Competition in martial arts can lower confidence.

[koreantiger81]

Some martial arts don't believe in competition(tournaments) because of lowering a students confidence level. (Confidence is essential for a student to learn more about the martial arts.)

 

There's another view that tournament competition will motivate students to set goals to work hard.

 

Well, I compete in the N.B.L league. It's a very competitive league. My division, the black belt adult division, has a lot of talented martial artists. I know that 3 of the competitors in my division are ranked in the top 10 in North America(N.B.L league). I haven't competed for a while. I've been doing martial arts for over a decade. I've hit this plateau in my martial arts career. I know i've learned a lot, but i'm frustrated that i'm growing slowly now in martial arts. I think going to this competition may discourage me....

 

What's your view on competition?

 

[ This Message was edited by: koreantiger81 on 2002-05-20 04:41 ]

[monkeygirl]

Quite simply, competition isn't for everyone. If you're easily discouraged, you probably won't have the confidence to begin with to do well in a tournament, so you'll lose, and your confidence will be lowered even further.

 

One of my best friends, Jacob (he's turning 12 next week, but he's a great kid) is a very talented martial artist. However, he has faced some very bad luck in the past. In his first few tournaments, he was a yellow belt and didn't have experience competing. Losing was pretty much to be expected. Later on, however, it just seemed that he couldn't win. He always competes against another student (Chris) from our school. These two have come up through the ranks together and always compete. Chris is better at weapons and the Jacob is better at open-hand forms. Usually, they go one-and-two in their respectivally better categories.

 

One tourney, it seemed like my friends were going to win their normal positions quite easily. They had remarkable performances.

 

Their only competition was a girl with nonexistant stances and yells, and a distant, faraway expression. The competition should merely be between Chris and Jacob, right?

 

I don't remember which category it was for, but when the scoring came up, they had finished Cory, girl, Jacob. It was one of the most controversial matchups of the day!!

 

Needless to say, Jacob was upset. He was a bit younger at the time.

 

Now, I don't want to sound like sour grapes. I'm sure the girl was talented in her own right, and had earned her belt. I tried to be as objective as possible, but I couldn't see how she possibly finished second. Now, I never heard the scores, but I had a friend who was judging. Apparently, the blackbelt lady who was tallying up the scores, couldn't seem to get the math right, even with a calculator. They kept changing to simpler and simpler methods of scoring, but she still couldn't handle it. I guess there was nobody to cover for her. My judging friend tells me that by his mental calculations, the standings should have actually been Jacob, Chris, and the girl.

 

Jacob was heartbroken, and was giving up on the idea of tournaments. To make matters worse, the girl beat him in sparring for "points" she made in non-scoring areas!

 

However, I tried to comfort him and help him move on. You can't just re-calculate the scores and take that girls' trophy, I told him. (This was pre-olympics) It was also touchy ground to try and dispute it, since that would be disrespecting the blackbelts.

 

I don't think my consolation was much help, however, since I had placed all Firsts. My trophies felt cheapened, though, as I had the same mathematically-challenged judge.

 

Tournament experiences like this can tell you whether or not you're meant to compete. Jacob doesn't have the right attitude to "buck up" and carry on. Chris hasn't really had much reason to, so he'll keep competing.

 

 

[G95champ]

Although I do agree with yoru point however I think they can do more to build your image of yourself that hurt it. I know way to many people who have placed in a tournament and think they are the best thing since sliced bread.

 

Im not a fan of point fighting sorry.

[karatekid1975]

I don't spar in touries. I went to two of them and witnessed CHEATING by the JUDGES. Like scoring their students higher, or scoring someone that hit a non-legal area. One guy got kicked in the nuts, and the other guy got a point for kicking him there!

 

I only compete in breaking and forms (in tournies). Only because if I f**k up, it's all me. 9 times outta 10, if you get a bad score in these two, it's your fault, not someone elses (unless again, the JUDGES cheat).

 

Monkeygirl, tell him that it wasn't his fault in his situation. Try to explain to him about the judge that couldn't count. This might make him feel a little better. Plus the girl was hitting him in non-legal areas and scoring, so the judges were cheating.

 

 

[KickChick]

It can either boost your confidence or could discourage you to the point where you will doubt your abilities. It's a coin toss once you fill out the registration form and empty your pockets.

 

All comps/tournys are not created equal ( I actually have seen some fairly run events) ... although everyone says the same thing about them (unfair judging etc...) and yet we still compete . ... go figure!

 

 

[Lau gar]

we'll it depends but if you've got a student that's not to sure about there own abilities then they can enter tournaments but giving them some easy fights to gain confidence at the start

 

 

[Withers M.A.A.]

As a blackbelt you shouldn't get discouraged from a torn. THere will always be someone better than you no matter what. I competed nationally for many years as a blackbelt and have competed with the best of the best. If I competed with someone who beat me then I would go back to the dojo and just train harder. If someone is at the top then don't forget the road it took them to get there. They didn't just wake up and be the best they had to work at it. IF you want to be the best you have to put a lot of work into it and make competing a lifestyle. If you're going to watch or to just have fun and see how you do then have fun and if you win something then all the better.

 

Pete

 

 

[Bon]

Do you go in tournies to get the pretty medal ? Or say you came first ?

 

Where you place in the tournament is irrelevant.. If you 'lose', you haven't lost a thing, you've won a lot more than the other person. Even the person who 'wins', hasn't really won. You only lose if you don't learn from it and grow. Personally, I think it's shallow to go in tournaments for a medal, or a placing.. The person who goes there looking for flaws his game to work on & emerges with more wisdom and things to work on is really the person who's won. Even the person who 'wins' has flaws and things he can work on.

 

I don't know about most of you, but do you train to get a pretty black belt ? Or do you train for the knowledge, skills, philosophy, fitness, etc, etc. I don't train so I can get a belt and say I'm a such and such in whatever.. I don't think tournies should be any different.

 

 

[karatekid1975]

Amen Bon!

 

 

[SaiFightsMS]

When my club brings all the sites together for a tournament sesei sets up the divisions very carefully, especially for the lower ranking younger kids. They are grouped so that everyone will get some kind of a medal to give them a sense of accpmplishment.

 

You make think that sounds kind of mcdojoish but as they rise in rank things change and they really have to compete for their medals. Our philosopy is to try to encourage the kids while teaching them at the same time.