Lineage

[Neilmccarthy]

When i first started martial arts, lineage was really important Do you think this is still important to new students today?

[Mark Drake]

When most of us started out it was very important hence the large organisations etc.
But I don't think people are that concerned anymore as long as they are getting what they want from your classes they aren't worried who taught you.

[chriscrudelli]

When i first started martial arts, lineage was really important Do you think this is still important to new students today?

[Mark Drake]

I agree with you there Sifu.
I am fortunate to have lineage with instructors like yourself and the lineage I had within the Taekwon-Do etc. So to me it's important, but I have also come across people who have no interest in that.
Same as people have no idea what they are learning these days since MMA and freestyle clubs have come about.
I would say feel happy in the fact you know and respect your own lineage and instructors, because that is your own personal journey.
Whether your students are interested I personally wouldn't worry. They train with you because they believe in what you have to offer personally.
Remember as instructors we are not just teaching them to kick and punch.

[Ljgale]

When i first joined (age 13) i had no idea or interest in lineage.

This is something i become more interested in as i become more experienced and started to understand how bigger differences there can be in quality of teaching.

Although I'm not bothered about the titles themselves but what an instructor personally has to offer, i now still do some research into it. My general experience tends to be that the better the lineage, the better the instructor particularly with more internal arts.

[BenWillJones]

When i first started martial arts, lineage was really important Do you think this is still important to new students today?

[MarJay]

I think people should be interested in lineage with traditional arts. There are loads of schools around with ropey Kung Fu sounding names which aren't a real traditional art, and they are usually taught by someone who has learned maybe two traditional arts for a few years each and then, perhaps arrogantly, set up their own school with a hybrid or made up name. In MMA or Japanese arts perhaps it doesn't matter so much? But certainly in Kung Fu, if you can't trace the lineage that's an alarm bell. It's not the whole story of course, and I'm sure there are good teachers of hybrid styles but as I mentioned in my welcome post, there are a LOT of bad to middling martial arts schools out there.

If people want to learn traditionally they probably should ask about lineage, but as a newb I wouldn't have had a clue that it was important. If you want to learn Krav Maga, or Jeet Kune Do, or MMA or perhaps even Muay Tai it's probably not so important.

[SteveVanDunk]