There
is this thing I have been hearing more frequently lately, although this kind of
topic has been around since forever, but probably I haven’t been paying
attention. Maybe the “tipping point” was a conversation my wife had with a
renowned taekwondo coach here, and who happens to be an “ancient” friend of
mine, i.e. we started training TKD together back in 1991. Long story short, he
said we trained differently back then, and the modern-day Olympic training and
trainees are different, too. So, after that the old school vs. new school
duality began popping up more often. I gave the subject some thought, and you
will read about my conclusions here, but I would love to hear/read about your
thoughts, either in comments or elsewhere.
The
first aspect that crossed my mind was that the main difference is in training
methods, which should be improving with time, especially when there is a sport
modality to a martial art in question. That involves technological advancements
as well, with regards to training equipment, protective gear, electronic
scoring etc. The changes in competition rules can have major impact to the
tactical and technical emphasis and development of a system. With all of the
above, the “new school” should be better, right?
However,
if that is the case, how come some older practitioners end up often having the
upper hand in sparring or fighting the younger ones, even when they do not
necessarily embrace all the innovations? We all have seen it happen in both
striking systems (boxing, kickboxing, weapon arts) and grappling methods (BJJ,
wrestling, judo). Sure, experience will play a significant role, but if that
was a decisive factor, then the attributes of youth (cardio, speed, strength)
would take a back seat, so the older the exponent would only get better with
age…but things are not so linear.
In
my own view the advantage of the “new school” IS in the enhanced training
methods, there is simply no way around it, but the advantage of the “old
school” must be the attitude of its representatives. In simple terms, in the
yesteryear we did not take the availability of good instruction (if any at all)
for granted. That means that the percentage of members in any martial art
program who were highly passionate about it and therefore ready for sacrifice and
commitment, was notably higher. As a result, there were fewer dropouts and
higher percentage of good exponents coming out of most schools/clubs that were
existing at the time.
For
example, there were no TKD clubs in my town, so I had to travel 20 miles to the
capital city 4-5 times a week for training…and I did it for 4 years, before
opening my own club back home. Most guys in that original group were commuters
as well, and we all noted that in our own clubs afterwards the people who lived
closest to the gym were also the flakiest about training. I did the same with
some other arts I tried, and with similar results.
Another
thing is the proliferation of all kinds of martial arts through the internet
media. Nowadays, any initially interested person can easily get lost in a gazillion
Youtube videos, and then be overly picky about what they want to train, even
without any understanding whatsoever. I have met quite a few youth who will not
train anything else but ________ (fill in the blank) thing they saw somewhere
on the Internet, but even without training will gladly offer their unsolicited
opinion all those other systems they won’t train in.
Interestingly
enough, many of my “fellow old-timers” see the massive presence of Youtube as
both sides of the curse/blessing coin. Namely, if one has already gained some
experience in actual hands-on training, it can be a valuable source of further
information and inspiration in personal advancement. But, if at issue is
someone whose entire “expertise” stems from hours of watching those same
videos, it could lead to many misunderstandings and delusions.
So,
where does it leave us? I honestly don’t know. As it seems, the survival of
good fighting methods and schools, or their evolution, depends on the new
generation practitioners able to cultivate old generation’s mindset while
maintaining their own era’s advantages.
