Talk:And the Winner Is.../@comment-192.167.204.254-20120513095124/@comment-192.167.204.254-20120513125615

Nothing prevents them from learning moves forbidden in a match (e.g. Mako's lightning generation). Even if they could not bend massive bodies of water in a pro-bending match, Tahno could clearly make ice to trap opponents' feet (thus he could likely know more letal moves involving ice), and he did in the championship final, but not against Equalists. Katara could do this without formal training (in "The Avatar returns").

Korra had 17 years to master 3 elements (13 if we count that OWL discovered her status when he was 4, thus "formal" training may start at this point), while Aang had only 1 year, and Roku at 28 was a fully realized avatar and master of all 4 elements (thus he had 12 years as Fire Sages announced this when he was 16).

Masters taught Korra the "traditional" way of bending, without limitations put by pro-bending (after all she is the Avatar, not a pro-bender, and in Ep.1 she created big fire streams in front of OWL members and Katara, that would be illegal in a match). Yes, bending has changed a lot, but if on one side more people know specialized techniques available only to masters in A:TLA, on the other side no one shows the bending feats shown by masters in A:TLA, nor they can use with the same proficiency (e.g. Mako's lightning vs Azula's).