What is your worst martial arts experience?

[GouRonin]

What are the worst things that have happened to you in the martial arts? You don't have to name names if you don't want to.
:confused:

[fist of fury]

When I was a teen and took TKD back during the mid 80's I had been attending the school for about a year and my mom laid out $1500 for me for a lifetime membership. about 6 mo's later he disappeared, but surfaced again about a year later at another location. So I walked in and started taking classes that lasted for about 3 months and then he disappeared again. After that I had a series of M.A instructors that would close down of course I never joined any lifetime meberships or contracts but it got discouraging to get somewhere in an art only to keep having schools shut down so I quit M.A for a while.

[Nightingale]

The worst thing that happened to me in martial arts was in a sparring class. My instructor left the class to take a phone call. It was my first sparring class ever, and the second the instructor's office door was closed, the guy just started beating on me. Since it was my first class, I didn't want to seem like a wimp and complain, so I just took it. When I got home, I took off my gi top and went to the fridge to get some water in just my gi pants and sports bra. my mom looked at me and said "my god, what happened?" I looked down at myself and saw nothing but bruises. You couldn't even distinguish between bruises, my chest, stomache and back were all varying shades of purple, green, and black. I have no idea why he was hitting and kicking my back, it's not a legal target, but he did. I dont' mind getting the usual share of bruises from training, but this was way too extreme. I could hardly move my arms because they were so bruised, my legs and shins were bruised, and even three weeks later, you could still see it.

My mother swore that day that I was never setting foot in a karate school again. She stopped paying for it. I was fourteen or fifteen, and had to pay for it myself out of my babysitting money, and its damn difficult to come up with $65 a month babysitting. I did it, though. In retrospect, I should've told my instructor that I was footing the bill myself. He probably would have given me a break, but heck, I was a kid, I didn't know any better. I obviously continued with martial arts, however, it took me FIVE YEARS to ever set foot in a sparring class again, and even now I'll only spar with certain people or in a tournament where I know the judges will break things if they get out of control.

By the way, the green belt who beat on me was kicked out of the studio for an unrelated incident, but was let back in later and got his black belt.

There's my martial arts nightmare. Anyone else care to share?

[lungshihpo]

I was a blue belt sparring a black belt,that loved to spar,no other way than hard!but anyway i tried to do a spinning side thrust but my spin was to slow,so for where i was lacking he through thrust kick right in my tailbone,to this day I have had my bell rang, ribs cracked,your usual injuries but that one kick will never leave my mind that was the most pain i've ever been in,painful to sit for more than two weeks,ouch! it hurts thinking about it.there my worst experience.thanks


Jason:asian:

[Kempojujutsu]

My worst experiences would all have to be injuries substance in class. 1st was getting hip thrown at my 2nd Black belt test, and trying to bridge fall out of it. Landed on my knee wrong and miss getting to do the rest of the test. This was in the first 30 minutes of the test. 2nd was doing a demo with bo's. Was working on fighting combinations when one of my students thrusted it into my eye. He froze and I yelled at him to finish the combination. I still have a floater in my eye still. That was probably 5 years ago. The last thing was working on knife disarms with the knife held against your neck. Tried disarming the wooden knife and about disarm one of my teeth from my mouth(chip tooth). Had to go around a week with this chip tooth. I hated that.
Bob :asian:

[KenpoTess]

*Reviving older thread*

Thoughts?

[terryl965]

Was'nt my experience but a friend of mine, when sparring he got kick so hard that he crapped his pants while on the matt we all felt bad for him. What a trooper though he came back for the next tournament.
Terry

[MJS]

I'd have to say when I injured my knee while grappling. I was working with someone who was not exercising their control very well, and I came very close to tearing my ACL. Needless to say, I was unable to train for a while. I've had some good bumps and bruises, but they didn't put me out of training.

Mike

[Henderson]

he got kick so hard that he crapped his pants on the mat
:rofl: :lol: :roflmao: :lol2:

I am sorry. I do no want to seem cruel, but that is one of the funniest things I've ever heard!!!

Respects,

Frank

[Navarre]

I am sorry. I do no want to seem cruel, but that is one of the funniest things I've ever heard!!!

Um, gee, why would that seem cruel?


I had only been studying jujitsu for about a year when I made a grievous error. I was grappling with a newer student (about 4 month's experience) and went for a standing armbar.

He wasn't on good footing and was on his way to the ground, face first. We were moving at half speed and all seemed okay. I was simply flowing with his body motion and momentum, going for approximately the same arm bar once we hit the mat.

However, not being used to the feeling of the lock nor adept at manuevering while in motion, he tried to turn his body away from the lock. This could easily happen on the street as well because it is the natural reaction. Here though, the results were disastrous.

I heard the pop as his shoulder was dislocated as his body rolled away from his arm. He screamed and I released at the feeling of the sudden change in tension but it was too late.

He was in horrible pain and I, already a black belt with 10 years in karate, felt like the lowest sort of scum. It was an accident and he wasn't angry. Accidents happen.

But it illustrates how quickly and easily such injury can occur with a solid lock. ... Guess it's better than making some poor guy crap himself though(?)

[OnlyAnEgg]

I don't have that much experience to draw upon; but, I've had one memorable injury.

I'd been in TKD for about 3 months and we were sparring. The studio's evil black belt and I were going at it and I was barely holding my own (meaning about a 5:1 ratio of landed hits...he had the 5). I had advanced and was backing up and he did a back kick straight into my cup. To that point, I had been under the impression that the cup was going to protect me...I was a bit wrong. I was down for a good 5 minutes trying to start breathing again. The black was mildly apologetic. I did, however, begin defending that area with a high priority; so, I guess I learned something.

[Navarre]

Why is it that every studio seems to have an "evil" black belt? There's always someone who's been seduced by The Dark Side.

These must be the same evil souls that tell unsuspecting beginners that a groin cup protects them from having their gonads used for the 40 yard punt.

[Eternal Beginner]

The worst moments for me are when I hurt someone. Of course it is never intentional, but stuff happens.

I always feel horrible and guilty after, even if purely accidental.

[Henderson]

There's always someone who's been seduced by The Dark Side.
:jediduel:

[Henderson]

Seriously though...I've been fortunate enough to have never hurt a training partner. I have had my wrist broken by one. More annoying than painful.

[Gemini]

Navarre, being the senior student, we are the ones responsible for controlling the action. When we fail to do so, right or wrong, we do take it personally.

Only about 3 weeks ago, I was sparring with a red belt in a practice no-contact match. Because he was an advanced student, we were moving at full pace with the kicks coming in full power and speed, stopping within an inch or so of the target. He threw a kick, I countered with a mid section roundhouse that he tried to block with his fist. Because my foot was still about 6" from his body, it was still at full power when he contacted it. His wrist folded like a cheap suit as he fell on the floor screaming. I thought he was okay because after a minute or two, he came back in for a few more matches. Turns out his wrist was fractured in 2 places. Worse still, he was black belt testing that Saturday. Accidents happen, but to say I felt bad would be a huge understatement.

He tested anyway. Acted like he wasn't even wearing a cast. One tough dude.

Unfortunately, I think my worst story is still yet to come....

[INDYFIGHTER]

Having my school close after only a year of training when I was eight years old and not getting back into martial arts again for twenty years! I so wish I'd been doing this all those years!

[IcemanSK]

My worst experience was (I've mentioned it elsewhere) was testing for what I thought was an ITF 2nd Dan only to find out years later that my instructor had no ties to the ITF & that our certificates were bogus!

[Sam]

hm. I've been in it a year, so I am sure there is worse to come.

I was sparring one of the instructors sons, it was his first sparring class. He had just had a little league game and had gotten hit in the eye with a ball. He was developing a nice black eye. (the kid's like 12 or 13). Our match is almost over, and I wheel kick to his head right as he tried to do a spinning move and moved his head. It would have landed on his headgear, but I got him right in the already 1/2 black eye.

[Navarre]

Sam, Sam, Sam...You're so clever. You make it sound like it really was an accident. lol

[Makalakumu]

Right before I graduated high school, I started training MMA. I had been doing other TMA since I was 11 and I did wrestling and boxing in high school. After a year, I was in really good shape and I was competing pretty regularly. During one practice session, I was working standing randori with a newer guy. I dropped and went for the legs and at the same time, he dropped and slammed his knee into my chest. At the same time, he pinned my arms and threw me with a sloppy tomoe nage. I slammed head first into the mat and was knocked unconcious. I woke up on a backboard in an ambulence and I couldn't feel my legs. I did not break my neck though. One of the vertebreal disks was compressed and was swollen and that was what was affecting my nervous system. Still, it was scary and I almost quit doing MA altogether. I still, to this day, have problems with tomoe nage.

[arnisador]

Hmmm, someone whose name I won't mention (but who is on this board) fractured my rib while I was standing still to let him demo. a technique. Everyone in the room heard it crack. It was just before Christmas, and I spent the day after Christmas in the ER.

[Grenadier]

Where to begin...

I won't name my absolute worst, since I'm still coming to terms with it, so I'll explain something that was bad enough...

This was much earlier on in 2005. I was teaching the beginner class, which was almost all children of varying ages (5-12). Three boys (triplets, actually) were constantly running off the floor to go to the bathroom, and when one would leave the floor, the other two would take off running after him.

After I warned them several times to stay on the floor, and they still wouldn't listen, I finally put my foot down, and told the class in a stern tone, that someone may only leave the floor for a bathroom break if it is an absolute emergency.

Well, that stopped the chaos for a bit. When the class was about halfway over, I was having the class do some kata as a whole group. I told them to freeze halfway through, so I could point out some stance corrections, and even told them to use their mirror image as a guide. While my back was turned to them as I was pointing at the mirror, there was suddenly this unified cry of "EEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!!!!" by many of the children there.

I turned around, and saw that everyone had scattered to the edges of the dojo floor, except for one boy who was rather ashamed of himself at having just puked out his sausage biscuit, hash browns, and orange juice from his breakfast that he had eaten just before class. At that point, I simply told the whole class to sit down at the edges, and be silent, while I grabbed the cleaning supplies, and eventually getting the place clean. Unfortunately, the big pile of puke that he left in the middle of the dojo floor wasn't nearly as large as the puke he spewed all over the floor leading to the bathroom, as he had a second eruption.

After I had scrubbed down the floors, and even disinfected it, many of the children who stayed for the next class absolutely refused to step anywhere near those areas. I told them "Look! It's perfectly clean now. I'll even show you!" as I stepped in that spot, as this generated and even louder "EEEEEEWWWWWW!"

I just wanted that day to be over before I lost my sanity.

A few days later, when I was teaching another class, the puking boy came up to me and started profusely apologizing, and he was nearly in tears. I told him that it was OK, and that accidents happen. I then found out that my lecture on only going to the bathroom during class for emergencies had scared the poor kid, as he didn't think that having to puke was an emergency.

The next time I taught classes, I started out with another lecture, clarifying what constitutes an emergency.

One of the parents who had witnessed the whole thing swore that she saw a few more grey hairs in my head after that incident.

[twayman]

My worst was three years ago tore the meniscus in my right knee, had the surgery and recovered… And it continues... This past Saturday I screwed up the same knee… out of the dojo for who knows how long. I have to send my students out to another instructor for I can’t even stand on the leg and my knee twice it's original size… and probably another surgery… crap! :waah:

[tshadowchaser]

I can't post my worst here because of the forum rules so I'll give a few that are a steps away,

Political manuvering of students to upsurp their instructor in the eyes of a GM. Watched it happen and could do little to help out the instructor in question.
Watching a black belt in a certian school make very unwanted passes at a student
Haveing a student just plain look me in the eye and tell me I had no idea what I was doing (the words where the students last in my school except for Ouch that hurts)

[Navarre]

Geez, Todd! I'm sorry to hear that, man. I hope you heal quickly and with little pain. Godspeed, my friend.

[Icewater]

My worst experience is with closing schools.

1) Mother took me out of a TKD school after 2 months at age 12 because the place had no heat. It was about 50 degrees in there...
2) Taking American Karate at age 14 and the school closed after about 10 months.
3) Took Isshinryu at age 16 and got a year and a half in before college, then had to move.
4) Took Isshinryu (starting over) at 18 and the school lasted for 2 years before closing.
5) Took Isshinryu after college at a nearby town (starting over) for little over 1 year before the school closed down.
6) Started taking JJ and Judo at a place that lasted for 6 months before one of the owners disappeared with the school's cash.
7) Moved to a town with no karate schools for 2 years.
8) Moved to a bigger city with no Isshinryu, so now I'm (starting over) again with Sil Lum KF and have been taking it about 1 1/2 years.

I am the perpetual white belt. In fact I've had the same white belt for so long it is almost black due to dirt and grime. I've accumulated about 6 solid years of study and have a yellow belt to show for it. I know, I know, its not about rank... but it IS about rank when you have my kind of experience and are held back from the more advanced techniques because of the color of your belt. I have yet to find a school that teaches or promotes on merit alone.

But on the bright side I have some solid fundamentals and whip most of the low ranking instructors sparring! Sorry for the rant... it gets to me sometimes.

[Gin-Gin]

Lots of interesting (& sad) stories here; Icewater, I can certainly understand your frustration & I hope that your current school stays open a good long time.:)

I guess the two worst things that happened to me were: 1) This guy I was paired with at a camp a few yrs ago had an attitude (I think it was because I was a woman & higher ranked than him) we practiced a technique on each other & he basically "cheated" so that I ended up landing on the outside of my ankle (which is NOT how the technique is supposed to end)--severely sprained it! Couldn't participate in the rest of the camp & of course, it happened a couple of weeks before I was going to test for Purple Belt. He wasn't punished (which bugged me to no end, but since nobody "witnessed it" it became a 'he said/she said' situation). Was out of training for 4 months, 2 months of that spent in physical therapy. I missed class so much during that time, I thought I was going to "lose it." I avoided him when I returned to class, & not too long afterwards he & his sons left the school for some reason - don't know why & I didn't care. Just glad he was gone. I hope his sons don't grow up that way.

2) At my old school there is a woman who, when we would have sparring class, she would hit me in the face after telling us that no one was allowed to hit there. When I asked her about it (after she hit me in the face twice) she said, "Brown belts & above can hit to the face." Then I thought, well that's fair - not only am I sparring with someone much higher ranked than me (I was a Orange belt at the time), but they can hit to face & I can't?!? Not fair, IMHO. I avoided her as much as possible until I left the school in Jan. 2004.

[karatekid1975]

I'd say the first one was when I was a fresh new orange belt in TSD. Just got my sparring gear. Never sparred in my life. My dojang was hosting a sparring clinic (for all the fed dojangs) for the upcoming tourny at the time. Anyways, We started out with just sparring drills (no contact). That was fun. Then we geared up and decided to practice tourny style sparring (point sparring). Well, I got paired with another orange belt. She kicked me so hard in the tummy I almost pucked all over her. After that, I got away with not sparring, only for tests. So, needless to say I got REALLY good tecnically (forms, one steps, ect), but I couldn't spar worth ..... Till I got into TKD.

The two next ones was "showing off" in the beginning of my TKD training. I had a little bit of an ego at the time, because I was technically better then most in the beginers class (I had to start over). I got my yellow belt in TKD, and we had a breaking week clinic thing. Well, I was doing good with the "difficulties" (stuff that judges like LOL) of the breaks. So one black belt stood on a chair and said "do a jumping axe kick." I knew it was too high (he was holding the board over his head). I was like no way. He dared me ......:rolleyes: He said, "you trained before, you can do it." Guess what? I pulled my hammy on the way up, broke the board, and balled up on the floor in pain. It took 5 months to heal.

The next one was when I was showing off again. We were just kicking the heavy bag in open class one saturday. I did a flying side kick, so everyone wanted me to teach them. Once they got it down, we were going for height. Well, I got the highest, but my knee went the wrong way :waah: I couldn't train for two weeks. I had to do modified training with a brace for another month. My knee still aches now and then.

I have others but I gotta run. Gotta do the work thing LOL.

[tempus]

This other student in class and I always went at it pretty hard. We would counter the other if we made a msitake in a technique during a line and point out where each of us need to improve. During a one such technique he tried to leg swep me, but he made an error which did not get me off balance and kept me on my feet with him a little off balance. I tried to counter his leg sweep with a leg sweep. Instead of going with it he resisted and pushed back and there went his ACL. Not one of my martial art high points.

[boricuatkd]

I have to agree that is funny. Check this out. I was in class one day and the instructor assigned one of his seconds to lead the stretches. Everything was quiet as we stretched. But then all of a sudden from the front of the class comes this long ripppling snort. We all looked just in time to see his face turn a very bright red. It seems that he got a little winded as he bent over to touch his toes.

[Jonathan Randall]

Thirty years ago as a child in Judo, the Sensei would give "pink belts" out to students who misbehaved or failed to understand techniques. In most cases it was gratuitous humiliation of young children who did not understand what were to them complex techniques. The experience soured me on the martial arts for years.

[beauty_in_the_sai]

Was'nt my experience but a friend of mine, when sparring he got kick so hard that he crapped his pants while on the matt we all felt bad for him. What a trooper though he came back for the next tournament.
Terry


That is hilarious! Poor guy! Brave though. Not sure I'd had the nerve to come back. Anywho, my worst experience was at a tournament 2 years ago. I was fighting another female for "Female Grand Champion". (you can tell this story's gonna be good already...lol) Well, we got up to fight and I surveyed my enemy. Here's me: a tall taekwondoist. There's her: a short somethingist. She was so bad I couldn't tell what her style was, how she got to be a black belt, or what McDojo she was from. First round: My roundhouse kick slightly tapped her helmet and I got a point. I guess she could tell she was going to lose if she didn't play act. She musta been a professional actress, for during the second round, my foot was two inches away from her head when she fell down with her hand over her eye. First off, if I would've hit her, it would've been in the mouth. So then I got a warning for excessive force. And ofc, no honorable martial artist argues with the judges, so I let it go. Next round, I did practically the same thing to the same effect and was disqualified. So she got the big, shiny "Female Grand Champion" trouphy and I got the serious urge to really beat her up. My instructor saw what happened and said that was a serious unjustice to me. The judge was from the actress' school. He said in no way did I hit her. So while she did go home with the trophy, she had to have gone home with some guilt too. I went home with the pride of knowing I really did win and a compliment from my instructor for keeping my temper with the actress and the judge. After more similar incidents, I don't go to tournys much anymore.

[karatekid1975]

Wow! I seen that happen in an TSD tourny. One of our guys (a BB) was sparring and he got nailed in the nuts HARD. The other guy got a point for it! The judge was from the other guy's school. At another tourny, I saw some dude use excessive force. He should have been disqualified many times over. But he won the match over our guy that had clean shots on him, but didn't get any points. After that, I swore I wouldn't spar in tournies, and I don't.

[stone_dragone]

A few bad ones, but none that I can think of as classifying itself as a "Worst Thing Ever" Status...

Two injuries stand out among the many:
When I was a Blue belt (about a year of training), I was assisting with a belt test and was paired with this behemoth of a woman (at 16, I was scarcely 140 lbs and this woman easily tipped the scales beyond 290). When we were grappling for takedown, she refused to actually do anything, so I kept trying to help her and give her openings. Finally, I grabbed her karategi top and she lost her balance...on top of me. As we were falling, I made the mistake of trying to catch myself with my right arm. Our combined weight fell on my extended arm and it hyper-extended, sounding like a cow stepping on a box off crackers.
What did I learn....fall correctly.

More recently, I was working out with a gentleman visiting my karate class in Tennessee. When I tried to demonstrate an upperbody control technique similar to the clinch in kickboxing, he decided to try to throw me. Instead of going hip to hip, we were knee to knee. My leg, from foot to knee, was straight...my body from the knee up went over (my leg formed an obtuse angle). this happened in June, I finally was able to start running without much pain in December. (Personal note: If you're reading this and think it was you...no hard feelings...seriously. I chalk it up to getting old!)

One or two bad tournament stories come to mind, too, but the only one really worth it is similar to beauty_in_the_sai's experience...I was sparring with a fellow who decided to not just evade my attack, but turn his entire body 180 degrees and run out of the ring. Judges said not one word to him! Next point he got on me was clearly blocked (got it on video!) and called a point...I lose. Next match (3rd/4th), my opponent leaves the ring not once, twice, three times, four times or even five times...he runs out of the ring six times and no penalty (the rules of that particular tourny stated that running out of the ring once is warning, twice is loss of point. I should have won on sheer value of negative points on his part!) Result? I got the tape and they got the trophy. I, too, don't do tourny's any more.

wow, that was long winded.

[Xue Sheng]

Broken ankle doing Shaolin Staff form...nough said

[evenflow1121]

WoW a revived thread, I like these. In my case was very early in my life taking lessons in some McDojo before I discovered Kenpo, where unfortunately the instructor in the McDojo was legit but chose to teach little to nothing in terms of self defense and was more concerned with charging for every little detail. Gi's that match the colored belt--been there, $200 shodan registration been there, learning little to nothing for about 2 years--unfortunately been there. I was about 11 when I left never looked back, unfortunately the guy still teaches.

[Carol]

Once I went to class dead tired and unable to concentrate on a damn thing...including my own techniques. I got really sloppy holding a kick pad. A bb laid in to me and knocked me straight in to next week. Had I been standing two feet to the left or right of where I was, I would have gone hard in to the wall.

Both my instructor and I learned quite a bit from that. Unfortuately, it was not my favorite way to learn.

[Skippy]

I have been involved with martial arts since 1974. I have studied many different styles & have had good as well as bad experiences with schools, teachers, etc... I used to train as well as teach at Yushen Lai's Taekwondo Academy in Torrance, California. The man gives away rank to adult students that do business favors for him & I always knew it would dammage his business in doing so. There was one bafoon of a fat slob who for all intended purposes was a wannabe martial artist. The guy smoked and was so out of shape he would be out of breath & down for the count after warm up believe it or not. He developed computer programs and developed software for Master Lai to run Tournaments. One day I walk into the studio and the guy's a yellow belt & the next day I walked in & the guy's a black belt. Even the kids' we had as students' there were disgusted. That was it for me! I walked out & never went back. I ran into somebody I know that also trained there back in the day. I was told due to the economy & other things Master Lai had to pack up & move shop to another smaller location in the next town over Carson, California which is not the best place to be for any reason. What's my point you might ask? Very simple. Avoid as school that will promise you rank for a price. Master Lai is in it for the money & in the end his questionable methods came back to bite him in the a$$ as many serious students that trained for the right reasons up & left There is nothing wrong with making a living teaching martial arts just as long as your not out to take advantage of people in the process just to make a quick buck.. I now study, train & teach Shaolin Kempo & couldn't be happier.

[Stac3y]

Why is it that every studio seems to have an "evil" black belt? There's always someone who's been seduced by The Dark Side.

Mine doesn't. Or if it does, I haven't found him/her yet. Pompous, arrogant donkeyholes, yes, but no one who deliberately hurts other people.

[Stac3y]

Hm. Nothing really horrible, but here are a couple of bad ones.

I took a belt test while having a gallbladder attack. It started in the first 5 minutes of the test and got worse throughout. I know that doesn't sound very dramatic, but anyone who has gallbladder problems knows how horrible it actually was. I still passed, though.

I was sparring an exhibition match with a lower belt at a tournament (she had no one in her division). When the judge said "Go," she hollered and rushed at me straight on, so I threw a defensive side kick. I pulled it so I wouldn't hurt her, but she was going so fast that she ran right into it anyway. She fell straight over backwards and bashed her head on the floor, her eyes went unfocused, and she wasn't moving. The fall made such a loud noise that half the competitors and spectators in the gym came running to see what had happened, and what they saw was an evil blue belt who had mangled a yellow belt. She turned out to be okay, but I still have bad dreams about it occasionally. I thought I had killed her. Never saw her at a tournament again, either.:(

[Flea]

I think the biggest disaster to befall me so far was an accidental Peekaboo while squirming out of a hold. :jaw-dropping:

After reading some of these horror stories I might have been terrified to start MA. As it is, I've just been more careful when I tuck in my shirt.

[xJOHNx]

My training partner with whom I have been working for close to a year now falling out because of a back injury.

It wouldn't have happened if the guy he was doing a clinch with was not being overenthousiastic to show his wonderfull, sloppy bujinkan. Because he knew what worked best. White belt with arrogance, worse than BB with arrogance?

[jarrod]

I think the biggest disaster to befall me so far was an accidental Peekaboo while squirming out of a hold. :jaw-dropping:


ironically, probably one of the best martial arts experiences for your partner.

jf

[Jaspthecat]

In sparring, kicking my partner in the mouth and ripping my big toe on his metal retainer.

Blood fest....

[celtic_crippler]

Broken toes and hyper-extended joints, bloody noses and black eyes, concussions and ER visits for stiches, busted knuckles and scars galore.... long term wear & tear..like the bulging discs in my neck at the moment (2 epidurals down and one to go...fingers crossed it works and surgery can be averted) .... not nearly as bad...doesn't even compare....

... nothing comes close to the horrible experience I had after being prompted to organize and market a martial arts camp. I won't say anything more about it...but what a f'n nightmare that turned out to be. Much, much worse experience than anything that ever happened otherwise.

[Flea]

ironically, probably one of the best martial arts experiences for your partner.

jf


:lfao:

[David43515]

I think the worst thing that happened to me was as a young assistant instructor. I was running a new student ( an adult male much older and bigger than myself) through some basic blocking techniques. When we got to blocking open handed, I carefully demonstrated what he should and shouldn`t do to avoid injuring his hand. He must have gotten the two backwards because thirty seconds later while i spoon-fed him light slow front snap kicks at about 1/2 -1/3 power.....I snapped two of his fingers right in front of his 6 yr old son. One of them was a compound fracture too.
I felt about two feet tall.:disgust:

[Omar B]

Oddly enough, it's not the broken knuckles, knee, sprained joints or anything like that. It's a belt test I failed once when my father came to see me test.

[Bruno@MT]

Kudos to you guys and girls. I don't know I would've kept on training after the things that were already mentioned.

I've never had serious injuries, except for the time my moped broke down and I had to take the bicycle. I was already late so I pedaled as fast as I could to cover the 5 miles in winter cold. When I arrived I put on my keikogi and started practise. I had missed warm up but figured I was warmed up from the cycling.

10 minutes later I had cooled off though. We did a drill where the other guy (brown belt I think) tried to throw me with an uchi mata. Unfortunately, his technique was sloppy and instead of sweeping me on the inside of the thigh, his leg levered my leg upwards at the knee. As a result, instead of me flipping over, I was standing still while my leg swung sideways and overextended my already cramped thigh muscle. I fell down screaming and I couldn't use the leg anymore. I cycled home afterwards using only one leg and I limped for 2 weeks.

One moment I felt horribly bad was when I was a green belt and accidentally broke the nose of a woman during light sparring. I wanted to get around her guard with a right hook. I pulled the punch but she stepped in and my fist hit her nose on the side. It was really not that hard of a hit but her nose snapped. She knew it was an accident because she realized what was going to happen right when she stepped in. Still I felt really bad and I was glad that it healed invisibly.

[xfighter88]

Was'nt my experience but a friend of mine, when sparring he got kick so hard that he crapped his pants while on the matt we all felt bad for him. What a trooper though he came back for the next tournament.
Terry

Sure ....Sure your "Friend" Crapped his pants.:overkill:
My worst experience in martial arts was when I took TKD from a guy who's son was the "favorite" student to the point that when I beat him the instructor hated me ever since and gave me tons of extra crap to do. Add to that...His divorced wife took classes from him too. So much drama.

Not a specific instance so much as an ongoing crappy situation.

[Ken Morgan]

I guess iaido and jodo are boring, because I can’t think of any truly negative things happening. A few cuts from swords, a few bruises after being hit by a jo, par for the course, but for the most part I’m privileged to train with such amazing people.

[Tensei85]

Broken Fingers - Qin Na
Dislocated Shoulder - Sparring
Was throwing a round kick in sparring & intercepted the guys elbow with the instep of my foot instead (Not a good feeling)
Broken Ankle - Grappling
Cracked Ribs - Sparring
Bloody noses, Black eyes, normal... sparring
Palm Prints left on my torso (From a demo, haha not personal life...)

(So I equate worst experiences to sparring somehow I still enjoy it!)

And that's about it besides all the political b.s. that one encounters in M.A.'s now adays.

[Hand Sword]

Finally, after MANY years away, walking into the dojo I was apart of since I was an early teen. I came in during a black belt instructor's class and was greeted warmly (once recognized- lol). Seeing the tone and atmosphere of the class, and after a private conversation with my old instructor, I left knowing in the depth of me, that I no longer belong there and don't fit in anymore. A place that at one time was a second home to me now made me feel like I was in an alien atmosphere. That feeling of an outcast in your home would be my worst experience to date.

[geezer]

Finally, after MANY years away, walking into the dojo I was apart of since I was an early teen. I came in during a black belt instructor's class and was greeted warmly (once recognized- lol). Seeing the tone and atmosphere of the class, and after a private conversation with my old instructor, I left knowing in the depth of me, that I no longer belong there and don't fit in anymore. A place that at one time was a second home to me now made me feel like I was in an alien atmosphere. That feeling of an outcast in your home would be my worst experience to date.

OK, now don't just leave us hanging like that. Why don't you feel like you belong in that group anymore? Has the school changed, or have you?

[Thesemindz]

My worst moment as a student was when I beat up my roommate.

I was about 21 or 22, a brown belt, and he was a douchebag who had just started Kung Fu. Me and my buddies would work out at my house and we'd spar a lot. He always wanted to play with us, but we kept putting him off, and then one night he convinced us to let him play.

So I'm up against him first and the whole time he's complaining that that strike wasn't fair, or "we don't do that at my school," and we're patiently reminding him that he wanted to play our game, and these are the rules of our game. And I'm trying to be cool, because it's kinda like putting up with an annoying younger brother. So I'm just waving off points when he complains and letting it go.

Then he hits me with a massive blind spinning backnuckle.

It just about knocked me out. Out. I'm standing there seeing stars and nothing else and trying to shake it off. I stagger a little but get it together. Some of the guys are trying to tell him to watch it, we're not trying to get anybody hurt, and I just shake it off. Keep playing.

Wham. He catches me with another one.

Now I'm hurting. This kid's a big cat, bigger than me, and he caught me with two full force to the side of my head. I'm in a rough place, and I'm trying to be cool about it. But I'm hurting.

And then he starts complaining again about the rules.

Now this is where the story gets confusing.

Because as I remember it, I got upset, and I started really fighting this kid, hard. But not hard contact. Just moving around his shots, a lot of speed, clear technique, and making him look bad. I recognized the spinning backnuckle the third time, and realized I could bait him to his open side, so I started throwing short jabs to incite the attack and then jamming his leading shoulder when he twisted and crossing him in the jaw.

But it was all tag for me. I was trying to embarrass him, not hurt him. My friends who were there say I was just beating him up. Which isn't how I remember it, and a source of frustration for me personally to this day. Was I really out of control? And don't remember it that way?

Either way, suddenly, my roommate stops. He puts his hands up and says, “We're done.” And goes over to the couch and starts taking off his gear. And I'm like, “What do you mean we're done?” And he says, “You're taking this personally.”

And that was about the most humbling experience I ever had in the martial arts.

That this punk, who was an annoying cat and a bad roommate on top of everything else, who had only just recently even begun martial arts, and had been such a pain in our asses all night, bitching and whining and almost knocking me out twice, had just recognized something in my fighting that I had failed to recognize myself. That he had corrected me, and rightly, and made the proper decision when I had not.

That was a bitter pill to swallow. I can taste it to this day.

But, I have tried to redeem the event by reflecting on what it taught me. About myself, and humility, and what you can learn from people you think have nothing to offer you. And about technique, and baiting an opponent, and taking successive blows to the head, and timing and angles. And about the overwhelming power of rage.

When I got hot, something turned on. I was faster, he was slower, I was stronger, he was weaker. I could see several moves ahead, I knew how he'd react to my actions, I knew where he'd be standing. Every punch landed.

I've never recreated that moment. I've won a lot of fights in training, and sometimes I know how to win logically as I'm fighting, but I've never been so dominating. I've never felt that rush of complete power in a combat situation again.

In a way, that frightens me, but it's also interesting to know it is there.

Nobody else would fight him after that, they didn't want to catch the strikes to the head that I had. And it pretty much put a damper on the night.

We lived together for a while after that, and both continued to train, but we only ever sparred one other time. He was getting ready for a Kung Fu tournament and asked me to help him train. I relented. And this time we were both a little better at what we were doing.


-Rob

[knuckleheader]

My worst experiences have been competing in national tournaments
and not placing. I wish I had been able to do better. It's quite humbling
when you have to realize the limits of your skill level.

[Thesemindz]

As an instructor, the worst experience I had was when one of my students crushed in the cheekbone of a fellow student during the last sparring match of the night.

We had a kid we called, “The Giant.” You can guess why. Tall. Heavy. Hit like a truck. But a real good kid. He had made it to brown belt, and that's when he got really dangerous.

He was developing the skill to pull off some really dangerous moves, but hadn't yet realized the control to do so safely.

This is a real common problem with that level of student. I struggled with it too. You can do a spinning back kick. You can set it up, and execute it, and hit your target most of the time. But you don't yet have blackbelt control. And so sometimes in training, somebody gets nailed. It's not that big a deal. Unless your nickname is “The Giant.”

He'd hurt a few people, including me, already, and teaching him safety and control were big priorities for me. Just the week before, I'd thought he'd broken my leg when a rear spinning back kick hit me in the front of the thigh during a sparring match. I was knocked clean off my feet, crawled over to him, and executed an ankle twist takedown to bring him to the ground. I climbed into the mount and began to strike when the judges called break. Later that night I woke up screaming in bed when I accidently rolled onto that hip in my sleep. I was still limping a week later, and the head instructor was pissed.

I already knew that I needed to be careful with this guy. So, last match of the night, I pair him up with my best brown belt. I'm thinking, ok, brown on brown, the little guy's a better fighter, he should be ok, no problem.

Which worked out for a few minutes until he caught a short hook to the face, from a fist about the size of his head.

He goes down, everybody's concerned, this is not good. He's a real tough kid though, scrawny but a scrapper, so he stands back up and waves it off and I end class. But I can tell he's hurt.

So I'm asking him what the problem is, and he's saying he can't see straight. Now I handled this badly, because I didn't know enough about first aid to do the right thing. I should have sent him to the hospital right then and there, instead I suggested he give it a little while and see if his vision clears up.

But when he got up the next morning he still couldn't see straight, so he went to the hospital. Turned out his cheekbone was shattered, and his orbital rim had partially caved in causing one eye to droop slightly, hence the double vision. They had to peel back his face, put down a mesh wire frame, and rebuild his cheekbone like a puzzle board.

Whoops.

Luckily, this didn't put the school out of business. It could have. If a student sues over something like this, all the injury waivers in the world might not keep you open. You may still go bankrupt defending yourself in court. And he probably had a good case anyway considering my negligent medical advice.

But he didn't, and he came back to training.

The Giant we lost though.

After that, I had to suspend him from sparring. I told him he could come to class, and we could train and he could do all the drills and exercises, but that until I could work with him more one on one, I couldn't risk him sparring. It wasn't up to me, the order came from the boss, but it was the right call either way. And nobody was happy with it.

He kept coming, but I could tell his heart wasn't in it anymore. I think it hurt him to injure another student like that, a friend, even by accident, and I think it was hard to not be allowed to play. I tried to bring him back and work with him, I tried to work with all my students on control after that like I could somehow undo the injury. The whole next sparring class I fought them as hard as I could but told them that any contact over touch would drop everybody for pushups. We made a game out of it, but I pressed them hard. To their credit, no one had to do a single push up that night.

But The Giant left the school shortly after that. And I think it's because of that night.

It wasn't the only time I had a student seriously injured, but it was definitely the worst.



-Rob

[knuckleheader]

Too bad you couldn't refer the giant to another school that had other exponents to match him up with.

[Thesemindz]

Too bad you couldn't refer the giant to another school that had other exponents to match him up with.

Yah, I hope he got back into training. He was a good kid with a lot of potential.


-Rob

[Stac3y]

We had a kid we called, “The Giant.” You can guess why. Tall. Heavy. Hit like a truck. But a real good kid. He had made it to brown belt, and that's when he got really dangerous.

He was developing the skill to pull off some really dangerous moves, but hadn't yet realized the control to do so safely.



Maybe I'm off base here, but it seems to me that promoting someone to brown belt before they have learned control is not a great idea. It may have to do with my school, though; for us, brown belts are assistant instructors, and are tasked with being "human punching bags" for the lower belts. Control is HUGE for us--it is stressed from day one. Students who repeatedly hurt people, and can't be trained out of it, are kicked out of the program long before brown belt.

[Blade96]

Why is it that every studio seems to have an "evil" black belt? There's always someone who's been seduced by The Dark Side.

These must be the same evil souls that tell unsuspecting beginners that a groin cup protects them from having their gonads used for the 40 yard punt.


Mine doesn't. Or if it does, I haven't found him/her yet. Pompous, arrogant donkeyholes, yes, but no one who deliberately hurts other people.

No evil higher kyus or BB's at my dojo. Of course there is the cliquish 'black belt table' and an evil senpai/sandan who i cant stand because he doesnt even say hi and basically acts like im no one to him, but no one who sets out to hurt other people in training. They are good with rookies.

and as a shodan of mine told me, Sometimes they come....people who get carried away with the fighting and hurt people and act all macho - but they never last long. :angel:

[Thesemindz]

Maybe I'm off base here, but it seems to me that promoting someone to brown belt before they have learned control is not a great idea. It may have to do with my school, though; for us, brown belts are assistant instructors, and are tasked with being "human punching bags" for the lower belts. Control is HUGE for us--it is stressed from day one. Students who repeatedly hurt people, and can't be trained out of it, are kicked out of the program long before brown belt.

You don't think there's a difference between brown belt and black belt control? You don't think there's a difference between controlling a jab, or a palm strike and controlling a Lead Leg Side Thrust Kick/Landing Lead Hand Backnuckle Strike, Cross, Step Through Front Kick/Spin Rear Kick Combination?

We taught control too, but you are always learning new techniques, and new techniques are more difficult to control than more familiar ones. And at the brown belt or equivalent level of most martial arts, you start learning some very complicated and dangerous techniques. And it takes time to learn to use them well and with control, and the only way to do that is to use them against a resisting opponent.

Accidents happen. They happen all day every day. Most of the time they aren't a problem. I've banged my shins against people's knees hard enough to limp a month later, and jammed all my fingers, and broken both hands, and pulled major muscles in my back and done serious damage to both my knees. And I'm still pretty young. And I trained safely. But I was training to strangle, pummel, bend, or break an opponent into submission.

Martial arts is a combat activity. People get hurt. For some of us, that's part of the draw. Most of the time it isn't a serious issue. Sometimes you have a six foot seven three hundred fifty pound guy crush a 135 pound students face in a light to medium contact sparring match with gloves, headgear, and mouthpieces in. Then it's a little more of a problem.


-Rob

[Stac3y]

You don't think there's a difference between brown belt and black belt control? You don't think there's a difference between controlling a jab, or a palm strike and controlling a Lead Leg Side Thrust Kick/Landing Lead Hand Backnuckle Strike, Cross, Step Through Front Kick/Spin Rear Kick Combination?

We taught control too, but you are always learning new techniques, and new techniques are more difficult to control than more familiar ones. And at the brown belt or equivalent level of most martial arts, you start learning some very complicated and dangerous techniques. And it takes time to learn to use them well and with control, and the only way to do that is to use them against a resisting opponent.

Accidents happen. They happen all day every day. Most of the time they aren't a problem. I've banged my shins against people's knees hard enough to limp a month later, and jammed all my fingers, and broken both hands, and pulled major muscles in my back and done serious damage to both my knees. And I'm still pretty young. And I trained safely. But I was training to strangle, pummel, bend, or break an opponent into submission.

Martial arts is a combat activity. People get hurt. For some of us, that's part of the draw. Most of the time it isn't a serious issue. Sometimes you have a six foot seven three hundred fifty pound guy crush a 135 pound students face in a light to medium contact sparring match with gloves, headgear, and mouthpieces in. Then it's a little more of a problem.


-Rob

Actually, we learn all of our techniques by purple, then spend our 3 levels of brown belt refining them. Not that we don't continue to learn new ways to combine them, but the techniques themselves have been learned already. We also start sparring at yellow belt, so we learn control with simple techniques and continue to learn it along with the more complex ones. The people I have dealt with who don't know their own strength and hurt people are usually orange and green belt males. If they don't get a grip on themselves, they don't get much further.

I agree that accidents happen (see the "injuries" thread for some of the ones I've experienced), but consciousness of one's own strength and size should come early on in training, IMO. And yes, I agree that there is a difference in black belt and brown belt control, but there should be A LOT of control there by brown belt, as far as I'm concerned. A brown belt should be able to read his or her opponent and determine how hard to go. Not that they should be expected to be infallible in this, but if someone is repeatedly hurting other people, he probably has failed to develop this sense or failed to learn to control himself. Just my opinion; YMMV.

[jda]

I was assisting with a 2nd dan test and the instructor asked me to throw a wheel kick and the tester was to defend against it. I did and he didn't. I kicked him right in the jaw and down he went. Didn't knock him out but definitely knocked some sense into him!
Jim

[Cirdan]

(..)The people I have dealt with who don't know their own strength and hurt people are usually orange and green belt males.

It is my experience too that this is a problem around that level. They start to get the hang of techniques but lack fine control. Particularily elbows, back kicks and roundhouses tend to leave a mark now and then. However I would argue this is as much a problem for females as it is for males, and an x-chromosome only elbow to the face hurts just as much
;)

Anyway I guess different styles teach control at different levels. Some kickboxers I`ve trained with have been downright dangerous even at dan level, totally willing to kick your teeth in during a normal drill.
"uurgh.. please don`t back kick me full force in the stomach again, we are training technique"
"Huh? You were standing too close!"

[Hand Sword]

OK, now don't just leave us hanging like that. Why don't you feel like you belong in that group anymore? Has the school changed, or have you?

Sorry, just answering the op's question. Out of respect for a discussion forum and open exchange I am going to give the best answer I can at this time.

In complete honesty, the overall "Me," can't come up with the reason. I don't honestly know why. However, after leaving and a little while sitting there, that feeling I described was absolutely unmistakable, and came over me. I can absolutely say, with 1000% certainty, I have changed over the years, and in all honesty, not for the better. Also, I'm sure a little has changed with the group too, but, they seemed to be operating as I remembered (and expected) for the most part. I also understand that after so much time away I wouldn't expect to feel comfortable or regain whatever amount of status I had. I don't honestly know the reason. All I can give for an honest answer is that I felt what I felt at the time. Sorry to all for being vague, but, it's all that I can be and give now. I guess we all walk our own paths ultimately, and our company along the way comes and goes, but, in the end our journey is our own.

I dunno....

[Stac3y]

It is my experience too that this is a problem around that level. They start to get the hang of techniques but lack fine control. Particularily elbows, back kicks and roundhouses tend to leave a mark now and then. However I would argue this is as much a problem for females as it is for males, and an x-chromosome only elbow to the face hurts just as much
;)


I'm sure you're right about the x chromosome elbows; I just haven't experienced that with as many female students. Maybe they experienced it with me, though. ;)

[CoryKS]

I'm sure you're right about the x chromosome elbows; I just haven't experienced that with as many female students. Maybe they experienced it with me, though. ;)

With the females, it's usually much lower and not an elbow.

[Laus]

I've discussed this in more detail elsewhere on the board, search me if you want more of the story. For now, here's the abbreviated version:

My former Sensei and I had a falling out. This culminated in my having to test for Shodan three times (six in total, if you count the in-dojo test that we do before going before the certifying board). I moved right after the third test for reasons unrelated to my training, not that I wasn't happy to get the heck out dodge. He agreed I could return for the ceremony to receive my belt, but once I was gone he turned around and expelled me in a public email he sent to every senior rank in the dojo. For some reason he mailed me the belt (I'm still not sure how it makes sense to promote and expel someone in the same breath but wtf do I know eh?). I never got a ceremony or a certificate, but let me tell you, I sure as hell knew my s*** by the time I got to that third test.