Tournaments

Criticism of Tournaments

Our art and its patterns were not designed to be showpieces, or for grace and beauty. (So, what does that have to do with not participating in open tournaments? Other styles will be so awed with the skill of your fighters that they will probably want to study it.)

Patterns are useless so we do not perform them. (So, do not compete in patterns, just compete in the sparring.)

Our art is too deadly for use in tournaments. Tournaments have rules to prevent injury, our art has no rules. (Does this mean you have students being seriously injured and even dying while training? I think not.)

If you or your students do not enjoy tournament, then do not go to them, but do not rationalize and make false or misleading statements to justify your not going to tournaments. As I have stated in other topics, if your art is so great, why do not professional fighters use the techniques. The main reason you do not see many of the eclectic arts in tournaments is because their techniques do not work against another skilled fighter. Taekwondo artists can fight in a Karate tournament, using Karate rules, and score, and vice versa. I contend that the reason many arts claim tournament fighting is useless is because their arts are useless in tournaments, mainly because their techniques are based on some pseudo philosophies that are mostly smoke and mirrors and will not hold up to scrutiny in the ring.