Does Sport Karate Qualify As Self Defense?

[GouRonin]

Curious question. Does sport karate help towards self defense? Is it like Judo in that regard?

 

[fist of fury]

I don't beleive it can if one only trains for sport. Things that work in a friendly competition won't always work on the street. I can see where it might give some advantage but against a seasoned brawler the sport karate student will have some serious problems.

 

[Nightingale]

well, things are different with sport karate. If someone attacks me in the street, I'm not going to kick to the head to get three points. I'm going to kick out his knee and get the hell outa there. No, a martial art that is strictly sport does not qualify as self defense in my book.

 

[sweeper]

I think it can, if you take one person who has no martial experience and one person who's good at sport karate and force them both to fight, I'm betting on the sport karte person. it's sort of relative.. I mean I would give more credit to a thai boxer than to someone who does partial contact..

 

[Yari]

Originally posted by GouRonin

Curious question. Does sport karate help towards self defense? Is it like Judo in that regard?

Of course it helps towards selfdefence. Can watching a video help towards selfdefence.. of course.

The real question is , is it getting you towards were you want to be. So that would depend on the kind of sport karate and the teacher, and the amount of time you expect to use on it.


/Yari

 

[Dronak]

I think it can as long as you're aware of the differences between a sport fight and a real fight. I don't have any firsthand knowledge, BTW, just going by what I've heard, read, etc. Our teacher has told us that one potential problem in training for sport then using it for self defense is with pulling punches and kicks. It's great for sport so you don't beat your opponent to death, but you're training your reflexes and instincts to just miss the target. He said if you train like that, when a real fight comes along, you'll always be missing your opponent because that's how you've trained to fight and it's now become instinctive. If you want to hit your target, you have to train by hitting your target. He's said when we get far enough along to reach a point where he can teach us combat stuff, we'll get training gear to wear and practice timing and distance stuff while learning to hit our targets. He's also mentioned things like some MA sport competitions (possibly TKD, but I don't really remember offhand) make certain areas of the body illegal to hit, e.g. the back. So people in sport fights can get away with turning their backs to their opponents and they won't get hit (or at least scored upon) because the back is an illegal target. Again, the idea is if you train that way so much that it becomes instinctive, you may do it in a real fight, but there are no rules there and someone can nail you in the back when you turn like that. I suspect almost any training and knowledge is better than none, but I think you have to watch out for differences like these.

 

[Shinzu]

i feel that they are two totally different things. on the street it's for real. not i got you three times your out.

sport karate does have its' place, but it can not be classified as self defense.

 

[Battousai]

Maybe it can be classified as pathetic self defense.