 So with the next Tokyo Olympics, Karate is set to be event for the very first time. Now, there seems to be divide amongst the martial arts community. Many people are concerned that the future of Karate will become watered down and lose its integrity as a result of becoming a sport. And many people do feel this already happened with Judo in Taekwondo. So today's question is, should Karate be a sport? If you enjoy our content, we please ask that you do consider supporting this channel. By supporting us, you are helping us devote more time and resources to doing better and bigger topics such as more interviews and art history topics and maybe eventually some travel. And there's a lot of places we'd like to go with this content and make this community bigger, but we can only do that with your help. So if you do want to support us, you can do it in two primary ways. One, you can support us on Patreon by going to our Patreon account, which we have a link below in the description. 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And that's with today's topic. One of our members, Renee Martinez, asks, What do you think about martial arts getting the spot in the Olympics, like judo, taekwondo, or more recently karate? Do you see this as a positive thing or as a negative? There's a lot of debate over whether a martial art that gets transformed into a sport loses its soul. Now Renee's not the first person to ask this question. We actually see this topic come up a lot. So I thought it was a good time to maybe address it. Now this topic really seems to be heated this year because originally set for this year, the 2020 Olympics, now pushed next year because of the pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics is featuring karate as a sport for the first time. And this has caused a little bit of a divide. I've seen a lot of reactions from people being really excited to see it represented, to others being disappointed that, uh, just like some of the other sports, we're going to see a watering down and degradation of the art. So the first thing I would like to do is expand this discussion beyond just the scope of the Olympics. We've got a lot of different tournaments and competitions out there across multiple sports. So we're going to talk about sports, martial arts as a whole, because a lot of people seem to have a stigma towards, um, the value of an art being lost when it's put into a sport context. There's also a misconception I like to break here and I see this comment a lot. And the assumption is that once a martial art goes towards a sport route, it loses its ability to become an effective self-defense art. And I don't really think that's true because most of the time people making those remarks are very pro UC and MMA, which by definition is a sport. You know, first, second, third priority of those arts are sports. Boxing is a sport. Muay Thai is a sport. Wrestling is a sport. Does that mean they can't be used to fight in real life? Of course not. They're very effective arts. So I want to remove that element that just because something's a sport, totally negates it for self-defense because I think we need to look at a finer, in the finer context on an art by art and a case by case basis. And the number one thing that I think differs sport martial arts to real life self-defense martial arts are the rules in place. You know, every competition's got some sort of rules. Boxing. Boxing, first of all, I will advocate is a very effective fighting style, great for self-defense, great skills, but boxing as a sport has a lot of restrictions. For example, you can't elbow your opponent and you can't use any hand strike you want. So there are rules. MMA and the cage fighting has rules. BJJ has rules. Karate competitions in the Olympics have rules. Whenever there's a sport in play, there are rules. And those rules are always gone when it comes to a real life situation. And that ties into the statement I hear a lot. Oh, it'll never work because it doesn't work in the ring. Now, on the surface level, that might seem like a good qualifying statement, but I think there's some context at play here. The ring and the octagon are a specific sport. So say for example, take a baseball player, a high level baseball player, and you drop him in a football game. Things are going to do very well? No, of course not. And it kind of works the same for martial arts. Mixed martial arts in the UFC are mixed martial arts. It's not individual arts against each other. It is mixed well-rounded athletes. So of course, if you take a karate guy and you drop him in the ring, he's not going to do very well. But if you take a boxer and put him in a judo match, they're likely not going to do well either. Or put a BJJ guy only in the ring where he has no other striking arts. He's not going to do well. So I think that it's very important to look at the context there that it's not an art versus an art. It's mixed arts versus mixed arts that comes out to the individual. And I don't really want to spend any more on this episode trying to justify mixed martial arts versus traditional martial arts because we've already done that in the previous episode. And you can find a link to that one in the description below. People who want to see full hardcore, full contact submission, knockout martial arts watch UFC. But there's still something to be said about Ushu competitions and point-spiring competitions, even kata competitions. They might not be your thing, but they still take a lot of time. They take incredible skill. And they're still impressive to watch if you appreciate that kind of thing. And they each have their own specific skill sets. It's like how we feel here when it comes to athletic sports. It's so easy to watch, say, a football game or a baseball game and be like, oh, that guy sucks. He can't even pitch. That might be true in that context. But guess what? Take your bottom tier major league baseball player and try to play a game against him. He might not do so well in the majors, but he's going to smoke you in the mound. And the worst athlete is still way levels above the average person. And it's the same thing with martial arts. Even though you might not like a kata, you might not like what they're doing. Their athleticism and a dedication is still more than the average person has put in. And I think that does deserve some modicum of respect. Let's talk about the purity of an art. So in the case of, say, taekwondo and karate, does it lose something becoming a sport? Does it lose its soul? I think the key is understanding that all martial arts systems are not just one single component. So most traditional schools have a well-rounded curriculum of self-defense. You got your basic strikes and techniques. You've got your katas and bunkai that goes along with it. You might have some spirituality and philosophical aspects with it. That's a whole overall well-rounded curriculum. So if you're at a school that teaches only one particular aspect, say they're only focusing on kata for competition and they're only doing point sparring, if they ignore everything else, then you're not learning the complete art. You are learning a sport. That school's focus is competition. It is a sport. You're not learning self-defense or full-rounded system. And I think it's incredibly important to know the distinction between the two types of schools. The kind that have a full curriculum that happened to like to compete or the school where their sole purpose is to compete. Let's look at taekwondo as an example because this one comes up a lot and it is one of the more popular sport martial arts. Historically speaking, taekwondo is a self-defense art and you will find schools that teach a full, robust system. You know, they'll teach their strikes. They'll teach their self-defense techniques. They'll teach their forms. They'll teach their sparring. And sometimes they even mix in hapkido or other arts in there to make it more of a well-rounded fighting system. But then you have your schools, your taekwondo schools that are only competition-based. And you will see that they spar differently. I've sparred people from both. And I find that the schools that are more geared just towards competition, well, they're more bouncy. They tend to keep their hands out and they're looking for that quick strike, that quick point to get in and get out. Versus a school that takes it more seriously as a fighting art, they have different stances and their timing is different. And I've fought a lot of guys who set up certain ways and then they'll explode at you and come in with a combination. It's a very different experience because they've come from, you know, each of them have come from two of those different schools. The schools that are well-rounded, systems meant to be a fighting school and others that are just for competition. There is a difference. Now let's look at kata again, because a lot of tournaments, especially karate tournaments, will have kata-informed divisions. And if you're a school that focuses only on kata, does not mean you're getting the actual curriculum or educated version of kata. You might be learning it in a way that looks good or ignores the bunkai in terms of other technical details that judges might be looking for. Or I have seen forms that don't even have bunkai for them. They don't really mean anything necessarily, other than just a little cool and be in the dazzle of a crowd. That is not the same as a school that's going to teach you a kata that has underlying principles for your system. Because that's not always pretty. That's a teaching tool versus something for demonstration. Again, very similar topic, but depending on the school comes from, they can be applied very, very differently. And I don't think it has to be said that there's a huge difference between point sparring and continuous sparring. And the tactics are different. With point sparring, it's all about getting in there, get that one hit, get in, get out, get your point, reset. Continuous sparring is not like that. You have to have more strategy to it. Just because you get hit or you get hit or you hit them doesn't mean the match is over. Oftentimes it goes towards knockout if it's a full-contact knockdown karate or sometimes points are racked up as you go. So you can't just stop at one hit. You have to keep going. They're two different animals. But I think they do teach two different valuable skills because people who are really, really good at point sparring, they have the ability to see an opening and sharpen their techniques and often very, very quickly can get in there and get out. That's very effective in terms of setting up combinations if you've developed that. And if continuous sparring, of course, teaches you how to take some hits and keep on going, it's about the endurance. So my suggestion is actually if you want to become a well-rounded fighter, do both. You know, do continuous sparring but maybe do some drills of point sparring so you can get some of those entries and mix them together, see what kind of combinations you can come up with. I personally think that the Olympics showcasing karate is a positive thing. And I hope it's something that continues on further from here and that more arts eventually get added only because of a few different reasons. One, you're now exposing arts to a wider range of audience who might not know what, you know, what the capabilities of the arts even are. And who knows? You might inspire somebody to look into a martial art for whatever reason, whether it be self-defense or competition. So the inspiration is there. Two, it gives martial artists a platform to compete in something they're good at and represent their country. There's a lot of pride to go along with that and I think that's fantastic. And three, at the Olympic level these are still athletes. You know, they have to be in good health in good shape but put in an immense amount of work and sharpen the skills. They have to be at the top of their game and to put yourself through that kind of regimen I think only improves your character and improves your goals and I think it sets a great example. So I do believe that seeing Olympic versions of karate are a wonderful, wonderful thing. And I want to highlight that word, Olympic versions. Just because a sport version of a martial art exists does not mean that traditional schools automatically go away. You know, traditional martial arts and the full curriculum school and a sporting school, they can still coexist together. So one does not negate the other. It just opens up another avenue for people to enjoy. But let's also be fair. Just because someone's skill sets is prime for sports does not mean they're not going to be able to use those skill sets to defend themselves at least in some capacity. A baseball player, you know, they train their whole career to swing that bat to hit this little ball. But guess what? If a real situation occurs and they get their hand on the pipe or a stick or something, does that not give them an insane advantage over someone who's not trained in that? You know, basics work. You know, a front kick or a side kick delivered to somebody's body can break ribs. A jab cross combination that connects can knock someone out. A very well placed Taekwondo kick could end a fight. These are all basic concepts and if they are delivered accurately, yes, they will work. Most likely. It all comes down to the methodology of how they're taught and timing and application. And it really doesn't matter what martial art that you learn, whether it be for sport or for self-defense. The only way you're going to get that timing and make those basics work is practice, practice, practice and practice with somebody who's actively trying to hit you back. You need that resistance training then and only then will you know a technique is good. Sports or self-defense, it's irrelevant. So anyway, that's just my long-winded way of saying that just because a martial art is used in a sporting event doesn't mean it's not effective in real life. It comes down to knowing the difference and know your goals. Bottom line is know what you want out of a martial art. If you are looking for self-defense and you go to a school that's all about competition, chances are you're not going to be fulfilled by that. You're not going to get the education you want. And vice versa, if you're looking for competition and that's what you want to go train and ring and the school focuses on cotton and they focus on philosophy, you might not be happy with that either. So know your goals and make sure that your goals align with the school that you're looking at. So to answer Renee's question, does an art lose its soul by becoming a sport? No, because arts don't have souls. A martial art, and I mean any given martial art, is nothing more than a framework of manuals, curriculum, techniques, concepts, principles, theories. The soul comes from the actual practitioners who put in literal blood, sweat, and tears into their training. A curriculum is just the body. You're the one that gives it its life. So I would love to hear from all of you out there. I know on a topic like this, we're bound to be divided, but I think that's great for a constructive discussion. I do please ask that you all be civil with each other. So the question is, do you feel that karate being the Olympics helps or hurts the art? Or are there any arts that you would like seen brought into the Olympics or another competitive level? Let us know what your thoughts are. Thank you so much for watching and we'll see you next week.