Navarro’s Martial Arts Championships August 26, 2006 --- A Review
As I left the tournament at about 5:00 PM, all I could keep muttering was: Never Ever Again, Never, Never.
It had been a long day, mostly of waiting around for nothing, and I had had enough. Too much. I had seen too much poor sportsmanship, bad form, lackluster performances, and so much disorganization that they made the Department of Motor Vehicles look like a finely tuned machine.
Yes, all I could think during my whole drive home was Never, Never, Never Again!!!!!!!!
But let me start from the beginning…………………
I received the flier for Navarro’s Martial Arts Championships about two months ago. Now, I like Sifu Navarro and what he teaches. And in the past he has run a fairly decent tournament. Since it had been seven years since I last attended a martial arts tournament I played with the idea of having some of my senior students compete in some form divisions.
The idea wasn’t to go and win trophies; neither my students nor I care about that stuff. Instead I wanted to do a little advertising that the school exits, and to re-connect with some of the local martial art bigwigs I hadn’t seen in several years.
That was the original plan. However plans don’t always work out, and the decision had been made not to go at all. That was until my younger son decided he wanted to go and compete in the grappling division. What’s worst is he had saved his allowance to pay the entry fee, so what was left to argue about.
I woke up Saturday morning semi-dreading spending the whole day at a martial arts tournament I really didn’t want to go to. However, I dug out an old karate uniform I keep for situations such as these, made sure my son and his friend had all the equipment they might have needed for competing, and set off to face the day.
We arrived at about 11:30 AM, and after waiting about 20 minutes in line to register we entered the gym: a single basketball court filled to capacity to with competitors, family, and numerous black belt judges.
The first thing I noticed was that the place appeared to be in chaos. People were standing all over the place, even within the boundaries of the rings where the forms competitions were in full progress. It was so bad that those sitting in the stands couldn’t see what was happening on the floor. Over and over, announcements were made to clear the floor, but no one seemed to hear or care.
Now I can forgive choosing a place that is too small to accommodate a crowd, especially when one has no idea how many people may or may not show up. In addition finding an affordable place to hold any event is extremely hard. So I was ready, willing and able to overlook this issue. Besides, I was there to watch my son and his friend compete.
While waiting for the grappling events to start I distracted myself by watching the forms competition. I wish I hadn’t. If what I saw is an indication of the current state of the martial arts, then we are facing a very serious situation. A situation that calls for an immediate change, otherwise the martial arts will soon become nothing more than a glorified dance method.
As one instructor stated to me, some of the practitioners’ kiais lasted longer than their forms. What was worst was the definite lack of balance, power, focus, and intent almost all the competitors exhibited. I mean, some just flailed their arms wildly in gestures that made them look more like they were on fire than trying to fight an opponent.
Now, there were a few competitors who had skill and exhibited what one would expect to see at a martial arts tournament. However, few of these were black belts, and most were under the age of 15. Scary really, when you think about it.
Fortunately, the forms division ended soon after we arrived and the “fighting” portion of the tournament started. I say fighting portion since there were divisions for Thai Boxing, Savate, Grappling (with uniform and without uniform), Boxing, Kick Boxing, Point Sparring, MMA, Self-Defense, Stick Sparring, and Knife Sparring.
I thought things would get better, but boy was I wrong.
Now I can’t make any comments on the Thai Boxing since these events took place outside the gym and out of my view. All I can say is that a Thai Boxing competition that does not allow elbow and knee strikes isn’t Thai Boxing. However, these rules are most likely for safety and I can understand not wanting to have people hurt at your event.
I also can’t comment on the MMA, since that too was held outside. I also didn’t have a chance to review the rules.
I can however, talk about the Kick Boxing, Boxing, and Savate.
Okay to be fair the Savate never happened, because there weren’t enough people interested. Of course with the event canceled it afforded me the opportunity to talk with the guys who did Savate I learned a lot about Savate history and how some schools still practice the weaponry associated the older form of the art. It was very interesting, and I have to say was the best portion of the day.
Unfortunately, the boxing and the kickboxing were terrible. Now, I’m not saying I would want to be on the receiving end of many of the kicks and punches I witnessed, but almost 90% of the competitors had absolutely no skill. I mean basic skills such as moving off line, or fighting with your eyes open. That’s right, many fought with there eyes closed and just swung wildly. It was really pathetic.
Now, before you start assuming things, I’m not talking about the five to ten year olds. It’s cute to watch them; especially those who don’t seem to have a clue what’s going on, and you know really don’t want to be there. You know the kid who stands there and just becomes a punching bag, or those children who cry even before they are hit. Or how about the kid who charges in like a bull, and misses everyone except the bystander watching on the sidelines or the referee. Yes, I enjoy the kids, I enjoy them a lot, except watching them lose.
Distressingly, my comments were in regards to the older teens and young adults. These are people who should know better, or at least have the ability to be taught better skills. They had no business competing if these demonstrations represented their level of skill. Clearly, their teachers either don’t care about their safety, had no say in their decision to compete, or have lowered their standards so much that this is what now passes for competency.
This of course leads me to my worst observation of the day, and I’m not talking about the grappling events.
Like I said, one of my early reasons for attending this tournament was to re-connect with fellow teachers I hadn’t seen in a long time, instructors who helped me when I first started in the business. I wanted to see the instructors who were old school martial artists like myself, who had learned the hard way: from many, many hours of brutal practice, where blood, sweat, injuries, and tears had been the willing sacrifice we gave to achieve a certain level of expertise.
Anyone who knows me knows that I have a hard time being politically correct or “softening” my opinions when I express them. The truth is that I normally speak my mind, often without thinking about future ramifications or who else might overhear the conversation. This is an extremely bad habit in the martial arts community where egos run rampant. This is a business where when you bruise one person feelings, others judge you solely based on his opinion rather than getting to know personally or learning why you said what was said.
Fortunately, those I talked to during the day mirrored most of my comments regarding my observations of the day’s event. However, agree as they might, they had succumbed to the fact that was just how things are in this day and age. They agreed that it was wrong and was ruining things, but they defended things by saying that was the only way martial art school owners could stay in business.
In other words, they claimed that to run a successful school, standards must be reduced and the teacher has to promote people who really shouldn’t be promoted.
Of course, with the lack of high standards also came a definite shortage of teaching respect for teachers and fellow students, and the ability to even appear as if one had any real skills. If this is what having a commercial martial art school is all about all I can say is, thank God I don’t have a commercial martial arts school.
Now, I won’t bore you by telling you about the grappling events. They were what they were, and many of the competitors were the first to tell you they had very little if any grappling experience or training.
What I will share is this: after waiting almost five hours, my son’s event never took place. By 4:45 there weren’t enough people in his division to hold the event.
Now my son paid $50.00 to compete, and for a 17 year old that’s a lot of money. No, that’s a lot of money period. Of course, we went to the event coordinator to discuss the matter and get a refund. She quickly took down his name and a short description of why we were requesting the refund. Then came the bombshell… We would have to wait for the refund in the mail.
“How long will that take,” asked my son.
“Indefinitely” she answered as she walked away.
“What’s that mean dad?” asked my son.
“I don’t know,” I answered.
“Great, that means I’ll never get it back, $50.00 wasted” he muttered.
“No, I’ll make sure you get it back,” I said, knowing he is most likely right, though I’ll try my best to see that it happens.
So as he left the gym with his older brother and friend, (who also had to request a refund), all I could think of was how I had wasted my day. This day, which should have been fun for my son, turned into a disaster and left him with a negative view of martial arts tournaments.
I left the gym vowing never to go to a tournament again. Never. Ever. Or at least never again until I forget this day, which just might take another 7 years.
It had been a long day, mostly of waiting around for nothing, and I had had enough. Too much. I had seen too much poor sportsmanship, bad form, lackluster performances, and so much disorganization that they made the Department of Motor Vehicles look like a finely tuned machine.
Yes, all I could think during my whole drive home was Never, Never, Never Again!!!!!!!!
But let me start from the beginning…………………
I received the flier for Navarro’s Martial Arts Championships about two months ago. Now, I like Sifu Navarro and what he teaches. And in the past he has run a fairly decent tournament. Since it had been seven years since I last attended a martial arts tournament I played with the idea of having some of my senior students compete in some form divisions.
The idea wasn’t to go and win trophies; neither my students nor I care about that stuff. Instead I wanted to do a little advertising that the school exits, and to re-connect with some of the local martial art bigwigs I hadn’t seen in several years.
That was the original plan. However plans don’t always work out, and the decision had been made not to go at all. That was until my younger son decided he wanted to go and compete in the grappling division. What’s worst is he had saved his allowance to pay the entry fee, so what was left to argue about.
I woke up Saturday morning semi-dreading spending the whole day at a martial arts tournament I really didn’t want to go to. However, I dug out an old karate uniform I keep for situations such as these, made sure my son and his friend had all the equipment they might have needed for competing, and set off to face the day.
We arrived at about 11:30 AM, and after waiting about 20 minutes in line to register we entered the gym: a single basketball court filled to capacity to with competitors, family, and numerous black belt judges.
The first thing I noticed was that the place appeared to be in chaos. People were standing all over the place, even within the boundaries of the rings where the forms competitions were in full progress. It was so bad that those sitting in the stands couldn’t see what was happening on the floor. Over and over, announcements were made to clear the floor, but no one seemed to hear or care.
Now I can forgive choosing a place that is too small to accommodate a crowd, especially when one has no idea how many people may or may not show up. In addition finding an affordable place to hold any event is extremely hard. So I was ready, willing and able to overlook this issue. Besides, I was there to watch my son and his friend compete.
While waiting for the grappling events to start I distracted myself by watching the forms competition. I wish I hadn’t. If what I saw is an indication of the current state of the martial arts, then we are facing a very serious situation. A situation that calls for an immediate change, otherwise the martial arts will soon become nothing more than a glorified dance method.
As one instructor stated to me, some of the practitioners’ kiais lasted longer than their forms. What was worst was the definite lack of balance, power, focus, and intent almost all the competitors exhibited. I mean, some just flailed their arms wildly in gestures that made them look more like they were on fire than trying to fight an opponent.
Now, there were a few competitors who had skill and exhibited what one would expect to see at a martial arts tournament. However, few of these were black belts, and most were under the age of 15. Scary really, when you think about it.
Fortunately, the forms division ended soon after we arrived and the “fighting” portion of the tournament started. I say fighting portion since there were divisions for Thai Boxing, Savate, Grappling (with uniform and without uniform), Boxing, Kick Boxing, Point Sparring, MMA, Self-Defense, Stick Sparring, and Knife Sparring.
I thought things would get better, but boy was I wrong.
Now I can’t make any comments on the Thai Boxing since these events took place outside the gym and out of my view. All I can say is that a Thai Boxing competition that does not allow elbow and knee strikes isn’t Thai Boxing. However, these rules are most likely for safety and I can understand not wanting to have people hurt at your event.
I also can’t comment on the MMA, since that too was held outside. I also didn’t have a chance to review the rules.
I can however, talk about the Kick Boxing, Boxing, and Savate.
Okay to be fair the Savate never happened, because there weren’t enough people interested. Of course with the event canceled it afforded me the opportunity to talk with the guys who did Savate I learned a lot about Savate history and how some schools still practice the weaponry associated the older form of the art. It was very interesting, and I have to say was the best portion of the day.
Unfortunately, the boxing and the kickboxing were terrible. Now, I’m not saying I would want to be on the receiving end of many of the kicks and punches I witnessed, but almost 90% of the competitors had absolutely no skill. I mean basic skills such as moving off line, or fighting with your eyes open. That’s right, many fought with there eyes closed and just swung wildly. It was really pathetic.
Now, before you start assuming things, I’m not talking about the five to ten year olds. It’s cute to watch them; especially those who don’t seem to have a clue what’s going on, and you know really don’t want to be there. You know the kid who stands there and just becomes a punching bag, or those children who cry even before they are hit. Or how about the kid who charges in like a bull, and misses everyone except the bystander watching on the sidelines or the referee. Yes, I enjoy the kids, I enjoy them a lot, except watching them lose.
Distressingly, my comments were in regards to the older teens and young adults. These are people who should know better, or at least have the ability to be taught better skills. They had no business competing if these demonstrations represented their level of skill. Clearly, their teachers either don’t care about their safety, had no say in their decision to compete, or have lowered their standards so much that this is what now passes for competency.
This of course leads me to my worst observation of the day, and I’m not talking about the grappling events.
Like I said, one of my early reasons for attending this tournament was to re-connect with fellow teachers I hadn’t seen in a long time, instructors who helped me when I first started in the business. I wanted to see the instructors who were old school martial artists like myself, who had learned the hard way: from many, many hours of brutal practice, where blood, sweat, injuries, and tears had been the willing sacrifice we gave to achieve a certain level of expertise.
Anyone who knows me knows that I have a hard time being politically correct or “softening” my opinions when I express them. The truth is that I normally speak my mind, often without thinking about future ramifications or who else might overhear the conversation. This is an extremely bad habit in the martial arts community where egos run rampant. This is a business where when you bruise one person feelings, others judge you solely based on his opinion rather than getting to know personally or learning why you said what was said.
Fortunately, those I talked to during the day mirrored most of my comments regarding my observations of the day’s event. However, agree as they might, they had succumbed to the fact that was just how things are in this day and age. They agreed that it was wrong and was ruining things, but they defended things by saying that was the only way martial art school owners could stay in business.
In other words, they claimed that to run a successful school, standards must be reduced and the teacher has to promote people who really shouldn’t be promoted.
Of course, with the lack of high standards also came a definite shortage of teaching respect for teachers and fellow students, and the ability to even appear as if one had any real skills. If this is what having a commercial martial art school is all about all I can say is, thank God I don’t have a commercial martial arts school.
Now, I won’t bore you by telling you about the grappling events. They were what they were, and many of the competitors were the first to tell you they had very little if any grappling experience or training.
What I will share is this: after waiting almost five hours, my son’s event never took place. By 4:45 there weren’t enough people in his division to hold the event.
Now my son paid $50.00 to compete, and for a 17 year old that’s a lot of money. No, that’s a lot of money period. Of course, we went to the event coordinator to discuss the matter and get a refund. She quickly took down his name and a short description of why we were requesting the refund. Then came the bombshell… We would have to wait for the refund in the mail.
“How long will that take,” asked my son.
“Indefinitely” she answered as she walked away.
“What’s that mean dad?” asked my son.
“I don’t know,” I answered.
“Great, that means I’ll never get it back, $50.00 wasted” he muttered.
“No, I’ll make sure you get it back,” I said, knowing he is most likely right, though I’ll try my best to see that it happens.
So as he left the gym with his older brother and friend, (who also had to request a refund), all I could think of was how I had wasted my day. This day, which should have been fun for my son, turned into a disaster and left him with a negative view of martial arts tournaments.
I left the gym vowing never to go to a tournament again. Never. Ever. Or at least never again until I forget this day, which just might take another 7 years.
Labels: Essays, The Martial Arts
<< Home