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Vol. 2 07 / 2001 |
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Guest’s Article
Today’s
Martial Artist
by Hoang-Nam
In an age where weaponry has evolved from the spear to the nuclear
warhead, martial arts have evolved as well.
In the past, many martial art forms had a very narrow focus and training
outside one’s dojo was forbidden.
Schools taught a single art and cross training with other martial arts
was not allowed. It was considered
disrespectful to have two masters since each school had their own philosophy as
well as feelings of superiority. The
pride that these masters felt in their own martial art is commendable, but
ultimately without merit. Training
usually involved sparring with your own peers, which meant you were pitting
your own skills against someone possessing identical skills. This does not adequately prepare a martial
artist for the real world because in the real world, fighters can be
unpredictable and fights often never go as scripted – so to speak.
I
started taking Vovinam at the age of 11 until 17. It gave me a very good base and sparring with my older brother at
home gave me a much more competitive edge because he was much better skilled
than I was. My kicks were my strong
point at that time but I was woefully lacking in areas other than striking. Having never sparred with an opponent that
didn’t practice Vovinam, I was in for a rude awakening when I entered college.
In
college I attended a Jiu-Jitsu self defense seminar and learned some beginner’s
techniques and positions. Near the end
we were treated to an open-mat grappling session where we could roll with some
of the instructors. The two main rules
were no striking and no small joint locks.
I had never had any training in submissions up to that point other than
watching mixed martial arts competitions like the Ultimate Fighting
Championship. After about 2 minutes in,
I felt like a fish out of water. These
instructors were tapping me out with chokes, arm locks, and leg locks that I
had never even heard of. I quickly
learned that Vovinam had no true defense against a skilled ground-fighting opponent. Many people watch strikers and grapplers go
at it and simply scream for the striker to just hit him or kick him. I can attest that it is not as easy as one
might think since a grappler knows exactly how to get into a position to
neutralize a striker’s attacks. Anyone
who completely rejects this has never fought a skilled jiu-jitsu artist or submission
fighter.
After
that submission clinic, I was stuck in denial.
I had repeatedly told myself that had strikes been allowed, I would have
knocked those grapplers out. Later, I
began sparring with a friend of mine who had years of high school wrestling to
his credit. He was bigger, stronger,
and meaner than I was. He could both
strike and grapple very well and in the end, I was simply outclassed. So for the next four years he and I began
expanding our martial arts knowledge by utilizing the techniques of other
martial arts. We took what we felt was
useful and discarded what we felt was ineffective. We sparred with opponents of different disciplines ranging from
Muay Thai to Kung Fu. We did this so we
could become the most well rounded fighters our potential would allow us to be.
Many
martial arts masters will cling to their pride and refuse to expand their
martial arts knowledge but those who have seen the strengths, as well as the
weaknesses of other fighting arts, know that being one dimensional simply will
not do in the real world. One who
believes himself to be a superior fighter because of his mastery of one martial
art will only find himself muttering endless excuses after he is defeated time
after time by more well-rounded martial artists. Human beings are dynamic creatures. We are here today because we adapt to change – not because we sit
around as the world around us changes.