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Tau
Tau's picture
Necessity of Competition in Sport Martial Arts

I suspect most of us on here have engaged in martial arts contact competition in some form, be it Karate, Kickboxing, Taekwondo, BJJ, Judo or something else, so I'm seeking your oppinion on this.

For those who practice sport-form martial arts and wish to progress through the grades should there be a necessity to compete as part of that process? If so, at what level? Interclub? Alternate friendly local club? External? Something else?

Things seems to have changed in recent years. In BJJ you can get a black belt without ever competing although regular rolling with peers is essential. For Judo (BJA) is now possible to get black belt without competing. 

PASmith
PASmith's picture

Think that's always going to be dichotomy in martial arts that are largely combat sports. Even when active competitors are always going to be a minority.

Competing once is perhaps not an unrealistic requirement to get a black belt? Just to go through the build up, the prep, the nerves, etc.

Despite, as a younger man, competing in TKD, BJJ and subgrappling I had to compete in at least 1 full contact Knockdown Karate tournament to get my BB in Shidokan (which I didn't end up getting in the end!) in my late 30's. Something I wasn't that keen on doing but did it nonetheless (and got KO'd!).

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Hi Peter,

Competition and live practise are not synonymous, but I think it’s important to make that point because, in the wider martial arts world, competition is often incorrectly seen as the only opportunity to test against a resisting opponent.

Should people be able to get a black belt without live practise? No, because they have never demonstrated actual competence. Does that live practise have to be competition? Not necessarily, but if a person is practicing some form of combat sport, assuming they are young and healthy, then why wouldn’t you actually compete in that combat sport?

There’s also the issue of going on to teach that combat sport, to people who may wish to compete, when the instructor hasn’t got first-hand experience. The best boxing coaches weren’t all former champions of course, but at a club level it would be good for an instructor to have those insights.

I’d therefore not say competition was vital (live practise is), but it’s certainly useful otherwise the “sport” part of “combat sport” gets lost. If sport was never a motivating factor in the first place they may be better looking to practise a non-sporting martial arts (which should also include live practise if competence is desired).

All the best,

Iain

Zach Zinn
Zach Zinn's picture

Tau wrote:

I suspect most of us on here have engaged in martial arts contact competition in some form, be it Karate, Kickboxing, Taekwondo, BJJ, Judo or something else, so I'm seeking your oppinion on this.

For those who practice sport-form martial arts and wish to progress through the grades should there be a necessity to compete as part of that process? If so, at what level? Interclub? Alternate friendly local club? External? Something else?

Things seems to have changed in recent years. In BJJ you can get a black belt without ever competing although regular rolling with peers is essential. For Judo (BJA) is now possible to get black belt without competing. 

Back in my ancient sport karate days (80's and 90's mostly), I recall that while it was not mandatory, almost all the active sparring people at my dojo competed at one time or another, it was what most of our training was geared towards when you really looked at it, though we claimed otherwise. We even had mock tourneys.

I think it's fine to be able to get a black belt without competing, competition is not for everyone. Ranks being based on competitive format is a different, more specific form of competency than general martial arts or self-defense competency is. I would think the central thing is defining whether one is strictly a competitive school, or a school which offers "two tracks" for development.

When I did Judo the imbalance in their "two track" system was noticeable, once I told the teachers I didn't want to do competition it was like I stopped existing for some of them, there was one guy who understood what I was after, the rest of the time it was like "oh there's that guy". They assumed I didn't want to randori or roll because I didn't want to do competition, and I had to tell them (even remind them) I still wanted the live training, just not competition. I think most of the teachers there did not understand how you would want to do one and not the other. Once they knew I was willing they would well...be happy to wipe the floor with me of course, and did a number of times;)

With Judo there is a sport -and- martial art component, theoretically BJJ is supposed to have the same thing. Certainly TKD and 3k Karate are supposed to. I think a lot of styles/systems that include both struggle to accomodate the two track system, and end up favoring the competitve form because they have failed to develop clear competency requirements for the other, non-competitive track. This has been my expereince with Judo, and from what I can see is also a complaint of some old school BJJers. Some of it appears to be down to what we often talk about on this site - having defined training parameters and goals.

So I would vote no, unless the system in question is entirely sport/competition based, in which case ranks being tied to competition is a no-brainer. If it is a "mixed art" then really it is on organizations and teachers to understand and develop two different modes of measuring competency. Doing so would end some long standing martial arts canards though, which is why I think it is not a popular approach neccessarily.

An ideal martial arts world would set well-defined parameters for competency within the two track system. It seems like many "mixed arts" have not really done this, and now there are competing camps within these arts. With well-defined competency criteria for both it should be an easier question.

colby
colby's picture

For me, I hate competition. The whole concept behind it and the reasons for it. Got to you know "test my skills" and "see whose better." For me i don't care whos better. Testing my skills in a self defense context, I'm all about. But self defense is a weird thing, i dont have win in self defense, i just can't lose. So in a way, your not asking for as much as you are in competition.

That being said its a great opportunity for young people. Go to nationals or worlds, you can do a lot with it. Go and see all kinds of cool countries. And you kinda need it to be financially viable. So I think it an be a really good thing for people.