My Sensei at the Arizona State Championships 2015

[Wastelander]

Personally, I no longer have any interest in karate competition, but I do still support my dojo family when they compete. This past weekend was the USA Karate Arizona State Championships, which also act as a qualifier for Nationals, and we sent a team to compete. My Sensei even took a break from coaching and judging to compete, himself. Here is a video someone took of him running Kusanku Dai, with altered timing for competition.

In case you're wondering, USA Karate uses the WKF "Olympic" ruleset, so each competitor is assigned a color--either blue or red--and wears an appropriately colored belt for their assignment. That's why he is wearing a blue belt. Supposedly, this is to help prevent judges from scoring people higher because their belt looks older, or has more stripes on it, and also helps the audience keep track of which competitor is which.

[Nidan Melbourne]

The WKF have had those rules for years and years. So you don't need to put down the "Olympic" in it.

Also it is to prevent any favouritism due to rank. The real reason is to make things easier for the Referee + Judges to vote on who performed the better kata.

I know the US often doesn't use the WKF way of assigning AKA or AO for the competitors to use for each round.

The only tournament I HAVEN'T used the WKF Rules is when it is a small club hosted the tournament and we just used a small red piece of rope at the back of one competitors belt.

[Wastelander]

The WKF have had those rules for years and years. So you don't need to put down the "Olympic" in it.

Also it is to prevent any favouritism due to rank. The real reason is to make things easier for the Referee + Judges to vote on who performed the better kata.

I know the US often doesn't use the WKF way of assigning AKA or AO for the competitors to use for each round.

The only tournament I HAVEN'T used the WKF Rules is when it is a small club hosted the tournament and we just used a small red piece of rope at the back of one competitors belt.

I only added the "Olympic" part because that's what they're calling them, since they started their whole "The K is on the Way" thing to try to get karate into the Olympics. I only pointed out the belt color thing because I've gotten a surprising amount of people asking why he is wearing blue or red belts in photos and videos .

We are new to the WKF ruleset, having only started competing in this circuit last year when the regional "Open Karate" competition circuit shutdown. It has never had much of a presence in our area until that happened.

[Nidan Melbourne]

The WKF have had those rules for years and years. So you don't need to put down the "Olympic" in it.

Also it is to prevent any favouritism due to rank. The real reason is to make things easier for the Referee + Judges to vote on who performed the better kata.

I know the US often doesn't use the WKF way of assigning AKA or AO for the competitors to use for each round.

The only tournament I HAVEN'T used the WKF Rules is when it is a small club hosted the tournament and we just used a small red piece of rope at the back of one competitors belt.

I only added the "Olympic" part because that's what they're calling them, since they started their whole "The K is on the Way" thing to try to get karate into the Olympics. I only pointed out the belt color thing because I've gotten a surprising amount of people asking why he is wearing blue or red belts in photos and videos .

We are new to the WKF ruleset, having only started competing in this circuit last year when the regional "Open Karate" competition circuit shutdown. It has never had much of a presence in our area until that happened.

I haven't seen the WKF use "Olympic" in any advertising before with the exception of them wanting to get karate in the Olympics. Otherwise they don't use it from what i've seen.

Were you guys completely aware of the rules etc and taught it alongside with the dominant tournament circuit? Because I have many friends who are instructors over in the US and teach in their competition classes both versions in case of both.

I know many competitions in America normally have all competitors wear their current rank and have a very different format of announcing the kata.

When you say you have had a lot of people ask is it just parents and students at your dojo that have been asking?

[sensei8]

Personally, I no longer have any interest in karate competition, but I do still support my dojo family when they compete. This past weekend was the USA Karate Arizona State Championships, which also act as a qualifier for Nationals, and we sent a team to compete. My Sensei even took a break from coaching and judging to compete, himself. Here is a video someone took of him running Kusanku Dai, with altered timing for competition.

In case you're wondering, USA Karate uses the WKF "Olympic" ruleset, so each competitor is assigned a color--either blue or red--and wears an appropriately colored belt for their assignment. That's why he is wearing a blue belt. Supposedly, this is to help prevent judges from scoring people higher because their belt looks older, or has more stripes on it, and also helps the audience keep track of which competitor is which.

Man oh man...What was his score??

Solid Kata, through and through. I like the way your style does Kusanku Dai...it's different...IN A GOOD WAY!!

Thanks for sharing it!!

[Wastelander]

I haven't seen the WKF use "Olympic" in any advertising before with the exception of them wanting to get karate in the Olympics. Otherwise they don't use it from what i've seen.

Were you guys completely aware of the rules etc and taught it alongside with the dominant tournament circuit? Because I have many friends who are instructors over in the US and teach in their competition classes both versions in case of both.

I know many competitions in America normally have all competitors wear their current rank and have a very different format of announcing the kata.

When you say you have had a lot of people ask is it just parents and students at your dojo that have been asking?

It could just be the local branch of the WKF--I have heard several local officials, on numerous occasions, refer to it as "Olympic-style" in a variety of ways. As for the people asking, it has been martial artists from other schools around the US. Within our dojo, everybody pretty much knows what is going on.

We do know the ruleset, but knowing it and following it are different things . Our dojo only has one class per week to focus on tournament material, compared to our competition who all do nothing but tournament-focused training. The rest of our classes focus on more old-school karate for the teens and adults, and more traditional karate for the kids. Even so, our competitors do pretty well! Sometimes we get a lot of penalties for hitting too hard or using illegal techniques (like knee strikes, leg kicks, and uppercuts), but we're getting better about that.

Man oh man...What was his score??

Solid Kata, through and through. I like the way your style does Kusanku Dai...it's different...IN A GOOD WAY!!

Thanks for sharing it!!

Thank you! I'm afraid this tournament circuit doesn't do scores--they set up a bracket system where you run kata head-to-head with your opponent, and the judges simply hold out a blue or red flag to indicate who won that round. I believe he won this round.

[sensei8]

Yeah, I knew the scoring procedures, I just got excited because the video ended before the flag calls!! He's, your Sensei, quite solid.

[bushido_man96]

Thanks for sharing the video, and the info on how the WKF kind of works.

I thought the form was solid. Some very quick moves in there!

[JohnASE]

The WKF has been trying to get into the Olympics since before they were called the WKF. A lot of their modern rules were developed with that in mind. I don't recall hearing them called "Olympic" rules either, but I'm not surprised by it.

I'm not sure how strong the WKF is in Australia, but there are many karate tournaments here in the USA that don't use WKF rules. Some use "modified" WKF rules, but many are completely different. There are whole national organizations, not just small clubs, that don't use WKF rules.

The WKF has been almost in the Olympics for a long time, and if/when they do get in, karateka will likely flock to them in droves, but as of now, their dominance is far from complete. They'd better push hard for 2020, because if karate doesn't get into the Tokyo Olympics, people will think they'll never get in, and I'd bet membership will drop way off.

Sorry to go so far off topic. Nice kata!

[ShotokanGage]

I know that kata as Kanku Dai, and I also know it in it's Shotokan Form - in fact it is the kata I used for my 1st dan grading. It's crazy how different you do it compared to our way. The stances are so different, some of the moves are completely different in their approach, and the general balance is focussed elsewhere. However I can totally appreciate the skill and talent in your sensei's rendition of this kata, very impressive stuff.

I enjoyed the vid, thanks for sharing!