Kumite?

As i've said before,Kumite is nothing more than a playful game of tag.& Yet they'er,Or have been comparing,Of who's better The U.S.A & Europe. IMNSHO It does'nt really matter who's best,WHy? you might ask,Because its tournement fighting not selfdefense! ________________________________________Practicing kata,Or learning the applications far surpass the playing of tag/Kumite. ANy thoughts?

[This message has been edited by Isshinryukid4life (edited 07-28-2004).]

Depends on who is sparring and who is conducting the sparring. Let me state I am not a fan of sparring, as you say its usually "pitty pat" and bad habits usually occur along with people only using their favorite techniques and not working on their entire arsenal. Having said that, my Okinawan Karate Sensei use to set up our sparrring and only allowing certain things or in some cases tying a hand behind our back and make us fight one handed. He had alot of sparring drills, some included just using boxing techniques, and paries, no kicks, then sometimes he would have a person not punch just kick and the other just punch. You learned much ABOUT sparring which I think is the key. When my students spar I control it and don't let it be a free for all. If they do not use technique, I stop the action. Sparring is a good to test your timing, distancing and how well you use what you have learned, but most times, it winds up tit for tat. I think its a useful tool in training but that is all a tool just like kata to teach you aspects of your training.

IMHO half the benefit of sparring is mental. The student learns to overcome their natural fear of getting hit and even hitting another person.

sparring is one of the best ways to learn distance, both of yourself and of your opponent. It is also a way to feel the movements of another human body. An example is learning how soft or hard you have to block to get the striking limb where YOU want it.

Isshinryu kid,

Kumite is good for the Dojo, so two students can train together. it provides a good cardio work out for both and is good for hand-eye co-ordination and of course if you are training for competitions that is what you do.

But you are right..you never see two people on the street doing a type of kumite, it's just a bit of verbal and then bang it kicks off- grappling, punching or perhaps the classic head lock not to mention weapons- so analysis of kata bunkai and putting it into practice is far better for real defence or self defence situations.

however if kata was all students did then they might get a little borred, some enjoy the free fighting as it can be exciting, to watch and take part.

I think it's important that people realise the distinction between sparring and self defence (surely the instructor's job to ensure this).

As long as they do, kumite is a very useful training tool both physically and psychologicaly for the reasons already stated.
Sharon

Charlie,I agree,Kumite is good for the dojo/class,It's a good warmup,& it bulids confidence.

The problem is,Is that some of instructors of today,Would rather the students do more kumite,& Practice less kata.

I just wanna say,I'm not a traditionalist,However, It has been my experiance,Or from what i've seen,That the instructors of today are starting to believe that kumite techniques can be used as selfdefense. Hmmm,I wonder why?

Something tells me that tomuch sparring,Will make a "karateka" forget his/her kata's.

PS I've tried my best never to become a cynic,& This is what i get for trying!? [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/mad.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/confused.gif[/IMG]

Sparring is a usefull tool but only if it compliments kata say learn a kata offense or defense and then use it in sparring this approach forces a student to modify kata methods to suit the situation and not all kumite is point oriented some kumite if a person makes a mistake they can be killed kumite also teaches time distance power distribution and balance while kata teaches this as well the exercise is stagnet as their isnt a actual oppenent the human body is highy resilent and kumite teaches a student how to overcome this resilence with timeing and grace instead of just brute force

It really depends on how you use the sparring, as said before mix it up. We allow grappling, sometimes just feet , or just hands. It can be both or one using hands and one using feet. We have done it were one just blocks and evades. We also do sparring in the dark that requires you to get in close and grapple a bit. ALL GOOD TOOLS to compliment other tools like kata ,drills, bagwork, road work ( running ), wieght training. The mind set of " do this , it is all you need" is common today look at some of the ads "I will tell you the secret" or " even untrained folks can learn these three simple moves to defeat anyone regardless of size and strrength". The idea of learning skills in certain order to be ready to learn more advanced skills is replaced with just show me the advanced techniques now, why do I need to play games with the basics.

One thing is for sure, you give me a guy that is a good fighter and I will bet my bottom dallor he is more prepared for the "street" than someone who only goes through the moves static, how can you guys say sparring is no good, suppose I have just been accustomed to it all my MA life.

Sparring IS good but in regard to sparring most of it is generaly limited for safety reasons this limiting factor creates offensive and defensive weaknesses at least doing kata you can practice at any speed with full intent but during sparring you cant Sparring is good but a streetfight is far different from any sparring or training situation no matter where you learn perhaps the best advantage to sparring is it forces you to adapt to a living breathing resisting oppenent but still only in cases where it isnt sport oriented point sparring which is practicaly useless for real self defense those methods are in kata and kuen

Most Black belts understand core strength, speed, commitment and timing in techniques both advanced and basic. What then determines a fight among two equal fighters in every respect??? The mind. Through the proper zen mind state and the resolve of absolute commitment to technique and no fear of death. To find out how to boost your Kumite from shodan, nidan level to godan and beyond check out the Black belt fighting videos and zen concepts from www.appliedzen.com/videos and www.karatevideolessons.com The concepts presented are gauranteed to improve your fighting!

Osu!
Sensei Nick
Sandan

[This message has been edited by AppliedZen (edited 11-02-2004).]