I enjoy sparring. I have sparred for as long as I have practiced karate. The karate student can gain many benefits from sparring. The most obvious benefit is aerobic exercise. Just a few minutes of vigorous sparring burns more calories than practically any other activity. Also, sparring helps the student overcome fear of contact and it helps to learn timing and distance.
Despite all these great benefits, sparring is not a regular part of the curriculum at Tallahassee Karate Club. Why not?
Because sparring is not as realistic as practicing kata. Kata are a framework for karate. They are a framework for how to move, how to block, how to strike, how to learn distance and timing, and most importantly, how to train your body to work together as a whole.
Also, with kata, one can practice to throw techniques as fast, hard and realistic as possible. In sparring, we must control our techniques in order to avoid injuring our sparring partner. If someone gets injured too often in training, they won't want to train, and that is counter-productive.
Karate is a self-defense art. I do not consider sparring as an exercise in self-defense. Once again, I look to kata to learn self defense concepts and techniques. Real self-defense techniques are very dangerous and must be practiced carefully to avoid injuring a training partner. Karate should only be used in a life or death situation and the techniques are not practical for application in sparring for this reason.
So, sparring is good, it's fun, it's aerobic, but it can't replace Kata for it's practicality and effectiveness as a tool to teach realistic self-defense.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Asian Festival 2008
DSC_0488
Originally uploaded by The Mad Dance Dad.
I attended the Tallahassee Asian Coalition's Annual Asian Festival on Saturday. This is (I believe) the 5th year of the festival. It get's a little bigger and better each year. It was a beautiful fall day and I really enjoyed the food and entertainment. This picture is of a friend of mine who trains with the local Chinese Martial Arts Center.
On the martial arts end of things, there were demos from the chinese martial arts center, shurite karate, filipino martial arts club and the naginata club. One of our students, Carol Strickland, is also a member of the naginata club.
To see more pictures please go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucasbv/sets/72157607549511388/
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Kishaba Juku Seminar in Slovenia
I would like to wish all of my Karate friends and our Sensei, Shinzato Katsuhiko, all the best at this year's Kishaba Juku seminar in Slovenia.
I wish I could be there!
Please have a great seminar and take lots of pictures and video!
I wish I could be there!
Please have a great seminar and take lots of pictures and video!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Guest Post: Naihanchi
This guest post is from Carol Strickland, Shodan, Tallahassee Karate Club.
Knowledge and skill are necessary elements for us to be able to understand. A student who really understands must be able to explain, interpret, and apply what they have learned.
We are taught the Niahanchi katas are known for teaching power. I have been told the only kata I really need to learn is Naihanchi Shodan to understand how to make this power. It is said Niahanchi must be practiced over ten thousand times to understand it. But what does the word understand mean? Understand means to be able to transfer what you have learned to new and sometimes confusing settings. After learning how to make the power we must take our knowledge and skill and use it in different settings on our own before we can say we understood what we have learned. We will have to learn to transfer our knowledge and skill from Niahanchi to other kata to fully understand how to use this power.
As students we must have knowledge and skill to be able to transfer and gain an understanding. When students transfer knowledge many times they misunderstand, and teachers need to remember that mistakes signify an attempted and plausible but unsuccessful transfer. This is why feedback is so important when students are trying to understand. The student must remember to accept the feedback and criticism without being defensive. This way they can gain the knowledge and skill they need to have a true understanding.
Knowledge and skill are necessary elements for us to be able to understand. A student who really understands must be able to explain, interpret, and apply what they have learned.
We are taught the Niahanchi katas are known for teaching power. I have been told the only kata I really need to learn is Naihanchi Shodan to understand how to make this power. It is said Niahanchi must be practiced over ten thousand times to understand it. But what does the word understand mean? Understand means to be able to transfer what you have learned to new and sometimes confusing settings. After learning how to make the power we must take our knowledge and skill and use it in different settings on our own before we can say we understood what we have learned. We will have to learn to transfer our knowledge and skill from Niahanchi to other kata to fully understand how to use this power.
As students we must have knowledge and skill to be able to transfer and gain an understanding. When students transfer knowledge many times they misunderstand, and teachers need to remember that mistakes signify an attempted and plausible but unsuccessful transfer. This is why feedback is so important when students are trying to understand. The student must remember to accept the feedback and criticism without being defensive. This way they can gain the knowledge and skill they need to have a true understanding.
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