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The evolution of Pointfighting
February 26th, 2010 by DrewNeal received 4 Comments »
When I started training at the age of five I went along to my local Karate School hoping to be the next Bruce Lee or Jean Claude Van Damme. Little did I realise how much time it would take to perfect techniques that these guys made look effortless.
Hours upon hours of doing line drills, repeating the most basic of techniques equipped me with a wide range of perfectly executed techniques at my disposal which would look good in any movie fight scene.
In 2009, I find myself winning my latest WAKO world title. As I reflect on the tournament and the fights that I had, how many of those techniques that I learnt did I use? Probably none, well, none that would look good in a movie or that my sensei would commend me for while executing one of my katas. I feel that this is clear evidence of how pointfighting has moved away from the traditional training I recieved, and I am sure this is true for many others.
I want to talk about a basic techinque, a reverse punch. When I was taught a reverse punch, my coach like any good coach broke it down into sections so I could follow easily. Start with a strong stance and guard, pivot on your rear foot, twist your hip, twist your shoulder, extend your arm and finally hit the target. Can you imagine doing a reverse punch like this in a competition today? As I start to pivot on my foot I would have already received a swift side kick to my ribs!
When I teach this punch for pointfighting today, I too, break it down into stages but the stages are very different. Extend your arm first, twist your hip, pivot on your rear foot, lean forward and stretch, flick the wrist on contact. The stages are almost totally reversed, and if you try both punches you will see which is more effective for pointfighting.
This is just one example, in my opinion, of many techniques that have received the ‘pointfighting shortcut’ treatment. I would love to hear of other techniques that you think have changed and more importantly, how you teach them.
The real question here is, has the evolution of pointfighting watered down the traditional Martial Arts? I have a very simple answer, you can not compare the two, each are effective in their own place, pointfighting is a sport and should be treated like one, not as a form of self defence.
However, what I do not agree with is coaches that purely teach the sport and forget the traditions of where the sport came from. In my school I teach my students traditional technical application first and foremost and for those that wish to venture into pointfighting I then teach the techniques that are efficient for the sport. I do not like to see competitors that are at the top of the sport but have no traditional technique, the strength, the precision, the speed and the power that a Martial Artist should have. In truth, I think you will find that nearly all of the fighters that are successful in the sport today have a traditional background and have adapted to today’s sport. Which I firmly believe is one of the most exciting sports out there.
The evolution of the sport is both a must and a certainty, I just hope that coaches and fighters remember their roots. I sure do, today I am a pointfighter but a traditionalist at heart!
Read more…
What happened to the winter base training?
by Istvan Kiraly
Tags: Drew Neal, reverse punch, techniques, traditions, training
Posted under: Posts by Drew Neal, Trainings
Congratulation Drew!
Was a nice and detailed post from you.
I read it twice, i agreed the most part of your post, but i have some serious questions:
Why do you think that to become a good pointfighter is neccesary the traditional background? When, in which age must to change the fighter’s style?
Why do you think that the needful strength, precision, speed and power could be from only a traditional source? Is no other way or possibility to gain this skills and abilities?
I wait your answers
Your friend
Marton
Hi marton, was good to see you in Ireland, was an incredible competition, don’t you think? Maybe the best competition I have been to.
Thank you for your questions, I am happy that someone has shown an interest in my post!
In my experience of teaching Martial Arts very few people want to compete in competitions, it is a small percentage. Many have different aspirations, to acquire their black belt, fitness, meet people, self defence, the list is endless. I have to cater for all of these needs as an instructor so I can reach the masses. At a point in some peoples training they may express interest in competition, this is irellevent to age or time but if I believe they are passionate and committed I endeavour to lead them down the competition path.
I firmly believe that if I didnt teach the other aspects, other than pointfighting I would not have a large enough student base to be successful. Maybe that is because in our country we struggle for funding with our atheletes. If this was different then maybe more people would wish to pursue the competition side and then the sport itself would be more professionally run in our country.
Like I said, the sport and the martial art can not be compared but I feel that there are still misinformed people that try to gel them together. They are both great in their own way.
I look forward to hearing from you again Marton and I hope some other people have some views on this as there are lots of different viewpoints and thats what this blog is about I believe, sharing ideas.
Kind regards
Drew
Drew ,
i also read your post and agree 100% with your point of view. I believe that traditional is very important for ones foundations on our sport not necessarily to perfect their technics or physical strength (though it helps) but mostly to help balance your inner-self. This sport,as do all, causes you to feel a bunch of emotions which you must learn to control in order to stay focused on what you have to do. Whether it’s in training or during the fight you have to be the master of your own self and not get carried away and brought down by what your feeling. One of the most important things traditional gives you is of course discipline,which is the number one necessity to begin with.Psychology is the number one ”weapon” one must have in order to achieve whatever goal they set,and i think you get that in larger part through martial arts.Surely,what im saying is not absolute,people may disagree. As a fighter who started with traditional and continued it even though pointfighting became my bigger passion i do not ignore the significance and value of it ,and believe that between a fighter who does not have this base and a fighter who does you can certainly see the difference in progress and longevity in their fighting carreer. These were my thoughts once i read your article.good job :-)
joe
Hi Joe,
thank you for your comments and thoughts. Its great to hear from a like minded practitioner who obviously has an extremely powerful ‘weapon’.