If someone is into it for exercise, camaraderie, spiritual development, etc, more power to them. That said, I’m conflicted with giving them a black belt in a martial art. Martial arts is all of what I wrote above, but a lot more. There is a massive combat element which cannot be ignored and those guys in that video I posted seem to be lacking basic fundamentals in any martial art I’ve seen. I think it’s a disservice to award them a black belt…which is providing them a false sense of hope and security. I get it though, martial arts has become a money making scheme and has added a lot of negativity towards the art itself. Hence why the video title reads McDojo.
For the record, no black belt I’ve been trained by or train looks remotely like those people in that video. Sure people have bodily differences, but you have to have basic skills and coordination to be in my school and I wouldn’t be associated with a school that had black belt students looking so bad. We’ve told people and families our school isn’t for them for this very reason. We have minimum standards that have to be abided by straight from the Kukkiwon in Korea.
