Ground Rules for articles I submit

In recent months, I’ve begun writing for the Evening Echo on all things related to Cork Martial Arts. To date I’ve covered MMA, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Taekwondo, Karate, Judo, Sambo and Pro Wrestling. As time goes on, I hope to get around to more disciplines as events occur.

So far, the response has been very positive. A lot of instructors have recognised the positive step forward for all Cork Martial Arts to have a regular consistent column on the most read newspaper in the County. I hope the positivity continues and to help it along, I’m setting out a short list of ground rules that I’ll be applying to the articles I submit. This should prevent any confusion about what I’m prepared to report on and the manner in which I’ll be reporting it. Please don’t ask me to submit anything that’s outside of this as I will just politely refuse.

If you disagree with any of the following or if you want to suggest other rules, please comment below.

• Balanced Coverage

As weeks/months go by, some styles are more active than others. I’ll be making it priority to get coverage for as many different clubs/styles as I can. I don’t care what association or affiliation a group has. As long as it’s a Cork group, I’ll do my best to get coverage.

Naturally, the most active groups will get proportionally more exposure. For large scale events, I’ll push for extra pages or more photographs whenever I can.

• Cork Events and Athletes take priority

Each week, there’s a limit to how much I can submit. If it’s the case I have to choose, Cork Events will take priority unless the event outside of Cork is of major significance for Cork Athletes.

• Accurate information 

I’ll do my utmost to make sure I have accurate details for each article. For anybody sending me info, please include correct title names and organisation names. As you all know, there are many different associations and each have their World titles, championships, open tournaments etc. As a community, we lose credibility if we claim that everyone and anyone is the World Champion. By including the correct name of the title, we earn back our credibility and at the same time, we acknowledge other groups and their titles.

• No supernatural claims

I WILL NOT print articles that include claims of super human ability. Claims like “This master can knock a man with the little finger on his right hand” or “these techniques can help defend an attack with a machine gun” etc make us all look silly and it makes a mockery of the athletes who train hard to achieve real results.

If there’s not a scientific proof that something works or if it hasn’t been tested in live competitive competition, then it’s theoretical. It may or may not work. So any claim to secret techniques makes the martial arts community seem unreasonable and therefore I won’t print it.

• No negative comments/remarks to other styles or clubs

We’ve all got people that we don’t get along with and styles that we don’t agree with. However, when we bicker amongst each other publicly or try to talk down at other styles, the general public loses respect for us all and as a result we all suffer. In my opinion, we can all recognise each other achievements for what they are while staying focussed on our own goals. Live and let live and let people make up their own mind which style they want to follow.

I’m more than happy to submit articles that follow the above guidelines so please keep me in the loop with any events you’re organising or attending.

If you feel I’ve left something out in the list above, let me know.

CMAP Awards Presentations

On Saturday evening, February 1st, at the Gresham Metropole Hotel, an assembly of some of the top martial artists in Cork came together to honour 8 award winners recognized by the their peers for their outstanding achievements in 2013.

Cork Martial Arts Promotions is a non-profit organization that has charged itself with the mission of highlighting the hard work of the scores of Cork clubs and hundreds of martial arts competitors who don’t necessarily get the exposure they deserve. CMAP was founded by Leonard Coughlan in 2009, who himself runs the Mahon and Bandon Taekwondo Academy. He stumbled across a fellow martial arts instructor in Ian Kingston of the West Cork Kickboxing Academy and was blown away when he realized just how much one small club in Bantry had been achieving for many years with multiple W.A.K.O. European & World Champion Kickboxers and dozens of international level athletes. Yet, despite the caliber and quality of the West Cork Kickboxers, hardly anybody in Cork even knew they existed. As Leonard himself says, he didn’t even know the West Cork Kickboxing Club existed and he’s heavily involved in the martial arts scene so what hope did the general public have of knowing.

Originally, there was just the CMAP Coach of the Year Award, inspired by the epic obscurity of one of Cork’s finest coaches – Ian Kingston but in 2012, the awards were expanded to include 7 more categories. In 5 years, Leonard would himself have expected to discover every single martial arts club in Cork, but to this day, he is still finding out about clubs and instructors whom he didn’t know existed and some that have been around for decades. It’s almost shameful that so many athletes are studying and training in mutual isolation, and their achievements being forgotten simply because no single group is large enough to garner the spotlight for its members.

My first involvement in CMAP was at the Cork Summer Show in 2009. Leonard took it upon himself to organize a collection of Martial Arts demonstrations by a range of different styles in one marquise for a full day. Although he himself had a very strong Taekwondo demonstration team, he understood that a collaboration of different disciplines spread throughout the day would appeal to a wider audience. On that day, I was there to represent my own style – karate – and met for the first time Seamus Cogan – a Muay Thai European Champion and coach of the Spartan Thai Club in Ballincollig. When we discussed how unusual it was to have the different styles of martial arts display side by side, he came out with a phrase that to this day resonates with me as essence of what CMAP is all about – “A rising tide lifts all boats equally”. As individual clubs, we may have held a small audience for perhaps 20 minutes. However, when presented as a unit of Cork Martial Arts, 8 clubs held the attention of hundreds spectators for a whole 8 hours. In one day, those clubs got more credit and exposure than they had gotten in the previous 5 years and that was all thanks to the concept of Cork Martial Arts Promotions.

8 awards were presented on Saturday evening by 8 special guests who were all genuinely blown away when they discovered the accolades accumulated by the winners.

The Junior Female Competitor of the Year Award was presented by Dep Lord Mayor Cllr Lorraine Kingston to Coachford based Kickboxer Ms Emma Flanagan. Emma trains under Coach Don Dalton in the Coachford Taekwondo/Kickboxing Club and this year she became the first Irish athlete to win Gold in all three sparring divisions at the WKU World Championships – full contact, continuous and team divisions.

The Junior Male Competitor of the Year Award was presented by Cllr Kenneth O’Flynn to John McAteer from West Cork Kickboxing Club. Coached by the aforementioned Ian Kingston, John has won 3 titles this year including Gold at the WAKO European Kickboxing Championships in Poland. He also won a novice Irish Boxing title at the National Stadium in Dublin.

The senior Female Competitor of the Year Award was presented by internationally renowned opera singer Amanda Nerl to Orla O’Brien – a kickboxer from Bushido Martial Arts under coach Colin Shaughnessy. Orla had a tremendous year culminating in a bronze medal in the Full Contact division at the W.A.K.O. World Championships. She was also awarded as the Evening Echo Female Sports Start of the month in December.

The Senior Male Competitor of the Year Award was presented by Seargent Tony Crockett to Dylan Fitzgibbon of Turners Cross Taekwondo and the Elite Martial Arts Academy Douglas. Dylan won his 3rd consecutive World TKD title this year and has also had great success in coaching other competitors to Gold.

The Coach of the Year Award was presented by Cllr Kieran McCarthy to Master Pat Barry of North Mon and Carrigaline Taekwondo. Pat is one of the most senior ranked Taekwondo instructors in the country and has produced multiple European and World Champions under the ITA banner and it’s worldwide counterpart the ITF.

The CMAP Club of the Year Award was presented by Entertainment journalist and TV presenter Colum McCormack Crowe to the Cork MMA Clinic. Coaches Kieran O’Brien Snr, Kieran O’Brien Jnr and Sean Tobin collected the award which recognized a tremendous year of MMA achievements for a group celebrating just its 4th year in existence with 3 of its home grown fighters turning pro this year alone.

The CMAP Lifetime Achievement Award was presented by Hall of Famer Ian Kingstong to Anthony Corkery of Cork Thai. Anthony is unanimously accepted as the man who got Muay Thai going in Cork. The audience was treated to a special presentation of a VHS videotape of one of Anthony’s fights in the early 80’s. He has since gone on to coach European and World Champions such as Martin Horgan, Craig O’Flynn, Seamus Cogan, Andy Gray and loads more.

The Hall of Fame Inductee for 2013 was presented by CMAP Founder Leonard Coughlan to Martin Horgan of Siam Warriors. Martin is former 2 time European Muay Thai Champion with over 60 professional bouts. He has gone on to coach European and World title holders including Shane Cadogan and Aaron O’Callaghan and numerous Irish, UK and 4 nations titles such as Darren Cashman and Sean Clancy. Martin is more recently known as one of the top event promoters in the country.

Overall, the positive vibe in the room was amazing. MC for the Evening and Sports Editor of the Evening Echo John McHale spoke on how up to now, martial arts hasn’t gotten the exposure it’s deserved but with the hard work of Cork Martial Arts Promotions collecting the relevant information and pulling the various clubs and disciplines together, the future is bright for Cork Martial Artists in terms of public recognition.

A huge congratulations is due to Leonard Coughlan of Bandon and Mahon Taekwondo Club who had the vision and work ethic to bring CMAP to where it is today. All Cork Martial Arts Clubs and instructors should row in behind this great organization. There’s strength in numbers and this herd is growing fast.

Visit www.CMAP.ie

 

CMAP Awards Winners – Part IV

Over the last 3 weeks, the winners of each category of the CMAP 2013 awards have been announced on the Evening Echo. Cork Martial Arts Promotions is a non profit organization aimed at recognizing excellence within martial arts in Cork based clubs and gyms. This week, the final two categories are the adult male and female competitors of the year.

The CMAP female competitor of the year award goes to Orla O’Brien of Bushido Martial Arts under coach Colin O’Shaughnessy. Orla is a 59Kgs Kickboxer who had a tremendous year of full contact fights culminating in a bronze medal at the WAKO World Championships in Turkey. She was also awarded the Evening Echo Female Sportsperson for December.

The CMAP male competitor of the Year is Dylan Fitzgibbon of Turners Cross taekwondo under coach Ken Leahy. Dylan captured his third World title this year in his first year as a senior and also helped other fighters to gold in his coaching capacity. Dylan, along with his brother John, runs Elite Martial Arts Academy (EMAA) in Douglas.

The other 6 awards were Master Pat Barry of North Mon Taekwondo (Coach of the Year), Martin Horgan of Siam Warriors (Hall of Fame inductee), Anthony Corkery of Cork Thai (Lifetime Achievement Award), the MMA Clinic Cork (Club of the Year), Emma Finnegan of Coachford taekwondo/kickboxing (Junior female competitor) and John McAteer of West Cork Kickboxing (Junior male competitor).

The Awards ceremony takes place this Saturday February 1^st at the Gresham Metropole Hotel where each winner will be presented with a CMAP trophy and a highlight video of their year will be displayed for the audience.

Everyone is welcome to attend the awards night. It’s free of charge but tickets must be pre-booked through www.cmap.ie

CMAP Award Winners – part III

In the previous two weeks’ Thursday edition of the Evening Echo, the winners of the CMAP Coach of the Year, Club of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award & Hall of Fame inductee were announced. Cork Martial Arts Promotions is a non profit organization aimed at recognizing excellence within martial arts in Cork based clubs and gyms. This week, we focus on the Junior categories.

The CMAP Junior Female Competitor of the year 2013 is 16-year-old Emma Flanagan – a Taekwon-do competitor who trains under Coach Master Don Dalton in the Coachford Taekwon-do & Kickboxing Club. This year has Emma’s best yet to date as she travelled to the ITFU Taekwon-do World Championships in London winning silver in her category. She then went on to the WKU World kickboxing championships in Crete where she took over altogether and won 4 gold and a bronze. Emma won all her individual sparring sections in light, semi and full contact as well as the team event and she is the first person to win in all 3 sparring categories. Emma also won gold in the IUTF Nationals in Neptune Stadium, Cork to cap off a tremendous year of competitive action.

CMAP Junior Male Competitor of the year John McAteer – a kickboxer from West Cork Kickboxing Club under Coach Ian Kingston (2013 CMAP Hall of Fame inductee). John won the WAKO European Kickboxing championships junior -54kg Full-Contact division in Poland last September. He beat 2 Russian fighters, stopping one of them in the final. He is one of only 4 Irish juniors to win the European Gold in the WAKO full-contact division.

Next week, the final 2 CMAP Award winners will be announced exclusively on the Evening Echo so stay tuned for the results. The official Awards Ceremony where all winners will collect their trophies will be held on February 1^st at the Gresham Metropole Hotel. CMAP wishes to extend a welcome to any club or gym it hasn’t yet been in contact with. Please visit www.CMAP.ie for more information on the organization and how you can have your clubs achievements highlighted and recognized.

A silver and 2 bronze at the WAKO World Kickboxing Championships

Lily Dela Cour, Catherine McGregor, Danielle McGregor and Orla O’Brien – members of Team Ireland

Last week, a team of Cork Kickboxers travelled to Antalya, Turkey to compete at the WAKO World Kickboxing Championships. A huge thanks to Orla O’Brien – one of the team members – who kept in touch throughout the week and provided us with the news and updates as they were happening. 

From the West Cork Kickboxing Club under the guidance of Ian Kingston, 4 fighters took part. Ian is the KBI National Light Contact Coach and has trained multiple World and European Champions over the years. Lily Dela Cour (reigning -50Kgs Junior World and European champion) narrowly lost out to a Bulgarian fighter in what was her first outing as a Senior competitor. Danielle McGregor lost a close split decision to UK’s Karen Bailey in the -65Kg light contact division. Colum O’Brien was also making his debut in the Senior division at -94Kg but was unfortunately pipped at the post by a tough Austrian fighter. However, Caterine McGregor managed to secure a silver medal in the -65Kg Veteran division, almost clinching the gold from a French opponent. 

From MIKO Kickboxing, Center Park Road in Cork, head instructor Paul Coffey led by example competing in both the point sparring and light contact +94Kg veteran divisions, securing the bronze in the point sparring. 

Bronze medalist Orla O’Brien from Bushido Martial Arts

In the -52Kg full contact division was Orla O’Brien, sponsored by EMC, representing Bushido Martial Arts instructor Colin O’Shaughnessy (Donnybrook, Cork) and also jimmy Upton (Killbarrack Kickboxing, Dublin). She had 3 really tough fights during her week in Turkey. She managed to dispatch both her Hungarian and Spanish opponents to reach the semi-finals where a rematch with her arch-nemeses – Marielle Henson – from Norway, awaited. Just last May, the two fought in Norway and the Cork fighter broke her hand in the bout. Despite an epic performance, the decision went to Norway, leaving Orla in the Bronze medal position.  Speaking with her online afterwards, she expressed great satisfaction in her performance seeing as though she had not only returned from breaking her hand but also having lost her father as well during the same month. As she said herself: “He was with me in the Ring” – a fitting dedication to her proudest supporter.

Cork Kickboxers taking on the world

Ryan Sheehan (Siam Warriors) taking a big international win in Holland

Yet another busy weekend for Cork Martial Arts, as this time the kickboxers go forth and challenge both Nationally and Internationally 

Brian Long (Sitjaipetch) taking a 1st Round KO win at the Lumpini Thai Show in Galway

In the world of Muay Thai Kickboxing, there were two events in Galway. Lumpini Thai ran a show at GMIT where 4 fighters from Sitjaipetch gym, Blackpool took part. Brian Long, Alan Hegarty, Ryan Daniels and Sean Healy all fought epic battles with Brian Long winning his bout via KO in the first round with a powerful jab.

Meanwhile, Force Muay Thai (a club run by a Cork man, named Dan O’Callaghan, who emigrated to Galway) ran an interclub tournament. Colin Kenny fought from Siam Warriors while Nathan Roche, Jeff Riordan, Roland Veszely and Shane Feeney all represented Fermoy Fight Factory and Finn O’Keefe and Grace Hudson fought out of K2C.

In Holland, another Siam Warriors fighter Ryan Sheehan had a big win over Isaac Taylor from the world-renowned Amranis gym. The tough 5 round fight went to the judges score cards where the young Cork teenager got the nod.

Harry O’Callaghan (K2C) making his Kickboxing Debut in Limerick

Limerick Combat Gym ran a kickboxing fight night at the SouthCourt Hotel where K2C fighter Harry O’Callaghan fought in his kickboxing debut after only 3 months of training. Despite establishing an early lead, he got caught in the second and couldn’t answer the ref’s count.

In Turkey, 3 Cork Clubs are fighting all this week in the WAKO World Kickboxing Championships. Orla O’Brien is fighting for Bushido Cork under Colin O’Shaughnessy. Lily dela Cour, Danielle McGregor, Catherine McGregor and Colum O’Brien are representing West Cork Kickboxing under Ian Kingston while Paul Coffey from MIKO also fights in the points fighting division. Best of luck to all the fighters and we’ll have results from there after the weekend.

Karate for MMA – the blueprint provided by the Lyoto ‘the Dragon’ Machida

The world of Mixed Martial Arts striking is dominated by Boxers, Kickboxers and Muay Thai Fighters. The traditional arts such as Karate, Tae-Kwon-do and Kung Fu, to be truthful, don’t bring the correct level of experience to a fighter stepping into the cage. The modern sport forms are based on semi contact point sparring, which just doesn’t cut the mustard when it comes to MMA whereas some of the traditional forms claim to be too deadly to be used in the real world.

Just for the record, I am not among the camp claiming that traditional martial arts are too deadly for the real world. For me, anyone who claims what they know is too deadly for the real world, is just hiding behind a convenient opt-out fantasy and is too conceited to acknowledge the fact that any human has to ability to kill another or that there is nothing special or mysterious about any martial art – neither modern nor traditional. A kick is a kick, a punch is a punch and the human body has vulnerable target areas, that when hit, can lead to death or serious injury.

While I’m off subject here, I was chatting to a guy recently who asked me about MMA and what I thought of it. He was a traditional martial artist (from the same shotokan background as I). He succeeded in making me quite angry by claiming that any of the Japanese Black Belts in the upper echelons of Shotokan Karate would simply walk through any MMA fighter – that they’re power & speed would just be unstoppable. His evidence?… The only justification that he could offer was that he himself was unable to offer sufficient defence against attacks from the Japanese Black Belts he encountered. As I looked this middle aged, overweight man up and down, I thought to myself “It’s no wonder full contact martial artists don’t respect traditional martial arts”… If he had said “I’d like to see how a top level Shotokan Fighter would do in the cage” or “If one of the elite black belts of Shotokan did some grappling training, he might do well”, then that would be reasonable. Instead, he gauged their brilliance on his own amateur, weekend warrior, club athlete, 2 night per week standard and made the monumentally insane deduction that if someone could be beat him, that they would stomp all over professional MMA fighters.

But, sadly, the snobbish, pig-headed attitude that is passed down from some insecure traditional masters had already taken hold of him… he couldn’t be saved… I just had to bite my tongue and bid him farewell.

I am a traditional martial artist. I have trained in Shotokan Karate since I was 7 years old. I have trained with Japanese Black Belt Masters and Top Shotokan fighters from different parts of the world. I’ve been punched by them, kicked by them and I’ve witnessed the power and speed that can be generated first hand. I am happy to report that there are some truly spectacular strikers out there (some are Japanese Black Belts, other were Europeans or Latin Americans and not necessarily Black Belts). Karate, as a striking art, truly does has a lot to offer Mixed Martial Arts as long as you keep your head out of the clouds and be realistic.

I would like to plead with any traditional martial artists out there to get up to speed with the 21^st century, to stop making stupid unfounded claims about how deadly the traditional martial arts are and accept that that every style of fighting (be it karate, shin-kicking or hand-bag swinging) can be deadly or useless. It simply depends on the individual fighter, their physical size, skill and their intelligence.

Ok, that’s my rant over with. Now back to the subject at hand!

A lot of the top fighters in MMA have a traditional background. Just to pick on the ones that did karate at some point in their career, you have Georges St. Pierre, Frank Mir, Anderson Silva, Seth Petruzelli, Chuck Liddell, Bas Rutten, Yuki Kondo, Ryo Chonan, Takanori Gomi, Jeff Newton, Neil  ‘the Goliath’ Grove, Ausserio Silva, Vitor Belfort and a few more obscure ones. A more comprehensive list can be found on Sherdog here.

To be fair, almost all of these fighters have transitioned on to specialise in other striking arts and only show flashes of their karate background once in a blue moon. However, one fighter has kept his traditional style (Shotokan Karate) and adapted it to achieve phenomenal success inside the cage. Of course, the man I’m talking about is Lyoto ‘the Dragon’ Machida.

For many years, his opponents struggled to figure out his footwork and timing. He’s been described as being illusive, hard to catch and lightning fast. When he won the UFC Light Heavyweight Title, Joe Rogan screamed “Welcome to the Machida Era”, such was the mystique surrounding his fighting style. However, Karate-trained MMA fans worldwide recognised exactly what he was doing. The light footwork, the quickness at which he closed distances, the chin up – hands down stance and the hand-foot combinations. That, my friend, is Karate as practiced by millions around the globe. There is no secret and it’s not exactly rocket science either but because Karate is a traditional art, it has long been brushed aside as a viable foundation for the MMA fighting arsenal – until now!

So how does it work? What are the unique characteristics of the karate style which can benefit MMA fighters? Why do karate fighters stand in that stance? How do karate fighters cover distance quickly allowing them to hover just outside reach? How do Karate fighters seem to move out of the way so quickly? Well, if it was just a matter of a few paragraphs of text, it wouldn’t be worth learning, would it?

I don’t claim to be as slick as Machida or to be a great MMA fighter. However, I do know the answers to all the questions above and I am preparing a seminar to show and teach them to anyone interested in seeing how karate can be applied to MMA striking.

Check out the Striking Seminar at K2C Martial Arts & Fitness Centre on August 15^th 2010 from 11am to 4pm where we’ll be show-casing 3 striking arts – Karate, Muay Thai and Boxing.

So now it’s your turn. Are you a traditional martial artist who feels that your art is unfairly discounted as a viable foundation for MMA? Are you offended by my earlier rant? Do you think that Lyoto Machida’s style is boring? Do you think that traditional Arts are old fashioned and out-dated? Do you think that real martial artists don’t need to prove themselves inside the cage?

I’d love to hear your opinions!?

A rising Tide lifts all Boats – even battleships!

A Rising Tide lifts all boats equally – an old adage often applied to the economics of entire countries but on this occasion used by a Muay Thai instructor to describe the benefit of the “Cork Martial Arts Promotions” Marquee at the Cork Mid Summer Show in Ballincollig this year.

Imagine a technology exhibition where different mobile phone companies set their stalls less than 10 feet from each other – Nokia beside Samsung, Alcatel beside Blackberry and LG beside Motorola. You can almost see the distain and disgust on the rival sales teams’ faces as they peer across at each other, pinching prospective clients from one another and sabotaging their neighbour’s promotional material.

How impressed would you be if one of the team leaders was able to stand back with the epiphany that as a collective group, the exhibitors were promoting the one product – the mobile phone. By joining forces, they could promote a friendlier environment, a more professional display, a more diverse demonstration of mobile technology and above all, provide an opportunity for prospective consumers to celebrate their individualism and differing tastes in design & requirements. Would you be impressed or shocked if that team leader were to say “A Rising Tide lifts all boats equally”?

It was Seamus Cogan of Spartan Muay Thai who quoted that adage to me as we shook hands on the morning of Saturday 19^th June. I had trained with Seamus before and knew he was an open minded professional instructor so I almost expected that attitude from him but as he said it, I looked around to see that under the guidance of Leonard Coughlan and Cork Martial Arts Promotions, no less than 6 martial arts clubs/instructors were joining forces to show a united front in the presentation of the fighting arts. Each instructor took time to speak with the other, congratulate them on their students’ performances and ask about their individual experiences. Apart from the excitement of high impact and high energy demonstrations given on the half hour, the atmosphere of mutual respect between all martial artists played no small part in drawing crowds of awe-struck spectators.

I was the ‘karate guy’ (as I seem to be know in some online forums) and along with Joe-Tom Hayes, Aine O’Donnel and William ‘Wilverine’ Browne, we performed our demonstration in the time it took morning to become noon. We were followed by the Tae Kwon Do team lead by Mark Buckley, Pat Barry and Leonard Coughlan. Next up was the West Cork Kickboxing team led by Ian Kingston followed by the Kendo team organised by Vincent Long. Later in the afternoon, Spartan Muay Thai under the guidance of Seamus Cogan and John Kelly took to the ring and then closing the show was Greg and his team from the Shao Lin Centre in Ballyphehane with a Kung Fu performance. Music was expertly provided by DJ Ralph!

The marquee was very professionally presented. Leonard had the CMAP promo display towering proudly over the boxing ring, which provided the raised platform for the various performers to shine. Each martial art also had a display stand promoting its history and the club representing it. Weapons and trophies were posing like priceless museum pieces. 50” Plasma screens presented video clips from tournaments and seminars around the world and Instructors were on hand all day long to answer any questions onlookers may have had. As a participant, I was impressed but for those being introduced to the world of martial arts, I expect they were dazzled with expert displays of deadliness,  beguiled by the discipline, control and dedication of the performers and truly warmed by the welcoming atmosphere fostered and promoted by Cork Martial Arts Promotions.

I would like, on behalf of all of the instructors and performers involved to express respect and gratitude to Leonard and his team for bringing the whole event together. No doubt, months of planning and buckets of energy went into the preparations. Money was obviously invested in terms of display material and above all else, abundantly wise foresight predicted that a group effort promoting many different martial arts would be the most appropriate format for the event at hand. Given the same opportunity, many clubs/instructors would have made the day all about themselves and their arts. As I understand it, Leonard even asked his colleagues from another TaeKwonDo club to hold that torch – Coz that’s just the kinda guy he is! Fair play my man!

For more information on Cork Martial Arts Promotions, you can visit their website at www.CMAP.ie. There, you will find links to all the participants listed above.

Martial Arts Civil War – Inter-club and inter-style rivalry?

My instructor can kick your instructor’s ass!

Sound familiar? How many times have you heard somebody argue that karate is better than TaeKwonDo because sweeps are allowed in karate. Or TaeKwonDo is better than Karate because in TaeKwonDo kicks can be full contact to the head. Have you ever felt the need to defend your martial art in an argument with somebody training in a different style? Have you ever looked at another style and thought my way is better? I have to admit that I have been that soldier and I’m sure if all of you guys are 100% honest, you’ll no doubt have ridiculed (albeit in the privacy of your inner thoughts) another style as impractical, unrealistic or weak. If you can, hand-on-heart, deny ever looking down on another style, well then you my friend are ahead of your time and I strive to be more like you. But for the vast majority of us, we tend to get sucked in to thinking of our style like an exclusive club being threatened by another exclusive club across the road. Why do we do that? How is it that a large group of people who all share an interest in personal improvement through fighting skills can sub divide into groups that look down their noses at each other. In the immortal words of Homer J Simpson: “Why can’t we all just get along?” or in the words of a famous golfer “When I’m asked what race is Tiger Woods, I reply ‘the human race’!” We’re all martial artists so what’s the problem?

Of course, like all political environments, it’s not quite as simple as that. And yes, I did say ‘political’! There are many organisations out there attempting to tackle the problem of inter-club, inter-country or inter-style rivalry by saying that they are ‘non-political’. The sentiment is good but unfortunately, the idea is flawed. If you’ve got more than 1 member, then you are a political organisation since politics is simply the art of ‘getting along’ and co-existing with others in a common space. Amongst your political tools are emotional intelligence, patience, acceptance and tolerance. For some martial arts style… you need more tolerance than others! Is that me slipping into Rivalry mode again?

Before going any further, I must clarify that by rivalry, I mean the bitter type; the type that can get personal and affect friendships; the type that can cause the next generation on either side to never become friends in the first place. Competitive rivalry between clubs or styles from a tournament point of view is a positive catalyst and can help improve standards on both sides; as long as it does not turn into “Your club can’t fight because you’ve all got one leg shorter than the other!” (or something like that!???)

Here are some of the reasons I have seen that cause rivalry:

1.       Ego (too many chiefs and not enough Indians)

Some people are leaders and some are followers. Although, all of us can follow a strong leader who knows what they’re talking about, disagreement between strong personalities festering over long periods of time can lead to fall outs and disputes. Often, this results in two clubs or styles forming in close proximity to each other each looking to develop their membership and thus hissing at each other – probably still smouldering from years of arguments.

Such a dispute is one of the main reasons for the fractured state of Shotokan karate nowadays. In the 1960 and up the late 80’s the JKA (Japan Karate Association) under the leadership of Nakayama Sensei was united and the one main association that every club worldwide aspired to be affiliated with. Following the death of Nakayama, the next generation of instructors were all chiefs and no one strong leader stepped up to hold them all together. As a result, different factions formed. Two factions had a decade long court case to decide which one could keep the name JKA and other factions just started afresh with new worldwide campaigns.

Note: Here’s more detailed history of the JKA split. Scroll to the end of the page.

Nowadays, you can have your pick of a dozen Worldwide associations, none of which really recognises the other and most of which don’t talk to each other. And all that within just one of the many styles of karate.

Here’s a sample of the ones I’m aware of:

JKA, JKS, SKIF, WSKF, ITKF, WTKA, WKF, WUKO, ISKF, IKA, FSKA, WSKA, ASK, JKF, WBF… I could go on and on. These are all Shotokan Karate Associations. Same style, same art, same insane contempt for one another! Each has its own National, Continental and World Championships every year. How can that be good for Shotokan karate?

2.       Territory & negative campaigning

Martial arts students choose to do martial arts. Often, they could have chosen a range of other hobbies or sports. In some communities, they can choose from a range of different martial arts clubs. Therefore, just like any shop or gym, a club has a limited catchment area. For example, if a club is situated in an area with 10,000 people living within 2 miles, then perhaps they can achieve a membership of 100 students. If 2 clubs are set up in the same community, that’s 50 each or 80/20 if one club has a better reputation. If you’re involved in a club, of course, you’ll talk your club up. If you’re feeling nasty, you’ll probably talk the other club down also. There’s a fine line between taking pride in your club and unfairly influencing the reputation of a neighbouring club. Most of us live right on the edge. Some can’t even see the line anymore!

Note: Here’s an example of a bit of territorial argument in Cork that happened recently online. You’ll need to read through a few post but the majority of the action is on page 2 & 3 You’ll have to make you own mind if this is negative campaigning or not! But there’s no denying it’s territorial!

3.       Insecurity about one’s own abilities

Unfortunately, this is still happening. An instructor (who’s secretly ashamed of his/her standard and that of his/her students) might forbid students from cross training with neighbouring clubs or styles for fear that they will be found out. To discourage students straying to the ‘dark side’, they may talk down at other clubs or styles.

4.       Outrageous claims

Just like any sport, martial arts have been documented and highlighted in various marketing campaigns down through the years. In some cases, especially with the Eastern Fighting styles, like this one that you can use your voice to disable an opponent. As a martial artist from a traditional background, I cringe when I see stuff like this. I just think of a boxer watching it and thinking “huh! Those karate fellas think they can knock me out with grammar!” Even though, it’s not karate, to someone from another martial art, the lines or separation are blurred and we’re all tarred with one brush. If you make outrageous claims like these and can’t back them up, you’re just asking for ridicule and yes, I’m aware, I am ridiculing a particular style here but come on! Give me a break! Knocking someone out with your voice? Even it he said he could knock someone out with his bad breath, that would have been more plausible!

5.       Second Generation Rivalry

This is perhaps the most prolific and unfortunate of the rivalries – the next generation of students coming through following their instructor’s lead. For example, as a teenager, I trained with a club in Blackrock in Cork. The instructor there had a falling out with another instructor who set up another dojo less than a mile away. I felt myself despising the members of the other club even though I had never met them or even seen them! Same style, same village and not an ounce of cooperation or camaraderie; In fact, we didn’t even meet in tournaments because we were part of different National Associations. Ridiculous or what!?

We are living in an exciting time in History. Internet and Social networking is bringing knowledge and information to audiences faster and in more places than ever before. We can all quickly learn from those who can demonstrate and argue their points on Youtube videos or web blog’s. We can decide for ourselves which style of martial arts best suit us before ever entering a local dojo and we can all decide for ourselves who our friends are.

There should be no reason for negative rivalry between clubs, styles or associations. However, there’s a long history of disputes, arguments & differences. We can’t solve them all but you can help in your own small way by opening your mind and not becoming part of the problem.

That’s my own personal goal with this blog. I hope to bridge as many gaps as I can and bring various styles together. I hope to become an ambassador for my style – Shotokan Karate and earn respect for it amongst boxers, Judo players, TaeKwonDo students, MMA fighters and any other style that welcomes me to their gym or dojo.

In the last 12 months, I’ve sweated and trained in martial artists classes such as Karate, Judo, MMA, Kickboxing, Boxing, Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, BJJ, Escrima, Tai Chi and Koryo Uchinadi. Incidentally, I was asked to leave 1 gym and I’m still trying to find out why but that’s another blog post! In the next 12 months, I want to try more of all of those, along with Capoeira, Taekwondo, Krav Maga and maybe some Kung Fu. In an extension to all of that, I’d like to continue blogging about my experiences to raise awareness about the various good instructors that are out there. And finally, I promise not to look down on or ridicule a martial art… unless you tell me you can knock me out with your voice or that your skills have magic in them – in that case, your ass is mine!

I’d like to hear your story. What rivalries have you encountered? Would you admit to looking down on another martial art style? What style would you like to try but have felt intimidated to walk into the local club? What steps are you taking to make sure you don’t become part of the rivalry? Are some rivalries warranted?

Add your voice and be part of the discussion. Use the comment section below.