Mississauga martial arts | So your unsure about competition??
Hey everyone,
Let be honest, no matter what style/art you practice there are always going to be an element of people unsure of if they want to compete. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a non competitive approach to your training for personal development. the only problem i see lies with those people we all know who are FOREVER on the FENCE about the topic… competing today and not tomorrow.
I just don’t get it.
This indecision does you no favors and its far better you chose 1 path (either competing or not) focusing your efforts accordingly.
There are many martial arts great who never fancied the competitive arena, preferring instead to take a different approach to their training whether that be teaching or helping other get ready so there is no need to feel pressure to compete. And for those that do chose to its important you remember there are a lot of benefits it competition far beyond simply beating he person in front of you.
Competition safely gives you things that nothing else can. Last Friday after a really technical class with Professor Jorge Britto @ Toronto BJJ we lined us up to bow out the class gave a great speech about some benefits of competing that got me thinking on my drive back to the west side of town
1 . It gives your instructor (and yourself) great insight into your game. Going full speed against a new opponent allows an instructor to notice things that may be difficult at best to notice in practice. training speed and game speed are totally different.
2. It is one of the most important things you can do to prepare yourself for a real-life self-defense encounter. There are two important parts to this. First, the nervousness/adrenalin you encounter in a competition is very similar to the fear (yes . . . fear) you will experience in a potentially dangerous situation. Taking BJJ as an example the more you compete on the mats, the more you learn to consciously and unconsciously deal with the adrenaline dump just prior to initiating contact. No matter how skilled you are if you haven’t had that RUSH of adrenaline pre-combat you wont perform to your very best.
The more opportunities you take in allowing your mind and body to deal with these stressors, the better prepared you will be when you have to deal with them for real. Second, the insight you have gained about your game will allow you to have a plan of action before the start of any action kicks off: you will know what does and does not work for you because of your competition experience.
3. Training as a group for competition builds that camaraderie in the group . nothing beats the grind of getting ready with your team and win lose or draw putting your game on the mats and cheering each other on.
the summer tourneys are in full swing with Five taking place tomorrow and the Ontario open shortly afterwards, looking forward to seeing everyone on the mats.
The martial arts Life-style is a long journey only makes sense to enjoy the ride and soak up as much experience along the way as possible.
