Black Bear
I think we have some misunderstandings between us because I agree with pretty much everything you are saying. I will take ownership for part of this, though, because I haven't been entirely clear with my viewpoints.
All of this centers around the word "fight." In my opinion, this word has a very negative connotation. Where I work and live, the word "fight" has a Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome meaning. "Two men enter, one man leaves." I define the word "fight" as being a contest between two or more people whose main objective is domination. Hurting your opponent isn't the main objective of "fighting."
Self defense, on the other hand, is surivival. What ever you need to do to survive, you do. This can also be known as fighting and it can use skills learned in "sport fighting" arts. I totally agree that these skills can be used for self defense and are important, but I am also saying that there is more that could help someone in survival then these skills. You have also said this, so we don't have any disagreement.
I want to tell you a little about my dojang and hopefully, this will clear up some misconceptions. I have pretty much abolished the word fight. My students come from an inner city, low income background and they view fighting as going out and beating someone up for what ever reason. If I say that I am teaching them how to fight, I think some of them might take that as permission to go out into the streets and use it for violence. To combat this, I changed the term to self defense. In my dojang, this has nothing to do with domination and has everything to do with survival. Above all, I want my students to be peaceful, yet I want them to be able to survive the encounters they face in the hood. I hope this helps. (Although is it not our focus, we do do some sport fighting. We call it sparring or tag and we do it about once a month. I have no problem with sport martial arts, but I think, at least in my situation, a strict deliniation needs to be made between the sport and self defense)
Now, our disagreements.
1. I believe that training in (sport) fighting is hard. When I was competing, I hit the weights five days a week. I ran 4 miles a day. I practiced my techniques 6 days a week. We fought all of the time, full contact, full speed, and with full intent. If you want to WIN, this is how you do it. Injuries happen when you train like this. Look at some of the statistics from the Lion's Den, for instance. You can use sport fighting techniques in a self defense situation, but I think that if you are going to rely on that alone (which isn't something you said, its something I said) then you are going to have to train HARD.
2. I have been stabbed with a wooden tanto many times. That was our practice knife. Two times it broke skin. I use rubber knives in my dojang.
3. Pressure points are usefull, especially in grappling situations. Points as small as a quarter can be worked to get effects. In striking situations, small points are harder to get at. Things happen too quickly. Perhaps it would be good to have a list of strike points for striking and for grappling.
Anyways, I don't want to be negative Black Bear. I hope there is no hard feelings.
John
I think we have some misunderstandings between us because I agree with pretty much everything you are saying. I will take ownership for part of this, though, because I haven't been entirely clear with my viewpoints.
All of this centers around the word "fight." In my opinion, this word has a very negative connotation. Where I work and live, the word "fight" has a Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome meaning. "Two men enter, one man leaves." I define the word "fight" as being a contest between two or more people whose main objective is domination. Hurting your opponent isn't the main objective of "fighting."
Self defense, on the other hand, is surivival. What ever you need to do to survive, you do. This can also be known as fighting and it can use skills learned in "sport fighting" arts. I totally agree that these skills can be used for self defense and are important, but I am also saying that there is more that could help someone in survival then these skills. You have also said this, so we don't have any disagreement.
I want to tell you a little about my dojang and hopefully, this will clear up some misconceptions. I have pretty much abolished the word fight. My students come from an inner city, low income background and they view fighting as going out and beating someone up for what ever reason. If I say that I am teaching them how to fight, I think some of them might take that as permission to go out into the streets and use it for violence. To combat this, I changed the term to self defense. In my dojang, this has nothing to do with domination and has everything to do with survival. Above all, I want my students to be peaceful, yet I want them to be able to survive the encounters they face in the hood. I hope this helps. (Although is it not our focus, we do do some sport fighting. We call it sparring or tag and we do it about once a month. I have no problem with sport martial arts, but I think, at least in my situation, a strict deliniation needs to be made between the sport and self defense)
Now, our disagreements.
1. I believe that training in (sport) fighting is hard. When I was competing, I hit the weights five days a week. I ran 4 miles a day. I practiced my techniques 6 days a week. We fought all of the time, full contact, full speed, and with full intent. If you want to WIN, this is how you do it. Injuries happen when you train like this. Look at some of the statistics from the Lion's Den, for instance. You can use sport fighting techniques in a self defense situation, but I think that if you are going to rely on that alone (which isn't something you said, its something I said) then you are going to have to train HARD.
2. I have been stabbed with a wooden tanto many times. That was our practice knife. Two times it broke skin. I use rubber knives in my dojang.
3. Pressure points are usefull, especially in grappling situations. Points as small as a quarter can be worked to get effects. In striking situations, small points are harder to get at. Things happen too quickly. Perhaps it would be good to have a list of strike points for striking and for grappling.
Anyways, I don't want to be negative Black Bear. I hope there is no hard feelings.
John
