Sportive Grappling

[DanFaggella]

I'm new, how are you?

Anyways I've been training and getting various perspecive on sport/traditional martial art and training methods/principles/ect... I figure I could get a large pool of people to throw in some input, and this seems to be the place to do that.

Granted, that the validity of a martial art involves its purpose to the indevidual. Example: A 45-year old mother of 2 goes to a local "Dojo" every now and then and participates in the classes. For her, self-defence is not really the goal, but she wants to get in shape, and she enjoys the friendly atmosphere. For her, a "cardio-kickboxing" -type thing is fine, and it fills her needs, though she surely doesn't consider herself a martial artist. On the other hand, the owner of this "Dojo" basically just gets people to line up and do pushups and jumping jacks, then they punch and kick the air. Essentially this is a workout, and no great martial artists will come from this dojo, and it can be assumed the the teacher isn't a very effective martial artist himself. However, he considers his method of teaching to be the best and his art to be the best. Someone looking to learn to defend themself is much better off finding a more realistic martial approach.

What I want out of sport grappling isn't simply a fun atmosphere where I can test out grappling skills and eventually compete at a high level (though this is certainly one of my goals). I also know that putting so much of my time into grappling, it will become my martial base (I do practice other arts, and I plan to for the rest of my life, eventually settling on a few but always experimenting). This being said, I would like to understand what you folks consider sport grappling to mean in martial arts. Any perspectice or comments/criticisms are welcome, especially those dealing with the VALIDITY of grappling in actual combat.

Thanks a whole lot.

[Tony Dismukes]

Sportive based grappling, whether wrestling, judo or jujutsu, can be a fine base for your martial skills. You'll develop coordination, balance, sensitivity, endurance, fighting spirit, and you'll learn plenty of techniques which will serve you well for self-defense.

But ... you need the awareness of how things are different in sport and self-defense. The biggest aspect is awareness of striking, but you also need to be aware of the potential for "dirty" techniques which might be illegal in your style of competition.

To some degree, you can use that awareness in your daily practice. Even if you and your training partner aren't throwing punches, try to be aware of where you could. When I'm starting out grip fighting at the beginning of a match, I always keep one hand high by my face to block any punches - even though I know my opponent won't throw any strikes under these rules. When I'm clinching at close quarters, I try to be aware of how a head-butt or eye-gouge might slip in and affect the flow of movement.

In addition, you want to do at least a little practice with actual striking & sparring. Even if you plan to win a fight as a grppler, you need to develop your reflexes to the point where you can at least cover well enough to get into clinching range without getting knocked out. Luckily, it takes less time to develop that skill than it does to actually become a skilled striker.

Be aware that you'll spend a fair amount of time on techniques which aren't so necessary for self-defense. You might spend a lot of time learning to pass the guard or counter a shoulder throw. It's unlikely that any mugger would ever attack you using those techniques. Neverthess, the body awareness you learn developing those skills will serve you well against any grappling attacks a mugger might actually use.

Sportive grappling will of course also not address the issues of when to fight, when to verbally defuse a situation, and when to run. Do some thinking and mental rehearsal for those issues.

Bottom line, most forms of sportive grappling will make a fine base for your martial arts. You can develop skills to take care of 80% of your martial needs. Just be sure to address that other 20% aloong the way.

[Cliff Hargrave]

Great post Tony.

[Yang Wei Xin]

When you get out of competition, cover your nuts.

Its the one thing i see in mma all the time, two guys grappled up, the hand slips towards the crotch, but because of the rules, cant do anything with it, in real life im going to squeeze the jewels.

[kumite]

When you get out of competition, cover your nuts.

I agree. At our school groin kicks are 100% legal. Most people get too used to competion rules and they don't think to cover/protect the groin. So just keep the stuff outside of competion in mind when you train. :D

[khujo78]

also realize that being 'sportive' doesn't mean it wont work in reality. tony had some really good points, and with sports grappling, you always have the option (necessity sometimes) to tapout. but outside of a tournament there is no tapout and someone could get hurt using the same techniques you see in sports competitions. so learning this stuff (as said before) is a very good base and taches you alot about fight dynamics.

[Rasputin]

...in real life im going to squeeze the jewels.

Note to self: dis-invite Josh from my next Halloween party.