BUT YOU'VE NEVER COMPETED?

 By Phillip Starr

I often hear from martial arts enthusiasts who, although they have never stepped foot into a competition arena, constantly decry “sport” martial arts. Certainly, the sporting aspect of martial arts needs a lot of improvement…but nobody is going to listen to someone who has no actual firsthand experience of the subject. Including me.

I have used, and encouraged my students to use, competition as a training tool. How is this done?

FORMS

Nobody wants to enter form competition and look like a total fool in front of God and everyone else. No…knowing that they’re going to be watched not only by several judges, but by a great many other people…they’ll practice their chosen form over and over. They’ll strive to do it as perfectly as possible. And THAT is the point of the competition; they’ll practice that form like they’ve never done before! Then – win or lose the event, they’ve WON in so far as their training goes!

Some tournaments nowadays have separate form competition for traditional forms and the modern, acrobatic, eclectic, homemade forms (which I intensely dislike). Some don’t have the two types of form separated, and traditional competitors argue that they can’t win. The traditional forms are often over-shadowed by the spectacular gymnastic, “flowery hands” forms of the contemporary homemade forms. And the audience, not knowing the difference, applauds such fancified routines. And they win.

But that’s not the point. The point is that the traditional stylist has demonstrated AUTHENTIC martial arts; he/she has shown the real difference between the two. And win or lose, he/she has won in that respect.

SPARRING

Sparring is another can of worms. Contemporary tournaments in the U.S. are nothing like they used to be. There was a time when only a strong martial arts technique would suffice for a point, but this isn’t at all true today.

Many traditionalists argue that modern sparring is nothing like actual combat. I agree. OF COURSE it isn’t! The same thing is true of boxing, wrestling, fencing, and number of other sports that are based on a form of combat.

Competing in sparring at least a handful of times does have value, though…it lets you know how well you react when you’re under pressure. And it also lets you know how well you can apply the “three jewels” of fighting; distance, timing, and rhythm.

Bur arguing that competition is a bad thing is a bit foolish..especially if the one making such statements isn’t able to speak from a position of firsthand experience.