Let's drag this dead horse back out and beat it...

[Brock]

In another thread we covered Soke boards and how they relate to FMA, but what about organizations such as AIKIA (http://www.aikia.net) and how they would help "independent" karate-ka. Say a guy (or gal) that had a black belt in a style and for whatever reason couldn't continue with that instructor, but trained with other instructors learning kata from other styles and was able to put that together in a comprehensive curriculm, would that be any different from what Funakoshi, or any number of other karate Sensei did to create their style? I'm not saying some 25 year old punk that is full of himself cuz he took karate and judo for a PE credits in college, but someone with a legitimate love for what they are doing and the actual experience to back it up.

I don't know what made me think of this, but what thoughts does anyone have on this?

[arnisador]

This is a funny thing. Lots of people merge styles, but few of them are a Funakoshi, or Kano, or Parker, or Lee, or Presas, or Sulite, etc. But none of them really benefited from an outside org.--the proof was in the pudding. They, and their students, were their own endorsements.

[Brock]

My thoughts are similar to yours. I like the idea behind the AIKIA thing. There's a certian amount of accountability involved in it I guess, but that's only if it's done right.