A J ANDAYA JR
5th April 2002, 13:25
Hello Everybody, I would like to propose to say that no matter what style of martial art you are in if you do not have that fundamental attribute of self-confidence, all your martial art training and related efforts will be for nothing.
You must have the guts to use your technique or the techniques of your arts should the need arise. Without this (Guts, backbone, or testicular fortitude as my "tukayo" (having the same name as me) Antonio Bustillo so eloquently puts it.) your style or art is nothing more than dynamic movements empty of meaning. It is dead.
I believe that a martial art must foster this in an individual, then you will have fully functioning martial artist with functional techniques.
The danger of some of the techniques involved in developing this "guts" or testicular fortitude as my "tukayo" says is that it may lead to certain form of overconfidence bordering on arrogance and pride (the wrong kind).
Some of the ways to foster this attribute is by entering tournaments as the "Speedman" says 'If you want to be 10 times the martial artist you hope to be, you MUST join/enter tournaments.'
Tournaments will give you that artificial environment to develop your courage and guts. Of course there are other ways like mental training techniques or other self defense drills that mimic confrontational situations but nothing else can get you closer than a tournament. The harder the contact the better. Look at boxers and muay thai fighters they have some of the toughest fighters around because they have daily hard contact. They "fight" (spar) often. That is why they have so very effective techniques. Oh don't forget they can take some very serious punishment when in an exchange of techniques scenario.
Generally this must be the way in a martial arts training program, of course we will not discount the others who enter the art for exercise, fun, or any other reason but we must never lose focus of the real intent of the martial arts.
Next that I would like to say is that I have heard of 100 man kumite where a martial artist is supposed to fight 100 men in succession in order to prove ones spirit, in taekwondo especially here in the Philippines when our candidates for black belt take their promotion test exam they are subjected to something that we call "Korean Massage" KM for short. It is a form to tag team sparring where the candidate fights a series of fights for a certain period of time and when his/her opponent tires that person can tag another black belt to fight the candidate, there is no set time limit, and you may fight as many as 20 to 30 guys in this system. And you are not fighting against push overs, you are fighting elite black belts who are under training in a special training regimen under the Grand Master and senior Olympians (I tell you they kick and hit real hard and fast). I have seen some of these candidates really get beaten pretty bad no matter how good they are, accidents even happen (serious injuries) from time to time. I have seen candidates even receive kicks while rolling on the ground like a soccer ball.
Early on it was a lot worst because we had 1 against 2 or 3 or 4, depending on your Dan level sparring, in this type of sparring no matter how good you are you always get beaten up but this was abandoned some years back because of the rising cases of "accidents" involved.
So going back to the 100 man kumite, for me, it seems that usually the participants maybe (MAYBE) there fighting but is in actuality (Could it be?) helping the candidate to finish the 100 man kumite if indeed it was ever done.
Some people claim to have proof/evidence (videos) of such an undertaking, but in my experience and according to what I have seen it seems almost impossible to survive or even finish such a feat especially if those who will participate are quality martial artists.
I am not putting anyone down, this is just my opinion. I maybe wrong then again I maybe more right than wrong.
So if any of you can share some insight on the above propositions, I will most humbly be thankful.
A J ANDAYA JR
You must have the guts to use your technique or the techniques of your arts should the need arise. Without this (Guts, backbone, or testicular fortitude as my "tukayo" (having the same name as me) Antonio Bustillo so eloquently puts it.) your style or art is nothing more than dynamic movements empty of meaning. It is dead.
I believe that a martial art must foster this in an individual, then you will have fully functioning martial artist with functional techniques.
The danger of some of the techniques involved in developing this "guts" or testicular fortitude as my "tukayo" says is that it may lead to certain form of overconfidence bordering on arrogance and pride (the wrong kind).
Some of the ways to foster this attribute is by entering tournaments as the "Speedman" says 'If you want to be 10 times the martial artist you hope to be, you MUST join/enter tournaments.'
Tournaments will give you that artificial environment to develop your courage and guts. Of course there are other ways like mental training techniques or other self defense drills that mimic confrontational situations but nothing else can get you closer than a tournament. The harder the contact the better. Look at boxers and muay thai fighters they have some of the toughest fighters around because they have daily hard contact. They "fight" (spar) often. That is why they have so very effective techniques. Oh don't forget they can take some very serious punishment when in an exchange of techniques scenario.
Generally this must be the way in a martial arts training program, of course we will not discount the others who enter the art for exercise, fun, or any other reason but we must never lose focus of the real intent of the martial arts.
Next that I would like to say is that I have heard of 100 man kumite where a martial artist is supposed to fight 100 men in succession in order to prove ones spirit, in taekwondo especially here in the Philippines when our candidates for black belt take their promotion test exam they are subjected to something that we call "Korean Massage" KM for short. It is a form to tag team sparring where the candidate fights a series of fights for a certain period of time and when his/her opponent tires that person can tag another black belt to fight the candidate, there is no set time limit, and you may fight as many as 20 to 30 guys in this system. And you are not fighting against push overs, you are fighting elite black belts who are under training in a special training regimen under the Grand Master and senior Olympians (I tell you they kick and hit real hard and fast). I have seen some of these candidates really get beaten pretty bad no matter how good they are, accidents even happen (serious injuries) from time to time. I have seen candidates even receive kicks while rolling on the ground like a soccer ball.
Early on it was a lot worst because we had 1 against 2 or 3 or 4, depending on your Dan level sparring, in this type of sparring no matter how good you are you always get beaten up but this was abandoned some years back because of the rising cases of "accidents" involved.
So going back to the 100 man kumite, for me, it seems that usually the participants maybe (MAYBE) there fighting but is in actuality (Could it be?) helping the candidate to finish the 100 man kumite if indeed it was ever done.
Some people claim to have proof/evidence (videos) of such an undertaking, but in my experience and according to what I have seen it seems almost impossible to survive or even finish such a feat especially if those who will participate are quality martial artists.
I am not putting anyone down, this is just my opinion. I maybe wrong then again I maybe more right than wrong.
So if any of you can share some insight on the above propositions, I will most humbly be thankful.
A J ANDAYA JR