Feeling unappreciated

[Sam]

1 thing ranger110ky - i disagree about the tournaments and things making up 5% - it depends on the style and rules.!

[ranger1100ky]

1 thing ranger110ky - i disagree about the tournaments and things making up 5% - it depends on the style and rules.!

That's an interesting view.... and I can understand why and how someone might hold that view.

I pose a simple counter for consideration...

What good, is it to send someone to a tournament... if they haven't got the roots of their martial knowledge well developed, and steeped with the proper frame of mind and ethics that go with martial art?

Sure... they can win a trophy... and perhaps they might even 'win the whole she-bang'...

A piece of pot-metal on a ribbon, or a plastic, metal and rock trophy for first place, is a nice thing when one has earned it...

It means far less though... in most martial arts... than matters of courage, self-control, honor, not just GOOD sportsmanship, but EXEMPLARARY sportsmanship, patience, humility in victory, and inner strength in defeat.

We can turn to other 'nice to haves' in training... weapons training...

What good would it be, to train someone to be an 'expert' with nunchuckus, without teaching them the history of the weapon, without giving them a 'well rounded' education?

The 'tournaments and other stuff'... that '5%' as I put it... IS nice... and sure... we may do those things often enough, that it seems like MORE than 5%... it might SEEM like 80% of what we do...

But I think if you step back and look at the heart and soul of martial art... the building of a good, sound and ethical student, who not only knows how to perform the art technically... but mentally and ethically as well...

Then you see where my arguement comes from...

How we get to the proverbial 'positive growth and change of the student through martial art'... isn't as important as GETTING that positive effect.

When I began... we had forms, one steps and some in class sparring and now and then we'd go to tournaments, tested every 2 months... and that was that.

Nobody gave a hoot, who won what trophy... it just wasn't that important... though we would applaud those who went and gave it their best shot, regardless of their placing or not.

We sparred quite a bit in class too...

And heaven help us, if we let our self control lapse, or if the wrong 'tude' showed up...

The importance was not in what we were doing... but HOW we did it. If we didn't keep the 'proper' attitude.. (including paying rapt attention to our instructor at all times).. then we got to work on increasing the strength of our arms.

 

Hence... I give tournaments and other 'nice to do' things 5% of weight, in building a solid martial artist.

 

Now I'm NOT saying, tournaments don't have good benefits for students... they do, or we wouldn't have em.

 

We can do em 95% of the time... but to me... that still doesn't change how much 'weight' I give them.

 

If we do good at the 80% (weight) part... build the character and spirit of the student...

 

Everything else, takes care of itself... because we've created a situation where the student's actually approaching study properly... and this, in turn, helps the instructor to IMPART the knowledge, so that the student actually gets all they CAN out of it... rather than just the 'superficial knowledge' (i.e. learning how to kick and punch, without learning the philosophy, history and ethics of the art itself)

 

Kinda see where my arguement comes from there?

Hope my clarification helps... I know I'm not as clear as I'd like to be this morning.

Your's in TKD,

Paul

[glockmeister]

Have been there, and done that. But it's the kind of discipline you need. You want an instructor that pushes you to the limit? would you really even WANT to go to a school where the instructors coddle you or let things slide? If they did that, then you would slide also. Learn to love and to respect discipline. It will help you down your journey.

[Sam]

I agree to an end but you're generalising to much and not considering the greater implication tournaments might have later on in training in other styles.... I agree that character devleopment is essential, but tournaments arent about bits of plastic or metal.... you can learn a huge amount from them - physical and developmental.

[UsagiYojimbo]

Have been there, and done that. But it's the kind of discipline you need. You want an instructor that pushes you to the limit? would you really even WANT to go to a school where the instructors coddle you or let things slide? If they did that, then you would slide also. Learn to love and to respect discipline. It will help you down your journey.

Yes, I now totally understand and accept it (I was able to talk to my sensei about it). I've discovered that the driving forces behind my reaction were my crippling fear of failure and of disappointing others. But, as others have said here, these are important things to develop.

[Sam]

to add to mine - tournaments are only worth what you can take away from them. So their worth is directly proportional to how well a student learns from themselves.... as its dificult to be told [once you're relatively proficient] what your mistakes are.

Also the gain depends on how you spar, what rules and what style.

[monkeygirl]

Ooh, ooh time for a Batman Begins quote!

"Why do we fall down? So that we can learn how to pick ourselves up."

Eventually you'll start to like pushups as they become a little easier and you see improvement in yourself--noted or not by your instructor. After a while you begin to really love that familiar burn after a nice set of pushups. You yearn for more kinds of pushups...on chairs, triceps, chinese, handstand, etc.

[UsagiYojimbo]

Ooh, ooh time for a Batman Begins quote!

"Why do we fall down? So that we can learn how to pick ourselves up."

Ooh, I just saw that movie! It was great, and the quote was wonderfully applicable. Thanks!

[Sam]

i HATE handstand press ups.....

have you tried tricep dips where you try and clap in front of your chest [tricep dips are face up]