Kata or fighting

[vertigo]

At the moment, I prefer kata, as I'm still a beginner and have not really done much kumite past three-steps (I've semi-free sparred once). This semester, we have moved to a little more intermediate one step kumite (which is nice, as its much easier to practice a technique with someone to target).

 

I'd like to see a little more kumite, as it forces me to (for lack of a better way of wording it) concentrate a little more, without losing every bit of technique... for example, when I semi-free sparred, I tried blocking a slow front kick with a downward forearm directed at the kick (like an upward block going down?) ... I know a little better now

[P.A.L]

After three times dislocating my knee I quit sparring I enjoy doing my old shorin katas and the new ones, tonight he started Matsumura Hakutsuru sho hopefuly one day my legement heals and i spar again.

[SevenStar]

how do you keep injuring it?

[P.A.L]

first time happend in a very soft Tatami,I steped in for the first time for my first spar in that dojo, I jumped up and landed on one leg, boom my knee poped, I rested for 2 weeks , again same place i was doing a mawashi again poped, I left that dojo, in new dojo after 3 weeks ,one night I spared with sensei again I am standing on the same leg for mai-geri befor i open my chamber sensei kick into my chambered knee the other knee didn't withstand the force and poped, so i decided to stop all the sparring and yakusoku till it heals compeletly.

[Skeptic 2004]

I think it depends on what you're training for. There's a difference between trying to win a game and trying to keep the poisoned punk thief from killing you as you're getting mugged.

 

Sparring is fun because it's a game - the adrenaline rush, the movement, the way your body reacts exactly the way you train it, the success of victory, the lessons from defeat. But, at the end of the day, that's all sparring is: a game. There are rules, there are winners, and in tournaments, there are prizes.

 

However, if I want to train to fight, I do kata because fighting is exactly what it was designed for. Traditional kata - and I stress traditional - is the culmination of an evolutionary process; I won't bother repeating the rest of the rhetoric because just about everyone has heard it before, I'm sure.

 

I don't want to make it sound like one is better than the other (though I think my bias is pretty evident) because, as I indicated, it depends on what you're training to do. There's nothing wrong with training to win a game. There's nothing wrong with training to fight for your life. Just don't confuse one for the other.

[Kaminari]

I love Kata. The reprtition allows me to refine and hone my technique, without having to pull punches/kicks, etc.

 

I like sparring for it's real-time benefits. You can do a Kata at any speed you like, but your actions in sparring depend on your opponent, as well. The thing I don't like about sparring is that there are set rules, where you can't do this or that, you can't hit this area, etc, whereas in a real fight the things that aren't allowed might be the thing that neutralizes an opponent. Example: In sparring, kicks below the waist (at least in the styles I've practiced) are not allowed, yet I would most likely try to kick my opponent's knee, or hit him in the face, but sparring rules say otherwise.

[delli04]

Excellent post skeptic. I always say that sparring is not fighting, it's a game of tag. Sparring stops when a fight begins. With that said, sparring is a good for training timing and distance....

[Monkeymagic]

"The ultimate aim of karate-do lies not in victory or defeat but in the perfection of the character of its participants” (Gichin Funakoshi, 1936)

 

I don't believe karate is about winning and loosing (competition - basically what modern kumite is aimed towards) but about it all and perfecting karate itself and learning the moves. Some of these moves and combinations come from learning kata.

 

I love kata but think sparring is important also as it is the end game of what you have been learning because you have to actually put the moves into use against someone to see if they actually work. But karate is not about competition and winning medals. That was not why is was developed.

 

[Dragn]

I think some of these references to sparring as a game of tag come from people who do non or semi contact sparring, or point fighting rules.

 

I've trained at dojos like that and I'd agree that THAT kind of sparring dosen't do much for your fighting skills.

 

But the dojos I train at now put on gear and go for it full contact.

 

I assure you it aint no game! You either defend yourself or get beaten down to the ground. We do exercise controll, especially on lower grades.

 

But its very real.

 

Without this kind of training your just not going to be prepared to deal with the violence of a real attack.

 

Practising in the air or in 1 step attacks with a partner are not enough to stimulate a resisting live opponent.

 

You'll find out that alot of those so called dangerous moves and wristlocks/takedowns etc dont always work effectively against an aggressive resisting opponent. Especially when hes coming at you with fast powerfull combinations.

 

Kata is fine but kata alone will not prepare you for combat

[SevenStar]

bingo.