Print this pageHard Work in the Martial Arts
In today’s martial arts world of Mc Dojo martial arts schools where if you pay enough money you can be a black belt of very little knowledge in no time, one must ask oneself the question; “what exactly does it mean to be a true martial artist?” We can find the answer to this question in the Chinese term “Kung Fu”. To many westerners the term Kung Fu simply is used to describe the martial arts of Chinese origin, but in actuality it means much more. To find the deeper meaning of Kung Fu we must examine the literal translation of the term. The definition of Kung Fu is, “a skill accomplished through time and concentrated effort”, or put more simply Hard Work.
As most people know, hard work in any endeavor is the best and often the only way to achieve proficiency, weather in the martial arts or another task. If a person is truly interested in martial arts knowledge, and not just ego driven belt status, one must take the time to seek out a place of learning that has truly knowledgeable instructors that are dedicated to the teaching and development of the students and not the stroking of one's ego or lining ones own pocket with money. It is the duty of an instructor to teach each student the proper information that the student needs to learn, at the time the student needs to learn it and in a manner that best fits the student. If a student needs to be instructed softly with care, than the instructor will teach with care. If the student requires hard instruction, than the teacher will be firm with the student, for it means that the teacher has the best interests of the student in mind and will do what is necessary for the student’s advancement and progression as an artist and as a person. In the martial arts world it is the job of the student to listen to his or her instructor and practice what has been learned. A student must put forth the time, effort, hard work and self discipline necessary for improvement and the personal development of oneself. An instructor can only show a student the path, but it is the student’s job to travel the long hard road.
While it is never too late to begin martial arts training, it is generally best to begin ones training at an earlier age. In general, the younger one begins training the less difficult and more natural attaining skill will be for the knowledge is integrated into the person as they grow up and develop into an adult human being. Starting at a later age still allows for the development of skill, but it usually involves the need for having grater patience and often requires more hard work and effort. This is often due to many outside factors created by modern life that younger individuals do not have to contend with. Such factors serving as training obstacles for older individuals may be; various time constraints brought on by jobs, relationships or having children, one's physical conditioning and abilities being diminished by age or prior injuries as well as having to un-learn bad habits picked up over time. If one can manage to balance martial arts training and one’s adult life, he or she will often have greater pride and appreciation for the hard work it took to develop ones martial skill.
At the Scranton Martial Arts Center the instructors take pride in themselves for the hard work put into the education of the student body. For each level of training, students are put through a demanding testing process, in which they are required to demonstrate their learned skills and knowledge at their peak performance. The SMAC instructors thoroughly examine each student during testing, taking into account the student’s hard work during, and leading up to, the testing process. All students who take place in the testing procedures always earn their rank, pass or fail. No rank is ever just handed to a student. As any person can tell you who has ever been given something they did not earn, the empty sentiment of being given a rank that one did not earn is nowhere near as gratifying, as an accomplishment for which one has worked hard and put forth much effort to achieve.
In 1993, while training at another school, I had the unfortunate pleasure of experiencing, what I feel was an empty achievement. During my first ever Brown Belt test, I happen to be the only student who was taking part in the testing for this monumental level. Throughout the entire test, I noticed my former instructor was engaged in heavy amounts of conversation with my mother who was there to observe the test. After the test was over, she informed me that my former instructor had paid next to no attention to what I was doing because he was too busy flirting with her. For me, this completely cheapened the achievement because I know that I could have done next to nothing, messed up royally, or just did a hoedown and still passed the test. While I know that I worked hard and put in many long hours of practice leading up to the test and was able to give 100% for the test, knowing that the instructor paid no attention to the testing process was very disheartening.
For individuals who take their martial arts education seriously, being given a level that one did not earn is an insult, but there are many individuals who look at a level of training, not as knowledge, but as a status within a school or organization. These individuals often find creative ways to bypass the hard work necessary for the understanding of the Arts, but want the recognition of rank to feed their ego and self worth. Before finding a home at SMAC, one of the most creative ways I have seen of bypassing hard work and earning rank, is attaining rank “lying down”. Many years ago while training under my former instructor it became apparent that he had a very “special student”. The favoritism shown toward this female student was a factor in several higher level students’ decisions to cease training with this biased individual. Through my many years of training experience I have seen that when a teacher gets intimately involved with a student, the student tends to put forth less hard work while simultaneously expecting more results. The duration of the ‘Special Students” training is usually limited to the length of the relationship between the teacher and student.
In my 20 plus years of training, the most counterproductive assumption pertaining to training is what I like to call the “Black Belt Syndrome”. All too often, one assumes that after black belt there is not much left to learn, and that the hard work and training advancement ends when the black belt is achieved. This attitude is exhibited when a student’s training becomes lax after earning a black belt. This attitude is the surest way to have wasted all the time, effort and hard work put into earning the level. Here at SMAC earning a black level is both the beginning of advanced training and when the real hard work starts. All too often students who attain their Black Level are unwilling to face the fact that as martial artists we are all just points on a circle, all equidistant from the center. Students should realize that the white fringe that SMAC Lead Instructors place on a black sash represents the beginning of advanced training just as the solid white sash represents the beginning of foundation training. As martial artists we must realize that to continue to improve and advance as the years go by, that we are forever beginners, learning something new every day.
When I took my Black Level 2 / Sifu exam here at SMAC, I felt an immense sense of achievement after completing an intense 3 day oral, written, and physical test that covered nearly all I've ever learned. It has also been satisfying to experience tangible progress while training here at SMAC. My recent training has given me a new perspective on the old saying; that which does not kill you only makes you stronger. The reason why we as instructors at SMAC are so demanding not only during tests, but also in daily practice is this: If a student can put forth the effort and hard work necessary to advance here at SMAC, and with stand the pressures of our training, than the pressures of life will have largely been prepared for as a result of that training.
It is my hope that those who have read this will be more motivated to diligently train and also more readily recognize the merits of hard work; not only in training but in life as well. I offer this article in a constructive manner to extol the benefits and rewards reaped as a result of hard work and continued practice and training. Remember that anything worth achieving is work working hard for.
Train hard, it will be worth it!
Written by: Sifu Josh Keiper