The Good Old Days?

Back in the 80's competing as a Kung Fu stylist was a lot different than today. Unless you wanted to travel extensively, it was difficult to find a Kung Fu tournament. It was big news when we were finally able to see tournaments with Kung Fu in the title even if they were not really Kung Fu tournaments.

What was competing like? The normal method of competition was joining an open tournament where you were judged by Karate judges. These were judges who knew Karate only and had to do their best to judge Kung Fu based on their knowledge of how things were done in their own style. I even remember having Kung Fu and Tai Kwon Do grouped together in something called a "Soft Style" division...what exactly does that mean? There are hard and soft styles of Kung Fu and if you ever watch Tai Kwon Do performed properly, it certainly does not seem soft to me. At that time, Kung Fu practitioners were just happy to find a way to compete.

As far as fair judging, you had to understand that this was not possible. Judging by Karate judges certainly made competition interesting. This is not a criticism of the judges as they were doing the best they could with their training and I certainly know how it feels to judge styles that you don't know. Unfortunately this meant that the best way to do well in open tournaments was to Karatesize (is that a word?) your techniques. Those of us that stood by our style and refused to change how we did things should be proud.

Lack of Weapon Control

During today's class we did a bit of extra work on weapons. During the class I remembered an incident that occured at a tournament about 4 or 5 years ago. As usual I was acting as a judge in one of the rings but the next ring was open so some students were using it to warm up and get a bit of last minute practice in. As my ring wrapped up I told the other judges to take a quick break before the next division started. As I was walking to the organizer's table, one of the students in the next ring stabbed his spear right at my face. I reacted and grabbed the spear head just before it stuck me in the face. The student stopped practicing but probably did not realize that a slower reaction would have ended up with him stabbing a person in the face. I have a few thoughts on this incident.

• First, the student was not taught proper respect for martial arts as it was clear that he was using the open ring as a chance to show off his techniques.
  
• Next, the student was not properly taught by his instructor. This was not a junior student and he should have known to be aware of his surroundings, especially when performing weapons forms.
• The student showed little respect for other competitors as he flung his weapon around without regard for the other students that were stretching and warming up.
• No student is good enough to utilize stabbing techniques without looking - there has to be something wrong with either the way he was taught or the way he learned.

I would like to stress that those performing weapons must be aware of their surroundings as well as understanding the distance required to perform techniques without placing anyone in danger. The person practicing the weapon form is responsible for control of their weapon.

Another Local Tournament

I had previously posted some events that I thought might be good experiences for the students. I recently received an ad for an open tournament that seems to be in a fairly accessible location for many of the students so thought I would add that link too. This is on Saturday, November 29th in Toronto - here is the link. I have never been to this tournament so do not have any recommendations for it but it seems like it might be good for those that want to experience an open run by Karate practitioners.

Open Martial Arts Tournaments - Should We Care?

When I was competing, Kung Fu tournaments were not easily found in the area. If you wanted to compete the only option was to find an open tournament. These were normally tournaments run by Karate practitioners and if we were lucky, we would have a separate division for non-karate styles which was normally called a soft style division...which didn't really make sense because Tai Kwon Do was thrown in there. The competitors were normally judged by Karate judges who normally gave the best scores to the people that looked most like what they were used to seeing.

What are my thoughts on open tournaments? I believe that these tournaments can provide some value if you go in with the correct attitude. Understand that the judges do not know the techniques that you are executing and will not necessarily see the value of your forms. Understand that fighting will be limited by the rules of the tournament and often will eliminate (for good reason) the more effective and dangerous techniques of your style. My recommendation for tournaments is generally to not care if you win or lose. The purpose of the tournament is to give you experience performing in a stressful situation (in front of a crowd) to train your mind and to continue to perform in these types of situations. Fighting in open tournaments is also a good experience because it allows you to see how it feels to fight people with different styles and techniques from your own school.

In the end, real life combat situations are full of uncertainty and stress. Gaining exposure to these feelings through competing decreases the chances that you will freeze when confronted in a real situation.