Brad, was this the group you were talking about?

Dog Brothers

Also, who are we to determine whether or not an individual is "worthy" to study HDGD just because initially they come in simply wanting to wield a sword? I personally have known many people who have started an art just to learn how to "beat somebody up" but discovered there was much more to the art. Sure, they were alittle rough around the edges at the beginning and wanted to fight anything with a belt tied around its waist; but they eventually grew to be excellent martial artists and better individuals. Now I'm not saying that this is the case 100% of the time and the martial arts are some kind of miracle rehabilitation method; but for the individuals it does help, it is life changing, and for the ones that it doesn't, they usually wind up leaving shortly after starting after realizing there is alot of hard work involved or their ego is smashed one way or another.

Sorry about the rabid run-on sentence

No, that's not the group I found online. Those guys (the Dog Brothers)state they are a Kali martial arts group. The group I saw didn't even use face masks or gloves. Just walloped each other silly with sticks, until one or the other was KOed. Amazed they didn't put folks in the hospital on a regular basis. Or perhaps they do, who knows.

Anyways, I agree with you, it's not up to us (at least not at my level, a humble student) who comes and tries out our art. And I am fully in support that HDGD, the way it's currently structured, is a family friendly martial art. An art for young and old. I am constantly on the lookout for more older folks like me to try this.

I like sparring informally; wish we had opportunities to do it more often. I would like to see some choreographed sparring as well, I think it is a teaching tool. Paired gyukums and such help demonstrate to the students the application of some of the movements in the various forms. Since it's a controlled movement, the student has time to understand the intent of each movement.

Free sparring may or may not reinforce techniques for forms. It depends to some extent on whether the more experienced fighter deliberately uses specific movements/attacks/defenses to cause the less experienced fighter to use specific movements to hit or avoid being hit, and thereby gain understanding of the application of the movement. Again, it all depends on what it is you are trying to do, what's the objective of the exercise.....

One "solution" to consider is to prohibit students to spar until they earn their first dan. By doing so, you weed out some of the individuals wanting to spar for superficial reasons because they lack the discipline and proper mindset to make it to first dan anyway. Sure, there'll still be individuals wanting to engage in sparring for the wrong reasons even after they earn their first dan, but I think that's unavoidable. The point is to minimize the occurance, not eliminate it. Besides, offering sparring with the attainment of 1st dan will re-invigorate the overall program with a new activity much like cutting does now.

Someone mentioned the value of realism in the way of having the fear of injury or greater loss in sparring. We obviously can't have that level of involvement, but at the same time I think it's counterproductive to have nothing in the way of penalties or loss for losing a match. Too many students will not take the exercise seriously. But what if the person losing the match has to endure some hardship, say 1000 push ups? What effect might that have?

Well, I know i can't do 1000 pushups.

You'll just have to do them on the "installment plan."

Well, I for one would probably have a lot stronger arms