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Hey all,
For those of you who haven’t interacted with me, my name is John Whitman. I’m the President of Krav Maga Worldwide, a 4th degree black belt in the system, and the moderator of this forum.
I haven’t posted much for the last few months because, after moderating for seven years, I was getting a little burned out.
Jumping back in for a moment, I wanted to express a couple of things.
First, I am aware that YOU are not aware of everything that goes on behind the scenes, so I place no blame, but those of you who criticize us on the forum should at least be aware that there is a fantastic group of men and women who have dedicated their careers to making our organization and its system as strong as it can be. You will never know the sacrifices that have been made, and are being made, on a regular basis.
Those of you who expect us to be policing schools better should also keep in mind that a significant portion of our resources are being spent protecting the system from people who are fighting to make it generic. If you think quality control is a problem now, just see what will happen if they win.
If we weren’t fighting to protect the name, I’d have more resources to police schools.
I confess that I get exhausted reading this forum, which sometimes becomes a place for people to take crap about us.
At the same time, I want to express thanks…that is, in fact, what I came on the forum to write originally. The thread on Choke From the Front is insightful, detailed, and thoughtful, without my being involved at all. Nice work. I’m glad to see a community of Krav Maga practitioners come together like that.
It seems that other organizations are opening up schools, conducting seminars, etc….in the US, regardless of \”supposed\” ownership, which I believe has been settled.
Books have been published. More will probably come along.
This should become a dead issue and each organization should concentrate internally, on it’s quality control.
Generic is licensing a school and having them learn another martial art mixed in with Krav and calling it Krav. Or having someone take a cardio kick boxing class and never learning a single techique other that to punch a bag for an hour and call it Krav Maga.
When someone is \”teaching\” your Krav Maga in a Tae Kwon Do school, and it bares no semblance to Krav Maga, something is wrong no matter the circumstances.
That will make your version more generic than any other thing.
If you believe that KMAA is superior, then focus on that and \”bring on the competition\”.
Same for the IKMF and IKMA.
The cream always rises to the top doesn’t it?
.02
Great post and good info. I think when some schools begin to wander, many people just get concerned. When its something they are so dedicated to and enjoy so much its natural. I remember when I first started there would be two rooms packed with adults every night, along with crazy exercises and great intensity. Now after multiple changes in class format, testing requirements etc, you will see four adults on a good night and the rest children. With all the other kids martial arts classes taught there I guess this happens.
Thanks for your dedication, as I too am sure the focus will return.
As a relitive new commer it is nice to hear from someone with real knowledge. Thanks for all you do John. Krav is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Our instuctors are in L.A. all the time staying up to date.
Thanks for your statement, John. I’m proud to be associated with a group that has put so much time and effort into maintaining a standard of excellence into an international endeavor.
Hi John,
I don’t know how you even lasted seven years! I get frustrated just reading some of the posts at times. By the way, remember that guy in Florida years ago who wanted to fly you out to spar with him(and not \”friendly\”sparring!). Ah, the good old days 🙂
Anyways, I still read the Forum regularly and admit I always look first to see if you have posted something. I think that is a testament to how myself and others view your moderation/participation.
Tks,
thedaver
Mr. Whitman:
Thanks for all the effort that you and all of the others have put into making Krav Maga Worldwide the quality organization it is. The personal benefits that I’ve received from the practice of Krav can never be repaid. It has truely changed my life.
As a long time practitioner of Aikido, I can state that the fighting and splintering of Krav Maga after the death of Imi is pretty much par for the course in martial arts. The death of Morehei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido led to the formation of four different major styles of Aikido each created by a direct student of his that was sure they knew exactly what he wanted passed on to future generations. As a result you have a variety of schools now that teach what they each believe is Aikido and range from a harder style ( Yoshinkan ) which is taught to the Tokyo riot police to Ki-Aikido which is a very soft style that is more like moving meditation than a fighting art. It would have been better for all concerned if there had been people like you and Mr. Levine on hand that had fought to maintain the integrity of the system and the way it is taught.
I’m lucky in that I study under James and Shannon Hiromasa in Broomfield, CO. It is a quality program run by great people. However, ultimately, my training is up to me. If I’m not happy with the program, it’s up to me to find another school, another teacher, or another art to study. Pissing and moaning about the organization doesn’t change anything, and I’ve never been quite sure why so many people expect some guy in California to oversee their training. When I got disgusted with the quality of training at my old dojo, I found another school that was 50 miles away, and I went there. The commute sucked, but the training I got was great.
I also can’t express how much I appreciate the forum. It allows for a great exchange of ideas, and helps us to forge a sense of community with students around the country. Thanks again.Mr. Whitman:
Thank you for your time and efforts. I’ve been very pleased after discovering Krav Maga a year ago.
I confess I don’t fully understand the context/background to all of the arguments about \”generic\” and governing bodies.
All I know is that the school that my son and I go to here in Kansas City is part of your association and it is of the highest caliber and I find all the instruction very clear and useful.
I’ve seen comments on this forum about other schools that have closed or are dropping KM instruction and I am thankful that our school is a going concern and is actually expanding.
Keep up the good work!
I deleted it. She and I have had many discussions in the past about her inflammatory comments. I found this to be one of them.
Or maybe I’m just a bad guy.
Either way, it’s gone.
BTW, I appreciate the kind words. I was not fishing for compliments. I honestly came on to compliment the group for some great recent posts, and then I read some other things that got me thinking.
Some of you like what we’re going. Some of you hate it. C’est la vie!
Good to see you back online John. It’s been a long time since I posted as well, I like to think that I was one of the \”originals\” who was posting when the first forum went online years ago. I realize that you weren’t fishing for compliments, but I think it’s nice to get them every once in a while just the same. When I started in KM, there were only 13 schools in the entire country. Look at the locations map today! It is truly amazing to see the impact that the KMNTC has had in just the last 7 years alone.
For every time that someone has had to use KM to protect themselves in a dangerous situation, I would guess that you could count 1000 more times where someone’s KM training has gotten them to recognize the danger before it occurred. The police force in my town began KM training with Londale in 2003, and who knows how many lives that has saved. I’m not sure what the future holds for Krav Maga and it’s reputation in the US. Those of us who know what real KM looks like, who have trained at schools in Chicago, Denver, Boulder, Austin, Ft. Collins, Los Angeles, Colorado Springs, etc., etc. are safer today because of your efforts.
It also speaks volumes of the training that I can take a year off, step into an advanced gun/knife defense training seminar with you, and not miss a step… Maybe I’ll get to the Winter Camp next year and see what 2 years off looks like =)
Hi Guys
Every time a reply that does,nt suit is posted it gets deleted!!!!!!!!!
as this probably will, thats a shame is this not supposed to be a forum ????No offence to anyone intended.
Craig.
Do you really think that? Read through even some of the recent threads, let alone some of the older ones. There’s criticism of us, our affiliated schools, and other things all over this board. In 7 years I’ve probably deleted 20-30 posts. That’s really not a lot in 7 years.
Anyway, I REALLY don’t want this to devolve into another of these debates.
Mr. Whitman,
Like everyone else here, I too appreciate you, your organization, and Krav Maga in general. Some posts I have read through and replied to discussed the different schools and styles of instruction. I did not see any that appeared to be critical of KMAA, but I also did not go through all of them. I know that it is virtually impossible to police all of the schools across the country. Tasks of that magnitude take much time and coordination, not to mention resources.
I think that most people are not trying to be critical of your organization, but are more frustrated with their individual school or instructor. I originally posted here to find more information about how belt testing was supposed to be conducted and eventually found that the school I attend isn’t exactly what I thought it was. I never complained that KMAA was responsible for policing this school, but if they aren’t, who is?
I have to note here, that like KMCat, I don’t know a lot about the politics of the organization.Either way, I wanted to thank you for your service to those of us in Krav Maga and to tell you that I am still waiting for my book. 😀
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