Plastic Tigers

USCMAAI · Orange Belt

Besides being a martial arts instructor, I also work as a counselor with sex offenders and the other mentally ill inmates in a maximum-security prison. Every so often something happens that I can directly relate the martial arts. I was talking with an inmate who was convicted of rape. This inmate was telling me about his crime, and how he found himself obsessed with his victim and began stalking her. He continued his story stating that he even joined the martial arts school, where his victim was a black belt and had won several local and regional tournaments. I asked the inmate if her martial arts ability caused him any problems, and he stated “I knew she wasn’t tough, and that I could beat her.” I asked him why he thought he would be able to beat her, and was told “When sparring in class, no one was allowed to punch to the head or face; and we were always being warned about using too much force. I was also a pretty good wrestler in high school and they always stopped sparring if the students went to the ground.” I asked the inmate if the system that he was training in was advertised as a “system of self-defense” or”sport karate” and he stated that he wasn’t sure, but remembered his victim teaching “self-defense” classes and in class doing “one, two and three step sparring”. Without going into too many specifics the assault occurred when the inmate went over to the victims home one evening while she was gone, broke into the house and assaulted her as she was coming into the house from her garage. The assault was relatively easy, according to the inmate. He grabbed her, threw her down and then punched her a couple of times in the face and body. The inmate stated that his victim tried to resist at first, but after he hit her a couple of times, she became compliant. The inmate stated that he stayed at his victims home for several hours, even fell asleep and his victim never once tried to get away. Now obviously anyone can be caught off guard and defeated no matter what your training or skill level, and after being assaulted physically and emotionally, I am sure this poor young woman was not in any condition to take on her attacker. I would never dream of blaming the young woman for what happened, it was in no way her fault that a sick twisted man assaulted her. However, I do blame the philosophies that some martial arts instructors have

1) tournament success transfers into real fighting ability.

2) Because we train specifically for tournament or competition, we should not train in realistic self-defense as well.

If what the inmate told me is correct, he was not using a weapon (other than his natural ones) and he is not a big or strong man (he is about 5’9’’ and weighs probably 170lbs). Now I would think that someone who was instructing self-defense classes would be able to deal with an unarmed attacker in most cases. As I have said many times there are many elements involved in making someone a warrior, none of which are his or her ability to score points at a tournament!

We as instructors (especially those who teach sport karate) must remember that the things we teach must be usable when our safety or life may depend on our skills! My students don’t usually do point tournaments and when they do experience limited success, but I do have several students who have successfully defended themselves in dangerous situations! I have a friend who teaches a more sport-oriented system of the martial arts, but he also spends many hours with his advanced belts doing full contact street training. He requires that his advanced students (Black and Brown belts) to cross train in Jujitsu and Boxing as well. Now don’t get me wrong, I think that point sparring and even no contact sparring are fine, and have their place in the martial arts (generally for lower ranked students); but I also think that it is wrong to let yourself or your students be deluded into thinking that just because you (they) are successful at the “sport” (tournament) aspect of the martial arts, that you (they) are prepared for “real-life” encounters, because chances are you (they) are not ready for the street. My sensei called these people “Plastic Tigers”. Those were the guys (and gals) who won medals and trophies at tournaments, but couldn’t fight worth a darn on the street. Unfortunately I feel that this phenomenon is more prevalent today and I contribute several factors to this happening then and even now.

First, no contact or light contact rules.
Most instructors need students to keep the doors of the Dojo open. This generally means teaching children and people who are mainly interested in the martial arts for reasons like getting in shape, or competition. Light contact allows for students to “mix it up” without anyone getting seriously injured. Again I don’t disagree with these rules for the most part, but what I take exception to is when I see middle and advanced belts sparring without any head or face contact allowed. How in the world do you deal with a punch, kick, or even weapon swung at your head if you never have had to deal with it in practice? I am willing to bet that most of you who have been in any street fights at all would agree that people try to hit you in the head/face when fighting you. I think that learning how to deal with getting hit is just as important as learning how to block and counter an attack. Now, I am not saying that you should line your students up and punch them in the nose, but you should not be so worried about being sued, or loosing students that you don’t allow your students to experience contact in a real way, this especially true at advanced belt levels. I have seen kids of 9 or 10 years old, holding blackbelts, get hit “too” hard and not be able to continue fighting! Obviously you should not expect children to shrug off a bloody nose or a hard blow, but I would expect a black belt to be able to take some physical punishment (Obviously, there are no 9 or 10 year old black belts in my system)! Never allowing a student to experience medium or even heavy contact is doing them a great disservice. It does not prepare the student for the actuality of real combat. No back in the 70’s and 80’s there seemed to be more contact in sparring (not just in class, but at tournaments). It was not uncommon to see bloody noses and such. Many people thought it unsafe, and barbaric, but I don’t recall many serious injuries! Many of the participants were kids and learned how to deal with a little pain (I also think it made your blocking, parrying and evasion skills sharper). Today because of things like the Pride fighting and the UFC, some of the more “hard core” martial artists don’t compete in tournaments, thus diluting the field even more (I am not saying that there are not very talented athletes doing point fighting, but most of the old “bruiser” types no longer compete). This means that rules against contact have become even more common.

Second, is the failure to train in all ranges of fighting.
I think the one of the changes that has happened in the combat martial arts, is that more and more instructors are teaching students how to fight in all ranges of combat. Unfortunately, sport karate instructors rarely do this. I think that the reason that “mixed ranged training” is not popular in sport karate is that very few point tournaments allow for things like throws, chokes, and strikes to the face. Why train your students to deal with attacks they are never going to see at tournament? I guess I would do it because that training might just save my students life, but from a sport aspect your students would be able to deal with having an opponent inside their “comfort zone” and not panic! This in itself would be a real advantage in a tournament. An example of this is what we call “touch reference”(using parries, blocks, and footwork to manipulate your opponents body). Several of my student have win at tournament using this simple combat skill.

Third, step sparring is not self-defense.
Some instructors think that teaching; “step sparring” is teaching self-defense. This is not entirely true! While free sparring teaches a student how to deal with the ebb and flow of combat, step sparring, especially one-step is limited in how it can be used in teaching self defense technique, because it is not done dynamically and generally is taught sterilely (meaning that everything happens the way the defender expects it to). I also imagine that in those schools where “contact” is not allowed during “free sparring”, “contact” would be frowned upon during one-steps as well. Teaching a student to deal with a punch, kick, or weapon attack that is only half-hearted is doing them a disservice. I don’t think that you have to knock your students out (well, not all your students), but I do believe that they must not be caught unaware on the street. Every student I have ever taught knows what it is like to be hit, kicked, thrown, and choked by someone who was serious about doing it! They also know what to do when this happens. I had a student who got jumped at school; one bully hit him in the face, while another put him in a bear hug. He defended himself (foot stomp to the instep of the rear attacker, and a front snap kick to the groin to the front attacker), just as principle came over to stop the fight. The principle told me (that’s right if a student in my school gets into a fight at school, I go to the school to see what happened), that when he asked Tj if he was ok, Tj replied “I have been hit harder than that in class. Can I go clean up my bloody nose?” Was this kid superhuman? No, as a matter of fact, I was surprised, because in class he was not overly aggressive or overly tough. What he is is a product of his training. Now, step sparring has it uses if taught properly. Teaching all self-defense in a 5-phase approach (ideal, static, fluid, dynamic, and variable phases), allows for the use of step sparring type aspects. One of the most annoying things that I see in sport karate schools is that “step sparring” is severely limited (single unarmed opponent attacks coming from the front, and are usually with the right hand or foot).

Fourth is the failure to train in the application of Kata (forms).
Many practitioners of the traditional arts state that doing kata is the same as doing self-defense. Or that self-defense technique is “hidden” within kata. While I agree that most kata were originally designed to teach students some basic self-defense, I would say that training in kata specifically for self-defense is not viable. I would also say that many instructors fail to teach application of the standard techniques in their kata. If you are not breaking down the kata into each self-defense technique and practicing that section using the 5-phase method, then you are not using kata for self-defense! Even more disturbing to me is the recent trend for sport karate instructors to create their own kata. Normally this would not bother me, but the kata I see is no longer even remotely related to practical self-defense (although, I guess you could do 3 back summersaults and a drop into the splits while throwing a straight punch against someone trying to stab you with a knife…I am not sure why, but you could). These kata are more like doing gymnastics than martial arts, but they are crowd pleasers! I often wonder how one of these guys would do if he found himself circled by 3 or 4 bad guys (as in most kata)? Again, I must say that I find nothing wrong with doing kata, and some of my fondest training memories are of doing kata with my sensei, but kata that is 80-100 years old isn’t likely to be all that practical for self-defense today, especially if you are not doing bunkai (application).

Finally, most schools fail to teach practical weapons use/defense. Many of the sport karate schools teach the traditional weapons (Bo-staff, katana, Naginata, etc) and these are fine weapons for tournament competition. Some of the traditional weapons are also fine for self-defense (learning how to use a jo-staff (short staff), ta’chillion (short sticks), or even daggers can come into great use on the streets). Unfortunately instructors fail to teach students how to use these weapons in a practical manner. Moreover, many instructors fail to teach a student how to defend against the very weapons they are required to learn. Grandmaster Kemp (my instructor) use to say that in order to truly understand how to defend your self from a weapon, you must also know how to use a weapon! I feel that is only half true, I think in order to fully understand how to use a weapon you must know its limitations and how to defend against that weapon.

In conclusion, I don’t feel that sport karate is useless, but maintain that even this aspect of martial training should have some elements of realistic, and practical training. We as instructors owe it to our students to give them the tools that will help them on the street, as well as in the ring. I would think that spending some time on a regular basis doing more practical training could make a “plastic tiger” into a “ real tiger” in a self-defense situation, much to the surprise of some of the sick people we have walking our streets today! Using practical training will probably help your students in their sports karate ability as well.
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"Not every tiger will pounce, but every tiger may!"

K.Mabon
United States Combat Martial Arts Association International

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

That is a very nice post. I like the 5 phases that you discuss, and I would love to hear some more information on that concept.

On a sidenote, I have felt for quite some time now that no matter what an instructor's teaching goals/focuses are, that good self-defense should be a by-product of the training.
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www.haysgym.com
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USCMAAI · Orange Belt

DWx · Black Belt

Well-informed post. Its sad that so many instructors don't teach the "martial" sense of Martial Arts. IMO the sport side is great as long as it is recognised as a sport and is made a by-product of the self defense, not the other way around.
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"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." ~ Confucius

username8517 · Green Belt

<gives standing ovation>

Excellent post. Couldn't have said it better myself.

USCMAAI · Orange Belt

DWx · Black Belt

The BB of C · Black Belt

BRAVO!
This post by USCMAAI has been a "Hitting the Nail on the Head" moment. Stay tuned for "Webster Kuk Sool Won Students Try To Defend Themselves and Fail because They Don't Learn the Things Listed Above."

Great post.

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

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