JazzKicker

I think we also have to assume the assailant is alone and so are you? If the bad guy has 2 friends behind him, tying him up in a joint lock won't work. Initiating anything is a bad idea. If I'm with my family, I might stand my ground to protect them.. while I tell them to run, start the car, whatever. If I'm in a place with security or police nearby ( a bar with bouncers, a street festival) I'd want to get their attention. Seems to me you have a "duty to retreat", before making any moves. I think you're "spidey sense" is the decider for when things are about to happen.

Oooh...that's going to leave a mark.. sorry couldn't resist

The people the run schools, whether it's part-time outside of a day job, or do it full time, even head up organizations, they have something extra, a drive, energy, inspiration. I've trained for a long time, and way back when, taught classes regularly at my instructor's school. But I had a career job, never had my own school or program. I know it takes dedication, when others are counting on you to show up, or if you don't have enough students to cover rent, etc. What qualities set them apart?

i trained pretty regularly with few breaks, Tu-thurs-sometimes Sat, plus solo work, for more than a couple of decades, from 1981 to mid 2000's. Through 2 marriages, 4 houses, 8 jobs. From Tang Soo Do to Hapkido, JKD, MMA. Things eventually fell off as my training buddies and coach fell away. But I've always tried to keep in shape and train on my own. A year and a half ago I retired, I think... and I reconnected with one of my hapkido teachers from 20+ years ago. Now I'm training on Tues, Thurs, and sometimes Saturday... full circle, and I'm happy to do it as long as it lasts. To me, martial arts is so much more than the "exercise class" my wife thinks of it as. it is mental, spiritual, and physical- and even if you take a break from training, the body does not forget.

I've seen many of Rick Hotton's YT videos, I love his approach and philosophy, though I'm not a Shotokan guy I find him very relatable. I don't find him at all eccentric. People like him, who are the real deal, don't need all the titles, Hall of Fame awards, etc. I've run into a few belt collectors, people who made up their own styles, exaggerated their backgrounds, had to close up and leave town in a hurry. I assume the OP is referring to basically harmless weird behavior, "colorful" or outlandish. We've all heard the horror stories of instructors who were abusive, sexual predators, or unscrupulous in business. The one name I'll mention that is most controversial is George Dillman. I went to some of his seminars in the 90's. At the time his theories and applications were eye-opening, a new perspective that made sense. He was also a brazen self-promoter, selling books & videos. But he got increasingly far-out, and lost a lot of followers when he got into "no touch" knockouts.

On an amateur level, it's thriving! At least in my area in NJ. One of my long time coaches, at his club most of his students come for boxing. Another club up the road from me, that I trained at a few years ago, is strictly boxing and still active.

I think a more experienced instructor develops perception to be able to read people and their intentions. I was on a dojang safari years ago, when I visited one place, asking about "their program", without mentioning I was already a black belt- the instructor asked, "So, where do you train now?" He could tell.

thanks, this is very helpful information. I did see the Kataaro site, but I'd like to go with the belt I just bought- I'm still calling around for a source.

Since I'm newly promoted to 4th dan, and I could use a longer belt anyway (no, i didn't get fat), I decided to get a new belt. The ones I already vary in length, one size 4 is the same as another brand's size 5, etc., so I went to a supply store and picked out the one i wanted. I didn't want to order custom, on-line, without being sure the belt size, thickness, etc. was ok. Turns out, the store doesn't do embroidery anymore. I went to another recommended place, and they weren't really set up to do Hang Gul lettering, so they quoted me $95 for the job! I thought that was way too much, and now I need to find someplace else to bring it, central NJ.

Thank you all, and to answer your questions, I train at an informal little club where we're not big on titles or a strict belt-based syllabus. So I'll keep training as I do, and if our instructor or other black belts refer to me as Master ___, when talking to the kids, I'll smile and answer. But at this stage it's mostly another stripe on the belt. We are part of an international organization, though, so there is a longer reach and long term potential for further advancement, age & health permitting!

I just received my 4th dan Hapkido certificate! This has been a really long term life goal- my last "level up" Dan promotion was 30 years ago, though I received rank in other non-Korean systems as I continued my journey. I spent a long time with non-traditional stuff like JKD, MMA, etc where belts weren't a thing. For the last year I've been training with one of my old instructors from 25 years ago, and he decided it was time I and another senior black belt moved up. I really appreciate the recognition, and I hope the next promotion doesn't take so long!

Holidays are probably the most difficult situational triggers. Hosting Thanksgiving this year, prepping & serving food while guests enjoyed wine, I had a couple of moments where a glass of red looked pretty good. I just remind myself of the foggy mood later, a headache the next day, and move on.

Thank you all, appreciate the recognition!

Luther, I'm surprised you ignored my first 2 paragraphs and took such issue with my brief comments about cultural differences. I can tell you have a different "basis" than mine- but mine goes waay back with instructors and grandmasters that were pioneers and originators. Prime source or 1rst generation, not 3rd generation. I don't know about "American TSD", I didn't even know that was a thing, but it seems to me if you're going to use Japanese terminology, to the OP's point, calling it karate would be consistent. it really doesn't matter much anyway! When I started TSD 40 years ago, it was in a large, insular organization founded by one of Hwang Kee's early black belts (hint: Chuck Norris' first instructor in Korea). Technically it had a lot of commonalities with the Shito-Ryu I'd learned from a Japanese national from the 1950's university system, but the TSD training format was much more militaristic, formal etiquette. The TSD GM brought over quite a few masters from Korea, but they all left quickly after they became established in the US. The organization all but pretended the MDK didn't exist. My perspective changed when I branched out to other styles, and, KMA related, trained in Hapkido with a Korean instructor, and his step-father was a founder (hint, he was in Game of Death). This was when I discovered a lot of what I'd been "indoctrinated" in was... not exactly accurate- and, I'll concede, appropriation is too strong a word, but perhaps... well meaning pretentiousness?

I'll stand by my post from nearly 4 years ago, but add some thoughts based on my own cross-fertilization experiences. TSD is really karate, and more. Put a TSD black belt in a shotokan class, they'll be able to follow right along and not see anything completely new or different. Forms, they'd have to follow along and navigate some subtle differences. But take a Shotokan practioner, put them in a TSD class, they probably wouldn't have done nearly so much jumping or spinning kicks, and their forms would look much more rigid, snappy, fast, even. The funny thing about the Americanization, it really is "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", bordering on cultural appropriation. If you look at a group like World Tang Soo Do, or even the videos with Pat Johnson- you'll see few, if any Koreans. Dojangs have Korean flags, Americans bow, use lots of formality and almost military etiquette, yell "Yes Sir" and mispronounce Korean terms, it's kind of embarrassing.