Difference between Sport and Traditional Karate.

 

                The other day I was approached by a parent who said they “Don’t want their kid doing no sport KR-atty, just the Traditional stuff”. I was first floored that the parent knew that there was a difference, then I noted that it’s Not KRATTY, but Kara-te!  I mean Sheesh!  But seriously, Every few months the subject of “Traditional” vs” Sport” Comes up and I end up having to revisit the subject for people.

                I have covered this subject in the blog previously several times and honestly its getting old, and I had hoped that the idea of “Sport Karate” would die eventually but it seems, much like a cancer, to be growing and sticking around. The scary part is how many “traditional” students and instructors slip over to the other side and then drink the cool aide or whatever causes this “Haze” and they forget their roots.  One of my friends points out that it’s the marketability of it, but I would counter that being traditional is even more marketable…especially to the parents of kids.

                Before we move forwards with the differences I wanted to point out that some cross over does exist, you cannot deny that we all have four limbs and move relatively the same, it’s the mentality, focus and purpose of the two different systems that make them unique and separate. Also, some will bill it as an evolution in Karate…Poppycock! It’s simply not!

 

                Original, Traditional, Budo, Goshin….whatever you call your “old school” Karate training its purpose is to create better people….either physically or mentally….or spiritually. The focus of Kumite is “Ikken Hissatsu” or one punch, one kill. This is the fundamental ideal for the practice of “old School” Karate, Training with the purpose of developing the perfect technique.  The reality is the pursuit is endless because perfection is not actually attainable, but the ideal of training to polish and “perfect” is the ideal behind “Old School” Karate.

                It is true that the original goals of Karate all boiled down to being able to defend yourself against aggressors, the goals changed when the need to defend yourself lessened. Training is now almost a physically spiritual venture in which we try and “Beat our Souls up and make them better” as one of my students once aptly explained. The ideal is not to gain points or to train to get a dangly medal around our neck.  So, then whey do we do tournaments?  TANREN! Its about forging ourselves, testing our metal and pushing ourselves to the brink so we can improve. A Traditional tournament is a time for students to step up and show not only how hard they have worked for the tournament, but how hard they are working in the club on a daily basis.

                Traditional Karate does not use fancy cycles and the students don’t take summers off to relax and go to the beach, well they may go to the beach to relax…but generally they just came from class…or they are doing Kata on the beach. The point is that traditional Karate does not take a break, it does not “Ramp up” or “Cycle” training, it’s a continuous effort to improve. The goal of “Old School “Karate is to be better….period.

 

                Sport Karate is a short term endeavor. Unlike “old school” or Traditional Karate you only have a short time training and competing before you “Age out” or stop training to compete. This is when your normally training kicks in, or you leave Karate. The training is designed strategically to get you in great shape and teach you to score points, or as one of my instructors once said….”Play tag”.  You are not looking for the perfect technique, just one that will give you one of several points you need to win a Kumite match. No emphasis is put on performing a technique perfectly, other than making it flashy as it can be. The value of Sport Karate is in the training, the short term pre-tournament training that pushes you to your limits to be in great shape. Other than this and the entertainment value it holds little to no actual value to a student.

                Historically the Sport Karate grew out of the Japanese trying to mix styles. See its very difficult to judge a solid Shotokan Kata or Shito Ryu or Goju ryu…heck any Kata next to another styles. Even the Kumite techniques are a bit different. But the systems to allow for different style practitioners to train and compete against each other was created to allow for this very thing to happen. At this point the ideals of self-defense, Ikken Hissatsu and any other key and fundamental ideal of value were left on the curb to allow for sport.  I am not ragging on other styles, I love watching the elegance of Goju ryu and even other styles as they do their Katas. They are not my personal preference but I love watching them.

 

                The objective behind traditional Karate is self-defense and survival. This is based on the concept of the finishing blow, meaning training so that one strike is sufficient to render the attacker unable to continue attacking. In traditional Karate tournaments the point is only awarded to the person that gets the “finishing” blow, or a half point for the person that comes close to this. The purpose of the encounter is to develop the mental and physical ability to deliver the well balanced, technically sound strike with the right mental attitude to emulate this “finishing blow” mentality. Sport Karate however is more about playing tag and scoring multiple points. Points are awarded to the fastest strike regardless of the viability of the technique. There is no need for a finishing blow in this case as they are more concerned with accumulation of points. Traditional fighting is about cultivating the fighting spirit and win the battle, the sports focus is on scoring points…and winning medals.

 

                From a technical stand point the sport Karate is fluid, lacks Kime and is geared more towards athletic builds. The training is designed to work techniques that will score points for those that can build up speed and often lacks control in delivery. The athlete is reactive and will train in a variety of skill winning techniques. The training focuses on explosive movement but little attention is paid to control or focus. The Kiai is used more as a way to alert the judge/referee that the competitor feels they scored a point. Traditional training may focus on as little as 5 techniques to perfection, with perfect timing, Kime and control. The student will review, repeat and develop these techniques until they are reflective and automatic. Timing and distance are all taken into training and often the student will be focused on these techniques exclusively and will be able to deliver them at multiple angles and use them in real defense situations.  The focused training makes these waza (techniques) deadly in defense situations and very effective at tournaments.

 

                Both tournament and traditional training have their value to the students but different greatly in their approach and objectives, set up and techniques. To put it simply “Traditional Karate is an art, whereas sport karate is a sport”. One aspect that traditional Karate often lacks, especially today in modern Dojos, is the lack of “Fight” or need to survive. When I started Karate the training in the club was so harsh that many dropped out because of it. Modern Dojos will turn to sport to introduce the feeling of danger to the training. However sport minded clubs turn out athletes in great shape, but they are performing a routine and often have a hard time transitioning to a more “goshin” style mentality when needed or perform as if they are doing sport karate and fail to defend themselves. Much like a boxer striking without hand pads and gloves the first time a Karate player throws a technique to defend themselves they are left realizing they have holes in their training.

 

                One of my biggest beefs with Sport Karate (WKF style or multi style events) is the Genericafication of the systems that they are practicing. It is impossible to participate in a Multi style event and maintain your traditional presentation. I have seen Shotokan people doing Goju Kata to score extra points when they feel that the judges are all Naha based practitioners at heart. This feeling of structural fluidity takes away from the strict style system that has been a traditional pride point. Also the over exaggerated Kata performance that the multi style events encourage takes away from the structure of the traditional Katas.

 

                This is not even mentioning that the traditional tournaments are much safer as the students are focused on controlled use of waza while the sport participant is taught to score points with dynamic and dangerous waza.

 

                While I am obviously in favor of the traditional tournament, I believe that some value exists in the training for events. I myself do conditioning and encourage my students ( I do it in class) to do conditioning such as TABATA drills and such. However I believe that the dangerous practice of “Tip tap” Tournament techniques and lack of control is a major detriment to the student and any dojo that uses this training as a focus. While it is exciting to watch often, and ignoring my obvious traditional slant, I think that the athletes are very competent, any Dojo that takes on the more dangerous training is asking for trouble. Injuries will begin to mount and one major accident could cause you to lose your club!

               

                In place of the more dangerous Multi Style sport Karate a Dojo should instead adopt conditioning that intelligently builds up fitness and ability in a student while spending 75% of the time on control and technical proficiency over explosive and dangerous sport training. One must find the balance between intelligent training and conditioning in the Dojo.