Black Belts Discipline

[bushido_man96]

I remember my days judging in the ATA tourneys that I attended. I always felt like I was a fair, if not stringent, judge. I'd rarely give a score of 9, and sometimes I would get nudges from chief judges to give more 9s, but if I didn't think it a 9, I wouldn't give it.

Overall, I didn't have too many problems with any tournaments that I have attended in the past. Maybe the politics of tournaments are not as popular as it appears; just that when it does happen, it gets talked about a lot.

I don't do tourneys much any more, though, so I may be out of touch.

[tori]

In my personal opinion, instructors should not be in the same ring as their students, whether it be for kata, self defense, sparring, or weapons. It just makes it fair to all competitors and limits complaints from kids parents.

[joesteph]

In my personal opinion, instructors should not be in the same ring as their students . . .

It just makes it fair to all competitors . . .

It's a conflict of interest. pure and simple. Is there a problem in securing a decent number of referees/judges that this is done, or is it that the tournament is schedulers find it easier simply to assign competitors here-and-there w/o examining who the referees/judges are?

[Tiger1962]

Yes, sometimes there ARE shortages of people to help out at these tournaments. So they have to resort to using whomever is there.

Then, on some occasions, they are just not playing straight.

[Wa-No-Michi]

Then of course there are Judges and referees that quite simply, don't know their stuff as they should.

Biasness aside, I have lost count of the number of kumite refs who just don't seem able to see what everyone else in the entire stadium sees. Just substandard really and an insult to the competitors.

Then of course there is the dilemma of how to judge different styles of Kata up against each other. A virtually impossible task if you ask me, because in order to do this, the judges would have to be "expert" in every single style.

[bushido_man96]

Then of course there is the dilemma of how to judge different styles of Kata up against each other. A virtually impossible task if you ask me, because in order to do this, the judges would have to be "expert" in every single style.

This is why I think that tournaments within organizations are a good idea; more consistency.

[Fish]

I think you see poor sportsmanship in every sport nowadays. Especially when kids compete with pushy parents in tow.

In MA its not acceptable, obviously, because you have to be able to trust your opponent to exercise control otherwise there is a high risk of injury.

[granitemiller]

I was at the same tournament that The Beast was at when this "fight" occurred.

And yes, some of the Jiu-Jitsu competitors, who were finished and standing around watching the black belts compete, first state how impressed they are with the speed and accuracy of the kumite fighters, and then expressed disdain after the two fighters got out of control and started wailing on each other, with one of the Jiu-Jitsu competitors stating "that is why I don't do Karate, too much ego involved".

In regards to the second part of the comment "too much ego involved", I couldn't agree more. Those two kumite competitors completely lost their heads and this was in large part due to their egos. Not only do they need to work on their self-control (regardless of who is to blame) but they need to keep in mind that people are looking up to them and watching their every move., It created a tremendous black eye for Karate among the spectators (and not just the jiu-jitsu guys), who have to think to themselves "if this is how the black-belts conduct themselves, I don't think I want to be associated with them".

Come on now, I have been struck hard numerous, countless times. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. I am proud that I never lost control of myself as a black-belt. I have competed in MMA, as well as Jiu-Jitsu and high school wrestling, I have been in enough competitions that I realize that I don't always have to win. In fact, I look forward to someone beating me because they have just exposed a weakness that I did not know I had and now I can work on improving it.

Going back to the first part of the Jiu-Jitsu player's comment about not doing Karate because of ego: I couldn't disagree more. Of course, standing there watching two black-belts humiliate themselves helped provoke that comment, however, Karate offers so much more than just kumite. Kumite is just a by-product, and Kumite has helped Karate, I wrote a blog on this if you are interested: graniteshotokan.wordpress.com

[the beast]

Come on now, I have been struck hard numerous, countless times. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. I am proud that I never lost control of myself as a black-belt. I have competed in MMA, as well as Jiu-Jitsu and high school wrestling, I have been in enough competitions that I realize that I don't always have to win. In fact, I look forward to someone beating me because they have just exposed a weakness that I did not know I had and now I can work on improving it.

This just helps drive home the fact that you learn more by losing than you do by winning.

[Tiger1962]

I agree beast, however, in one of those rare situations when you get kicked in the head or an "off limits" area of the body, and, intentionally, either the referee doesn't call it or your opponent is a wise guy, then its hard for me to hold my anger or tongue.

I may be a martial artist, but I am human being too & I don't like being taken advantage of.

I play fair so I expect it in return from my fellow m.a.'s.