First, what is meant by full contact? As long as there are any rules then "full" doesn't quite fit. If it is not violent, i.e. asocial violence, then it is not full contact. If there is any semblance of safety or safety gear, it ain't full contact. Even boxing with gloves is not full contact in my book as long as the gloves are there and there are any rules.
I don't even like full contact as a term because it promotes a false sense of an ability to get into a violent altercation and be comfortable with that, it ain' this simple. Even "reality" training is not actually "reality" for "reality" is not ever in any organized system, dojo or training facility.
Full contact for my perception is body on body contact with no rules, no restrictions and no "tap-out." Face it, you can't do it in a training or practice environment. You can try your best to reach the limits of force, etc. before injuries, etc. are rampant and unavoidable. But that is not how it is done.
The military call it combat "training" for a reason. You have to train your military so they are not suddenly overcome by actual combat. I can remember one Viet Nam vet who spent three tours as a grunt there who said on his first tour upon arrival he was telling his fellow Marines how he was going to kill him some Vietnamese/Viet Cong (he actually used an euphemism that is not appropriate here). He got off the plane, the first rounds and mortars came into the flight line from the jungle, he dove head first into a reinforced bunker and commenced to say to his-self, Oh shit, I need to get the fuck out of here and head home, oh shit oh shit. Something like that was said.
Anyone who states they are experiencing full contact without ending up in the hospital and the morgue may be fooling themselves a bit. Even with all this said it might better serve is we said we take it to the limits in training in the hopes of being better able to get past the shock of real life truly asocial violent encounters - lets not even get started on combat the likes of Afghanistan vets have experienced.
I express this simply because of the many folks who easily express how superior this or that system is because it has "full contact" sparring. Even the sparring term needs recognition as to its limits because in the end it still is not "fighting" or "combat" in real life outside the dojo and training hall.
You "spar hard" but not "full contact." Just get over it and spar hard, as hard as you can safely, without putting your uke into the hospital anyway ;-)
A friend of mine used to train in Koei Kan. Sometimes they would put on bogu (which resembles kendo armor) and have at it. There are several other styles that have a similar practice
ReplyDeleteI think the value is that you get to swing at someone else hard, and also to be on the receiving end; albeit with the protection of the armor.
Non contact, light contact, heavy contact, with/without armor; I think they all have value, but you have to be clear about what you are doing and why.