I went to a tournament awhile ago, and was very disappointed(very,very,very disappointed). Most of the 'freestyle' forms were simply gymnastics with the occasional block and strike thrown in, nothing traditional enough would be the best way i could put it. It seemed to be more of a dance/aerial gymnastics competition rather than a karate tournament. I know they're freestyle forms but they should be more karate and less gymnastics stuff.

Have anyone of you ever noticed this in tournaments these days? And what do you think of this, in my eyes, travesty of karate?

(I know this is kind of an old topic, but I just stumbled onto it.)

I don't care for the gymnastics I see in competitions these days either. What purpose do they serve? They are all flash and no real substance, just a "showing off" of flexibility. Say for instance you are mugged in a small alley, are all those flying cartwheels, and backflips going to help you? I think not. You need good blocks, strikes, and maneuverability, not flash.

I was overjoyed to overhear the head judge at my last tournament instruct others to ignore gymnastics and concentrate on judging martial arts...

Cool, I'm glad someone agrees with me, and i'm glad to hear about that judge. Thanks for the reply.

One of the cardinal rules of fighting is be extremely carefull if you have to lift both feet off the ground at the same time. 225 pound Steve Atwater knocked 260 lb Christian Okoye flat on his back because he had both feet off the ground at the same time. Remember again Kata is never an end unto itself just a means of training, so any technique that does not improve your fighting is silly. Doing a back flip or jumping twisty spinny triple flip flop kick would not have any practical benefit. Mabey serious Martial Artists should cut these people off or agree that while beautifull that type of Kata is not part of our art or sport.

Freestyle forms are about showing off not beating people up. I think that its ok for them to do gumnastics as long as there is martal arts techinques in every move. advanced jump kicks should be ok but just fliping for no reason souldent increase someones score.
if you are looking for more street practical competition theres ufc.

Tournament are fun but I wish they would keep them traditional and stop the gymnastics mixed in with the katas, they look flashy....but ridiculous. If they have to have it make a seperate catagory for gymnastic kata?

I don't mind an open kata division that allows some of the people capable of doing the really complicated hollywood stunt type martial arts, but that should be it, a stunt, but one that reasonably looks like a martial art. The total gymnastics crap needs to be disallowed, or at least scored really low in any division to prevent it from becoming the norm in what is supposed to be a fighting art.

sounds like cheerleading.

yes, haha, i been seeing alot of these also in some of my last tourney's

Let the mcdojos make up their "tournament katas" and lose to the rest of us when we face traditionalist judges who like technically correct and functional katas. I've seen people lose tournaments before because they try to add too much flash to their katas.