Fighting in Tournaments(good or bad?)

sano · Red Belt

by me being a fighter first and a martial artist second i think tournaments are great. full contact tourneys because those other tourneys are just too fake with their point fighting who came up with that anyway bunch of cowards.
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Drunken Monkey · Black Belt

i think tournaments have their place in your training.

however i don't see them as the be all and end all of your training.

the problem is most tournaments out there are "in-house"

so what if your tournament is full contact if the only people you are facing in there does the same style as you.

like i said, tournaments have their place

you just have to realise that it is not the same as fighting, unprotected and against all styles with no rules.
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kregh99 · White Belt

The problem I have with tournament sparring is three-fold:

1. The disgusting quality of judging that I see
2. The watering down of fighting
3. This every event being a "Championship", every competitor a "world champion" *

Judging: Very simple. You are student from school ABC. You face off against student from school XYZ. It turns out that sensei XYZ is one of the judges. All of a sudden, it seems that when score a good, focused, clean, legal hit, sensei XYZ suffers from momentary blindness.

Sparring: I understand to a point a need for protective gear, but it has gotten out of hand. The amout of gear now is so ridiculous that you no longer need to hit the guy anymore to score a point. Gloves that extend your reach by an inch and half, footpads that look like clown feet. And headgear. Get rid of the @#$!ing headgear. Now you don't have to protect your head anymore. Shingards too. Ditch them.

Events and Competitors: Where do I begin with this one. We all know what the tournaments are that really count for something, so stop calling every freakin' tournament a "Championship" especially when it's at a smelly gym in some podunk town where they can't even afford flags for the judges.

Competitors need to have their uniiforms not look like freeway billboards. You don't need 88 thousand patches on them. Ideally, starched whites would be the norm, but at open tournaments, it's looking more and more like some Botticellian nightmare.

Overall, martial arts in general is turning into more style, less substance.

jeffrogers · Blue Belt

Tournments are okay. I have done MMA/point sparring/ as well as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournments both gi and no gi events.

They are all fun.

Point sparring - Its okay. I got tired of it. I wouldn't even be close to hit some one maybe even hit there elobow that is down by there side. my body is back and my arm was out reached. But they gave me a point . I thought it was to hookey for me. Also its okay it does get you to be fast. But it doesn't help you as much for your distance because you don't get close enough to generate a powerful hit. All you need is to tap the person. but then again depends on what tournment and the critereia is for contact made in that particular tournament.

Forms are okay and push you to train to make them look better. But thats about it. Its about Kata/form acting. With loud KIA's slow tenision moves there and fast explosive moves there. Its okay but I am not big on them.

MMA - Awesome test of punching skills tactics for stopping strikers or grapplers. Really fun!

BJJ - fun tournaments. Get to see people with diffrent technqiues. Same as training but pressure to win or pressure not to get whooped on by the other guy from diffrent school. Can get intense. Go more harder in rolling (sparring) Other then that justs good way to test your skills against some one from another school who may have diffretn take down knowledge or diffrent ways to pass guard or for setting up subs or what not. So good chance to test your skills.

Over all one thing I like about competing is if your nervous it helps you with you to get over your nerves and fears with it and also helps you deal with the adrinline dump you may get. Especially full contact tournments. they get you more ready for physical confrontations then point in my opinion.

-Jeff

Karateka · Red Belt

Kregh99, i recommend going to www.wkf.net and downloading the rules. It will tell you all about how they run things...particularly about advertising on uniforms.

I find competition to be beneficial to students. Sometimes, students who are at a developing stage need to see how they are measuring up to others who are the same age and weight. This allows them to set goals for themselves that are realistic. Unrealistic goals are goals such as "I am going to win the tournament" However admirable that sentiment might be, it is better just to say "I am going to TRAIN to win the tournament" This allows the kids not to get disillusioned when going to tournament. Furthurmore, I find that tournaments can build a lot of character. Sportsmanship is a skill that is not just necessary on the baseball diamond, it exists in karate as the form of respect. Lastly, tournaments allow karateka to take training into a new level. In my prime for competing, I was 3rd in the province. I was 5'7" and weighed 200lbs. I didn't find that the deck was stacked against me, I found that I just worked harder and learned more.

I give competitions a thumbs up!
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"Never hit a man while he's down; kick him, its easier"

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jeffrogers · Blue Belt

It can be good or bad depends on the orgainzation. I remember going to tourments this one orgainzation host. Some pretty biased juging for there own school or schools. Sand bagging compitors. Meaning having an advanced student put in an intermediate braket or a begginer one so there school can get more trophy's and recognition. Whoop dee dooo. I mean you will see that at any tourment y ou go to if you hang around long enough. but at this paticular orginzations tournaments it was to rampent. Stopped going to do those.

-Jeff

Pacific Warrior · White Belt

In my humble opinion, tournament fighting is a tool used to compare yourself against other arts in a controlled environment.

Tournament fighting should be agreed upon by both Instructor and Student. I've been studying martial arts for 29 of my 33 years. I would not push any of my students into participating in a tournament until they are ready. Even then, As an instructor, my students must be placed through "tournament fighting school" prior to participating in any tournament.

I agree with Drunken Monkey who made mention of "In House" Tournaments and given the "politics" involved participating in these In House tournaments result in favoritism by some (not all) judges.

Mink · Yellow Belt

Each and every person has there own opinion on full contact tournament i believe they are benificial a learning curve to have an actual person to fight.
to become use to being hit and to have the ability to counter strike these such tournaments help timeing and self confidence that your technique if needed to be use is capable of protecting yourself if you have never been hit or hit someone else in full contact then when the time comes and you need to defend yourself how will you know if you are strong enough and capable of doing so. through full contact tournaments you do know and gives each student self confidence.

MichiganTKD · Orange Belt

I have absolutely no problem with tournament/competitive sparring, as long as people realize and keep in mind it is one aspect of Tae Kwon Do, not the whole package. Tournament sparring has many things that can assist students in learning self defense and become better people
1. Strategy-understanding vulnerable points
2. How to beat the nervous feeling of facing an opponent
3. Understanding your own strengths and weaknesses

Having said that, I think the better approach is instead of focusing on tournament sparring as your TKD career, decide how many years you want to be active in it. For example, if you are 15-16, decide "I'm going to compete in tournament for maximum 10 years and then retire and focus on the other aspects of Tae Kwon Do."
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ramymensa · Black Belt

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