My trainer is teaching me balintawak, but really its a cross of a lot of things, he really loves learning martial arts and i can see hes spent years and years and years on it. His holidays is literally going to countries to learn and try their martial arts really.
But unlike other classes he teaches me in the park (its 1:1 lessons as he stopped classes during covid).
But it got me thinking, what makes a trainer “a professional”. Both personally and legally.
I know some areas like boxing or karate they likely have some sort of foundation/club/organisation maybe you can register too?
I guess this is coming up because im learning weapons training now, and we can carry training weapons if there is good rrason too (like for training) but would a police officer see a guy in a park and agree hes a trainer. And to add to that, should i believe him?
I cant deny though, my stickfighting, swordfiighting, fist fighting and grapple work has extraordinarily increased. So i cant deny there is skill there and i am learning.
So i guess what makes someone a professional martial artist teacher? How do you tell compared to someone whose just sat on youtube too much. And should i be worried?
Lineage used to be a big factor, including whether your sifu had certified you to teach. Not sure how big a factor that is these days.
Thanks for this, i find it interesting because im largely learning filipino martial arts, it seems very political. Especially as a lineage seems quite disputed. Even still there is talk about “how ours works because the guy went to jail for killing someone etc etc”.
I think its more important then i expected. And when i think about it, creates an interesting point because part of yhe reason im learning filipino martial arts is because im part filipino and want to understand that side a bit better.
I’ve studied some Filipino martial arts, and there’s a lot of crossover with JKD especially with Dan Inosanto being one of Bruce Lee’s top students. I once got a chance to go to one of his seminars and it was great seeing him in action, even with his back injuries. The lineages in those arts are tough to trace due to the time and place where a lot of them evolved during wartime. I do find all the weapons training fascinating, and the history of how their martial arts were influenced by Spanish invaders and fencing, to the point where they use Spanish words in the terminology over their native language. Good luck in your studies!