What I gained from TKF
I think what people gain from experiences will always serve as much as a commentary on them as anything else. While there are some aspects of the TKF experience that I was uncomfortable with, I credit many of my ideals as a teacher today with originating during my time there. Some of those ideals that I retain today are: I still won't allow viewing of classes by the uncommitted curious becasue of my commitment to the students that they won't have an audience. Many feel self-conscious and embarrassed enough already without noses pressed against the window. I still don't allow contact in striking to honor the vast majority of students who train for fitness sake, no for bruises or bragging rights. I still prefer private lessons over group classes because of each students individual learning style, though I've had to compromise a little since not teaching full time. I still require respect in the studio (i.e. using last names, dress code, etc.) for the tradition handed down to me at TKF. I also believe that one continues showing respect for GMS and the TKF masters not becasue of respect Olaf Simon may or may not deserve, but because of the respect that should still fill the training arena. I would be pleased to see a string of comments on what people gleaned from TKF that was positive, producing fond memories and lasting character traits.

I also still hold true to alot of the TKF rules. I had uniforms made up, and require the bow to show respect upon entering the studio. I did away with the last name thing not so much by choice but due to the fact that some of my first students were 3 brothers so last names wasn't going to work in their case. :D We train many types of sparring and non-contact is where someone learns control. It's harder to spar and NOT hurt someone thatn it is to spar with contact. Besides the early stages of sparring are more to get the student used to using their kung fu in a combative situation and thinking/reacting to the unexpected with the techniques they train. There is no real need for contact to accomplish that. I allow contact sparring with senior students to give a higher sense of realism to the reactions. It is always optional to the student. I am also very big on private lessons. Or semi-private as time allows. Groups of 3-4 work the best, especially for sparring however for forms it is far more efficient to just teach 1 at a time. I like the progressively more difficult belt tests at tkf. I took things a bit further though to truly teach my students how to use their spirit for energy. I did a Green Sash testing with 2 students recently and they started at 7 am and the test ended at 9 pm. I wanted them to truly experience a day of pure exercise the shaolin way. I had 2 other students coming in for lessons that day so my students doing the sash test had to spend 2 hours sparring with fresh bodies. By then they were so far into the kung fu mindset from a morning of hell that they completely and utterly walked the fresh students despite being exhausted. :) The greatest thing that I learned at TKF is that there are infinite applications for every technique and over 3 lifetimes of knowledge in Kung Fu. I teach my students 1 private lesson every week and I almost never teach the same thing twice. (Some things require more than 1 class to learn of course.) TKF had a very time tested and refined system, it fell short mostly because it's a business in a market that isn't very big, and tends to be extremely transient. To adapt to that reality created some undesirable characteristics in TKF that over time murdered the name of the school.

Echo that!
I agree very much with what you retained. Over time I learned to say to my students, "Other styles offer contact sparring" or other styles offer this or that which fits with their philosophy of training. That was a great departure from the "we do it right and the rest do it wrong" rhetoric that I was trained with. So maybe some of the pride of TKF needed to migrate toward a more humble attitude. Nevertheless, I find that maintaining the atmosphere of respect that we learned at TKF is often refreshing to my students who find so little respect flowing around in our culture. For me, Master MacDonald drilled into me the necessity to respect my students and protect their dignity. I'm thankful for that. One time, a man at the Bellevue studio had a disability that prevented him from standing well on his feet. He spent most of his time training in a kneeling position. He was such a pleasure to teach. I developed a lot of ground technique skill training with him. Anyway, one day during a Sparring Club, Mr. Jones came out and observed that no students were warmly offering to pair up with him. Oh my goodness! The wrath of God descending upon that workout as he lectured on the need to honor ALL fellow students. The lesson was clear - respect for all. I never forgot it. Studying to become a Christian minister, I'm presently not certain where I will eventually be permanently employed (whether in a church or teaching in a classroom somewhere). But this I know, so many lessons about teaching the Art or anything else for that matter were shaped in me at TKF...for which I remain grateful.

"We train many types of sparring and non-contact is where someone learns control. It's harder to spar and NOT hurt someone thatn it is to spar with contact." Why is it that only non-contact fighters say this. I have NEVER heard a full contact fighter say it is harder sparring without contact. If you want to learn a feel control try full contact against an experienced fighter. Stopping within 1 inch won't cut it. How about doing this for control...try full contact sparring with hits to the face and body and not hurt your opponent. Throwing kicks and punches and hitting your opponent but not hurting them shows a lot more control than not hitting them at all. In fact, absolutely EVERYONE can throw strikes into the air and stop short. Not everyone can strike, hit their oppponent and not hurt them.

It will be interesting to hear someones reply this last post on a thread that is almost a year old 8)

I'll tell a story to perhaps try and better clarify. I have one senior student who was never very good at non-contact sparring. He had a habit of hitting people and having to appologize. I personally don't mind getting hit, it's a good reminder to block, but not everyone feels that way. This student had good technique and power. He knew his knowledge so how was I to hold him back from contact sparring and advance others with less tenure without it being an insult? I had already told him many times he needed more control, and it wasn't like he hurt people every time he sparred, it was just something he wasn't as good at as other students. When I ran a sparring class doing contact sparring with him in it for the first time outside private lessons I decided to put him up against a female student hoping he would be more gentle. Instead it was only a short time before we had to pause because he had punched her in the face jsut a bit too hard. That isn't fun to teach when lessons go that way. I always just go into the mode of analyzing the injury and then getting the lesson back on track asap provided no medical attention is needed. Anyhow to tie back into my statement about kung fu devolving, when a person basically skips that step in their training; this same student eventually completed the primary weapons training and I began to teach him chain whip. The first technique I train is a basic swing the chain forward in circles and then turn that forward swing into a backwards swing with a controlled twist of the body. His very first swing wrapped around his head and left a welt on his cheek. By the end of the lesson it looked as though someone had taken a paintball gun to his face. It really isn't a hard technique, it is only hard if you don't have full control of your body. Gaining control of your body is in my mind the pursuit of kung fu. I make contact with people in sparring all the time and it is very very rare that I ever hurt anyone. But some techniques I consider important simply cannot be practiced with contact, even the slightest degree of contact and thus if I do not train non-contact sparring as well as contact sparring I will not make those techniques part of my fluid style. (The style I use without thought, just reaction.) Thus if I train only contact, I lose those techniques and devolve my kung fu.

Hello North Thus if I train only contact, I lose those techniques and devolve my kung fu. Ain't that the truth! I had a student who was always coming in much too hard whenever he sparred. What made it worse was that he would walk into things and get hit all that much harder because of his own momentum. His techniques were powerful but his control was not what it should have been. He was warned repeatedly and he did eventually learn but only after he had to defend himself in the street. It was only after that encounter that he really understood the difference between a combatively athletic activity and a vicious assault. It was only after he was on the receiving end of a wild powerful attack that he had to defend himself against that he finally got it. Up until that moment, he was all about power and aggression. After that day, he began to realize he not only had enough power to flatten an attacker, he also had timing, position and other abilities which allowed him to land his powerful blows with control and confidence.