~Club Switching~

We live in a life of constant change. Think about it.

Change can be a good thing. Reasons for a change of training enviroment:

      conflicts of interests

      transfer

      job/study/family change

If you train under one club, you are only accustomed to that club or instructor's method of teaching.

That instructor may only be focusing on sparring or fitness or forms, which may or may not coincide with your interests. You may want to compete, but if your club only does forms and step-sparring, tough luck that they ever send anyone out for competition.

Before you decide to change clubs or associations, ask yourself a few questions:

            - am I happy in my current club?

            - can I suggest some changes to my current club?

            - am I improving myself while training in my current club?

            - am I 'invisible'?

            - do I dread each training session?

            - does the training schedule suit me?

            - is the location convenient enough for me?

If you answer NO to more than 3, then it's time to seriously contemplate switching. Now if you're from the outskirts, switching clubs may not be as easy as your current club/association may be the only one in your area. But if you're living in KL or the main cities, then you have the option to do otherwise. So if you're stuck in that club and you really wish to switch, then try switching martial arts. You would be surprised at what they could teach you. My personal experience of club switching according to time-line:

If you look closely, you will see that I started from TKD, veered off and ended up with TKD again. But beware of course, some instructors don't take club switching lightly. I made one enemy because of this. You can call this method; aka soul searching. AS for me, after 1998, I needed a breath of fresh air. My current association wasn't teaching me anything new anymore. The third column, you may observe the different things that I learned from each club that I have been in.

My karate instructor was a very nice man who taught me the integration of martial arts into everyday life through breathing. I learned that karate stances are more pronounced and emphasized than TKD and through 'kata's, I perfected my poomsae-s. In varsity karate, my karate sen-sei stretched my flexibility and fitness to the limit. And I learned humility that no matter how good I am in one martial art, I may not thrive well in the other.

Back to the point, the decision of club switching is ultimately left to you. Below I highlight some pro and cons. Established clubs are prominent clubs where the mention of the instructor's name bears recognition and esteem.

Where do I find club/association lists? Try http://www.mta.com.my

I do not condone club switching at the drop of a hat. This means that you don't threaten to switch just because you got punished for coming late to class. You probably deserved it. However, club switching should be considered when the need arises. So think carefully as switching is mostly one-directional. You probably will not be welcomed back to your former club after you switch.

Written by hungheykwun 22 April 2003