Sport martial arts have evolved into, well to be honest, less than anything related to martial arts at all but they are an integral part of the study. When studying the martial arts one should never place heavy emphasis on winning tournaments, medals or even matches. The purpose of attending and competing in martial arts related events is to pursue perfection of your own understanding, application and technique within your studies.

Sport Kumite has definitely changed over the years that Franz Shihan has studied it. In the old days it was quite brutal, although much safer than today. You would not see opponents bouncing around in the rings for fear of being swept and hit while they fell. You did not see people throwing just about anything they can think to score...instead there was a level of mastery to a strike that was apparent and the best fighter always won...not the luckiest. When a score was facilitated it there was no question that it scored nor that it would have not ended a real fight. Like we said Sport Kumite has changed drastically since its inception into the US in 1959 at the first ever World Karate Championships held in Chicago, Illinois by the USKA.

Today Sport Kumite is basically a game of tag in which the fastest person can usually score and win however there are still some old school Sensei, like Shihan Franz, who compete and quite often send these modern slap, poor technique people home with a loss. The old school Kumite people don't play around in the ring. They are there to defeat the other person and do it quickly, effectively and with power, spirit and intent. We teach this attitude in our dojo when it comes to Sport Kumite however we also demand Respect, Honor and Self Control from all students who compete at any time.

When a student attends a tournament, seminar or event they are there representing their Sensei, Dojo and the other students. The same rules and etiquette held inside the dojo apply at those events. In order to help our students better understand this we train in aspects of sport Kumite from time to time including attending tournaments. It is important to remember that the true oppoent is always your self. We do not compete for medals, trophies or to beat someone. We compete to become better martial artists and perfect our understanding of application.

Always remember that having an ego has no place in the dojo. Just because you may beat a black belt one day in class does not mean you better than that black belt...it just means you won a match...that is all.