Apologies for the obvious title, but I couldn’t resist it. For those of you in the dark, it refers to the upcoming European Festival of Martial Arts rather than yet another moaning diatribe on the state of martial arts today. Far from being trivial and small time, as the Mickey Mouse slang term has unfortunately come to mean, the operation has the potential to be the most anticipated annual marital arts event in Europe.
Mickey Mouse Martial Arts? It is up to You. An Introduction to the Most Exciting Event in the World of Martial Arts
Already in America its equivalent is in its seventh year and websites all over the internet are buzzing with reports of its success, winning over traditionalists and modernists in their respective styles. Now Disney’s European resort, the Disney Village in Disneyland, Paris, is about to offer a world stage to us.
It seems appropriate that the martial arts community and the Disney brand should meet. Both have learnt that success lies in the future and representative of that future are the children of today. Many of the great martial arts masters quickly learnt the importance of teaching children. Some successfully pushed for the inclusion of their martial art in their country’s national school curriculum. Others have bemoaned children’s classes as the starting point for all the shallow commercialism and dilution of their arts. I don’t believe this is an entirely fair statement at all. It has only been through teaching children that I have really been able to be honest about teaching and training in self-defence. Furthermore children are the core of creativity, excitement, enthusiasm, energy and imagination, all the things that are synonymous with martial spirit.
However, it is best remembered that the Disney model is not just aimed at children but at all generations. They are the second biggest entertainment business in the world, owning such production companies as Touchstone Pictures and Miramax, numerous TV companies and live entertainment enterprises, not to mention, of course, the theme parks. With this in mind, the marital arts world has ample opportunity to use the leverage of the Disney brand for all of us to push our clubs in the right direction and make a difference.
Disney Martial Arts Event
The making a difference part is especially important to me. We need to ask ourselves are the marital arts being portrayed in the right light today. Are they fulfilling their global potential like they could? Does the image reflect the reality? Are the European (or British, if you like,) representatives of your chosen discipline making their own unique stamp on the world scene? The reason why these questions must be asked is because now is a chance to make those statements in the language of our demonstrations, our teaching, our competing and our all round support. This is an opportunity to take the proverbial microphone, look the world in the eye and declare: This is martial arts!
Jamie Clubb is the founder of Clubb Chimera Martial Arts, a proactive process for individual development through realistic self-defence, self-protection, combative systems
Apologies for the obvious title, but I couldn’t resist it. For those of you in the dark, it refers to the upcoming European Festival of Martial Arts rather than yet another moaning diatribe on the state of martial arts today. Far from being trivial and small time, as the Mickey Mouse slang term has unfortunately come to mean, the operation has the potential to be the most anticipated annual marital arts event in Europe. 
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