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Posted By: Ben Grimm 
Good point. But we have a few Shaolin Do guys in Australia. Frankly speaking... they couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag. So I'm only commenting on what I've seen first hand. | ” |
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That's fair & if that's your observation first hand, that's cool. I've seen plenty up close & personal myself. I've also seen a few (very few) that could tear ass against most people set in front of them barring GnP/MMA types of people. Most are competent enough to remove themselves from harms way. Not necessarily against a trained fighter or somebody hell bent & determined to snuff them no matter the cost. But most of them would be able to deal with your average joe schmoe on the street... just like anybody trained in any MA.
The issues that have been covered ad infinitum on other boards & posts really need to be left there. The 2 people in that video are sparring in a controlled environment & like most observed, perform poorly. That's a given. Some people aren't cut out for that environment, but they were there & were showing up for it. Props for that.
A very good friend of mine is in SD & has competed outside of the SD arena. He handled himself well enough to gain a fair to good report of himself by others not in SD. He also admits first off when he gets tooled & how. He then works on it. I've sparred with him on a couple of occasions and I'll be the first to say if we weren't playing & very good friends in a non-aggressive environment, I wouldn't want him pissed at me & swinging. He blacked my eye on our first tie up inside of about 5 seconds. He did it easily & naturally. He apologized for his loss of control. We laughed and had another drink.
Then I kicked him across his living room into his weapons rack.
SD has its problems & detractors & I'm one of the more vocal ones, but only in a certain area. Don't look at SD as a whole by what's online. There's plenty of quality use of basic MA application by people in SD just much as **** when it comes to performance of forms & classical/technical training of the material they claim. Just like in any other MA, it's the person when it comes toe to toe time, not the style.
