How Much Do You Give Back To Your Karate?

Anyone who trains in the martial arts for any significant amount of time, who puts committed effort into it and enjoys their endeavors, can hopefully give you a list of many things that martial arts training has given to them.  Among these might be physical fitness, mental health, greater self-confidence, feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction.  These are gained through regular exercise, through gaining understanding of various techniques and their applications, through learning new things and mastering them, through facing challenges and overcoming them.

At some point, after gaining much understanding and raising through the ranks, it might be asked:  what have you given back?

We have a tournament coming up in March.  Normally I would arrive early, help set up the rings and tables, check in contestants, spend most of the day judging, compete in my division, and at the end of the day help clean up.  This year my role is undefined, due to the fact that I will be almost 7 months pregnant at that time and I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do.  The only certainty is that I will not be competing this year.

What will I do?  I will be there early and help set up.  I will check in contestants.  I'm not sure whether or not I will judge, and if I do, it will of necessity be for briefer periods of time than usual.  I plan to stay and help clean up.  By the end of the day, however much or little I have managed to contribute, I will probably be exhausted.  And no matter how much or little I have contributed, I will feel guilty for not doing more.  Sure, it's a lot of work, but it's also fun and a great experience.  You get to see people you don't normally see, spend time with them, see how they are progressing, swap stories.  You also get to learn a great deal if you are paying attention.  It's well worth the effort.

I wish more people felt the same, but I'm not sure they do.  This tournament has been a great attraction, drawing avid competitors from all over the region.  There were always plenty of willing volunteers to help run things, making it fun instead of a task (to quote the old saying, "many hands make light work").  The color belt and youth rings would go all morning, and then in the afternoon the marquee events:  men's and women's adult black belt competition.  Everyone looked forward to watching the strongest competitors, appreciating and learning from them.  We all knew who they were -- knew their names, knew where they trained -- and couldn't wait to see who came out on top.  Watching katas performed at high skill level is an artistic experience, and watching the sparring was so exciting!

Although it is the normal state for things to ebb and flow a bit, the past two or three years have seen a falloff in participation great enough to concern me somewhat.  Some of our strongest competitors have retired or moved away.  We have full youth rings, but few adults, and most of the youth competitors leave as soon as they are done competing.  So too do many of the adult color belts.  By the afternoon, the place is practically deserted except for competitors and judges.  The black belt competitors have no appreciative crowd to fire them up, the youths and color belts are deprived of the opportunity to watch the best karate our region has to offer.  The people who work the tournament (judges, staging, table help) work all day without a break, because there are barely enough of them to go around as it is.

I'm not sure what has led to the change, although many things are potential contributors.  I only know that I find it discouraging.  Why don't people want to stay and watch the black belts compete?  When I was coming up through the ranks, that was my greatest thrill on tournament days.  Why don't more black belts participate?  As any reader of this blog knows, I don't live for competition, to put it mildly, but I see so much to be gained through it, and we have so many strong black belts that it could be really exciting and rewarding.  Why don't more people volunteer to help?  Maybe they don't realize just how much work it is to put on a tournament and keep things running, but if so, why not?  Hasn't anyone of higher rank explained any of this to our people, and encouraged them to contribute what they can and support their fellow karate-ka?  It's one day out of the whole year, is it so much to ask? 

I have no answers.  I'm not attacking anyone or claiming that they aren't pulling their weight.  All I know is that I think it's sad that more people aren't more excited about this right now.  It makes me worry a bit for the future, if the committed and active participants slowly disperse and no one steps up to take their place.  I really hope to see more people there this year, in all capacities, enjoying the opportunity to get together and share our martial art with the other people in our regional organization.

Comments

[michael neveu]

I enjoyed your column. It is refreshing to read what otherwise might be considered "old school" or "old-fogey" perspectives on karate, and personal ettiquette. As I was taught, karate begins and ends with courtesy. Your writing reflects this, and I acknowledge your training.
OOuusss

[LirianFae]

Haha thank you, I am definitely "old school" when it comes to karate etiquette. I realize it's an unpopular position with many people, who either don't see any value in it, or don't understand it at all. So it's refreshing to read a comment from someone who doesn't think I'm hopelessly old fashioned and boring to still be harping on these things!

When I was coming up through the ranks, the higher belts were all very conscious of proper behavior and etiquette and taught and enforced it at all times. I didn't always understand WHY I had to do all these things, but I did them (who wants a black belt yelling at them?? lol). Now I'm so grateful, because now I understand and appreciate why many of these etiquette and respect rules are in place.

Tournament is next weekend, and we'll see what happens. The head of our region is making a strong push for more participation, in one way or another (compete or judge or help in some other way or at least show up to watch, learn & support) so we might well have the best turnout we've had in several years. Obviously that would make me very happy!!