DaveFly, says -There is only one - it's a private school of martial arts. Here is a link a very impressive BRIEF accounts of the Korean Martial Art history: http://www.kswnaustin.com/aboutksw/article_kswBriefHistory.php Not sure what is meant by, "nurturing". But if you agree that "nurture" in this case is what happens when you apply humility and the other virtues listed below, then according to KSW's, "academic and educational marketing materials," it's pivotal to success in KSW. There aren't too many other MA's that market virtue first and foremost important to training. I know the KS dojangs I visited had a few challenged and somewhat "handicapped" students attending, some with black belts. The instructor would have to have a good sense of the following, to manage such individuals, along with those that feel only the strongest should survive, training together in the same room: 1 - IN: Humility 2 - OUI: Justice 3 - YEH: Courtesy 4 - JI: Wisdom 5 - SIN: Trustworthiness 6 - SUN: Goodness 7 - DUK: Virtue 8 - CHUNG: Loyalty 9 - Yong: Courage This list was copied straight from the article at the above posted website link.
The requirement for promotion to KJN WAS changed relatively recently. You no longer have to "own and operate" a KSW school, however, there IS now a minimum age limit, 30 I believe though I may be mistaken. It doesnt apply to me as I am FAR too old to worry about it, and I do operate a full time school. However, my opinion is that this rule was changed mainly because in some areas there is just nowhere available for prospective 5th Dahns to open a school without moving house, due to the mileage limit. I think that HQ has simply taken the sensible option otherwise, there would be the possibility that several 4th dahns would leave because they wouold be unable to prgress through the ranks
Also, the standards in KSW are definitely NOT dropping. You only have to look at some of the old videos of senior instructors and then pay a visit to any Dojahng or KSW tournament to see the evidence for yourself. The number of students in KSW is definitely rising too, which does, eventually, obviously lead to a correspondingly higher number of all ranks.
No, you aren't mistaken, but I know of a current 4th dahn (who is testing for 5th) that was only 18 when he got his 3rd dahn (he started training KSW at age six, and is a USA citizen). And I had a student who if he continued once he was in high school would have a similar account (he achieved his 2nd dahn in junior high/middle school). So this seems perfectly valid to me, as *wisdom* should be part of the composite of what a "master" represents. And even though a KJN no longer needs to own and operate a dojang, I believe there is some stipulation that if not, they need to offer some *other* significant contribution to the association in order to "move up the ladder" (i.e.TANSTAAFL).
