- Joined
- Feb 11, 2003
- Messages
- 9,998
- Reaction score
- 206
Instead of stopping and thinking and using the art the way it was applied back when it was useful -- they rely on anedotal tales to explain why they think it should work.
I'm not going to disagree with this, but... The same can be said of Sparring as well, people think Sparring = Real Fighting and don't understand why they get their asses handed to them the first real fight they get into.
I think this becomes Especially true when sparring becomes a silly game of grabass where you are more concerned about laying hands on the other guy than maintaining proper timing, distance and balance, and you do what I see 90% of the time I have seen sparring matches and tournament "fights"... some dude on his tiptoes on one foot, leaning way forward with his head and extending his arm so he can get the hit...no power, no form, but its a "point". And in my opinion, one of the reasons this happens, is because a lot of Martial Artists dont have a clue how to spar, having learned it from "Sport arts" who do "point sparring. I'd bet It wasn't common in old systems... I'd venture to guess that most schools didn't spar... they went out and FOUGHT. I think there are subtle differences that a large majority of people who teach sparring, or who spar, just don't get. (and I am not referring to anyone here specifically, I would hope we have our heads together more than some yahoo teacher from a stripmall blackbelt factory)