Have I failed as a martial artist?

[kotegashiNeo]

Thank goodness Sauzin somebody said the obvious, If you train with a break in the sparring this can create very bad habits. My original training was competitive kickboxing and when I started to train in karate these guys would come in with shots and just decide to walk out almost uncovered and reset. Well I lay a beating on most black belts in freesparring because of this unawareness. Now I understand that the rules of your dojo allows for this type of break which is fine but never just asume you are going to get a break at a certain time. If you are sparring maintain your awareness, if possible maintain your awareness at all times. Imagine this guy tries to potshot you on the break and you are ready for him! He will realize that he will need more than cheap tricks to face you plus you keep you composure. As for the other black belt he is going through a phase, you guys sound like you could be great trainning partners for each other. Lastly your sensei let you guys beat on each other, good for him! controlled sparring is good but sometimes in order to grow you have to mix it up. Getting hit in sparring is important if you are going to being doing freestyle sparring in the first place. It sounds like your sensei was aware of the incident as it was happening and let you guys have a go at each other. At a Mcdojo this will never happen because the owner will be too worried about a lawsuit and they will say they are worried about your safety. If a dojo does freestyle sparring and doesn't let you have a go then, when you do defend yourself how will you respond to getting hit you might turtle not very safe at all. So I like your sensei and he made the right call and don't worry the only way to fail as a martial artist is to quit.

[Kajukenbopr]

well, never take fighting to teh emotional extreme(getting too angry).

but I would have pretty much done the same as you.

you should however, keep a better guard next time you fight like this, you keptt getting hit that means ur guard is down wen u are hitting him and retreat.

Also, find an easier "escape route" when you plan on retreating from the opponent instead of just stopping altogether in front of him.

[tkdBill]

kotegashiNeo, all dojos must have some rules for sparring. Some allow a wider range of attacks, but they all must have rules. For example, it probably violates almost every dojo's rules to actually break your opponents neck, even though it could happen in real self-defense situation.

Since all dojos have rules, they must be followed. It is up to the sensei to make sure that each student follows the rules. If not, one student might go for the neck-break technique and unfairly kill his opponent.

I know, I know, someone could really try to break your neck in real life, so the guy should have been ready for it, so therefore sparring partners should be free to use such techniques when practicing.

If you allow neck breaks or even late hits in sparring, everyone should know about it. If you don't allow neck-breaks (or late hits), the sensei must enforce the rule. All students must respect the sensei and his rules.

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[Khun Kao]

I don't believe you failed. Sounds like the kid has been needing a lesson in humility and got it.

Was your instructor to blame? Perhaps. But there simply are just some people in the world like the kid you describe who will only learn humilty and respect through a display of force.

Hopefully he did learn his lesson.

[fallen_milkman]

Thank goodness Sauzin somebody said the obvious, If you train with a break in the sparring this can create very bad habits. My original training was competitive kickboxing and when I started to train in karate these guys would come in with shots and just decide to walk out almost uncovered and reset.

I noticed this just the other day, when a former Goshin Jutsu student joined our class. His sparring was actually ok, just not considering he'd been learning for 4 years. Well, he would do this same thing. He'd have me on the defensive and then just back off for some reason. And whenever he was on the defensive, he gave ground instead of side-stepping. Those are two things we consider bad habits in my art. The teacher explained that was a bad move, and he just wasn't getting him. So the next time he backed off, I went for it and threw such a flurry of blows and blocked everthing he had, chasing him as he backed away. At a couple of points, he actually turned tail and RAN. Afterwords, as I was out of breath, the sifu explained what happened, and he has been much better about pressing the advantage and side-stepping ever since. Great day of sparring!

[Muaythaiboxer]

one time at a tournament teakwondo (olyimpic style) tournament a guy hit me with a punch to the face i shrugged it off and kept going then he hit me again and i droped him with a thai kick to the side of the thigh

persoally i think that you acted in the best possible manner.

[Adonis]

I go as hard as the other person wants to go. You didn't do nothing wrong. I would have personally tryed to KO him though. Or talk to him about it. IF he has been talked to before about his behavior I would go for the KO on him. Hopefully that would beat since into his haed. IF that doesnt work and he just won't change his habits. Probably your instructor should expell him from the school because he can be a danger and deterent for other students retainablity in that dojo that spar with him.

[BLueDevil]

I have the same guy in my class

Your human, you get mad I wouldnt worry to much about it unless something happens outside of the school

[White Warlock]

I posted earlier a link to the article "Trust in Training," which i unabashedly admit to being a plug (ooo look, i did it again). But, i thought the article applied well to this issue, in that the rules were understood, and yet the sparring 'partner' exploited the rules and essentially exploited your trust.

I also agree that the instructor probably should have intervened. However, since you are a bb, i'm sure he felt it appropriate to allow you to address the issue yourself. Indeed, i still think the instructor should have intervened, and at least been there to referee, for accidents and injuries occur, even to the best... and especially when one is abiding by the rules that exist to decrease injury, and the other is not.

Anyway, escalating on him was neither here nor there as being inappropriate. I recall very clearly a time when an infrequent student returned to a school i was practicing in and proceeded to work out with me and my partner. He was entirely too rough, endangering our health with his callousness and his failing to provide general 'safety' actions. After a few instances where he almost dropped me on my neck (and do take into account, i'm generally supposed to allow him to complete his actions as part of our 'turn-system' in this training exercise), when it was my turn, i subconsciously decided to let him know the depth of knowledge i had, and thus performed my actions at full speed and with full ferocity, stopping with him laying on his back and my fist touching his teeth.

I wasn't okay with how he had gotten under my skin and caused me to lose my composure, so after the day's session i spoke with the instructor and found out he had put that student with me because he wanted the student to learn a lesson. He then spoke to the student and dismissed the student from the class, telling him he would be allowed to return when he learns to respect his training partners and the trust they provide to him so that he may be able to develop his skills.

And with that, it ties into other comments. The student may have needed a lesson and the instructor may have decided you were the one to give it to him. But, at the same time, recognize the lesson you learned... as it was the lesson i learned and was what provided the impetus for the article, "Trust in Training" that i wrote over a decade later.

[Dragn]

What I'm having trouble understanding is how this guy who is supposed to be a shodan ever got his rank with that kind of an attitude problem.

In my dojo we all fight hard, but we all respect each other. Showing up without a uniform, and taking cheap shots on your partners????

If anybody acted like that in my class he'd learn the unacceptability of his actions Long before shodan.He'd first be warned and if he didn't shape up he'd learn the hard way by getting the ***** beaten out of him by his seniors.

Alowing someone of such low character to be promoted to that rank represents the failure of your instructor as a teacher.