Karate Tournaments Like them or not?

[TallAdam85]

Hello I am new to this site so I just want to see what everyone one things about tournaments. Some people love them alot of people hate them.
So tell if you like them or not.

I like them cause I can go out and meet new people and get trophies even thought there is little self defense in touranaments.
I still like them

AdaM Lux

 

[Zepp]

Hope you don't mind a TKDist butting in , but I think tournaments add fun to the martial arts and can be a good test of some of an individuals skills. It's a shame to spend all your time learning to kick ***, and then never get to kick any.

Just so long as no one has any misconceptions about tournament fighting being a measure of one's ability to defend their life, its all good.

 

[celtic bhoy]

There is a school of thought that competition could have negative effect on the practitioner. Some believe that the drop out rate from martial arts is caused by possible failure or bad judging at competitions.

 

[chufeng]

Tournaments have there place in training...but as already stated, it is not a measure of your ability to defend yourself.

Tournaments can be a tool to help a student get over the fear of performing, the fear of confronting another, and to test a specific technique against a different style.

If the tournament turns into a "win at all costs" kind of thing, then they are detrimental...because the "win at all costs" fighter will not try new things, will hurt the opponenet if necessary, and has, as his goal a piece of wood with some brass screwed onto it...

The more trophies a person has on display, the more I wonder about his priorities...

So I am neutral on the issue...it depends on the participants goals and how the tournament is set up...one of the best tournaments I've been to was sanctioned by the JKA...the Chinese boxers were given very low scores for forms...and would lose on points in the sparring matches (Why??? Because they know what we were doing)...but they were well organized and, with the exception of ignoring the contact rule for their fighters and penalizing any kind of contact for our fighters, the tournament went well...certainly those who had to fight us recognized our abilities and came up to many of us afterward to thank us for a good match.

:asian:
chufeng

 

[chufeng]

That should read, "they didn't know what we were doing."

Sorry

chufeng

 

[KennethKu]

Originally posted by chufeng .......one of the best tournaments I've been to was sanctioned by the JKA...the Chinese boxers were given very low scores for forms...and would lose on points in the sparring matches (Why??? Because they know what we were doing)...but they were well organized and, with the exception of ignoring the contact rule for their fighters and penalizing any kind of contact for our fighters,....

Then do what other mistreated Karate fighters have done in the past, KO the opposing teams wholesale. You might be disqualified. But they would get your point and would treat your team with healthier respect next time.

 

[chufeng]

Some of our folks do just that...I don't see the point.
Those who we're up against figure it out without us having to resort to that, usually.

I've had people who beat me come up after and say that I got robbed...no biggy...I'm not there to collect trophies or titles...just to try some new things.

:asian:
chufeng

 

[yilisifu]

I always enjoyed the opportunities to meet other martial artists. There are precious few tournaments nowadays that feature competent judging - most judges aren't trained (as they are in JKA, for instance) - that is definately somehting that could be improved.

 

[cali_tkdbruin]

Originally posted by Zepp
Hope you don't mind a TKDist butting in , but I think tournaments add fun to the martial arts and can be a good test of some of an individuals skills. It's a shame to spend all your time learning to kick ***, and then never get to kick any.

Just so long as no one has any misconceptions about tournament fighting being a measure of one's ability to defend their life, its all good.

I agree, good point... :asian:

 

[Deathtrap101]

There is a school of thought that competition could have negative effect on the practitioner. Some believe that the drop out rate from martial arts is caused by possible failure or bad judging at competitions.

I only dropped out of tournaments for that.

Then do what other mistreated Karate fighters have done in the past, KO the opposing teams wholesale. You might be disqualified. But they would get your point and would treat your team with healthier respect next time.

Doing that only occured to me after the match, especialy when i found out his mom who was sitting next to my parents in the stands was cheering to beat the snot out of me. He sensei was telling him to emarres(SP bad) me in the kata part of the tournament(His comments after the kata was "I geuss they liked your kata better..."). And then i got called alot for contact, and i was pretty sure i only hit him once...shoulda did it twice and make it count....

 

[chufeng]

If you really are capable of "eating the guy's lunch" then what is the point of going after a knock-out just to prove a point?

Going back to the Karate-kid analogy...Miyagi could have eaten Kreese's lunch, but instead he pinched his nose...both of them understood fully what that meant...it's like counting coup...

I would say that after three or four tournaments run by the same crowd where you get short-changed...THAT is the time to knock the guy clean out of the ring...apologize to the judges and take your disqualification...but you and your opponent knows full well who won...maybe the next time they will be a bit more fair...I wouldn't try it in the first tournament sponsored by someone, though, you'll just make a bad name for yourself.

:asian:
chufeng

 

[Matt Stone]

It depends on the rules being used, and how well they are enforced...

In the 1992 (?) AAU CMAD National Championships in Tulsa, OK, there were a few judges who were making their calls based on their own agendas.

We had one of our more senior students get hammered and pounded during his sparring match, because the teacher of his opponent was one of the ring judges and refused to call any of the illegal blows that were being thrown. We asked our student why he didn't just up the ante and fight on the same terms, and he replied that he wanted to take the moral high ground and stay true to the rules.

Amusingly, in the team sparring later on, when that student, myself, and a junior student were warming up, several members of another school came up and asked if we were the team entry for our school. We answered in the affirmative, and they walked quickly to the judges table to withdraw their entry... Apparently, as we discovered later, having seen the amount of punishment our senior student could take, and seeing the size of our junior student (who was rather large and muscular), convinced them that in their opinion they would not have fared overly well...

At the same time, however, at the Tat Wong tournament in SF back in 1997, our people were given quite a poor ruling by the judges in the Xingyi forms competition. The fact that none of the judges present actually knew Xingyiquan notwithstanding, and that the students who won had done flashy wu shu style Xingyi as opposed to the more traditional method we practice, amounted to a good reason not to participate in future events...

Gambarimasu.
:asian:

 

[lucifersdad]

personally,
i think tournaments are not only good fun but i think they are important!
ok, they dont teach you about "live" situations as such, but they do teach you about distancing, timing, and self control.
i think the important thing about tournaments is to look at them in perspective and not to limit yourself. i am a traditional karate-ka but compete in traditional tournaments (kata and kumite) freestyle tournaments (forms, points and continuous) sometimes weapons forms, semi contact, full contact, submission, and am starting to train for mma competitions. maybe if we train for all of them, they might just have a little relevance to "live" situations, maybe?

 

[TallAdam85]

I have not check this out lately but I am glad to see That most people here like touraments

 

[progressivetactics]

I was also part of the AAU team, and very disappointed with their agenda's. It is very different then what they portray it to be!

I enjoy tournaments... it is NOT the test of the martial artist, but a fun, sporting event to meet new people/styles, and have some competitive fun.

You can't take it too seriously.

 

[gojukylie]

I went to my first tournament as a 6th kyu and I didn't really know what to expect. I was just going through some warmups and my Sensei said, "They only score you for this such n such technique & this and Yadda." I went What!!! It seemed to me that you could only use a few techniques to score with.

The kumite then became like a game of tag. Techniques lacked power, blocking didn't seem to exist and it felt weird.

However I will agree that it is good for you to get pumped up and nervous to see how you go. Like everything, it has good & bad aspects. Keeps you on your toes and you start moving alot quicker.

The Ying and the Yang. Hey!:asian:

 

[A.R.K.]

There is an old adage that goes 'Karate is for defese only'. Tourneys kinda just ignore this little ditty in the pursuit of trophies, ribbons, medals etc....

Plus they are an unrealistic endeavor anyway. I really don't see the positives outweigh the negatives. Particuarly since I don't see any positives.

Just being honest.

:asian:

 

[arnisador]

"Morton, Arai Make Gold Medal Kata Final"

http://www.usoc.com/usoc/pressbox.n...83baed484173d32f85256d7e007195b6?OpenDocument

 

[Marginal]

Originally posted by A.R.K.
There is an old adage that goes 'Karate is for defese only'. Tourneys kinda just ignore this little ditty in the pursuit of trophies, ribbons, medals etc....

I've wondered about that ditty for a while now. What were that philosophy's roots? It really just smacks of public relations stuff so that instructors would be able to say "See?' and point to the 'For Defense Only' sign if they were accused of training a thug/bully.

Just curious if there are any firmer historical roots for the idea 'cause it seems to just pop up around when karate was being popularized...

 

[jkn75]

Tournaments offer a couple good things :

1. Students who have limited experience in martial arts (only TV or movies) get to see other styles. They have an opportunity to compare and contrast their own style with other's styles. (This seems to work best w/ a softer style, since the majority of participants generally come from Karate, Kempo or Tae Kwon Do)

2. They get to participate in the martial arts community. If you teach at a health club or other small club, you don't have 200 people walking around who practice martial arts. At a tournament you get to meet new people, exchange ideas or teaching methods and see old friends.

However, I do agree with some of the negatives: judges not calling points, favoritism for particular styles or people and sometimes the entry fees or travel expenses can be high.

My biggest problem is missing the tournament or finding out about it a day or two before it will be held.