Which form should I do???

[karatekid1975]

Hey all,

I was going to put this in sport martial arts, but it's not tourny related (yet). Anyways, this is for those of you who have been in more than one style.

I am going to a tourny in October. My dojang goes to this tourny every year. I finally decided to go (I turned it down before because it was too far ... Conneticut).

Anyways, I wanted to do a form from my previous style at this tourny. To do that, I would have to practice it regularly till then (in and outside of the dojang). I just relearned it. I don't think my instructor cares if I practice forms that are not in the system. He knows a few of us are from different styles. But he may have a beef with me doing one from another style at the tourny, though (I'm affraid to ask LOL).

Have you ever done this? Did your instructor allow it or have a beef with it? Any advice?

[granmasterchen]

Well....out of the many places that I have trained at I've only had a few problems like this. There was a asahi ryu karate/kickboxing school in monterey california that was being taught by a fraud....my first mcdojo experience....and he didn't like many of things that I continued to do from my original art.

Then there was a school over here in Japan, an ITF/WTF taekwondo school.....again, it was rather similar....this instructor turned out to be very one sided in their mindset....all about the money, and you do things their way to promote their styles to they can get more students so they can get more money....very sad to see.

but as for the other arts, the instructors were very good level headed people in most cases, at least compared to the two I just mentioned. These good instructors had no problem with this. A good instructor will want you to become a successful martial artist, not a successful karateka or practitioner of tkd or judo champion.....I good martial arts instructor will want to see you progress and be above all the style bashing....and just become a master of the arts.

hope that helps some

[P.A.L]

it is very common for kata competition to use something out of your style, shito-ryu is a good source for kata competition, is this a traditional open competition?

[KempoTiger]

heh...last time I competed at an open to all styles tournament, I made up my own form combining the flashiest techniques of my favorite forms/katas in Kempo, and ran with it (got second place)

I know my Sensei didn't care about that, just ask and see if he cares about your situation.

[Shorin Ryuu]

The important thing is do whatever kata you can do that convinces the judges that you know what you are doing. Sadly, this does allow for a lot of "confident crap" to be scored really well in my opinion. But again, you have to look like you know what you are doing and express your emotion through your kata. Or some other phrase artsy thing like that...

As far as my instructor goes...I don't do tournaments (nor does our dojo) and I don't think he would care what I did even if I did. We do study kata that are not in our system, so it is a bit of a non-issue.

I do find it odd you are afraid to ask your instructor...All my karate teachers emphasized a friendly and cordial environment where no questions are taboo. Then again, this laid back approach may be more of an Okinawan karate thing, anyway. I've noticed some Japanese styles and many Korean styles are big into the boot-camp approach.

Edit: Not that some Okinawan styles aren't sticklers for protocol and all that...

[Adonis]

I remember one time I was in my dojo they were grading forms like they did for tournments a few years ago. Same time i have worked out with are sister school that does shaolin Kempo also. The instructor teaches the forms sort of diffrent from we do them. But I never learned there versions.

So any way I was doing one of are forms that my instructor knows well. I did a few moves and then I blanked out and forgot were to go so I started making stuff up.

At the end they didn't notice I Messed up he thought I learned it from the other shaolin Kempo instructor. I told him no I blanked out and forgot where I was at or the next steps of the forms so I Made stuff up.

He was happy and used that as an example. Because the school mostly competed in open tournmanets so most people don't know are forms so he used me as an example not to loose compusre but to keep going.

[granmasterchen]

glad to hear that you continued on. It's terrible to see a student that just stops in mid form and has that lost and confused look on their face...the judges usually recongnize that you are making parts of it up....but that is better than just stubbling and quitting.....but if you can make it look really good (the stuff you made up) then you can even pull off a nice score.

[karatekid1975]

it is very common for kata competition to use something out of your style, shito-ryu is a good source for kata competition, is this a traditional open competition?

It's a TKD tourny, but I'm pretty sure it's an open tourny. I'll ask tomorrow. Thanks folks. They were really cool stories you guys told (with your experiences, that is).

I'm not really "affraid" to ask my instructor, but maybe I'm affraid that he will say no. I hope not. I'll keep ya posted on that.

Anyone else?

[ninjanurse]

WTF sanctioned tournaments usually only allow WTF forms but if it is indeed open you should be able to do whatever you want. I believe that a Heian was performed by an instructor we both know at this tournament last year (I may be mistaken though) Just remember the pattern itself is not as important as the techniques involved.

[Goju_boi]

don't you go in a tournament representing your style and school?