Which Martial Art should I choose?

Choosing a Martial Art to practice is most certainly the first, and perhaps the most important question we ask ourselves before beginning the journey. If we are to base the question purely on the merits of which one will suit our needs best, the answer is fairly straightforward. If self defense is your top priority you want a "soft" or "internal" Art. If that was what I was looking for, JuJitSu, Hapkido or Judo would most likely be the top three. You get to be Stephen Segal and learn lots of "no nonsense" techniques that work well on the street. If, on the other hand, you want to be Jean Claude Van Damme and have an arsenal of impressive "big" techniques you want a "hard" or "external" art. Taekwondo, Karate or Muay Thai will then fit the bill nicely.

There is, however, a more important consideration and that's the quality of the club or school you decide to enroll in. If you pick a bad one, you're in for a bumpy ride. First problem will be cost - bad schools/clubs will continually allow you to grade in order to collect grading fees from you. Don't be naive - there are bad clubs and bad instructors out there with a main focus on how much money they can get out of you before you (inevitably) quit. I attended a Karate class once that consisted of nothing more than the instructor showing us (we were all beginners) a long demonstration of advanced techniques. We didn't actually do any training, and I never went back.

I'm in luck here - the club I train at has a Master who's integrity, skill and passion for the art are self evident and his classes are run by instructors who share the same passion for the art. Taekwondo "does it" for me because so many things I want can be achieved. My top priority is to maintain fitness and flexibility as I move into old (or older!) age, but I know I'm getting a healthy dose of self defense (we get taught Hapkido moves as part of the syllabus) and the sport aspect of Taekwondo gives me the chance to try out what I learn in as real a situation as possible without actually (most of the time) hurting anyone.

The short answer to this question - Taekwondo is without doubt the most rounded Martial Art and if you can find a good club it will serve you well.

Competition sparring - avoiding getting hit

Last week's squad training (coming as it did after the Dorset Championships) was a great lesson for me to try and get to grips with some of the weaknesses in my sparring technique. There seem to be two major issues.

1. I'm not getting out of the way of attacks - just standing there taking them and
2. I'm kicking with the front leg far, far too much.

Mr Gibbs decided to use a novel approach to teach me how to address point one. There are some pretty good fighters at Chung Yong, in particular Wayne and Val were there who both have impressive records at national competitions. Unbeknown to me, Mr Gibbs had a chat with them prior to my arrival and told them to put everything they had into their kicks when sparring with me. Wayne certainly didn't hold back - I caught a back kick to my upper right arm (because I didn't get out of the way!) and the bruise is quite something. It's the size of Waynes' heel and went from purple, through blue and is now a horrible yellow colour. The pain from this injury is quite something as well! Hopefully the lesson has been well and truly learned as I do not want to get hit like that ever again.

On point 2 Mr Gibbs had another novel approach. At the Dorset Championships he was cornering me and told me that under no circumstances was he going to accept kicks from the front leg. If he saw more than two of them, he was going to throw in the towel regardless of whether I was winning. Sounds harsh, but I knew he wasn't joking. It worked - I won the first bout and all the points and the final head shot that won the bout all came from the back leg. The same criteria were applied in the Squad Training session - no kicking from the front let or get penalised.

Hopefully these issues are addressed, or well on the road to it and I can concentrate on some more aspects of my performance in time for the next competition. I'm not giving up on it yet.

Dorset Championships results

We made it to Dorset after a VERY late submission of our entry forms. It's quite a drive from where we live, and my wife decided to use that excuse to take the whole family down to stay in a hotel which meant we were better rested before arriving for weigh in on the Sunday. The competition was as big as I'd expected - there were something like 300 competitors there and the place was packed out. The competition was confined to a single large hall, but the sports centre had people wandering around in Doboks & sparring gear just about everywhere you turned.

James didn't fare very well at this one unfortunately - he seemed to be phased by the size of his opponent who was a fair bit bigger than him. He also seems to have a bad habit of looking at the scoreboard, or at me throughout the round. Had some harsh words with him about that! He lost by a single point, and I'm sure we can get a better performance next time from him.

I fared slightly better winning my first bout with a technical knock out (turning kick to the head) which at least broke my "duck" that's been plaguing my tournament fighting recently. That win got me into the final as the category I was in (veterans!) had only four competitors. I didn't manage gold, and got quite a kicking in the final. I did, however, score a couple of points and did manage to get almost to the end of round two before my opponent got the pre-requisite 7 point lead to win the match.

I also finally met Phill Payne as he was there doing photography. I've known him "online" for over a year now, but it's always great to meet someone face to face. Phill is a highly accomplished Martial Artist from Halifax in the north of England. He holds a 4th Dan in WTF Taekwondo, a 1ST Dan in JuJitSu and is involved in UK Muay Tai as well. How he gets any time at all to work on his TKD news site is a mystery to me. Phill got a great photo of my head shot in the first bout, which as soon as I get a copy of I will add to this post.

I came away feeling quite good from a personal point of view despite the failure to get gold.

***UPDATE***

Got the photo, hopefully it speaks for itself! This kick won the match (technical knock out).


Picture courtesy of FIMP Media Limited, the Martial Arts Photographers.