Welcome Back Kata

It is easy to knock something like forms or katas if your sole purpose for training is to fight. But most martial art teachers will tell you that a great many students will not be great fighters and many want more from their chosen martial art.

Now if you will permit, I will concentrate on Wing Chun, because that's what I train. Simply by observing Wing Chun’s first form one can see it is not designed to be fighting an imaginary opponent. If one is not using the legs and using only a single arm for the majority of the application, this is surely obvious. This is all the more surprising when one considers that so many fighters say they have a great understanding and respect for Wing Chun and that Bruce Lee considered it a "great little style".

Their thinking would also seem to dismiss all the modern theories on sport psychology. It is common for top sports people to routinely go through the skills and tactics in their mind. The bobsleigh teams will work together visualising their every movement, the track, and the feeling of success in order to inspire and enable them to believe in themselves. All fighters know that self belief is an important asset, we usually call it self confidence and often in fighting appears to be arrogance. Boxers shadow spar, it helps balance, concentration and perfection of technique whilst under no physical pressure, and allows a practitioner to see themselves performing the moves they know they need, it also allows the brain to make the neural pathway connections necessary to facilitate the execution of a skill when the moment is right. After all the eyes only relay light, the brain makes sense of it. We can all see things in our mind, and it is this clarity of thought that these artistic sequences help to develop. The process helps you to ‘see’ more clearly and react swiftly. Even if forms were no more than elaborate dances, that does not detract from the skill they require and develop in order to be performed well, and once again not all fighters are great martial artists.

Wing Chun forms are prime examples of building fighting ability through the cultivation of the body and the mind. The stationary stance of Wing Chun’s 1st form offers the opportunity to scrutinise every little detail of the techniques. This alone encourages artistic perfection.

It must be remembered that a Wing Chun practitioner is not defined by his ability to win a fight, to hit a target, to be fast, to fight at close range. These qualities are only a part of Wing Chun as they are many systems. Wing Chun is seen by its frame, the characteristic shapes that one uses. Only when one can apply the shapes and moves from the forms can a person consider themselves a Wing Chun martial artist.

The forms act as a kind of reference book allowing one to backtrack and check positioning, to observe and remind a student of some of the techniques that they have not been applying or have been taking for granted. The forms hold moves that many generations have worked to develop They are the synthesis of many minds, and save many years of your own researching by giving a helping hand. All students eventually finish the ‘traditional’ forms, and a mastery of their techniques will certainly enable them to fight, but then the self discovery of new ideas, moves and philosophies begins. It is hoped we all become wiser and live better lives than our parents. This wish is strongest in our own parents for us.

If your SI-FU truly is your teacher-father then he will wish you to outgrow and achieve more then he ever did. He would retire happy in the knowledge that he did all he could for your growth as a martial artist. The teacher who will not teach the ‘secrets’ is holding back for fear of you outgrowing him. If you love your children and give all you can for their betterment they will still move on and away with their own lives one day, but they will always have respect for the help you gave. All teachers in any sphere would do well to hold that thought.

__________________
Faith itself, compelled by the Holy Spirit, possesses an inner dynamism that necessitates deeper understanding. ~Thomas Weinandy O.F.M.

Yes, they can DEVELOP a fighter. But they alone don't produce fighters.

__________________
"Fawning, but proud!" - (at least sometimes, in rare cases)
"Killing them all didn't make it any better..." - "Are you a freak or something ???" - Max Payne
"Theft is a crime, even in Iraq." - Me.

It's part of the tool in the hand bag that make you what you are.

A form or kata alone does not make a fighter. A form or kata just has the fighting techniques in it for the person doing the form to try and experiment with when fighting/sparring/or grappling. By doing the form or kata over and over again one will become (hopfully) familiar with these techniques until they become 2nd nature. By becoming 2nd nature one would hope that when actually fighting that these techniques from the form will just spew out when needed without thought.

__________________
Mark

It's an incredibly simple concept to have your moves, and typically in CMA, also transitions and plain gymnastic moves, in a kind of circletraining so you don't always "train your moves" on an opponents head. In squash, you train all the strikes you have alone against the wall, trying to get a feeling for the length, spin, and power, and managing to score nick shots that are flat dead so you cannot play them although they're right infront of your feet. Noone in his sane mind would only train such moves in a real game, and train nothing but endurance and weights otherwise.

__________________
"Fawning, but proud!" - (at least sometimes, in rare cases)
"Killing them all didn't make it any better..." - "Are you a freak or something ???" - Max Payne
"Theft is a crime, even in Iraq." - Me.

Anyone heard of a old show called "Welcome Back Kotter"?

“	Originally Posted By: 47MartialMan Welcome Back Kata	”

“	Originally Posted By: 47MartialMan Can kata truly develop a martial artist?	”

“	Originally Posted By: 47MartialMan Anyone heard of a old show called "Welcome Back Kotter"?	”

...The mind boggles…

__________________
"Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter." - Sir Winston Churchill

“	Originally Posted By: Nik Yes, they can DEVELOP a fighter. But they alone don't produce fighters.	”

exactly

__________________
"Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter." - Sir Winston Churchill

“	Originally Posted By: 47MartialMan Anyone heard of a old show called "Welcome Back Kotter"?	”

Of course. It had John Travolta in it. But I liked the Jewish guy in it. He was so funny. They all had a yankee accent. It sounded like they were saying Mr. Kotta instead of Kotter.

Welcome Back, Kotter TV Show - Welcome Back, Kotter Television Show - TV.com

__________________
Mark

So the purpose of this thread is to link Barbarino(sp?) with a martial arts fighter

LMFAO.......Mei you never cease to humor me.

__________________
Mark

“	Originally Posted By: Mei Hua So the purpose of this thread is to link Barbarino(sp?) with a martial arts fighter	”

So, are we assuming then that this thread actually has a purpose?

__________________
"Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter." - Sir Winston Churchill

“	Originally Posted By: Mei Hua So the purpose of this thread is to link Barbarino(sp?) with a martial arts fighter	”

Its kinda if funny the way the students said Kotter, sounded like Kata.

Though I did ask a question for opinions

Of course a kata can develop a martial artist...that's it's sole purpose. What the hell else is it? Being a martial artist doesnt always mean you can "fight", and being a fighter shouldnt mean you are a martial artist.

-Wu

__________________
Man for Sale: House-broken, current vaccinations, almost never humps your leg.