But they normally don't teach them within Shotokan! If you don't use the kata as a fighting system you are never going to use it to fight. Oh, and Iain has done work on the Goju kata as well. So what? You are fixated on proving nothing else but your precious BJJ has any use.
Actually, I can
I'm not going to claim that sparring can't be beneficial, because it absolutely can. But too much of it, especially if you're sparring for the purpose of competing in tournaments, can be very detrimental and breed a lot of misconceptions and bad habits.
First thing to realize is that tournaments, especially in the very sportive form found in Karate, Tae Kwon Do, condition fighters to adopt a very, very specific method.
For example, I went to a Karate school for a short time. And it was actually a pretty good school, with skilled practitioners and a good instructor. But they suffered from a very tournament-centric mentality in their sparring. When I sparred, I was told: No attacking the face directly, no low kicks, no grabbing, no touching an opponent's back, no touching an opponent's neck, etc. etc. Now, everyone of those things are the bread and butter of my past training -- not because they're what we aim to do, but just because of the range we fight, the lines of attack we use, etc.
Moreover, they had some very tournament-oriented habits, and were used to dealing only with very cautious opponents who kept their distance. They practiced leaning far back to avoid kicks and punches, and retracting their hands without worry of being followed in. My first time sparring, I sparred against a senior student; I followed his punch in, and as I did, he leaned back, and I gently placed my fist on his chest, causing him to fall over. Sparring with other students, I also found many of the lines of attack I was required to use to be awkward and limit how I could intercept or make contact with my opponent. And had to keep correcting my habits of wanting to control someone's hand or elbow.
This kind of practice, in my opinion, teaches students that it's safe to do all kinds of things that are in fact pretty dangerous.
I've always wondered why Karate guys don't do more "touching hands" in the way that you see in Chinese Martial Arts. I feel like this is a very good way to become well-rounded and understand how to apply what you learn in forms in an unscripted way, yet I've never seen it done outside of TCMA and FMA. You don't always have to be throwing kicks and punches at full speed -- you can practice freely touching hands and using whatever techniques you want in a safe and controlled manner, with the aim of learning more so than competing.
So tell me the context. Looked like competition to me. Not one attempt to clinch and grapple.
Deja vu. I was thinking the same a few days back when someone was asking about solo training. Meant to go back and post. I used visualisation training as a gymnast in another life. It is a very valuable tool.
My point was that kata, is pre-arranged, just like focus mitt drills. When it comes time for SD or the boxing/sparring match, there's nothing pre-arranged about it.
