I am a RN and martial arts instructor so to me, Kara-te is about life protection and helping people get better. Jacob (my son) is playing football, so for him right now, karate is football! So...right now, kara-te is about Jacob. I want him to succeed and do his best and have fun, but I also want to protect him... so I am sharing various insights that the Lord has given me in martial arts to enhance his football skills and help him be better at what he does. :)
Kara-te is football... may sound crazy, but at it's essence, kara-te is about:
- "awareness and regognition"... Seeing and knowing one needs to act.
- "body and movement"... knowing the body (yours and the opponents), and the natural responses.
- "protecting one's self or another".... the "how to do it"
The learning never stops! I am learning more aspects about my martial arts as I work to help my son. I found some wonderful examples on the internet that involve football and also fully represent kara-te. Sanchin Kata will be the basis used for examining four videos and seeing their correlation with football.
1. the bull rush and speed bull rush... (we have two videos for this one)
Here we get some of the same foundational work as seen in sanchin. We see the importance of stance and alignment... the reason for the first hard step (to get them to show their hands and fire first or make initial contact)... attack "half a man" and the double arm guard position to drive an opponent back. Also the open hand to close hand concept used in grabbing and why.
This goes to the foundation of Sanchin kata... the initial double arm guard and forward movement is essentially a bull rush.... notice James Harris in this video... hands inward and upward, elbows locked inward and to the front, arms 45 degree angle in relation to his body. The 3 and 5 count he mentions is exactly the same as the counts in performances of various versions of Sanchin kata with a 1,3,5 count and then a turn. These counts are used to adjust distance and perfect power transference.
2. Next is the basic rip move...
This one is interesting as you see the need for the opposite arm in the chudan uke (outside cover move) in Sanchin Kata. This while being a means of double protection is also a means of avoiding entrapment as one is moving past an opponent maybe to evade and escape. The actual block and punch also propel him past the opponent as the arm goes around and pulls back into guard while checking the opponent.
3. To get a better view of this lets look at the double swipe move...
Now in this one we also see how to evade a grab or push and get around our opponent...
In looking at these we see much of the depth of Sanchin Kata in actual use. Not the stagnant immobile version but a very mobile version. One that demonstrates the actual purposes behind these motions we practice so often.
See.... Kara-te can be football! :) and the lessons we learn are basic to protecting ourselves either in evasion or escape but also of use to get to our true opponent.
ROn
