Above and Below

There is often conflict within martial arts communities.

From above, there is often the expectation that it is all like a military organization run from the top down.

This has never fit well with my world view. There is a division of loyalty between that owed to one's instructors, and to one's students.

This is fine as long as the requirements from above match the needs of the students below.

Sometimes the two directions end up in conflict. If this cannot be reconciled, my loyalty is always to my students.

I've been lucky that I've never had to decide between the two.

I've been in one organization that came into conflict between the commands from above and the good of the students below. The organization self-destructed. This all happened outside of my influence, and my only decision was which fragment to follow after the breakup occurred.

With the new Jiu-Jitsu club starting at the school, my outlook is the same. Right now the needs of my students are well met by my superiors within the Jiu-Jitsu association. The interests currently all align nicely.

What do my kids get from the association? The curriculum is all beautifully designed and available to the club at no charge through me.

What does the association get? They want their form of Jiu-Jitsu to spread, so they get some of that. It is also likely that some of my students will get so into the activity that they join the local Certified Training Center as paying students. This benefits both them and the association.

I'm hoping our Certified Training Center will offer some kind of deal to my kids; maybe with a free period of training, or some such thing. I also hope that they will get at least partial credit for training done with me towards rank progression. I'll bring that up once it seems like it might matter.

The head of our Certified Training Center is a reasonable guy, and Gracie headquarters seems pretty clear, consistent and reasonable.

I predict smooth sailing all around.