Martial arts tournaments, not real fighting but still worthwhile
Photo 1: The author scoring with a front fist at the WKF USA championships 1997.
Photo 2: The author scoring to the head on an opponent in Japan at the Himeji Budokan in 2000.
A Comment on Tournaments: Why they are worthwhile despite rules, refereeing and & sporting politics..
by Jason Armstrong, 1996
The recent tournament we visited was a success and in my opinion everyone who competed put forward their best karate to date. Some were disappointed in the rules and ruling in certain rings with regards to referee subjectivity.
Despite the fact that "tournaments are not of the true spirit of martial arts" (Deshimaru roshi, a famous Japanese Zen master; Taira sensei of Okinawa), if I had never competed in tournaments my martial arts experience would not feel anywhere near as full as it does and my ability as a strike fighter would be know where near what it is.
There were some mixed feelings about certain decisions from the referees at this tournament. I understand the reactions many of you had. One must remember that travelling to a tournament allows you to test your strength against those of a similar rank from another dojo and this unknown causes a developmental vital nervousness for most in their early years of competition. What matters is how you felt as a martial artist compared to your opponent not what the judge decided (he was not in the fight, only you and your opponent know the truth). In my tournament experiences I have been defeated by people who I know I was stronger than, and I have defeated people who I know were stronger than I. However, I always walked always with much to think about and therefore it must have been a growing experience.
Remember that tournament is not true martial arts and therefore does not truly test your understanding of the art or skill. This is because it is a game with rules and the decisions are the subjective opinions of others. Martial arts in their pure form have no rules, pre-set assumptions and are definitely not a game.
A 2017 P.S. note: The above remains even more true in an era over the last 10 years where we have seen the rules and etiquette in the "sports karate" world in constant flux e.g.
- the expected temperament/humility has changed
- short "do or die" point bout decisions (Ippon Shobu) have disappeared and their point misunderstood (this a mental point, not a physical topic)
- relating points to what actually works in the street have changed things substantially.
To elaborate bullet #3 above, I take a section of text out of our textbook on karate, bunkai and street fighting statistics:
"The WKF rules at the time of this text’s creation are interesting as they in fact reward competitors in way that is opposite to the practical use of karate with the following approaches as examples:
- 1 point for a punch
- 2 points for a body kick
- 3 points for a head kick
- 3 points for striking someone when their torso is on the ground (which as discussed in Section D3 of this textbook 3 has a far less likelihood of knocking someone out than striking someone while their balance is upset but they have not yet gone to ground).
While the WKF system may recognize a “degree of difficulty approach”, if one was to reward based on incapacitating outcomes, competition scoring may look something like this:
- a head punch would be 3 points not 1 (as it is the primary tool resulting in damage in the street, UFC fights etc.)
- “ground and pound” – hitting someone when their torso is on the ground - would score lower than striking someone after simply upsetting balance (but before they had fallen to the ground; see Section D3). Most non-WKF sports karate rules systems which hold to the traditions of the sport from the 1950s (ippon shobu), better reward practicality for competitors by scoring "a balance upset combined with a punch" as highly in points as their system allows.
- head kicks would be a low scorer due to their low probability of execution (as in most street circumstances combatants are on a relatively slippery sidewalk/surface in long pants and possibly slippery soled shoes (i.e. a head kick would be 1 point not 3)"
