Martial Arts and Sports

You can get really good at a sport and you can use that sport-skill for self defense. You can see this in boxing. wrestling. mixed martial arts. and even traditional Martial Arts. But self defense fighting is fighting, not sport. The rules are different. If you’re fighting for self defense, especially if your opponent is stronger or more skilled than you, you might have to cause him permanent damage or even kill him. This you won’t find in sports.

When Martial Arts students are told they will be learning self defense but instead are being taught a sport, that is a disservice to the students. I cringe when I see a 10 year old with a black belt. And if an adult is really good at scoring a point but can’t do the slightest damage with a punch, I wonder what that will cost them.

It’s nice that a person makes gains in character building, coordination, confidence, health, respect for tradition, and peace of mind. But if it’s not effective self defense fighting, it should be called a sport. All of these qualities can be had in learning basketball, ping pong, running, etc.

At least when you’re really good at ping pong, you’re not going to fool yourself into thinking you can handle yourself in a fight because of it. It comes down to seeing what’s being taught. Are you learning “tit for tat” point scoring? Are you learning “tournament” fighting? Score a point, everybody stop? Do you have many restrictions? Can’t use your back leg; can’t hit there; can’t kick there; can’t use take-downs; can’t grab; can’t pull? Don’t poke? Don’t throw?

You have to understand if what you are learning is a “sport” or is it “how to fight”. Sports are great and tradition is great, but you have to know where you stand. If you find yourself doing a sport when you thought it was self defense, there’s still things you can do about it. Chances are your instructor knows all about this but doesn’t teach it because he’s busy teaching calisthenics or traditional drills. He may just need reminding that you’re there for the practical application. So you should ask him. If he takes offense or dismisses you with a short lecture about tradition, then you’ll have to figure out the practical applications yourself.

Start looking at how what you are learning would apply to someone on the street. Someone who didn’t know your rules. Someone that stood differently, held their hands differently, and who wanted to really hurt or kill you. You can probably adapt what you are learning to real life people. You have to keep in mind that the other guy might be much more unpredictable than the people standing around you in those nice white pajamas. This means you will have to learn twice as much as everyone else, once to get good at the sport, and once to get good at applying it to real life.

If you only wanted a sport in the first place, no problem, but if you wanted self defense fighting, you might be better off learning from people that specialize in that and not specialize in “sports that help in a fight”.

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