Bograt
13-Jul-2005, 09:35 PM
Not wishing to write an in-depth article on the pros and cons of a particular system and not wishing to debate a system that to many is clouded in controversy as I don’t pretend to be an expert or in fact fully understand the full origins but it is hoped that this article will give a small insight of this system which I hope will enlighten other martial artists and in some way remove the stigma relating to it.
I am sure this will be an area for debate and in some way be a contentious issue for many years to come but lets take a stab at the area of Freestyle Points Fighting.
What is points fighting?
Well before I answer that question lets look at the origins of Points fighting. If I’m wrong then please correct me I don’t pretend to be an expert just telling it as I see it.
In the mid 70’s the traditional aspects of karate where under pressure from martial artist in America who wanted to get away from the restrictive rules governing the contact level of the Traditional arts, so a number of well known and respected martial artists got together to develop there own style which they called full contact karate or knock down karate.
This style differed from the traditional arts in that the fighting area was taken from a matted area and moved to a central location ( the fighting ring ) The fighters also donned boxing gloves for added protection. It was hoped that by putting it in a ring the status of full contact karate would grow in line with that of boxing.
That’s it for the kickboxing side as I am sure there are many of you who could take up that side and the idea here is to address points fighting.
Anyway whilst the area of full contact karate continued to grow there where many people who saw what they where teaching being left behind their livelihoods threatened as many students had moved over to the new style of full contact karate, whilst many wanted to continue teaching the traditional style they where comfortable with, they also needed to get away from the restrictive rules of the traditional arts and in the early 80’s the style of freestyle points fighting emerged onto the fighting circuit.
Immediately the style was attacked by styles on both sides firstly the Traditional practitioners saw these freestyles as bringing disrespect to the traditions of martial arts as the style was developed specifically for the competition arena and not for self defiance, And the area of self defiance was too the traditionalist ( None Existence! )
( fair comment ) also as the freestylist generally wore colorful gi’s they where seen as cocky and arrogant by the traditional practitioners..
On the other side the full contact karate practitioners felt that these new freestylists where jumping on the band wagon and trying to be what they had become without the fear of real injury, and still today you hear full contact kickboxers refer to points as tippy tap
As freestylists also wore flashy gi’s it was seen that they where trying to emulate the glitz of the kickboxers, which was not looked on too favorably.
Ok so now we have taken a rather brief look at the psychology of the discrimination against freestylists lets look deeper into points fighting.
Like it or not whilst people want to do freestyle points fighting it will continue to be available to the public.
Life is about growth self development making a living etc. Not to say that freestyle is about making loads of money but as a sport it has to be respected for encouraging new students to the martial arts so with that in mind lets go back to the beginning.
It is true that in the mid 70’s there was a move from the traditional aspects of karate to the new full contact system so many traditional instructors found themselves under increasing pressure to compete with this new style seeing students moving to the full contact side.
So in order to realize their own security many instructors began incorporating fighting into their systems many of the first instructors to do this where instructors of Lau Gar kung fu and Shukoki practitioners as the stance they used where easily adaptable towards the attacking and defensive side used for competition.
Although they had incorporated new ideas into their teachings ( In order to survive ) they remained true to their original traditional system. And even now many of the freestylists we see today come from Traditional based styles.)
With respect to the flashy gi’s the freestylists chose to go with the new attire as it was less restrictive and more in line with what was being worn on the streets at that time a fashion statement as it was ( remember the old boiler suits?) track suits & lycra….. So the change was as much for practical reasons as it was for encouraging young impressionable students into freestyle. ( Marketing )
Moving on whilst the freestylists where getting grief from traditionalist they where also coming under attack from the kickboxers, as they where now known.
The change in full contact karate came about due to the risk of injuries and subsequent legal claims associated with this especially in America where a claim society was quick to take off.
The full contact karate people addressed that area by bringing in rules and regulations that are still in place now and at the same time the name was changed to kickboxing as the full contact karate label had become stigmatized and the system itself was under attack from many influential people in power at the time.
As with the kickboxers the freestylists had to bring in a set of rules which allowed for the flamboyancy of their techniques so as with traditional karate the freestylist kept a similar system. But opened it up to allow for expression of other techniques not always allowed under traditional rules the emphasis being on if it connects on the mats it would connect on the street.
Why Kickboxers felt that freestylists where pretending to be kickboxers is a mystery too me. Freestylists do POINTS KARATE. Which is totally different to Light continuous kickboxing and full contact..
It is true that many points fighters make the move to light continuous or full contact. Successfully it must be said I could name quite a few from the UK, but let us remember that many instructors of freestyle have groundings in Full contact karate/kickboxing or even boxing.
I would be the first to admit as a purely self defense type system it has some major drawbacks as it is primarily a sports orientated system’ however for people wishing to take up a less full contact sport but want to compete and be able to go to work the following day then points fighting is an ideal alternative.
There are many points fighters who think that because they are brilliant on the mats ”in a controlled environment” that they can do just as well with what they know in a street situation???????? but can’t that be said of most fighting styles????
And there are many instructors who’s background is purely in points fighting i.e.( no other martial experience that develops an area of self defense ) and they do attempt to teach light continuous or full contact without having those credentials, and unfortunately there will be more of them coming through with the new generation.
But save a thought for all those instructors who not only teach points fighting but other styles like light or full contact etc people like me who have a grounding in traditional karate, freestyle points karate and light / full contact kickboxing.
In conclusion whilst points fighting is seen as a poor martial arts substitute let us remember that Traditional karate styles and its of shoots as well as kickboxing and boxing all use a points system.
Let us also remember that many of the great fighters both in the UK and overseas came through the ranks of freestyle.
Maybe in years to come some of the styles emerging now will be looked on in the same way as freestyle points. However no matter how people see freestyle it has been a growth industry in the martial arts for the past two decades it bridged a gap between the boom times of Kung Fu and karate of the early 70’s to the explosion of mixed martial arts of the past few years. In that time it was freestyle points fighting that kept the area of martial arts alive not only in this country but abroad.
So before you look at freestyle with contempt remember how it kept the martial arts alive.
I am sure this will be an area for debate and in some way be a contentious issue for many years to come but lets take a stab at the area of Freestyle Points Fighting.
What is points fighting?
Well before I answer that question lets look at the origins of Points fighting. If I’m wrong then please correct me I don’t pretend to be an expert just telling it as I see it.
In the mid 70’s the traditional aspects of karate where under pressure from martial artist in America who wanted to get away from the restrictive rules governing the contact level of the Traditional arts, so a number of well known and respected martial artists got together to develop there own style which they called full contact karate or knock down karate.
This style differed from the traditional arts in that the fighting area was taken from a matted area and moved to a central location ( the fighting ring ) The fighters also donned boxing gloves for added protection. It was hoped that by putting it in a ring the status of full contact karate would grow in line with that of boxing.
That’s it for the kickboxing side as I am sure there are many of you who could take up that side and the idea here is to address points fighting.
Anyway whilst the area of full contact karate continued to grow there where many people who saw what they where teaching being left behind their livelihoods threatened as many students had moved over to the new style of full contact karate, whilst many wanted to continue teaching the traditional style they where comfortable with, they also needed to get away from the restrictive rules of the traditional arts and in the early 80’s the style of freestyle points fighting emerged onto the fighting circuit.
Immediately the style was attacked by styles on both sides firstly the Traditional practitioners saw these freestyles as bringing disrespect to the traditions of martial arts as the style was developed specifically for the competition arena and not for self defiance, And the area of self defiance was too the traditionalist ( None Existence! )
( fair comment ) also as the freestylist generally wore colorful gi’s they where seen as cocky and arrogant by the traditional practitioners..
On the other side the full contact karate practitioners felt that these new freestylists where jumping on the band wagon and trying to be what they had become without the fear of real injury, and still today you hear full contact kickboxers refer to points as tippy tap
As freestylists also wore flashy gi’s it was seen that they where trying to emulate the glitz of the kickboxers, which was not looked on too favorably.
Ok so now we have taken a rather brief look at the psychology of the discrimination against freestylists lets look deeper into points fighting.
Like it or not whilst people want to do freestyle points fighting it will continue to be available to the public.
Life is about growth self development making a living etc. Not to say that freestyle is about making loads of money but as a sport it has to be respected for encouraging new students to the martial arts so with that in mind lets go back to the beginning.
It is true that in the mid 70’s there was a move from the traditional aspects of karate to the new full contact system so many traditional instructors found themselves under increasing pressure to compete with this new style seeing students moving to the full contact side.
So in order to realize their own security many instructors began incorporating fighting into their systems many of the first instructors to do this where instructors of Lau Gar kung fu and Shukoki practitioners as the stance they used where easily adaptable towards the attacking and defensive side used for competition.
Although they had incorporated new ideas into their teachings ( In order to survive ) they remained true to their original traditional system. And even now many of the freestylists we see today come from Traditional based styles.)
With respect to the flashy gi’s the freestylists chose to go with the new attire as it was less restrictive and more in line with what was being worn on the streets at that time a fashion statement as it was ( remember the old boiler suits?) track suits & lycra….. So the change was as much for practical reasons as it was for encouraging young impressionable students into freestyle. ( Marketing )
Moving on whilst the freestylists where getting grief from traditionalist they where also coming under attack from the kickboxers, as they where now known.
The change in full contact karate came about due to the risk of injuries and subsequent legal claims associated with this especially in America where a claim society was quick to take off.
The full contact karate people addressed that area by bringing in rules and regulations that are still in place now and at the same time the name was changed to kickboxing as the full contact karate label had become stigmatized and the system itself was under attack from many influential people in power at the time.
As with the kickboxers the freestylists had to bring in a set of rules which allowed for the flamboyancy of their techniques so as with traditional karate the freestylist kept a similar system. But opened it up to allow for expression of other techniques not always allowed under traditional rules the emphasis being on if it connects on the mats it would connect on the street.
Why Kickboxers felt that freestylists where pretending to be kickboxers is a mystery too me. Freestylists do POINTS KARATE. Which is totally different to Light continuous kickboxing and full contact..
It is true that many points fighters make the move to light continuous or full contact. Successfully it must be said I could name quite a few from the UK, but let us remember that many instructors of freestyle have groundings in Full contact karate/kickboxing or even boxing.
I would be the first to admit as a purely self defense type system it has some major drawbacks as it is primarily a sports orientated system’ however for people wishing to take up a less full contact sport but want to compete and be able to go to work the following day then points fighting is an ideal alternative.
There are many points fighters who think that because they are brilliant on the mats ”in a controlled environment” that they can do just as well with what they know in a street situation???????? but can’t that be said of most fighting styles????
And there are many instructors who’s background is purely in points fighting i.e.( no other martial experience that develops an area of self defense ) and they do attempt to teach light continuous or full contact without having those credentials, and unfortunately there will be more of them coming through with the new generation.
But save a thought for all those instructors who not only teach points fighting but other styles like light or full contact etc people like me who have a grounding in traditional karate, freestyle points karate and light / full contact kickboxing.
In conclusion whilst points fighting is seen as a poor martial arts substitute let us remember that Traditional karate styles and its of shoots as well as kickboxing and boxing all use a points system.
Let us also remember that many of the great fighters both in the UK and overseas came through the ranks of freestyle.
Maybe in years to come some of the styles emerging now will be looked on in the same way as freestyle points. However no matter how people see freestyle it has been a growth industry in the martial arts for the past two decades it bridged a gap between the boom times of Kung Fu and karate of the early 70’s to the explosion of mixed martial arts of the past few years. In that time it was freestyle points fighting that kept the area of martial arts alive not only in this country but abroad.
So before you look at freestyle with contempt remember how it kept the martial arts alive.