While driving home Saturday morning I spotted a small paper sign that said, "KARATE TOURNAMENT",it was mixed in with all the yard sale signs hanging on every street sign in my neighborhood.
I anxiously followed these little red signs which led me to the local high school gymnasium.
The first thing I noticed upon entering was all the Black Belts kids, some that looked about 10 yrs. old.
Well they had Kata competition going on one side of the gym and kumite on the other, so I seated myself in the middle so I could catch all the action.
Hmmm, not to exciting, very poor technique, no focus, but a whole lot of yelling that I guess were suppose to be Kiai's.
Now I hear from the group next to me that Danny's fighting next, he's the top junior Black Belt in Kumite. I don't want to criticize Kids, so lets just say I anxiously awaited the mens Black Belt sparring.
Now I'm really glad I didn't criticize the Kids, I see where they learned how not to be effective, to have weak techniques, to lack power, to have no focus, no timing.
It seems the only technique they know is a "side push kick", lean back on your rear leg and push your front leg out, no power, no focus and these are "BLACK BELTS".
I know these Karate instructors sell parents on the fact that they are building character or teaching kids discipline, I say bulls@#t, you take your child to KARATE CLASS, so he /she can LEARN HOW TO DEFEND THEMSELVES IF ATTACKED!
This was a very disappointing event. I remember attending high school gym Karate Tournaments in the past and seeing fighters like Jim Kelley, Howard Jackson, Lenny Ferguson Sho Kasugi, Bob Dunek, Donny Williams, Steve Sanders, Darnell Garcia etc etc... Is this what the new age of Karate and Kumite is all about?
Karate Fighting Techniques: The Complete Kumite
Karate Tournament
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Self Defense
Fighting when it comes to self-defense, isn't sparring.
Many post that I have read on forums talk about squaring off and what stance to use, if you allow the conflict to progress to this point you've lost most of your advantage.
Now I know there are some real rough boys here who this advice won't apply to.
How many of you witnessed how easily a half trained BJJ purple belt trashes a highly trained Karate black belt. The Gracies walk into a school and want to spar the instructor, he agrees, throws a have-hearted kick to their stomach to see what will happen and they take him to the ground and cause him pain and embarrassment.
What about self defense on the street, in a bar or anywhere. Someone starts making inappropriate gestures toward you, your wife or your family, are you going to spar with him?
You don't know who this person is, maybe he doesn't care if he spends the next few nights in jail, maybe he knocks everyone he fights out, wants to see if he can knock you out too.
Karate is a combat art, developed to stop, devastate, or destroy you opponent. There is a time to leave and theres a time to stop the conflict before it gets going.
Hard kicks to the knees, shins, thighs or groin, knife hands to the neck or throat, hair grabs with hammer fist to the nose, pokes to the eyes. If you have a strong reverse punch, strike the nose, throat, or solar plexus.
Don't let an ex football player with a bad attitude get a run at you, you'll probably end up a tackling dummy.
I'm not against sparring in the studio or competition, it's another tool to develop timing, focus and mental toughness, all necessary in effective self defense training . There may come a time when squaring off is the only option, someone just starts swinging at you or tries to take you down to the ground. This is where sparring in the dojo helps, you block, evade and counter with all you got and hopefully it's enough.
Self Defense & Street Fighting Secrets!
