White Water Karate

No, it’s not some new style, (or the re-discovery of some ancient style), despite the fact that it would actually be a really cool name for your karate.

What it is in fact is a short(ish) piece written around a throw away comment that came up in a recent conversation.

There is nothing in the analogy that couldn’t be said without talking directly on the topic of karate but there are still some out there who have a blind spot when it comes to discussing what karate is, and particularly where theirs fits in.

Many lifetimes ago one of my main pass times was canoeing (or more correctly kayaking) and it was great fun and physically demanding.

Like most, we started off taking lessons in a nice clean swimming pool under an instructor who taught us all the basics, how to move backwards and forwards, how to turn, how to maintain our balance and what to do when we didn’t.

This was all up and down the pool in nice straight(ish) lines, not because that’s what canoeing is but because that’s what space allowed when you had a number of people all learning at the same time.

As beginners we were shaky, unstable (a remarkably hard thing to be in a kayak once you’ve got the hang of it), and all over the place when it came to control, and for ever scared of falling in and getting wet. You’d think in that case, why do it? But the fun outweighed the fear and the fear, whilst real, was of something trivial and manageable in a clean safe environment.

Time passed and everybody got the hang of the basics with practice, we moved on the playing regular canoe polo at the end of most sessions, or obstacle races or other such games during which people were having far to much fun to notice the range of skills they were using and how massively this sort of play improved them.

Time to move outdoors onto the open (albeit flat) water, again, another scary step.

We had all the basic skills but suddenly there were variables that were beyond our control, “was the wind blowing?” In which case we had to compensate for it, “was there a current?” we had to learn how to work with it and the best ways to work against it for the minimum effort. “Were there defined edges?” No we had to learn to set our own limits rather than just running out of pool.

The next step being to move on to “White Water” (I feel there ought to be a pause and some dramatic music here 🙂 ).

This is the point where we were going to have to move on and start applying our skills in a meaningful way and start throwing ourselves into situations where we didn’t have the level of control we had become used to. We would need to move and adapt to a constantly changing situation and use all our skills in what ever order was required for the situation as it was at that moment.

Now the reality is that this was not a dramatic shift from what we had been doing previously, nobody gets thrown into grade 5 water when they are still learning and it’s a process of building skills and confidence over time with practice moving on to bigger and more challenging situations.

It was at the stage of taking this next obvious step that something very interesting started to happen.

The group started to split into two factions.

We all had pretty much the same skill set but there were those who were just happy with the level they’d got to and were enjoying that activity (and why not, time out on the open water messing about in a kayak is healthy, good exercise and just plain good fun). There were those who wanted to continue to challenge themselves and push their boundaries and those who, whilst they had the skills, couldn’t get past the fear of “this is the real world now and I don’t like that”, so they hung with the first group (or gave up).

Now none of these is the wrong choice, it was just a pass time and it was meant to be fun, if you were not enjoying it why would you want to do it? Just because you potentially had the skills doesn’t mean you had to push them further than you were comfortable with if that was not what you wanted.

So only some of us moved on to learning the new skills, some of those who stayed with the other group just practised the skills they already had (and to be fair, probably surpassed the rest of us in those particular skills) .

Moving water was challenging, exciting, educational (and sometimes horrible too) but you pushed yourself until you reached your own limit.

In reality I was only ever a grade 3-4 guy with probably a grade 3 skill set. I didn’t feel the need to put myself at serious risk for the sake of fun (not that brave) and had nothing to prove to myself (or anyone else).

The thing about white water canoeing though is that it is a tactile skill, it can only be developed by doing it, constantly, by getting a feel for the nuances and subtle shifts in the movements of the water, by adapting to an ever changing situation (and one that will never ever be exactly the same twice). It’s about balance, body shifting, going with or against the flow as appropriate and applying the basic skills fluidly and instantly without thought as the situation requires.

I probably don’t need to labour how this also applies to practical karate skills so I won’t.

One thing I was told once by one of the group who stuck to flat water paddling was interesting though, we were sitting in kayaks out on the flat water and he decided not to move on to the moving water because he “understood the concept of what we were doing so didn’t need to run the risk of falling in and getting wet in order to be able to do it”.

I probably don’t need to labour how that fits with modern karate either, so I won’t (but you do see it, a lot! 🙂 ).

A bit on the side

A phrase that probably dates me (and if you know immediately it probably dates you too 🙂 )

This has come up because of a post I made recently on Iain Abernethy’s forum regarding the way I am set up, and the how and what of what I currently teach.

I made the move away from the conventional 3k’s syllabus some years ago now and changed to a more applied syllabus focusing on the practical aspects of the art.

What I do is still very much based in the foundations of Shotokan, the kata are the same kata, the body mechanics of the kihon are the same, it’s just typically the emphasis on usability, the working ranges, interpretation of what the techniques are and the partner drills are different.

I have spoken to a number of people over the years who have said to me “I’d really love to do what you do and to get involved in that side” but when asked “why don’t you then?” the answer is typically along the lines of “I have so many years committed to what I’m already doing” or “I have all my friends in my current dojo” or the simple (and unforgivable in my book) “we are not allowed”.

I can quite understand that karate is a passion in some peoples lives, it is in mine (which is why I bang on about it so much), but many people see it as something akin to being married.

You joined for better or worse and promised to love, honour and (being old school) obey for as long as you shall live.

It’s interesting that “obey” has pretty much disappeared from the wedding vows in these more enlightened times but still seems to be firmly entrenched in the karate mindset.

However, Karate (in my opinion obviously) is not the same as a marriage. You have not entered into a contract of life long exclusivity “forsaking all others”.

There is nothing wrong with loyalty to your chosen group, in a healthy relationship it is a good thing as it allows you to be part of something bigger than just the training, but unlike a marriage there should not really be any taboo as grown adults about playing away occasionally.

I think that one of the fears that people who see gaps in their training have is the impression that they have to walk away from everything they already have in order to pursue the “other stuff” and by and large (in my experience) that simply isn’t the case.

I am quite comfortable with being the “bit on the side” if that’s what people who come to me want, (and I know that many of my peers operate the same policy).

Whilst I am happy to be your first port of call for training if you know that is what you want, I am not looking for anybody to sign up and commit their lives and souls to my way of training “forsaking all others”. All I am interested in is did you learn something, did you progress and did you enjoy it? If so then come back as and when you can for some more and be welcome to do so.

So, if a “bit on the side” is what you are looking for to fill the holes in your (training) life, rest assured, we are out there (and we won’t tell if you don’t 🙂 ).