Good at what they do but why...

The screaming is ridiculous. When i was stationed in okinawa we had a old japanese civilian as one of our trainers. He was an Okinawan Karate guy. We did asp baton training with him and he was the "perp" he only wore arm sheilds and thats it. Also he screamed at everyone of us just like that kid while thwoing kicks and punches to our bodies. Most of us fell over backwards in the first few seconds of sparring.

I shit you not he took full asp strikes to the thighs like nothing and didnt even flinch.

That hurt me just watching it

I feel the same way about a lot of things, i am sure many say that about the activities we enjoy. But it would be cool to know you could break 20 bricks at a time while wearing an eye-patch.

i used to compete in those types of tourneys back in the day. i have a couple of super duper grand 100% plastic be careful whe you move them trophies in my storage building. that is exactly how the go. ol' jeff looked pretty swift there. the flashier the better with the forms and katas. bright pants and glow in the dark or sparkly weapons are the cutting edge now.

my instructors advice at the time was.....huff....puff.....and sling snot. the louder the scream the better just dont spit on the judges.

the "sparring" is horrible. the last time i competed i won 1st in my division and weight class. the rules were light contact, try not to hit the head, and if the strike LOOKED like it was going to land it counted. i got deducted a point for knocking the guy i was against on his arse after he scored a point and winked at me. i got carded for actually hitting the guy, that was the last time i competed.

the divisions were usually stacked in favor of who ever was hosting and judging. i remember back in '99, i went to "battle at the beach" in myrtle beach, s.c. i had been grappling for about 3 months and knew more about quantum physics than submissions. the same folks in my category were from a nearby gracie school and had been training for about 3 or 4 years and were still "novice". i got straight demolished and they were cheating excessively but no one minded. i was getting punched the throat and had elbows laying IN my eye socket.

one of the heavy weights that was grappling a guy from the same school left on a stretcher with a neck injury from getting dumped on his head.

the kids were doing backflips, etc. it was all pretty silly.