It has regrettably been a while since I've posted anything. Between several rounds of illness in my home, the holidays and me returning to school online this past year, my blog has just simply fallen by the wayside. I am going to try and make my posts more regular to, if nothing else, just catalog some of my thoughts on martial arts.
This coming August I plan to participate in my school's karate black belt exam. It's been an amazing ride up to this point. I've met some amazing people and learned a lot to add to my martial mental encyclopedia. Now based on my experiences over the years, and my previous black belt exams in Taekwondo, this is going to be a great place to start. For so many, getting a black belt is the end goal, but for me it'll be the beginning of my path to teaching.
In my past years and previously practiced systems there was a balanced approach to martial arts crossing self defense and sports. My goals are more focused than that now. Teaching people to protect themselves is far more important to me than teaching them to spar in tournaments or in the cage. Not saying sports have no place in my world, but I am saying that they are far less important to me and are more used as a tool for other purposes.
I do assist and participate, once a week, in a karate sparring class because it keeps me sharp and is a good workout. It's also, a great way to practice striking and kicking in real time and gives me some experience teaching since I get to help out from time to time. For those that practice systems like American Kenpo, which teach pre-choreographed defense techniques, tournament sparring classes can be a valuable tool to randomize and get you used to practicing in real time. So as I stated earlier, for me, sport fighting is just another form of drill that I use for training my self defense techniques.
Until next time, keep training.
