Oct 20 Stupid Martial Arts Advertising

Some time ago, I warned about the dangers of advertising yourself as “the strongest”, “the biggest”, “the best”, “the ultimate” and so on.  In the first place you should never proclaim your abilities in the Martial Arts, proper etiquette demands that this should be left to others and secondly, you leave yourself open to “testing” and “challenges”….

Let me tell you a story…..

A town was recently saturated with flyers proclaiming a certain Martial Arts club and instructor as the “best and biggest” club in the area asking prospective customers “can you afford not to be the best?”  The flyer also encouraged them to learn “a powerful and effective form of self defence”.

This is the equivalent of issuing a challenge, so you would think that he would be prepared to “teach” a lesson to all comers.  One of the local instructors who is also a respectable student of many senior Karateka decided that if this guy was so good he had better take a lesson from him, so he arranged a private lesson at his own Dojo.

The “best” instructor turned up and started to set up a pre arranged fight scenario and the other instructor asked if at their stage of training didn’t they need something a bit more spontaneous? The “best” instructor agreed and asked the local guy to “make an attack”…….

Well I’m sure you can guess what happened, the local instructor gave the “not really the best” instructor a black eye and ended up putting him in a restraint to calm him down and stop him from trying to claw his eye out.  The lesson ended with the “student” giving the “Instructor” some good-natured instruction on how to improve his obviously poor technique! (and maybe his advertising).

The local instructor starts receiving abusive telephone calls from the wife of the “best” instructor and then one evening whilst teaching his children’s Karate class, the police turn up and arrest him for assault!

Now the Crime Prosecution Service have to decide that if a self defence Instructor asks a student to “make an attack” in a pre arranged class to demonstrate a self defence technique and is unable to defend himself, does it constitute assault?

After some weeks deliberation the CPS decide to drop the charges and the “best” Instructor is still issuing his “challenging” leaflets in the town.

So what’s the moral of the story?

If you think that you are the “biggest”, “best”, “strongest”, “ultimate” or “most effective” form of Martial Art or self defence, you had better be prepared to back it up.  Although it seems that these “self proclaimed” Masters are so thick skinned that they continue to advertise in this manner, even if their incompetence is revealed to the world! 

As a self-defence instructor, how can you make a complaint to the police that a student attacked you when that is exactly what you asked him to do?  If the prosecution had taken place and been successful, can you imagine the trouble that would have caused?

Imagine this 

Instructor: “OK class we will now work on some self defence techniques, Brown Belt, make an attack.”

Brown belt: “No.”

Instructor: “What do you mean – no?”

“Brown Belt: “My solicitor said that if I do you may prosecute me for assault.”

Instructor: “OK, throw me a kiss and I’ll try to avoid it.”

Brown Belt: “Sorry, any physical contact could constitute assault.”

Instructor: “OK, throw me a tennis ball and I’ll try to catch it.”

Brown Belt:  “Mmmmmm….. sorry.”

Instructor: “OK, let’s run around and try to avoid each other.”

A sea of shaking heads.

Instructor: “OK, let’s watch a video and get in Pizza!”

A round of cheers and applause.

Instructor: “But be careful not to sit too close to each other and only pass the pizza with two layers of soft tissue between you and your partner.”

Brown Belt: “Sound advice, as always, Sensei.”

I am reminded of a quote from the Tao Te Ching:

“Not exalting the gifted prevents quarrelling.

Not collecting treasures prevents stealing.

Not seeing desirable things prevents confusion of the heart.”

Hmmmmm.

Steve Rowe

Steve Rowe is a highly successful Martial Arts instructor - an International Neigong, Qigong and Tai Chi Teacher and an 8th Dan Karate with many other senior dan grades in other martial disciplines.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me: