Good for All

Take a peek at Jesse Encamp’s video about the 2020 Olympic Karate inclusion.

Now, it has been quite a while since Taekwondo was changed from a demonstration sport to a full medal winning event. This was good for Taekwondo in the same way. I think that the inclusion of Karate will benefit Taekwondo schools again, too.

There are still a great many people who don’t recognize there are differences between Taekwondo and Karate. This will bring people into schools of both arts possibly looking for the other. I hope that our industry takes the opportunity here to promote each other!

I have long taken the stance that the different arts and the different schools are not actually competitors for students. Each art appeals to a personality. Those who like to grapple may not like a striking art. They won’t attend striking schools and vice versa. By “playing nice” with other arts, we can make sure that we all have students who are achieving their goals. This goes for schools within the same art that teach different material or aspects of an art. I am not an Olympic Taekwondo person. I don’t care for the sparring and sport aspect. My school could even be labeled more as Korean Karate, than Taekwondo. Now, this doesn’t stop me from referring students to schools, who play nice and have been respectful, when they ask for that version.

Since the new TMNT movie has come out, we may even see an influx from there. All the parents trying to find places for their ninja younglings. It will be common to get calls asking about programs and age requirements. After chatting with the parents and having an idea what they think they want, I won’t hesitate to direct them to schools where I think it’ll match.

A big point here, for those school owners who happen to read my posts, is that I hope that we truly develop our martial arts community more than we do the martial arts industry.