Martial Arts Myths 11 of 12

The Hits and Myths of Martial Arts – Myth 11

by
Chris Hepler and Jennifer Brandes
A Role Playing Games Perspective

Myth 11: All martial arts look like Tae Kwon Do.

Not by a long shot. TKD is probably the most popular martial art in America, followed closely by Shotokan karate, and quite honestly, lots of gamers have taken one or the other. (The most popular martial art in the world, actually, is t’ai chi — mostly because millions of Chinese practice it.) Tae kwon do is what you see in most movies and American television like the Power Rangers, Buffy, and Xena. It uses lots of aerial and high kicks, emphasizes flexibility, and stresses fighting at relatively long ranges, standing up, with a lot of room. This is perfect for movie cameras and audiences who want a show.

Its punches are horizontal, and hit with the first two knuckles. Practitioners wear a gi, and a colored belt indicating their rank. It’s not unusual to spin around and kick someone in the head — as a matter of fact, this is encouraged in tae kwon do tournaments, which often give two points for hitting the head, allow no direct punching to the face, and don’t count blows to the back. Fighting under these rules in real life, however, may fall into that “playing the opponent’s game” category mentioned above.

By comparison, jujitsu, aikido, and judo practitioners’ emphasis is far more on grabbing the opponent, breaking their balance, and dumping them or immobilizing them in a painful lock. Practitioners wear a heavy, quilted gi that can take the stress of a human body being picked up and thrown many times a day. High-ranking practitioners in jujitsu and aikido wear a black skirt called a hakama. This skirt, by the way, hides their footwork, and some actually have a back support that enforces proper posture.

Taijutsu, the unarmed combat style of the ninja, deserves its own special mention. It combines kicks and punches with the locks and throws of jujitsu, but is not the stuff you see in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. Though ninja clans definitely emphasized gymnastics as a part of their harsh training, and they do have some neat moves to roll out of locks and spin people over, they really didn’t believe in a stand-up fight. They needed martial techniques to take out sentries, pin people down and suffocate them in their beds, and to fight off one or two folks before they could get to their weapons and get the heck out. If they were going to run into armored samurai who trained eight hours a day in cutting people up, they were going to lose. Their favored kick is a stomping sort to the hips or knees to knock someone down so the ninja wouldn’t be chased. Lots of their hand techniques include shots to the throat, eyes, and pressure points for the same reason.

Though karate styles resemble tae kwon do superficially, there are differences. The Japanese-grown Shotokan karate and its offshoot Kyokushinkai karate are probably closest, though they emphasize lower stances and sliding the feet rather than stepping. The majority of karate styles, by the way, are not Japanese, but Okinawan. Most of the Okinawan schools use about 70% hand techniques and 30% foot techniques, have very low and sometimes pigeon-toed stances, and work with weapons. These styles include the two most popular ones of shorin-ryu and goju-ryu, as well as their synthesis, isshin-ryu (recognizable by its consistently vertical fists when punching), and uechi-ryu and shoreiryu. Most of the traditional versions do not advocate kicking above the waist. Though our research is not exhaustive, we have yet to see a movie that takes full advantage of what these karate styles have to offer. I believe The Karate Kid series were choreographed in uechi-ryu, but the movements are somewhat sloppy, and fairly slow.

In China, the one thousand or more kung fu styles should be divided into northern and southern styles, and a few progenitors. They tend to have a great variety of techniques, including some “esoteric” stuff that is meant to rip pieces (like ears) off the opponent or blind them, and dozens of different ways to hold your hand rather than a fist. Kung fu styles don’t wear gis. If a modern kung fu student isn’t wearing sweat pants and a T-shirt, the outfit is more like pajamas with a sash rather than a belt, and black sashes may or may not indicate high rank.

What you see in Jackie Chan movies and most Hong Kong flicks is lots and lots of wu t’shu (also spelled “guoshu” or “kuoshu”). This is a martial art that was a blend of many long-fist styles and standardized to be a national symbol of the People’s Republic of China in the 1950s. It’s got wide-swinging, hooking punches, spinning and aerial kicks, and weapons galore.

Northern styles tend to be “hard,” use a lot of long stances, use dozens of weapons, take up a good deal of room, and toughen the body through painful work. However, there are so many styles it is hard to generalize. Certainly Chang Chuan, Hsing-I, and White Crane fit these stereotypes. However, Monkey style, the circular Ba Gua (or “Pa Kwa”), and T’ai Ch’i are comparatively soft martial arts with fewer battlefield weapons involved.

Tibetan white crane is visually distinctive because it is a true “long-arm” and long-range form. It hardly ever draws the hands close to the body, preferring to leave them fully extended. The practitioner whips from side to side, knocking away the opponent’s arms with one and hitting them with the other. They also train to strike straight up and down more so than most styles, hitting the groin, nose, or collarbone with great bludgeoning effect.

Southern styles are stereotyped as having more hand techniques, and Southern Praying Mantis, Wing Chun, and White Eyebrow certainly emphasize very in-close, frenetic flurries of fists, palms, and fingers. Choy Li Fut and Hung Gar, though Southern, resemble Northern ones slightly more.

As an aside, the kung fu style of kempo and its somewhat-related American version of karate, kenpo, resemble most closely a mixture of Okinawan and southern Chinese styles. What is basically “the” kenpo movie is The Perfect Weapon, which also displays a little double-weapon work from arnis de mano.

Arnis was heavily influenced by (or evolved parallel to) wing chun kung fu, but while the two espouse the same principles and are seen as very combat-ready martial arts by military professionals, they are very visually distinctive.

Wing chun likes maintaining posture and balance. Given the choice between ducking and blocking, wing chun fighters generally will cover themselves with blocks and try to maintain contact with the opponent, to fight like fencers who feel the opponent’s blade and follow it along up to the target. Unlike many systems, it spends little time or emphasis on throws, primarily because it trains to avoid a grappling situation whenever possible. They’d much rather take your balance for a quarter-second and hit you than risk a half-second trying to throw you.

Arnis, because it teaches weapons very early on, moves the body much more, ducking and clearing long distances with total commitment, to get inside an opponent’s weapon range. It covers an entire gamut of weapons, from staff to stick to fist to elbow to wrestling (dumog). Ideally, a good arnis guro will teach you everything you need to know about fighting and they’ll do it quickly. But by spreading itself out, most arnis training does not have quite the same demand for refusing to give the opponent any grip whatsoever the way wing chun does, and at the lower levels, arnis is less concerned with form and precision.

Incidentally, if you are primarily familiar with a martial art through formalized practice and “forms,” or “kata,” you are not necessarily seeing all of the style. While most American karate schools teach that the movements in their kata are simple combinations of blocking and striking, ancient karate in the days of the samurai looked a lot more like jujitsu than most modern practitioners think. Most kata which are practiced in the air can be used at much closer ranges than most sensei teach. The “retreating hand” that tucks at the waist or underneath the arm is not there for show (nor is it necessarily an elbow strike to a second opponent behind you). If you want a real eye-opening exercise, practice a kata in which every pulling-back motion is done with the opponent’s wrist or elbow firmly in your grip, dragging your opponent off-balance and into your strike. Half of the awkward “blocks” or “strikes” are, in fact, throws, joint breaks and pressure-point manipulation.

Other Myths…

1. Taking a martial art is the same as knowing how to fight.
2. Self-defense is the same thing as fighting.
3. My martial art can make you unbeatable.
4. There’s no difference between “fighting” or “kicking butt” and killing or maiming people.
5. Fights last ten minutes or more, at which time the hero can make an impressive comeback.
6. A fight only concerns the combatants.
7. Martial artists don’t need or use weapons.
8. Fighting with two weapons is difficult or confusing.
9. Weapons are heavy.
10. You can mash someone’s nose bones into their brain and kill them with a single mighty palm strike.
11. All martial arts look like Tae Kwon Do.
12. A style is a style.

The Award Winning Multiplied Force Fighting System (MFFS) 5 DVD Set.

Taekwondo – Are YOU Any Good?

National Taekwondo – could you be an Olympic Champion?

Talent2012 Fighting Chance is looking for athletes aged 16 and above with a high skill and achievement level in their current combat sport. Athletes from all weight categories are welcome and a kicking background is essential.

The chance to become an Olympic Champion through Talent2012 Fighting Chance starts with an open recruitment process which allows athletes to submit their personal details online via the UK Sport Talent website, www.uksport.gov.uk/talent.

“From the initial online applications successful athletes will be asked to attend an assessment day in February 2010. During these days athletes will be judged on a range of performance criteria including speed, physical attributes, decision-making ability and the desire to win. From this stage the Talent Team will determine which athletes are then invited to attend a residential boot camp to in the UK before final selections are made for a residential boot camp in Korea and the final squad is selected to train full time within the National Taekwondo Performance Centre in Manchester.

Those who are invited to attend the day will be expected to compete in a match against another opponent, both player will must follow WTF point scoring rules in this match which is as the video below demonstrates. More detailed rules will be included in your confirmation letter. “

Taekwondo | Peterborough Martial Arts Academy

Evolution Taekwondo has evolved to cater for a wide range of people’s needs – anti-bullying, olympic sparring, learning a new Life-Skill or simply wanting to try Recreational Martial Arts. The Club was established in 2003 and has grown to become a school that has over 160 child and adult members based at Peterborough Martial Arts Academy.

Senor Instructor David Trower says:

“The most common reason for training that I hear is that people want to have fun and get in better physical condition, whether that is losing weight, getting stronger or just getting more active. Martial arts is a great way to get in shape and can be really fun to learn. It will improve endurance, strength, flexibility, speed, coordination, balance and helps with overall stress levels. While all martial our training involves some amount of physical training, our programmes are great to try for overall physical fitness.”

“The second most common reason for studying martial arts is self defense; a very valid and important reason for learning. Our Taekwondo programmes teach excellent self defense, with techniques that work! Thanks to an increased presence in movies and television, a rapidly growing reason for training is for the flashy high kicks, which combines martial basics with difficult jump kicks, flips and speedy hand combinations, done primarily for competitions. Our sport specific programmes have a sport focus and teach a traditional & modified version of a traditional art, While competition is not the main feature of our academies, we have specific classes tailored for Sport Taekwondo Sparring.”

With over 30 classes a week for different age groups and abilities, Evolution Taekwondo takes pride in the quality of tuition and the welfare of its students. The Club is very friendly and actively encourages all family members to try Taekwondo.

Prior to joining we recommend that everyone should try a free, one-to-one introductory lesson. This can be arranged by calling us on 01733 235230 or visit us to have a chat; we are based at Shrewsbury Avenue, Woodston, PE2 7BU (5 mins from Serpentine Green, Hampton), close to Big Sky Adventure Playground.

Everyone is welcome.

Taekwondo Sarah Stevenson’s Winning Olympic Kick

Sarah Stevenson Gets an Outrageous Taekwondo Decision Overturned

I thought it worth another look at how The Mail on Sunday won an Olympic medal for the heroic Great British team by capturing the Sarah Stevenson kick that all the judges seem to have missed!

Evidence from their photographer helped Sarah Stevenson to overturn an outrageous decision in yesterday’s taekwondo martial arts contest and go on to secure a bronze medal.

Impact: Dave Shopland’s picture that proved Sarah Stevenson had struck Cheng Zhong to win her bout

Stevenson, 25, looked to have been robbed of her medal chance when in a
quarter-final bout against China’s double Olympic champion Cheng Zhong she was the victim of one of the more inexplicable judging decisions in Olympic history.

Despite landing a clear kick to Zhong’s face, which should have scored her two points and a dramatic 2-1 victory in the final seconds of the bout, the judges failed to recognise the strike and allowed Zhong to win.

Zhong had a huge bruise and a
cut lip, confirming that the Doncaster girl had connected with her face and should have won the contest.

As a capacity crowd at the Beijing science and technology gym deliriously celebrated their heroine’s win, tearful Stevenson was inconsolable.

But in an unprecedented development, the British team managed to have the result reversed – thanks to Dave Shopland, the Mail On Sunday man at the Olympic taekwondo.

Without access to video replays, British officials were unclear how strong their case would be. Also, they were aware that never before in taekwondo had the judges’
ruling been overturned.

Then Shopland showed team manager Gary Hall the perfect picture that clearly depicted Stevenson striking Zhong’s face.

The lens doesn’t lie: Sarah thanks Dave after the result was changed

That sparked the chain of events that led to the decision being overturned.

Stevenson told Shopland later: ‘Thank you for your help. The photo shows I definitely hit her.’

Hall added: ‘Thank you, Dave. It was a great shot. I knew when I saw the photograph that we could appeal.’

A British Olympic Association spokeswoman said: ‘We thank The Mail on Sunday for all its help.’

Hall
continued: ‘We don’t see the video replays or slow motion film but I was getting text messages and calls from back home saying that she had clearly connected.

‘That’s when I said that we needed to get a photograph. Then The Mail on Sunday photographer came up with a really solid photograph.

‘It was great shot from Dave. We knew then that we had an extra piece of information to finalise the appeal.

‘When a referee doesn’t give a point, I’ve never seen anybody overturn a decision like that –  not in more than 22 years.’

With Shopland’s laptop computer containing the picture under his arm, Hall rushed off with British officials to beg the judges to study the TV video replays.

‘There is something in the rulebook that says they can go back to video camera but they rarely do so,’ said Hall.

Amazingly, despite the pressure of a home crowd, the judges eventually decided that the TV evidence was so compelling, they would have to reverse the result.

With the crowd growing impatient waiting for the semi-finals, where they expected their girl to be participating, a tense delay ensued. Finally, the judges’ chairman, Rene Bundeli, stepped into the arena to announce the decision to a stunned crowd.

Dressed in a blue blazer of the World Taekwondo Federation, Bundeli explained in English that a mistake had been made.

‘We are very sorry to the spectators of China but justice is first,’ he said. ‘Thank you for understanding.’

Initially, only the Chinese translators understood and looked aghast, holding their heads in their hands and weeping.

Slowly, the news travelled and boos echoed round the stadium.

But Stevenson then only had ten minutes to prepare for her semi-final bout against the eventual gold medallist, Mexican Maria de Rosario Espinoza.

Booed by the crowd at every turn and following the hour of turmoil that had preceded her fight, Stevenson unsurprisingly lost 4-1 over the three two-minute rounds.

Worse, she sprained her ankle and limped off the mat, making it look as if her medal chances had ended once again.

With just two hours to prepare to fight for the bronze medal, British physios gave her painkilling jabs and anti-inflammatory tablets to keep down the swelling.

She still looked queasy when she lined up
against Egypt’s Adb Rabo Noha but quickly established a 4-1 lead and eventually won 6-1 to claim Britain’s first medal in taekwondo.

‘I have never experienced anything like this – it’s been such an emotional day,’ said Stevenson, who finished fourth at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

‘I would have been devastated not to win a medal because of that decision. Now I’m really happy, though I’m still a bit upset I didn’t have time to prepare in the semi-finals, as I could have been fighting for gold. I’ve beaten the Mexican girl twice before.’

Later an exhausted Stevenson met award-winning Shopland, saying as she studied his picture: ‘Well, that hit!’

Shopland, who had been following Stevenson all day, said: ‘I was just pleased to help her.’

He took his crucial photo with a Nikon D3 camera, using a 400mm lens and at a shutter speed of 1/1600 second at f2.8.

‘I was watching the bout and there was only a few seconds to go, so I knew Sarah needed a big hit to win it,’ he said.

‘It came to the last five seconds and then I just shot as it came. It’s what we train for but I don’t think I’ve taken a photograph before that has been quite so important