Next weekend

[newGuy12]

Some I am very pleased with, some I am not..

Such is our life!

 

[exile]

Such is our life!

You beat me to the punch, nG—that's almost exactly what I was going to say!

 

[newGuy12]

Yes, this is the nature of our practice, there is always more to do, more skill to be acquired.

This thread makes me remember a tournament once that I went to. There was a middleweight student who was competing -- he was a black belt. He sparred several matches, and was winning nicely, but... he was using the same technique over and over. It was a front leg side kick. He would score the point, but it was not nice sparring, it had no flow, it was messy.

His Instructor got mad at him. He told the student to use other techniques as well, but the student did not. He relied only on that one technique. This did not look like good black belt freesparring.

Though he won, the Instructor then slapped the student on the face. I remember people saying, "The Instructor slapped the student on the face." The Instructor was disgusted. Though his student got the point, over and over, it was messy.

I say that to say this -- you see, many times in tournaments, the point is given, but -- the kick was not a good kick. It was some kick given just for the point. I prefer to see good technique -- you people know good and well what I am saying!

In my mind, I want to see the competitors show good, SOLID motions -- this is the pride of TKD, not some small kick to just get the point. That is more important than the trophy to me. Call me crazy, it would not be the first time I have been called crazy anyway!

Who Dares Wins! Like in the Regiment -- you have to hand it to the Students who put the gear on and get it on! I salute you, FearlessFreep.

 

[exile]

Yes, this is the nature of our practice, there is always more to do, more skill to be acquired.

This thread makes me remember a tournament once that I went to. There was a middleweight student who was competing -- he was a black belt. He sparred several matches, and was winning nicely, but... he was using the same technique over and over. It was a front leg side kick. He would score the point, but it was not nice sparring, it had no flow, it was messy.

His Instructor got mad at him. He told the student to use other techniques as well, but the student did not. He relied only on that one technique. This did not look like good black belt freesparring.

Though he won, the Instructor then slapped the student on the face. I remember people saying, "The Instructor slapped the student on the face." The Instructor was disgusted. Though his student got the point, over and over, it was messy.

I say that to say this -- you see, many times in tournaments, the point is given, but -- the kick was not a good kick. It was some kick given just for the point. I prefer to see good technique -- you people know good and well what I am saying!

In my mind, I want to see the competitors show good, SOLID motions -- this is the pride of TKD, not some small kick to just get the point. That is more important than the trophy to me. Call me crazy, it would not be the first time I have been called crazy anyway!

Who Dares Wins! Like in the Regiment -- you have to hand it to the Students who put the gear on and get it on! I salute you, FearlessFreep.

Your story summarizes, in a nutshell, what's wrong with the point scoring system in competitive TKD (at least, of the WTF variety). I've no interest at all in ring sparring competition myself, but I could respect the combat content of it, just as I do in, say, boxing, if it at least rewarded techniques which reflected the practical combat origin of the art. What you're talking about I think is just a particular instance of a much larger problem: the artificiality of the system that competitors, no matter how skilled they've become in a full range of effective techs, are forced to restrict themselves to, for reasons that have nothing to do with martiality, and everything to do with... well, that's another thread entirely!

Meanwhile, I'd bet everything I own that FF did an absolutely bang-up job...

 

[granfire]

Why just fault the one participant for throwing one technique and not the other for falling for the same trick every time?

That's also part of sparring, react to what's offered. If a front leg kick is getting me the point - why do something more elaborate...that is also the martial way. You don't use a tank when a hummer does the trick...or a cannon when all you need is a rifle...

maybe the student was trying to set something better up...but it was not needed...

 

[terryl965]

It's over and we all did pretty well and I have some video but I need a bit of time to decompress a bit intellectually and emotionally before saying much coherent. Some I am very pleased with, some I am not..

Sounds like life, well I will be looking for the video