hey sanchin,

i don't think i'm biased i just posted what i noticed from my experience. i also teach MA, i have had people that have 2-3times the years of training on me come in and they are good... some awesome at throwing out kicks etc, but when it comes to sparring they are like fish out of water.

I think traditional styles of martial arts, are to strict to allow the student to grow, they place to much on developing the tool (ei hook kick, ridge hand) and not enough time on becoming effective at fighting.

I beleive i'm non traditional, in that i have no belt system, i teach a tool or strategy, explain the pros and cons of useing it(how, when, where, and why)get them to practise it until they feel comfortable as resestance is being added. I also think sparring is one of the most important aspects to training and we do it all the time, and right away the first day someone joins up. In doing this i seem to weed out the fighters from the fakers, cause sometimes get people that come in once or twice, some are so called martial artist that have years of experience. They come in and tell me they've been training for 10+ years, and him balck belts in differant styles blah blah blah and the first day, i have them sparring one of my students that has only been there for a few months and they are getting destroyed, as they keep sparring i'm trying to coach the so called martial artist on how to fight,once the sparring is done i try and explain why things were going bad for them and maybe go over 2-3 of their 20+bad habits, then i never see them again. I assume they have gone back to a place where they'll feel like they are good



[This message has been edited by Benji (edited 03-05-2005).]

Hello Benji,
I see that you are mma. Nothing wrong with that. If you came to our school sometimes you could say it is mma.
If any style (traditional or not)does not spar at different levels they will not be effective against an attack.
I believe in three main parts of ma training,sparring,kata,and bunkai. These along with other supplemental training will maka a good martial artist.
Happy training.

Sanchin, although kata can be considered complementary, it is not necessary to do so. Yes, kata does train precision, speed, strength and everything, but it makes everything too rigid. When it comes to sparring, too many stick to the forms that they learned instead of being flexible in the way they throw punches and kicks. I prefer the students be taught the techniques, then allow them to practise it through sparring, discovering for themselves how they can use the techniques that they have learned in different situations to their advantages.