The Reality of Martial Arts:
“Reality verses Sport”
There is a great difference between a sport and a combat martial art, first being life and death. The UFC is a sport it’s not a combat martial art, if it were it would truly be no holds barred fighting that would end in seconds not minutes. But I don’t think many people would have a taste for that, and rightly so. In the UFC there are rules, striking limits you cant strike the groin, eyes, throat, back of the neck, no pulling hair, no small join attacks, or strikes along the spin, no pressure points, etc,. There are weight limits, and they have similar fight records, a referee, a ring with a padded floor, someone to throw in the towel if it’s too rough, a doctor if they get hurt, and ambulance in case the injury is severe. Now tell me again you think it’s not a sport. That’s precisely why these guys have to be such incredible athletes; they must fight within the rules. It can be life or death an instant in the street. On the street there are no weight classes, no rules, no protective equipment, no padded mat, no referee to stop the fight if you get injured, no one can throw the towel in for you, no doctor if you get hurt and no ambulance on standby in case you are severely injured.
I (Dr. Joel Bowling) have been in the martial arts since 1975, started teaching in1980, and started my school in 1984, bounced for years, I`ve had guns, knives, and clubs pulled on me and seen men almost beat to death over a fifty cent pool game. It’s combat and if you don’t have the knowledge and attitude, you lose with one exception it’s not about first or second place in the street; it could easily be life or death these days. This is why you need to take a combat martial art. The average individual that comes to this school is not looking to train 24/7 or compete. They just want to be able to defend themselves and their family or friends. In the street where there are no protections just you and them the winner gets to live.
I often think about maybe how different 911 could have been on the other planes had there been someone aboard that was combat trained. Flight 93 was in luck they had a judo champion on board with a fighting sprit, even though there were no survivors they stop the success of the terrorists. So even thought those passengers new they might die they made their lives count, and in the end that’s all that matters. In a world of political correctness where children are lied to about violence i.e. there is never a time for violence, violence never solved anything and the usual dribble from the Politically Correct crowd. And then these kids run into a person that only understands or settles things with violence, these kids are defenseless and afraid.
A perfect example is Virginia tech, what a horrible loss of life. But most of these kids were probably born in the 80`s and the none violent dribble is all they were educated on. Thirty or forty years ago, I would wager not near as many would have died, because of a different Sprit then such as “where going to die anyway, we got nothing to lose and everything to gain, lets rush this guy and at least try to live!! Thanks Politically Correct crowd. Yes it would be great to settle everything by talking, but sadly that’s not reality and neither is intentionally making your child a victim because of those types that don’t have the guts to defend themselves, and might look down on you. But you know what? You and your kids are still alive at the end of the day! The kids at Virginia tech died through no fault of their own, just though the fault of those who think they know how you should live, and are not intelligent enough to see the world for what can be, Dangerous!!!