Thursday, April 23, 2015

What It Takes To Master Karate

By Stella Gay


Unarmed fighting systems began sometimes back in different cultures. Karate is a form of martial art. It involves open hand styles like spear-hands, palm-hand, and knife-hands and strikes such as knee strikes, punches, elbow strikes, and kicks. New techniques like grappling, restraints, joint locks, throws, and vital point strikes have been included in the original styles. Students are called karateka.

Creativity, self-discipline, and hard training are required for a karateka to master the various techniques. Research shows that most individuals undertake training in this martial art for self-defense because it improves their fighting skills. It is good to understand that moves depicted by mass media are highly exaggerated. Most moves captured in movies are computer generated so viewers should beware of this. Such deadly moves should never be attempted for safety reasons.

This form of unarmed fighting system may be practiced by everybody regardless of age or fitness level. There are numerous training centers in various states that provide coaching services. Potential students may enter these institutions as private students or groups. A private student has more time to learn and develop at their own pace because they get allocated an instructor to take them through training. This martial art may enhance focus, inner security, character, and confidence of trainees.

Training is divided into fundamentals or basics, forms, and sparring. Various styles place different importance on the fundamentals. Kata or form refers to a series of movements representing a range of defensive and offensive stances. The stances are based on idealized fighting application. During training the instructor demonstrates how every technique is applied when tackling an opponent.

Every kata is understood best when learned through demonstration. Every level has its unique required katas that a karateka must show competence in during demonstration performance in order to attain a formal rank. Schools have varied requirements for examinations, though most of them use Japanese terminologies for ranks or grades. Some type of ranking systems begin with larger numbers and progress to smaller numbers while some use colored belts to mark ranks.

Kumite also known as sparring is practiced as self-defense training or a sport. Contact levels when sparring differs a lot. There are many types of full contact, semi contact or light contact version. Structured sparring involves performance of choreographed sequence of tactics by two participants, one strikes whereas the other blocks.

Free sparring is carried out in enclosed areas and people taking part in it are free to use only permitted techniques. Permitted techniques and level of contact can be predetermined by style organization policies or sport, but may be changed as per rank, sex, and age of participants. Under light or semi contact kumite contestants are rewarded as per sporting attitude, correct distance, good timing, good form, and awareness amongst other considerations.

To conclude, people who train for competitions can enter tournaments as a term or individual. Evaluation of skills is done by panels of judges or head referees with assistant referees. Fixtures are made basing on experience, gender, age, and weight. Tournaments can be for participants of specific style or open to martial artists with any style but confined to certain rules.




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