The Unified Martial Arts Association International

[nosh276]

Has anyone heard anything about it? I'm thinking of joining since I don't have an organization anymore. http://www.umaai.org/index1.html That's their page if anyone wants to check them out. They seem fine to me I was just wondering if anyone's heard any ill of them. Any comments are greatly appreciated.

[Crusader Rabbit]

Hi Brandon,

Have you considered joining Crusader Rabbit ryu? We would welcome you into our organization with open arms (as long as your check clears). Send me an e-mail and I will be happy to set you up in our international organization of martial arts. For a small extra fee, I will also certify you as a real-live, honest-to-gosh "soke" in [Fill-in your style name] including a certificate guaranteed to be suitable for framing. :wink2:

If you're too busy, just send me your MasterCard or Visa credit card number and expiration date, and I'll take care of all the paperwork for you. :bandit:

[Peter Rehse]

Brandon - what possible benefit is there to joining that sort of group. I'm serious - I really would like to know why people do.

Don - I would join your group in a heart beat but I have a question. Would I have to refer to you as Big Bunny. That I could never do.

[Crusader Rabbit]

Peter,

I am not referred to as "Big Bunny." I prefer the title: Supreme Grandmaster O'sensei Usagi (bunny).

If you join our internationally recognized organization, we will of course confer upon you the highly honored and coveted martial arts title of "Peter Rabbit-san." :laugh:

Please be sure to include your check. :wink2:

[DragonMind]

Peter,

I am not referred to as "Big Bunny." I prefer the title: Supreme Grandmaster O'sensei Usagi (bunny).

If you join our internationally recognized organization, we will of course confer upon you the highly honored and coveted martial arts title of "Peter Rabbit-san." :laugh:

Please be sure to include your check. :wink2:
Ooohh! Ooohh! Do you teach the secret Hausenpfeffer technique? The check's in the mail. Honest.

[Cliff Hargrave]

Has anyone heard anything about it? I'm thinking of joining since I don't have an organization anymore. http://www.umaai.org/index1.html That's their page if anyone wants to check them out. They seem fine to me I was just wondering if anyone's heard any ill of them. Any comments are greatly appreciated.

Brandon,

Looks like just another made up collection of wanna-be masters/sokes/whatevers.

Before you join an organization you have to know first what you want out of that organization. Then you have to see if that organization will deliver what you want. I don't see that organization delivering anything but a membership that no one else will recognize. If you click the "associations" section you will see a list of other belt give-away organizations.

I went through the same search a few years ago looking for an organization to belong to. After wading through the endless mounds of crap, I came away very discouraged at the state of martial arts now in the US. Do your own thing and don't worry about belonging to anything like that. You will eventually find something that will suit your needs.

[Webmaster]

With all of these new organizations popping up, it is hard to keep track of them all! Brandon, any organization with things like a "Soke Board" I would stay far away from.

[Mark Barlow]

Brandon,

Depending on what your primary training focus is, there are some very reputable organizations out there. If you'd like an informed, if not always unbiased, opinion, feel free to email me, Mr. Carver or anyone who's opinion you've come to respect. One of the benefits of the 'net is access to a wide range of folks and styles.

Best of luck with your training.
Mark Barlow

[n2shotokai]

I loked at the members and the links and did not find anyone I would contact as a reference. I did notice a few that have been bashed by people who seem to spend their time searching out fraudulent MA's. I am not saying that is the case, just that is the only place I have seen some of the names.

[Crusader Rabbit]

Brandon,

All my previous posts in this thread were meant as tongue-in-cheek humor. I agree with all the others, though. Stay away from martial arts organizations which claim to provide "recognition." Unless you need liability insurance or something like that, there's no real reason to join any martial arts organization, much less getting involved in another one of the "soke" type associations.

Over the past several years, I've personally witnessed the U.S. judo organizations, even the ones recognized by the International Judo Federation, go from fairly good service to money-hungry, who cares about the individual as long as we can get free junkets, take the money for issuing rank, etc., associations for the most part. Those are considered fairly legitimate. The ones like you cited aren't even close to being ethical or providing any service other than a rank certificate that isn't recognized by anyone else.

Take Robert, Cliff, and Peter's advice. Stay away from that kind of nonsense. You're much better off on your own and doing your own thing. At least, that way you're being honest about yourself and your training. If you find a really good instructor and he/she recommends an organization, then you might want to reconsider it. Until then, run, don't walk, away from the soke boards.

[nosh276]

My problem is that I'm going to be teaching at a community outreach program and I want to give them the chance to advance in rank. I also want to advance. I no longer have a school to train at, but I know I'm ready for my next testing.

Thanks for the replies.

[Crusader Rabbit]

So what's the problem? Give your students their appropriate rankings. Do you think it has to come from someone else to be "official" or something? You should check out some of those guys listed on that site. Most of them are just some guy with a web site and who takes checks from those who feel the overwhelming need to be "recognized." Why subject your own students to that kind of fraud?

Heck, for $20 bucks, I will watch your rank test on videotape and give you any grading you want.

[n2shotokai]

How about someone who practices TKD near Mobile, Alabama help this guy out with testing so he can continue his community outreach. Failing that, how about someone watch a video of him. I would do, but we are different styles.

Until then, you should be able to test up to 1st kyu or is it gup!?

I had to switch styles to get another rank as there are no other schools in my original style. I was in a very similar situation.

[Peter Rehse]

Peter,

I am not referred to as "Big Bunny." I prefer the title: Supreme Grandmaster O'sensei Usagi (bunny).

If you join our internationally recognized organization, we will of course confer upon you the highly honored and coveted martial arts title of "Peter Rabbit-san." :laugh:

Please be sure to include your check.


Works for me - checks in the mail. :t2:

[Cliff Hargrave]

I second the AAU thing. They have great insurance, organized sports, don't tell you what to teach, don't issue rank, are respected, and you can network with other instructors for your own continuing training.

[nosh276]

I know I'm ready because I've been training and was scheduled to test in a couple of weeks. I'll check them out, thanks!

[starkjudo]

Just looking at the members list, i'd question whether a few of the people there even know they're members.

[sean_stonehart]

A few eyebrows in the upward position here.

Since when is:

"Ryu" used in Korean MA, such as ... Pa Sa Ryu Tae-Kwon-Do

"Dan" ranks given out in Chinese Martial Arts especially for a technique, not an art such as ... 2nd Dan Dim Mak.... (BTW... the Chinese use DUAN & it's only issued from the PRC & to the wushu big wigs, not just anybody)

"Kickboxing" have "Dan" ranks such as ... 3rd Dan Full Contact Karate

"Soke" title applied to kickboxing and/or Budo such as ... Soke Kickboxing/Budo

Standby positions with Japanese titles used in Korean MA such as ... Auxillary Shinsei Hapkido


These are just a few of the things that made me giggle... and were all taken directly from this page... http://www.umaai.org/index1.html

I don't think I could've made up any of these things....

[Posiview]

Under 'testing':


1st Gup to 1st Dan (Instructor's Test) 6 Months
1st Dan to 2nd Dan 1 Year
2nd Dan to 3rd Dan 1 1/2 Years
3rd Dan to 4th Dan 2 Years
4th Dan to 5th Dan 3 years
5th Dan to 6th Dan 4 Years
6th Dan to 7th Dan 5 Years
7th Dan to 8th Dan 7 Years
8th Dan to 9th Dan 8 Years
9th Dan to 10th Dan 9 Years
What the hell's that all about!!??

Also under 'Testing':


2) Whenever a member of the U.M.A.A.I. dies, they will immediately be promoted to 10th Dan Black-Belt GrandMaster.
Do people REALLY fall for this B******T!!

[jruner]

I have searched for ligit independant orginizations for people who wan't to earn rank or create an art. There is not one! If you have a dan Rank, I say teach! In my thread "Rural Martial Arts" I was advised to start a club of other Martial Artist's as I can't find a local dojo to continue training. I have even looked into video testing to learn an art(or add to the arts I experience with), also not recommended. It seems better to teach whatever you do know and get together with other artist's and learn from what ever they know. Don't lower your standards, preserve them! To me ranks are proof of skill that help teachers evaluate students and make parents more comfortable paying teachers. Skill however is not dependant on a ranking system. All these so called a legit independant orginizations and mail order Black Belt Schools are a real thorn in the side of honest Martial Artist's!

John Runer

[Silat Murid]

Nosh.
The membership is free so why not check it out. People worry about a paper as though it means something but it doesn't. To some students it will impress them initially, but ultimately if the student is impressed with the teacher that is where it matters. I have been doing my art for many years, and I have also been teaching it too. Where not having a paper counts is in some schools, but in others they will try you out and if you are teaching something different and they like it the paper will not matter. Just my thoughts but I am not an expert

Amaideach

[RRousselot]

Has anyone heard anything about it? I'm thinking of joining since I don't have an organization anymore. http://www.umaai.org/index1.html That's their page if anyone wants to check them out. They seem fine to me I was just wondering if anyone's heard any ill of them. Any comments are greatly appreciated.


Here is a heads up....when you see this Organization: World Head of Family Sokeship Council go the opposite direction.....or any westerner that uses the title Soke
They are nothing more than a mutual dank rank society.

[Jared Sutton]

Why don't we, the people of budoseek, create an organization, that doesn't give rank, but has a fancy name. There's no President, V.P., etc., we're all just equal members who can say that we're members of an organization.

A name, a seal, possibly a website's all we need.

[DragonMind]

We did; it's called BudoSeek! :laugh:

[AndrewSimonsen]

I think said org. would need a dictator to keep things in line.

[RRousselot]

Why don't we, the people of budoseek, create an organization, that doesn't give rank, but has a fancy name. There's no President, V.P., etc., we're all just equal members who can say that we're members of an organization.

A name, a seal, possibly a website's all we need.


Why would you need to join an organization?

[Jared Sutton]

Just to have something to put under your org. blank when you're describing yourself, of course:-). But seriously, I'm sure anything we could put together would be better than half of those MA orgs in BlackBelt. We could call it the Unified Martial Arts Association International. Oops, already taken.

[TroyRoget]

In all honesty, I would really like to see a martial arts organization that manages to avoid all the crap most of these organizations have. BudoSeek is great for sharing information between Ryu, but it's not real life, and for the martial arts, real live demonstration of technique is really necessary for sharing. That's why I think the get-together in Mobile is a great idea. Maybe if that is a success, next year there could be regional camps in different parts of the country so that more people could go?