Linage, is it important?

Linage has always been important. It tells something about who your teacher /school is. Look at business (Harvard , MIT and so on) or the UFC. Getting connected to the right school, gives you a basis for doing well. It can’t guaranty you success, but they have proven that they know some “tricks”, and as a minimum you get these “served”.

Even when you’re out in life, referencing your “linage” can be a sign of quality. But really what counts is how you utilize the stuff you’ve learned. You can have the best credentials and the best teachers, but this doesn’t mean you automatically do “magic stuff” or the right things.

Being able to build on your experience, and be able to make it work for you is something you are. Teachers and Schools can set up the learning environment and optimize the learning experience, but it’s up to the student to learn and to “get it”.

So when Sense’s/teachers/coaches boast or reference there “linage”, it’s just part of it. And if you look at Blooms taxonomy, you’ll see it’s just the lower part of understanding/learning. What really counts is the understanding and being able to share, analysis, elaborate and use what you have learned, which is the higher part of Blooms. So look at the students, and see how well they perform.

When looking at performance many parameters should be considered, from a technical point of view to a social relationship standard, were the 2 mentioned are the most dominant.  The technical view is for many “easy” to see compared to the relationship overview. Physical techniques can easily be shown and tested, while relationships are built on known and unknown rules, and the corresponding dynamics can be hard to see. But it is here you’ll see whether a teacher helps build his students, and sees them as individuals or he sees them as possible clones of himself.

A student will never reach their potential if the teacher/coach doesn’t give them the possibility to grow and evolve. The questions is how to see this, since every school or dojo, has some requirements that are fundamental. Some of them are pure technical and sometimes quite many, were a couple of thousands don’ the most I’ve heard, while others concentrate on more the mental part. These two extrems are easly spottet for what they are, it’s when they mix and only fill small parts of the “school” or are downplayed. That’s what you’ll look for.

Another “trait” is to look for the “super sensei”. He’ll have answers for everything, and nothing but his own fit’s to what he’s doing, even the most obvious. Doing self defense is doing what works, and if you can have success by running around in big clogs, smoking a joint… prove it and do it… if it works.

So we are back to … what works… linage might be important, if it works, and see if the students can get it to work for themselves in any area and you have a school/dojo that will give you great basis for doing your best at selfdefense.