All,
As a current instructor in CKD I'll throw my tuppence worth in.
First of all, do we all want the same from our martial art? The answer is no, we don't. Having done Shotokan Karate, TKD and now CKD (and no, I didn't transfer from TKD straight to CKD, there was a ten year gap of nothingness) I can speak with some experience (but no doubt not expertly) about the differences, the pros and cons. Knowing all the pros and cons in CKD it "suits" me to train in this martial art, it will not suit others for sure!
First I would like to say that CKD has many flaws, I know the majority of them (including all those posted here, the ones relating to GMC and Master P especially true!) but no doubt somebody could give me some I don't. Secondly, I would not like to diss any of the other art forms as I respect them for what they are and their deticated followers like I do my own.
Like all martial arts you will have the serious followers (dedicated, talented, sometimes egotistical, sometimes not) and those who just want the grand title of black belt (useless, no power, cr*p technique etc.) Sadly they all have those with large egos whether talented or not! And they all manage to progress through the ranks to black belt whether they are good or not. Ours is certainly no different, just more transparent about it I suppose!!
One thing I have noticed is that those in the martial arts only like to speak about their own as being the best and greatest. Only the top people at CKD speak like this, as rightly noted in this post, and sometimes those who have not done any other martial art. (undoutedly because they know no other to speak of).
Now down to the guts of it. CKD does NOT have the most powerful kicks or punches, my own kicks were far harder whilst training at TKD. Those who do have incredible kicking and punching power have usually transfered over from TKD. Some of the techniques in CKD have lessened the power of the kicks but questionably some of the hand techniques may be better. (again, this depends solely on the individual performing the techniques. I cannot speak for anybody elses ability bar my own) The stances are more practicle than the others I have done as its more akin to how you would normally stand when facing somebody in a fight.
The lack of sparring is a definate problem but the upside is we have no injuries. My pet hate back in Karate and TKD was being hit by somebody else with less control over their punches and kicks than I had. Although the down side of the sparring was that control sometimes led people to condition themselves to stop a kick or punch from hitting the target correctly, the use of boards helped to oppose that. The lack of board hitting in CKD is also a flaw but its due to somebody being sued in the states by a spectator who was hit by flying debris! I believe some places still use boards but don't admit it to HQ for obvious reasons.
Their is also the matter of no new techniques after 4th Dan, not sure why this is but I'm sure your ability to move up to or past 4th Dan is more to do with your ability to sell CKD than your ability to perform techniques. (hence why Master P is 7th Dan!!).
As a final note, I'm sure somewhere in this thread somebody speaks about CKD instructors leaving to set up their own art. That's very true and politics plays a very large part of CKD. This happens in all the arts I have come into contact with not just the ones I've practiced myself. Admittedly in CKD most people leave to set up their own schools due to the politics and money, far more so than other arts I know of. I myself researched setting up my own school and quickly realised that all of the ones in my area were just about breaking even, there is no profit! Those that broke away now make a decent living out of it and good on them for taking the leap of faith to do so. I ended up becoming an instructor at the school I trained with to provide flexibility for my own instructor to take holidays/train/work etc.
If anybody needs more information about CKD I'm happy to advise/discuss but not fight (forgive the pun) over who has the best martial art. After all that typing I'm off for a snooze!
Noob
