A kid's sparring alternative...

Kid’s love sparring don’t they? Their faces light up when they are told to get their sparring mitts on and they run off enthusiastically to fetch them out of their bags.

Though I'm not a huge fan of sports karate for adults I do think it’s a great exercise for kids. It develops fitness, courage, reaction times, and a sense of strategy. It also toughens them up a bit and teaches them to show a bit of humility whether they win or lose.

So it is with some sadness that I can’t introduce the kids to sparring in my after-school class. Why? Because they have no sparring mitts! These are kids doing a 6 week introductory course in karate, wearing just their P.E. kits. No gi, no belt, no kit!

To give them a taste of the thrill of sparring I’ve had to be a little inventive. I take in as many belts as I can find (all my old coloured belts, my kobudo club belts and any other spares I can put my hands on) and teach the kids how to tie them on. Then I have cut up several old white belts into strips of about 10 inches long and give them one each to tuck into the front of their belts – this tab becomes the target.

We then do a bit of ‘shadow sparring’ to learn how to move around in sport karate and practice a couple of basic block/punch combinations against imaginary opponents. I then pair them up and get them to use the same technique of moving in to their partner to do a reverse punch but instead of punching (no mitts remember) they pull out their partner’s white tab.

After they’ve each had a few goes at moving in to pull out the tab of an unresisting partner they move on to doing it in a more competitive way with both partners trying to get each other’s tabs. This starts to re-create the energy and flow of a real sparring bout with the kids learning to move around each other, guard their own tab and moving in to grab their partner’s tab.

Once they’ve got the hang of it we have a mini competition which helps to teach them the basic rules and etiquette of a sparring match. I divide them into two groups and sit each group either side of the sparring area. I then call up one from each group (matched for size and age) to compete whilst everyone else watches.

I act as referee and get them to stand opposite each other, bow, get into fighting stance and then at my command (hajime) they start to ‘spar’. A point is scored when one of them pulls out the other’s tab and the match is stopped (yame), the kids are put back to their starting position and the point awarded (ippon). They then bow to each other and off they go again. We carry on like this for a set period (usually a minute) and the winner is the one with the most points. At the end the opponents are brought back to starting positions and the winner announced (kachi). All the kids get a chance to have a go at this ‘shia kumite’.

Alternatives include ‘best of three’ points to win or winner is first to score a point. There are rules about staying in the area and penalties and warnings for bad or dangerous behaviour (not that this needs to be invoked very often!).

The kids really enjoy this opportunity to have a go at ‘sparring’ in this way and seem to get a lot out of it. I have found it a useful way to simulate sport kumite when sparring mitts are not available and many of the same skills can be learnt and practiced in a safe way. I haven’t yet introduced any kicks into this style of sparring but there is no reason not to use roundhouse kicks because our real kumite sessions in the club involve only touch contact anyway and we don’t wear any protective body gear.

Hopefully if some of these kids enjoy my karate sessions enough to make them want to join the main club they will be able to hit the ground running a little when introduced to real sparring with mitts!

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The Olympics would be the ruin of karate...

As we draw close the end of the London 2012 Olympics the IOC (International Olympic Committee) will start their analysis of the games and start voting on which sports to relegate from the next Olympics in Rio in 2016 and what new sports to add. Karate is on the list of potential new sports to add to the games next time around.

KARATE IS NOT A SPORT! At least real budo karate is not a sport.

The problem with taking a traditional martial art and turning it into a sport is that the sport version, by necessity, is reductionist. Sport reduces a martial art to a few basic moves that can be executed quickly and efficiently in a rule based environment. Karate as sport is reduced to not much more than gyaku zuki, mawashi geri, ura mawashi geri, ashi barai and various combinations of these moves. In many modern karate clubs the students actually think that kumite means ‘sport karate’. How far from the original meaning is that?

Then there’s kata – we all know that when kata is done for competition purposes it becomes all about aesthetics and performance. You don’t actually need to know what a kata means to put on a good performance. Don’t get me wrong, I like to see kata performed well; I admire people who can do it, there is a lot of skill in a good kata performance. I’m not knocking a good performance but all style and no substance is not what kata is about. Again competition reduces kata to a superficial state.

We only have to look at the traditional martial arts that are already represented in the Olympics to see the negative effect it has had on the art. I watched some of the judo live at the ExCel centre. I was bowled over by the atmosphere of being in the arena watching the event. I wasn’t so bowled over by the judo though. I hadn’t watched a judo competition before and had expected to witness some spectacular and varied throws, locks and pins. Most of what I saw was contestants clawing at each other to get a grip on the gi, leg sweeps and a quick pin on the ground. It seemed very reductionist – I’m pretty sure judo has more to offer than that. In fact I know it has more to offer than that because I have seen judo demonstrations at martial arts festivals. Even though judo was developed as a combat sport I’m sure Kano would be turning in his grave at how reductionist it has become.

Then there’s taekwondo. Like karate, taekwondo was not developed as a sport originally. I’m pretty certain that sport taekwondo does not resemble the traditional art one iota. It has been reduced to bouncing around with loose arms and kicking out to the body and head like a couple of kangaroos! But real taekwondo has forms and self-defence applications just like karate. The only way traditional taekwondo manages to survive is for it to have branched off from the sports version and be governed by the Kukkiwan (Traditional taekwondo headquarters) in Korea.  I doubt there are many traditional taekwondo clubs left outside Korea though.

Once a traditional martial art becomes an Olympic event the rush to get ‘Olympic Standard’ competitors means that many clubs turn themselves over entirely to training only in the sport version of their art. Clubs teaching the full range of the art will fall into decline unless they divorce themselves completely from the sport.

The situation for karate would be even more dire than it is for taekwondo. The reason karate is not yet an Olympic sport is because there are too many styles, too many governing bodies (that don’t agree with each other) and too many styles of competition.  Some styles risk going out of existence altogether: Assume karate becomes an Olympic sport but full-contact competition isn’t allowed – what will happen to styles like kyokushin karate? Will its popularity decline? And what about weight categories? Would they have to be introduced? Would sport karate as we know it have to change out of all recognition? Some styles wear a full-range of protective gear and others have nothing other than a gum shield and sparring mits. So even if you are a fan of sport karate you would probably have to make many changes to your sport if it became an Olympic event.

Karate is already practiced as a sport you may argue. We already have national and international karate competitions in a range of styles and yet traditional karate still exists – so what difference will making karate an Olympic event make?

I think it will make a big difference. Karate competitions currently are not broadcast on mainstream TV and tend to attract only audiences of family, friends and fellow sports karate enthusiasts. It remains below the consciousness of the general public. If you make it an Olympic sport then it will be televised worldwide to a very diverse audience who will expect to be thrilled and entertained by it. Karate is not entertainment, it is budo. To entertain the public sport karate will become more sensationalist – you already see this in some kata competitions where kata have become like gymnastic displays. It will only get worse.

The Olympics will be the death knell of real karate. Karate should be a life-long pursuit, accessible to all for the whole of their lives if they so wish. If we are only left with sport karate then, like most sports, in will become the domain of younger people only.

Anyone who values REAL karate should be opposed to karate as an Olympic event. What do you think? I have put a poll in the right side bar of this blog so that you can vote, or leave me a comment…

(If you are a martial arts blogger and you disagree with me then why not write a post giving your opposing view i.e. why the Olympics will be good for karate, and let’s have a debate!)

Update: result of the poll....

Do you think karate should be an Olympic Event?

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Competition judging - my first experience...

I had my first experience of competition judging last Saturday. It was a club level kata competition mainly for the kids in our club and for most of them it was also a first time experience. Sensei was having some difficulty getting sufficient numbers of black belts to help so he asked me and my husband if we'd give it a go.


Always one to support club level activities I jumped at the chance to have a go. I also thought it would be useful to be on the other end of the marking scheme which was the same scheme that will be used in my grading.  As it was just a fairly small competition (around 30 competitors) we just had one area in use with 5 judges. Most of the competitors were our youngest students (6 - 10 year olds) with a few older children and young teens. Though we had a full range of coloured belts represented the majority were still in the very junior ranks.

Sensei gave us a briefing on how to assess and score each competitor. He told us not to worry if our marks seemed a little higher or lower than other judges - scoring consistently within the category was more important.

Things I learned about judging:

• It's a lot easier to judge a kata performance if you know the kata. Since most of the competitors performed one of the pinan katas or a familiar kyu grade kata this wasn't a problem. However, we had one senior category with 2 competitors performing 2nd dan katas which I don't know yet so I just had to look at the details of stances, hand positions, general tidiness and precision of moves. I've no idea if they made mistakes!
• I'm a hard marker. I seemed to consistently score between a half and one and a half marks less than other judges. It's not always easy to know how much to add on for a particularly good performance and how much to deduct for mistakes. I was starting to feel embarrassed that watching parents would see me as the 'mean old woman' of the judging panel! 
• Different judges notice different strengths and weaknesses in a performance. This is probably partly due to the fact we each see the performance from a different angle and a mistake may not be noticeable from a particular judge's angle. It may also be because each judge has a slightly different set of criteria. I have a particular thing about stance work - I spend so much time in the junior class getting the kids to bend their front knee in zenkutsu dachi or bend their back leg in cat stance that any straight legs seen in the competition lost them a half mark! (I'm so mean). Other judges may have had their own particular 'thing' that they looked for.
• You have to concentrate very hard and not let your mind wander - you have to be in the moment. Most of these katas take around 30 - 40 seconds to perform so if you let your mind drift you've missed it! 
• The standard was more variable in the very junior ranks than in the more senior kyu ranks. This made the purple and brown belt category much harder to judge and we did have a few tie breakers to decide who went through to the next round. The winners were a lot more clear cut in the lower ranks.

I was really impressed with the standard of our kids. A few on them were particularly outstanding even though they were only very junior belts. I thought they all rose to the challenge very well - it must be very intimidating to a 6 or 7 year old to perform their kata in front of judges and watching parents. I was very proud of them.

I really enjoyed my judging experience, it has helped me understand the marking scheme a bit better and given me a better overview of the standard of the kata performance of our junior students, and I was impressed!


Do you have any judging stories to tell?

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Karate as an Olympic sport? I'm not so sure.

I don't know about you but I have mixed feelings about the IOC's rejection of karate as an Olympic sport for 2016.

On the one hand it is disappointing because I think karate is a world class level sport and it is exciting to watch. Personally I think it is more exciting to watch than either judo or taekwondo (but I may be a little biased!). Karate is more varied than either of these two martial arts with both kata and kumite events. However, I believe the proposal was for 5 different medal events, so whether that included kata and kumite or just kumite I don't know.

The details are immaterial though. It didn't get chosen. Other commentators have suggested that the reason it didn't get enough votes is because it has insufficient funds to effectively lobby the IOC and market itself with the public. Also the public understanding of karate is limited and they would be unable to distinguishing it sufficiently form judo and particularly taekwondo!

There is a side of me though that is relieved that karate didn't get picked. My concern would be that the modern sport side of karate would come to dominate. It would be seen as the most prestigious side of karate. The fit, most able people would gravitate to the sports side and the people preferring the traditional karate-do side would be considered 'second class'. This would be a great distortion of karate.

I know there is already world level competition in karate and my 'doom and gloom' prediction hasn't come to pass with that, but with it's lack of publicity and prime TV sports coverage, these competitions are only generally followed by other martial artists and competitors families/friends. It is not a sport that is in the general consciousness of the wider public and so karate has not been distorted by it. But make it an Olympic sport and it will be another matter. The Olympics is watched world wide by many people who have no interest in sport during the four year gap between events and then suddenly become 'couch enthusiasts' for two weeks!

They will form their impressions of karate from what they see, which will be two people sparring in short bursts with a cheering crowd in the background. To the uninitiated it will look similar to taekwondo or boxing. Only a tiny fraction of what karate is really about will be on display and that is what the public will think karate is.

If kata were an Olympic event what would the public make of that? Would they think it was some kind of weird athletic dance? In front of an informed martial arts audience the kata performance would be appreciated and understood but in front of a general audience I'm not so sure.

The other problem is how it may distort the training values of the competitors. Kumite will basically be seen as a method of controlled fighting in an arena with rules and referees and that is what people will just train to do. The consequences for kata would be even worse. The emphasis for competitors would be on the performance rather than the understanding of the kata. Though you may argue that to perform the kata well you need to understand the bunkai within it. However, to make it more exciting to a general audience perhaps there will be a temptation to make it more like gymnastics with leaps, spins and somersaults!

Am I just being a 'harbinger of doom' or do I have a valid point? What are your views on karate as an Olympic sport - are you in favour or against?

clip art courtesey of :http://topendsports.com/clipart/pics/olympic-games/olympic_medals

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Outcome of Kumite Competition

Well, the competition is over and what an amazing experience it was. Sensei's organisation of the event was impeccable as usual and the whole afternoon ran like clock work.

He worked incredibly hard as referee for every single sparring round - and there were dozens of them, but his concentration and fairness didn't waver once. He had help with the refereeing from some of his black belts and other senior students, his partner operated the stop clock and various people helped out keeping scores and recording the results -so it was a real club effort.

We warmed up with a team sparring event so that everyone got the chance to have a round of sparring before the individual event. This took about an hour and allowed us to loosen up and shake of some pre-competition nerves. Then we started the individual event with the children going first.

So how did I do? Well, there were three ladies in my category, two 1st kyus and me (still 4th kyu) so I didn't really expect to win. I came third out of the three of us but I think I put up a pretty good fight. I know both my opponents find me a little scary to spar with sometimes because I generally have a very attacking style, but they really shouldn't worry because their greater experience and more skillful techniques generally prevail.

I had a long think about where I went wrong when I got home. My big disadvantage is a lack of height and I haven't yet worked out how to deal with that. Both of my opponents were much taller than me, one about 3 inches the other 5 or 6 inches. This also means they have a longer reach than me and makes my head a nice target for hitting. Being smaller I tend to go for chudan punches but while I'm throwing my punch they are aiming for my head with the counter punch and their longer arms tend to make contact with my head before mine makes contact with their abdomen! The referee nearly always (correctly) awarded the point to them.

I think my aggressive style is working against me. I seem to be able to drive my opponents back with no problem but I seem unable to capitalise on this advantage. I'm too slow to spot openings but seem to be leaving myself undefended because they still manage to get a jodan punch on me. I think I must be getting too close to them as I drive them back.

It wasn't all bad - I did score some points but not as many as I gave away. One opponent landed an amazing kick on my chin, very controlled and accurate and deservedly got her 3 points. The other opponent, who has the benefit of youth ( she's only 17) , was just to quick for me, she's very graceful and light on her feet!

So the event was a great learning experience for me and hopefully I will improve with training.

I think I need to develop some more defensive tactics and perhaps be a little more patient and speed up my reaction times and improve my range of techniques and......and a million other things no doubt! This sparring thing is really difficult!

The only negative aspect of the competition (and it was quite a big negative) was that I injured one of my opponents. I attempted a jodan zuki but judged the distance wrongly and landed the punch too hard, hitting her in the orbit. She had to stop and bend down until the pain subsided and it did leave her with a small cut below the brow. I'm just hoping it doesn't leave her with a black eye. I felt really bad about it.

I'll get the chance to do some more sparring next week when I grade for 3rd kyu so hopefully I'll have improved by then! If you have any tips I'm all ears......




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Self- disappointment

I entered a kata competition on Saturday - the Northern Open Classic, and came home feeling very deflated and disappointed. This wasn't because I didn't win my category, I didn't particularly expect to. I think the reasons are more complex than that. Firstly, it was nearly a two hour drive each way to get to/from the competition so I was pretty keen to do it and therefore had fairly high expectations of myself to put in a good performance. After registering (a tedious half hour stand in a queue just to get your name ticked off on a list) I was keen to warm up and practice my katas. It was about another 2 hours before my category was called and I was managing to stay pretty focused and warmed up in that time.

However, when my category was called and asked to report to area 3 I was quite phased by the fact that there were only 2 of us to compete. This was a category that covered women over 16yrs, 9th - 4th kyu grade and open to all styles! I started to lose my focus at this point as I realised I was going to get a medal for just turning up. I was selected to go first and it was all over before I barely realised what was going on. I then watched my opponent who, though very young (no more than 18 or 20), remained poised and focused whilst she executed her kata with accuracy, style and precision. She was a deserving winner. Even if I had done my kata as well as I could have, I would not have beaten her.

My disappointment therefore relates mainly to the fact that despite all my preparation and enthusiasm, when it came to my performance I allowed myself to lose focus and all energy out of my kata simply because I was distracted by my dismay at there only being 2 of us to compete. I had 'too many minds' as they say in The Last Samurai. I should have taken time to re-focus, regained my poise, taken a few deep breaths, been patient - whatever it took to be able to concentrate properly again. Had I performed the kata to the best of my ability I would probably have felt quite proud to take the silver medal home but performing it without full concentration and effort (I was lucky not to have made any mistakes - it just lacked energy) I don't feel I deserved the medal at all.

So what have I learnt about myself from this? Well, I've learnt that I value my performance more than I value the medal which I think is a good thing. I've learnt that I have a way to go before I have developed the mental discipline and attitude needed to consistently do my best. I have also learnt that I am not as physically good at kata as I would like to be for the stage that I am at (or as good as I sometimes think I am if I'm totally honest). I've also started to feel for the first time that maybe, just maybe, age is ever so slightly against me here - not something I've liked to admit to before! I was more than twice the age of my opponent and I think it showed. She was able to execute her moves much more crisply and quicker than I can (even at my best). I'm starting to think that older limbs just can't move as quickly as younger ones - or maybe it just takes longer to get them up to speed? If you have any tips or training exercises to help speed up muscle reactions please let me know.

Where do I go from here? There is no doubt that my self-confidence has been dented a little by this self-disappointment and I'm feeling a little negative at the moment. However, I will get over myself fairly quickly and think about what I need to do to improve. I certainly need to focus on both the physical and mental aspects of karate and perhaps have more realistic expectations about what someone of my age (mid forties) can achieve. So if anyone has any useful advice or can point me in the direction of any good books I will be very grateful.

Thanks for listening.

Competition results

Just a quick post to let you know how the competition went. Hubby and I were in the final category of the day so we had about a 3 hour wait before we competed, but this gave us plenty of time to practice! The sports hall was divided into two by a curtain and one side was the competition area and other side was a practice area. This worked extremely well as it meant that the people actually competing had no distractions from people walking around or sitting and talking - something that happens at the bigger competitions!

There were 11 people in our category, 3 black belts, 5 brown belts and 3 purple belts. There were 4 rounds: 11 to 8 to 5 to 3. We were allowed to do the same kata for each round if we wanted or we could do different ones. I chose to do Annunko in each round I was in.

It's quite nerve wracking having 4 judges watching you from all angles plus the rest of the competitors watching you as well. But I managed to do my kata without any mistakes which I was pleased about as I was making lots of mistakes during the practices! Clearly I focus much better under pressure.

So, how did I do? Well I was very proud to come 4th out of 11 - especially as I helped to knock out 2 black belts and 4 brown belts. I just missed out on getting a trophy, but my husband came 3rd so we still brought some silver home with us. Two of our teenage members took 1st and 2nd places ( black belt and brown belt respectively) which they deserved.

Sensei organised the competition brilliantly - it was the first one he has organised and so my congratulations go to him, everything ran like clockwork. There was a professional photographer at the event who will be uploading the photos onto his website. When I have been notified that they are ready I will put a link on my side bar so that you can view us in action in you want to.

The picture at the top of this post is me practising.

Competition Cancellation

I am gutted. I have just been phoned by my sensei to be told that as I am the only woman to enter my category the category has been cancelled for Sunday's competition. How are you supposed to get competition experience if you have no one to compete against? Usually when there are few entrants for a category the categories get condensed together so this cancellation must mean that I was the only female entrant over the age of 21 in the whole of Britain who practices Shukokai karate between 6th and 4th kyu! Yet there must over a hundred women who were eligible to enter. Why don't women like entering kata competitions? It's such great experience and there is nothing like competing to help you raise your game.

In the two competitions I have entered I have been really impressed with the standard of kata performance - it is much higher than the average standard at club level. I think you put much more effort into learning your katas when you know you are going to be on show and it is so inspiring when you see how good katas can look when you watch good people performing them in competition. I think everyone who is learning karate should at least go and watch a competition just so they can see what is achievable with a bit of extra effort.

Why can't men and women compete together in a kata competition? After all there is no real gender bias in kata so we can compete on a level playing field. This would ensure that there were sufficient entrants to prevent categories being cancelled and ensure that women don't fall behind men in standards of competition.

Competition Jitters.

I'm entering my third kata competition this Sunday (SKU National Kata Championships). I'm feeling more nervous this time than before because at 4th kyu I'm entered in a higher category. Though I suppose looking at it another way I ought to be better than a year ago and I think 4th kyu is the highest grade in the category so I'll have the advantage. But am I better than a year ago? I certainly know more katas but I'm not sure I am any sharper or technically precise than I was. I suppose the difference to being competent at kata and being good at it lies in the attention to detail. Are the hand and feet positions correct? Are the strikes at the right height? Are the kicks pulled back properly? Do you turn to look before changing direction? Is the breathing correct? So much to think about and thats on top of remembering all the steps in the first place! However there's nothing like standing in the middle of the competition arena to focus the mind - it feels very different to performing a kata back in the dojo. With the adrenaline pumping around your body at high speed and knowing you are being watched from every angle by the judges you have about 45 seconds to prove yourself. Somehow all this enables you to rid your mind of all other thoughts and think only in the moment so that each step just seems to happen. Before you know it you are doing your final bow and walking backwards out of the arena and it's all over. Unless you get through to the next round - then you do it all again but with another kata!

When I did my first competition the things that struck me most were the loudness of people's kiais - they really belt it out long and hard! The kiais we do back in class are pathetic little wimpers or grunts in comparison. The other thing was the way people announced their kata. It seems you are expected to shout it out rather abruptly with an inflection on the end that makes it sound as if you are rather rudely asking a question - SANCHIN? Well if you don't know what its called mate!

My little repetoire of katas that I've been practicing for this Sunday are Pinan Godan, Jurokono and Tensho. Hopefully I'll only need two of them since so few women enter these competitions it never seems to go more than 2 rounds! Where are all the women? Anyway I'll let you know how it goes.