Whatever your take on sport karate may be, it will be included in the 2020 Olympic Games. While I do not believe that sporting events, or even competitions, reflect the true purpose of karate, anything which presents karate in a positive light is a good thing. Increased awareness leads to increased interest, and hopefully an increased number of people practicing and studying karate.
That said, sport karate is not about fighting or self-defense. It is about winning competitions. "Real" karate is a traditional fighting system having as its purpose combat effectiveness in a self defense situation, which is quite different from getting in punches and kicks for a judge to score. Whether these punches or kicks would actually work on the street is not taken into consideration. It is considered bad form to bloody an opponent, or even to cause minor injury.
Learning a traditional form in a traditional dojo is a fortunate thing. The techniques we learn, recorded in our katas, are the same tested techniques which have been handed to us through the generations and across nations. When we practice an old kata like Chinto or Bassai, it is almost as if the old masters are teaching us directly.
Most people who enter a dojo end up dropping out of practicing karate for various reasons. Most of us who continue to study karate will never reach the level of competence where we would be considered a "professional." Many who do reach higher rank and continue their study past 35 or so are considered senior citizens in the martial arts world. This is fine, as karate should be a lifelong study.
The future is uncertain, and the end is always near, especially on the street. Olympic karate, I am confident, will be an entertaining spectacle for those interested in martial arts. It is reassuring to know, however, that what I have been taught will give me at least a fighting chance in a self defense situation. There are no silver medals in a street fight. The "winner" gets to survive. In that light, being an old amateur is not so bad.
I look forward to watching the Kata portion of Olympic Karate. Though the pacing of what I have seen in qualifying is slower than how we train the precision and snap they put into training (or starched Gi) is very impressive. Kumite will be entertaining but from the looks of it a lot of bouncing for a quick one shot point rather than a combo. If we were to enter tournaments however watching them will be very good to aid in competitions.
ReplyDeleteI guess I did not know that there would be kata. do you know if there is some sort of standardization, perhaps an Olympic-Ryu? In our style kata are rather short, while other styles have much longer versions of the same kata, at least in name.
ReplyDeleteA stiff Gi does add a lot of sound effects...
I believe there is a handful of allowed Kata that they can choose from, even if it isn’t part of their type of karate. So yeah I like the term Olympic Ryu!
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