Oh, and some women.
I wonder where the myth of the 80 yr old Karate Master soundly defeating 5 young warriors started.
Martial Arts seems to be the only physical art where this myth survives.
As we age we may develop wisdom and experience, but we lose physical attributes. Reaction time slows, strength declines, lose of flexability and the ability to recover slows.
I can't think of any other sport or physical art that makes the claims I have heard in Martial Arts. This is especially true in combat arts. Does anyone think Angelo Dundee could have climbed in the ring with Ali and defeated him?, of course not, yet Dundee had years of experience and the "eye" to see what his fighter needed to do to win.
There was an article in the paper recently how three muggers attacked a 72 yr old man and even though his defense failed, he sent one to the hospital at the scene and had sevearly injured another, this man had been a boxer and a boxing trainer most of his life, if he was only 50 or so at the time, he probably would have walked away unharmed.
Look at non-combat sports, you don't see Arnold Palmer walking away with the Masters Trophy anymore, even though he is a Master at Golf or Jimmy Conners winning any top Tennis Tournaments, Why, because they can't keep up or out play the young warriors in their prime in there respective sports.
Now at 52, in a conflict I'm going to take the quickest path of least resistance, I'm not going to bang away, trade blows, or try to outlast any opponent, especially a trained fighter in his prime.
When I brought this topic up on a forum recently, you should have heard the ageing 7th and 8th degree black belts talk about how much better they are now, as compared to when they where 35 yr old 3rd degree black belts.
Wisdom and age do go together, thats why you see so many smart old people ,especially driving the car in front of you at 28 mph in a 45 mph zone.
I know I'm much wiser now, atleast I think I am................what was I talking about?
Only Wine gets better with age
Karate Tournament
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
Martial Arts Clip Art
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