karate tournaments for a concerned Parent

Wastelander · KF Sensei

I don't disagree that karate, as a whole, could stand to have more contact. We have run into an awful lot of people at karate tournaments who simply can't handle being hit, at all--even at intermediate and advanced levels. This gets interesting, because we train with a medium level of contact, and people at tournaments notice the difference. My Sensei has been asked, on numerous occasions, if we train full-contact. We don't, but we certainly train with harder contact than the average school at these competitions.

Some people want to learn martial arts for the art of it, and for the health benefits, but not the martial part. I would like to think that everyone can benefit from martial arts, even if they don't want to fight. If they insist on no contact, or only very light contact, then they will be limited in what they can learn, but that doesn't mean that they can't benefit from it at all.
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Shorin-Ryu/Shinkoten Karate | 2010-Present: Yondan, Renshi | Sensei: Richard Poage (RIP), Jeff Allred (RIP)
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Judodad_karateson · Orange Belt

I see what youre saying. I'm not against people who don't want to get hit having softer options, but it seem that this gets in the way of allowing for aggressive contact. Otherwise great students choose another option over Karate because they have the same concerns I do.

This is a HUGE missed opportunity, imho. MMA is what its all about now a days, its the thing representing MA to the public. In the 80s and 90s, it was MA movies that brought students and created public perception, today its MMA that gets kids excited to practice MA. Correctly taught karate would be great for MMA, but potential students looking to learn Martial Arts to mix take one look at Karate tournaments and end up in Kick Boxing classes. The lack of full-contact is really a disservice to the art in the current climate Martial Arts live.

JR 137 · Black Belt

Yeah, a bit of an old topic, but I just read through it...

There's really no happy medium between full-contact/knock down karate tournaments and the barely make contact/point "fighting" tournaments.

If you watch tournaments like Kyokushin tournaments, it seems to me like it's all about who can take a punch/kick better. Not a ton of defense, just two guys trading blows and the first one to buckle loses. The competitors get so used to no head punches that they keep their arms at lower chest/waist level the entire time.

The knockdown format is far more realistic IMO, and I fully understand and agree with why I think they're not allowed to punch to the head, but it gets too unrealistic for real applications.

Knockdown tourneys allow sweeps and a non-contact follow up. Most point fighting ones don't.

I think these reasons are why Enshin and Ashihara karate were started. They allow hands to the head and throws as well, from what I understand of them.

At 39, I'd like a medium contact non-point style tourney. Allow sweeps and throws, and penalize for excessive hand dropping without allowing for excessive head/face punches. I've had enough concussions in my younger days.

I guess if I could figure out how to make those rules a reality without it being a complete mess, I'd have a huge circuit and tons of money. Someone would've done it sooner though.

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